Visualizing Environmental Science Environmental History, Politics, and Economics Chapter 3 Copyright 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Renewable Energy Policy Challenges Governments struggle to develop climate change policies Biggest issue is how to shift from fossil fuels to alternative energy Alternative sources, such as large solar panels, require space May interfere with wildlife, general aesthetics, and contribute to noise pollution 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Conservation and Preservation of Resources Resources Any part of the natural environment used to promote the welfare of people or other species Conservation Sensible and careful management of natural resources Ex: Terracing farmland to prevent erosion Can be technological or behavioral 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Conservation and Preservation of Resources What are some examples of conservation efforts that you can do? Are these behavioral or technological methods? 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Conservation and Preservation of Resources Preservation Setting aside undisturbed areas Maintaining them in a pristine state Protecting them from human activities that might alter their natural state Preservation vs. conservation controversy Resources in undisturbed places have high economic value 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 19 million acres of protected wilderness 10 billion barrels of recoverable oil Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Should we drill? ANWR Potential drilling area ANWR For Growing foreign dependence on oil threatens American security and drilling in ANWR would help reduce that dependence Drilling and extraction of oil would not meaningfully harm the environment Drilling would promote the economy and create new jobs Against U.S. dependence on foreign oil is inevitable and that drilling in ANWR would not significantly reduce dependence It would damage a sensitive ecology and undermining the principle of national environmental protection Drilling is supported by many politicians, and critics charge that they are doing favors for their friends in Big Oil Do You Agree? Some places should remain untouched by people, even if they have valuable resources in them. Environmental History First 200 years of U.S. history were a time of environmental destruction (1600s1800s) Frontier attitude: conquer and profit from nature High unsustainable resource use Preservation, such as this reserve in Bolivia, became early 20 th century concern 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Protecting Forests: U.S. Naturalists Spark Public Interest John James Audubon (17851851) Painted portraits of birds and other animals in North America Henry David Thoreau (18171862) Writer, advocate of lifestyle simplicity George Perkins Marsh (18011882) Wrote Man and Nature about humans as agents of environmental change in 1864 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental History American Forestry Association (1875) Citizens against the destruction of Americas forests Forest Reserve Act (1891) Presidential authority to establish forest reserves on federal land Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, T. Roosevelt preserved 43 million acres of forest Modified in 1907 Creating national forests requires act of Congress Roosevelt signed bill into law Appointed Gifford Pinchot head of the U.S. Forest Service Unlike national parks and other federal lands, extraction of natural resources (like timber) from national forests is permitted 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Establishing National Parks Utilitarian conservationist -Value natural resources because of their usefulness, but use them (sustainably) Yellowstone National Park, 1872 John Muir (18381914) -Yosemite National Park Bill -Founded Sierra Club -Biocentric preservationist Protecting nature from human interference All forms of life have equal rights to natural resources 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. National Parks and Monuments Antiquities Act, 1906 First law to establish that archeological sites on public lands are important public resources Federal agencies that manage the public lands preserve the historic, scientific, commemorative, and cultural values of archaeological and historic sites The President is authorized to protect landmarks, structures, and objects of historic or scientific interest by designating them as National Monuments 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Video: President Carter uses the Antiquities Act to protect millions of acres in Alaska National Parks and Monuments National Parks were under the loose management of the U.S. Army Parks were to be used without impairment Hetch Hetchy Valley conflict Dinosaur National Monument conflict 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict Between 1908 and 1913, America witnessed its first national debate over environmental preservation The Hetch Hetchy Valley was within Yosemite National Park and protected by the federal government 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict At the heart of the debate was the conflict between: conservationists, who held that the environment should be used in a conscientious manner to benefit society preservationists, who believed that nature should be protected and saved from human interference 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Hetch Hetchy Valley Conflict In the end, Congress passed legislation that enabled the creation of a dam in the Hetch Hetchy Valley Although preservationists lost this battle, the damming of the Hetch Hetchy Valley raised public awareness about the importance of preserving nature, and helped justify the creation of the National Park Service in 1916 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NWIxZa92A&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7fhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9NWIxZa92A&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7f (begin at 1:51:13) Dinosaur National Monument Conflict The dam at Echo Park (within Dinosaur National Monument) was proposed in the 1940s to provide electricity, water storage, and river control to the growing population out West The dam threatened the very idea of National Parks The dam at Hetch Hetchy had set a dangerous precedent and demonstrated that National Parks were vulnerable to development 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Dinosaur National Monument Conflict Opponents of the dam believed that federally protected lands should be off-limits for development They believed Dinosaur National Monument was worth preserving for its intrinsic value alone After much debate, in 1955 the proposed dam was finally defeated in Congress 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62KKE7wTIF0&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7f&index=6https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62KKE7wTIF0&list=PLyUdudULVAFA05VFe3uohXBwq8IlSlb7f&index=6 (22:35-32:45 mins) Do You Agree? Dams should be allowed to be built in National Parks, because they provide us with renewable, non-polluting energy and water for irrigating crops. 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. national park: United States. Map/Still. Britannica Online for Kids. Web. 19 Oct http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/art Conservation in Mid-20 th Century President Roosevelt Civilian Conservation Corps Provided 500,000 conservation- based jobs during the Great Depression 1935, the Soil Conservation Service was created in response to the Dust Bowl Aldo Leopold, 1933, Game Management 1949, A Sand County Almanac Land Ethic defined a new relationship between people and nature 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Land Ethic The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land. This sounds simple: do we not already sing our love for and obligation to the land of the free and the home of the brave? Yes, but just what and whom do we love? Certainly not the soil, which we are sending helter-skelter downriver. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no function except to turn turbines, float barges, and carry off sewage. Certainly not the plants, of which we exterminate whole communities without batting an eye. Certainly not the animals, of which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most beautiful species. A land ethic of course cannot prevent the alteration, management, and use of these resources, but it does affirm their right to continued existence, and, at least in spots, their continued existence in a natural state. In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such. 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Conservation in Mid-20 th Century Wallace Stegner, 1962, Wilderness Essay We simply need that wild country available to us, even if we never do more than drive to its edge and look in. For it can be a means of reassuring ourselves of our sanity as creatures, a part of the geography of hope. 1964, Stegner influenced the creation of the Wilderness Actrness-act (video)rness-act 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Wilderness Act Wilderness areas" represent the nation's highest form of land protection no roads, vehicles or permanent structures are allowed in designated wilderness Today, the wilderness system contains nearly 110 million acres of land Upon signing the Wilderness Act, President Johnson said: "If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt, we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it." 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Rachel Carson (19071964) 1962, Silent Spring Awareness about DDT and other pesticides Systems perspective Changes or activities in one place can impact environmental conditions in distant places or in the future Ex: Inuit people living in the remote Arctic have some of the highest levels of PCB, DDT, and mercury contamination in the world These toxic chemicals were produced thousands of miles away and often decades ago Inuit people eat a diet high in sea mammal fat, which accumulates many of these toxins 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Paul Ehrlich (1932 present) 1968, Paul Ehrlich wrote The Population Bomb Hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death, and it was too late to do anything about it. The cancer of population growth must be cut out, by compulsion if voluntary methods fail. Julian Simon, 19321998 Criticized Ehrlich as a doomsayer Argued that mankind would rise to any challenges and problems by devising new technologies to not only cope, but thrive 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The Environmental Moveme nt Environmentalists are people who are concerned about the environment Environmental movement 1970, First Earth Day Nelson and Hayes organized it 1990, Think globally, act locally 2000, Clean Energy Now Wangari Maathai Greenbelt Movement in Kenya Awarded the Noble Peace Prize 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. EnviroDiscovery: Environmental Literacy Environmental education Critical to appropriate decision making Required in most states during elementary education American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment Climate Adaptation and Mitigation e-Learning portal Roots and Shoots program 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Legislation 1970, Environmental Protection Agency 1970, National Environmental Policy Act NEPA requires the federal government to consider the environmental impact of proposed actions Must develop environmental impact statements (EISs) Established the Council on Environmental Quality 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Legislation An EIS must answer a number of critical questions Major projects go through extensive review processes 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Legislation Environmental regulations Clean Air Act Clean Water Act Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) EPA part of the executive branch Office of Management and Budget assesses anticipated environmental impact of new regulations Implementation and enforcement of regulations are at the state level States report back to EPA 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Legislation Accomplishments Since major environmental laws Endangered species, clean water, energy conservation, pesticides 15 national parks (109 million acres) Soil erosion reduced by 60% Many endangered species are recovering 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. EPAs Report on the Environment Pollution control efforts through legislation have been particularly successful Between , total emissions of the six principle air pollutants (CO, NO x, Pb, VOC, PM, SO 2 ) dropped by 63% 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Economics Economics Study of how people use limited resources to satisfy unlimited wants Supply and demand determine prices Hibernia oil platform on the Grand Banks Economies depend on natural environment Sources for raw materials Sinks for waste products Natural capital Resources and processes that sustain living organisms Resource degradation Overuse of sources Pollution Overuse of sinks 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental InSight: Economics and the Environment National income accounts Total income of goods and services for a given year Genuine progress indicator Human development and natural capital depletion 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Natural Resource Depletion GDP = NDP + depreciation -NDP is a measure of net production of an economy, after a deduction for used-up capital Costs and benefits of pollution control -Incorporate resource depletion and pollution into national income accounting Support for replacing GDP and NDP with accounting that includes environmental cost of economic activities 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. An Economists View of Pollution One cause of pollution is the failure to include external costs in the prices of goods -Resources removed from the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, for example, would not be reflected in final cost -Encourages pollution -A common external cost is air pollution released from burning fossil fuels 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Environmental Economics An economists view of pollution External costs Harmful environmental cost, borne by people not directly involved in selling or buying the product For example, the pollution released when fossil fuels are burned and pollution released to transport a product Encourages pollution If full cost were added, people might not purchase such products 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. How Much Pollution is Acceptable? Trade-off between protecting environmental quality and producing more goods Involves balancing marginal cost (added cost per unit) of pollution and the marginal cost of pollution abatement As pollution levels rise, the cost of damage increases sharply 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Marginal Cost of Pollution Abatement The added cost of reducing one unit of a given type of pollution Cost rises as the level of pollution declines Why is there a downward slope associated with marginal cost abatement? When does marginal cost of pollution equal marginal cost of abatement? 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Cost-Benefit Diagram Marginal cost of pollution and abatement plotted together on one graph Point of intersection represents optimum amount of pollution Used to determine costs of implementing beneficial actions 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Economic Strategies for Pollution Control Command and control regulations Pollution control laws that work by setting limits on levels of pollution Require a specific method of pollution control Or, setting a quantitative goal Incentive-based regulation Pollution control laws that establish emission targets and provide incentives to reduce emissions 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Incentive-Based Regulations Environmental taxes Polluter gets taxed for polluting but amount difficult to set Tradable permits (cap and trade) Sets limit for allowable amount of pollution Companies who pollute less can sell their pollution rights to others 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. Case Study: Tradable Permits and Acid Rain EPA regulated sulfur emissions in the 1970s and 1980s Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 Cap and trade system Tradable sulfur emissions permits to reduce acid rain Not as successful with water pollution Encourages adopting a variety of technologies to reduce sulfur emissions 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.