Ch. 3:
Addressing Environmental
Problems, Part II
By Jack Goldberg 7°
#1
• Briefly outline the history of the
conservation and environmental movements
in the United States.
th
18
and
th
19
Centuries
• Many Americans during this time had a
frontier attitude to conquer and exploit
nature, areas of the Midwest the size of
Europe were completely deforested by
the 1860s
• 1891 the General Revision Act passed
giving president authority to establish
forest reserves on public land.
Early
th
20
Century
• President Theodore Roosevelt used General
Revision Act to keep 17.4 million hectares of
forest away from loggers, but would later be 6.5
million hectares of 21 designated national
forests.
• Yellowstone in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
became the 1st national park followed by
Yosemite and Sequoia in California.
Late
th
20
Century
• Environmentalists from the Sierra Club and
National Wildlife Federation began voicing
their concerns about the environment
• 1970 was a big year marking the 1st national
Earth Day, and the formation of the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which
signed National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) into law that year.
#2
• Describe the environmental contributions of
the following people: John James Audubon,
Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins
Marsh, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir,
Gifford Pinchot, Franklin Roosevelt, Aldo
Leopold, Rachel Carson, and Gaylord
Nelson.
th
19
Century Naturalists
• John James Audubon – Aroused American interest
in nature with his paintings
• Henry David Thoreau – Wrote Walden Pond about
living in harmony with nature
• George Perkins Marsh – Wrote Man and Nature
about how humans are agents of environmental
change
th
20
Century Conservationists
• Theodore Roosevelt – Used General Revision
Act of 1891to create 24 million hectares of
national forests
• Gifford Pinchot – 1st head of U.S. Forest
Service
• Franklin Roosevelt – Created Civilian
Conservation Corps and Soil Conservation
Service
• Aldo Leopold – Wrote Game Management and
A Sand County Almanac about the need to
conserve wilderness areas
Other Great Environmentalists
• John Muir - Helped Establish Yosemite
and Sequoia National Parks and founded
the Sierra Club
• Rachel Carson - Wrote Silent Spring
about the dangers of pesticide use
• Gaylord Nelson - Former Wisconsin
Senator organized the 1st Earth Day
#3
• Explain why the National Environmental
Policy Act is the cornerstone of the U.S.
environmental law.
The National Environmental
Policy Act
• The National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA) was signed into law shortly after
the Earth Day movement in 1970.
• It requires that the federal government
consider the environmental impact of any
construction project funded by the federal
government.
Why the NEPA is Great
• NEPA provides the basis for developing
detailed environmental impact statements
(EISs) to accompany every federal
recommendation or proposal for legislation.
• Established the Council on Environmental
Quality to monitor the required EISs and
report directly to the president.
More Reasons to Love the NEPA
• NEPA oversees federal highway
construction, flood and erosion controls,
military projects, public works, and federal
agencies oversee nearly 1/3 of the land in
the United States
• This act has influenced environmental
legislation in many states and other
countries.
#4
• Relate why
environmental impact
statements provide such
powerful protection of
the environment.
Environmental Impact Statements
• Help federal officials make informed
decisions
• EIS must include nature of proposal and
why it’s needed, short-term and long-term
and any adverse environmental effects, and
alternatives to the course of action to lessen
adverse effects.
More Information About EIS
• Courts decreed the documents had to be
thoroughly analyzed the environmental
consequences of the anticipated projects on the
soil, water, and organisms.
• EISs must be available to the public.
Negative Views of EIS
• Some environmentalists say environmental
impact statements are incomplete or ignored.
• Others claim they’re too involved, take too long
to prepare, and are targets of lawsuits.
#5
• Sketch a simple diagram showing how
economics is related to the environment.
(Economics and Environment both love the green!)
Marginal Cost of Pollution
Marginal Cost of Pollution
Abatement
Cost-Benefit Diagram
#6
• Distinguish among the
following terms:
marginal cost of
pollution, marginal
cost of pollution
abatement, optimum
amount of pollution.
Marginal Cost of Pollution
• The cost, in environmental damage, of a
unit of pollution that is emitted into the
environment
• As the total amount of pollution
increases, the harm done by each
additional unit also increases making an
upward sloping curve.
Marginal Cost of Pollution
Abatement
• The cost to dispose of a unit of pollution
in a nonpolluting way.
• Cost increases as the level of pollution
decreases causing a downward sloping
curve.
Optimum Amount of Pollution
• The amount of pollution that is
economically most desirable.
• Determined by plotting the curves of
marginal cost of pollution and marginal cost
of pollution abatement and finding the point
of intersection.
#7
• Describe various approaches to pollution control,
including command and control legislation, wastedischarge permit policies, emission reduction
credits, and taxation.
Emission Charge (Taxation)
• A government policy that controls pollution by
charging the polluter for each unit of emissions,
that is, by establishing a tax on pollution.
• A popular market-oriented strategy for controlling
pollution, especially in Europe.
Waste-Discharge Permit Policy
• A government policy
that controls pollution
by issuing permits
allowing the holder to
pollute a given
amount.
• Holders are not
allowed to produce
more emissions than
are sanctioned by their
permits.
Emission Reduction Credits
(ERC)
• A waste-charge permit that can be
bought and sold by companies producing
emissions.
• Companies have a financial incentive to
reduce emissions because they can
recover some or all of their cost of
pollution abatement by the sale of the
ERCs that they no longer need.
Emission Reduction Credits
(ERC)
Command and Control
Legislation
• Pollution control laws that work by setting pollution
settings.
• One example of command and control legislation is
the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990.
President Bush Sr. signing the amendment
#8
• Explain some of the complexities of the highly
contentious jobs versus the environment issue in
the Pacific Northwest.
The Northwestern Conflict
• Conflict: Fate of thousands of jobs v.s. fate of oldgrowth forest and the organisms living in the
forests.
• To raise the stakes, the northern spotted owl lives in
the Northwestern forest which is listed as a
threatened species under the Endangered Species
Act.
$ Economic Side $
• Thousands of jobs will be lost if the northern
spotted owl habitat were to be set aside.
• Rural Pacific Northwest did not have a diversified
economy and the timber industry, which was
already declining, was their main source of revenue.
Environmental Side
• The old-growth forest is unlike the other forests
in that it has never been logged because the trees
don’t readily grow back, a natural ecosystem
unharmed by humans.
• Old-growth forests are a natural treasure to be
protected and cherished.
#9
• Define environmental ethics and discuss
distinguishing features of the Western and deep
ecology worldviews.
Environmental Ethics
• A field of applied ethics that considers the
moral basis of environmental
responsibility and how far the
responsibility extends.
• Environmental ethics tries to determine
how humans should relate to nature.
The Western Worldview
• This worldview stresses human dominance over
nature.
• Unrestricted use of natural resources, increased
economic growth for an expanding human
population, unlimited consumption of goods and
services to provide material comforts are factors
that make up this worldview.
The Deep Ecology Worldview
• Based on the works of Norwegian philosopher Arne
Naess.
• This worldview stresses spirituality with nature and
advocates reducing human population growth and
replacing technology with simple material needs.
Essay Question
• Describe the details pertaining to the
establishment of the world’s first national
parks, including names, locations, and the
manner in which they were established.
Essay
Answer
• Yellowstone National Park was the world’s first national
park; it was established in 1872 by Congress. Yellowstone
is located in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming, and includes
the canyons and falls of the Yellowstone River. Shortly
after, in 1890, due largely to the efforts of Mr. John Muir,
Yosemite and the Sequoia National Parks were established.
They are both located in California. In 1906, Congress
passed the Antiquities Act, which authorized the President
to put aside sites that had scientific, historic or prehistoric
significance. By 1916, the US had 13 National Parks and
20 National Monuments. Today, there are 54 National
Parks and 72 National Monuments.
Works Cited
• Raven, Peter and Linda Berg. Environment third
edition. Orlando, Fl: Harcourt, 2001