| Term | Definition |
|---|
| pollution: air, water, land. depletion: species and habitat, fossil fuels and minerals, water. rising population | Threats to the environment |
| Has existed since the industrial revolution, Has increased exponentially as more countries industrialize, Affects: Human health, vegetation, construction material, other species, general enjoyment of living, global environment | Pollution: Air |
| Businesses treated air and water as free goods- they used these but did not pay for them, Businesses also treated the environment as 'unlimited' they could keep using it without running out of it , Pollution also caused by individual human action- for eg, human wastes, automobiles, garbage etc , All this aggravated by our tendency to concentrate living in cities | Historic relationship between Business and the environment |
| Our habitat is an interrelated and interdependent set of organisms and environments , Business firms are parts of the larger ecological system , Non human parts of the environment deserve to be preserved for their own sake, regardless of whether this benefits human beings | Ecological Ethics |
| Examples: Ban on timber industry on northern California to save habitat of spotted owl, global ban on most whaling. More radical actions: Earth First drives nails into trees to prevent logging, Animal Rescue raids and 'frees' animals used for research and testing cosmetics, Is it right to raise animals in crowded and painful circumstances ( cows, pigs and chicken) so that we get more meat for cheap? | Ecological Ethics (2) |
| On what basis do non-humans have the same rights as humans? Why do we need to keep the natural environment as it is? What is more useful- oil that we can use or oil that remains underground? | Criticism of Ecological Ethics |
| The possession of a livable environment is something to which every human being has a right, This imposes on others the duty not to interfere in the exercise of that right, Utilitarians see environmental problems as market defects, arguing that pollution should be avoided because it harms society | Environmental Ethics |
| Private costs are costs an individual or firm pays out of its own pocket to produce a commodity. Social costs include private costs and the costs that the firm does not pay–for .e.g.. the costs of pollution and medical care that result from the manufacture of the commodities. The divergence between the two means that price no longer accurately reflects all of the costs of a commodity. This means that resources are not being allocated efficiently, and society's welfare consequently declines. | Private and Social Costs |
| Internalize the costs of pollution, ensuring that the producer pays all of the real costs of production 1. a firm may be required to pay all those harmed by pollution, or 2. Installing pollution control devices, stopping pollution at the source 3.Problems: Legal and administrative costs | Remedies for external cost |
| Pollution's external costs are largely borne by the poor, pollution produces a net flow of benefits away from the poor and towards the rich. Internalizing these costs can reverse this flow. However, if a firm makes basic goods, such as food, then internalizing costs may place a heavier burden on poorer people Also consistent with retributive and compensatory justice | Internalizing costs and Justice |
| For a just distribution of costs and benefits: 1.the costs of pollution control should be borne by those who cause pollution and who have benefited from pollution activities, 2. the benefits of pollution control should flow to those who have had to bear the external costs of pollution 3.Internalizing costs helps achieve this | Internalizing costs and Justice(2) |
| Can a firm invest too much in pollution control? Guidelines for cost benefit analysis for pollution control: Identify costs and benefits, including transfers -Evaluate costs and benefits in terms of their value to recipients -Add up costs and benefits to determine net social benefit Social Audit- A report of social costs and benefits of a firms activities | Cost Benefit Analysis of Pollution Control |
| Environmental crises we face are rooted in the social systems of hierarchy and domination in our broader society -One group holds power over another and gets them to serve their ends -This includes things like racism, sexism, class system, property rights, capitalism, bureaucracy -Until those patterns of hierarchy and domination are changed, we will be unable to deal with environmental crises | Social Ecology |
| Ecological crises are related to a system of hierarchy that is based on domination of women by men -There is a parallel between the domination of nature and the domination of women -Destruction of this hierarchy will rescue nature too -Replace with a caring approach for nature | Ecofeminism |
| Saving or rationing of natural resources for later use -Generally, conservation refers to the saving of finite, depletable resources -If future generations have an equal right to the world's resources, then by depleting them we are stealing what is actually theirs | Conservation |
| Exist only in imagination -Should we sacrifice our civilization for their sake? -Rights exist to protect interests. Do we know what their interests are? | Do future generations have a 'right' to the world's resources? |
| It is unjust to impose heavy burdens on present generations for the sake of the future, it is also unjust for present generations to leave nothing for the future -Put ourselves in their place, leave what we would like them to have left for us -We hand over to our children a world in no worse condition than the one we received ourselves | Rawls on Future Generations |
| Can economic growth actually be sustained? -Finite resources are being depleted at an increasing rate. What happens if/when they run out? -What about the distribution of these resources? 6 % of the world population use 25% of energy supplies; 50% live on less than 8% | Economic Growth |
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