Chapter 3

1600 1700 1800 1900

Manifest Destiny

1750 1800 1900

Some conservationists were influential in raising environmental concerns later in this period.

John James Audubon

Henry David Thoreau

George Perkins Marsh

1850 1900 1950

Several presidents, particularly Theodore Roosevelt, used this Act to establish 43 million acres of forest reserves.

General Revision Act

1st National Park: Yellowstone

Yosemite and Sequoia National

Parks

1850 1900 1950

Different worldviews

•Theodore Roosevelt – Utilitarian/ Conservationsist

John Muir – Preservationist/ Pristine

1916 – national Park Service Created

1906 – Antiquities Act – set aside national monument sites

1900 1950 2000

Franklin Roosevelt establishes CCC and

SCS-Job creator during Great Depression

Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac published posthumously

1900 1950 2000

Rachel Carson published Silent Spring

1900 1950 2000

Paul Ehrlich published The Population Bomb

Wilderness Act of 1964, spurred on by

Wallace Stegner

First Earth Day

National Environmental Policy Act –dictates ALL federally proposed actions draft an environmental impact statement.

Addressing New Environmental Problems with Government Policies

Problem identified

Regulations implemented / enforced by

states (usually)

US congressperson drafts legislation

Legislation passed, signed

by president

Full-cost accounting evaluation

EPA develops regulations

Public comments

OMB reviews / approves funding

What has been their effect since 1970?

•8 National Parks, National Wilderness Preservation System

•Substantial soil erosion reduction

•Many endangered species fairing better

Emissions of many pollutants reduced

Source

Raw Materials

Economy

Production Consumption

Products

Money

Sinks

Waste

Economics – the study of how people use their limited resources to try to satisfy their unlimited wants

- SUPPLY and DEMAND- A source is that part of the natural

environment from which materials or made from (wood, oil, etc.) and a sink is a part of the environment that receives an input of materials (pollution)

- Resource degradation is the overuse of sources, and pollution is the overuse of sinks

External Cost or Negative Externality – when consumption or production of a product has a harmful side effect for people not involved in the market exchange of the product.

Most of the time the cost of the product does not include pollution costs.

Failure to add the price of environmental damage to the cost of products generates a market force that increases pollution

Marginal cost of pollution

Marginal cost of pollution abatement

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Optimum amount of Pollution – the amount of pollution that is economically most desirable

2 Major Flaws in this concept – 1.It is difficult to determine the true cost of

environmental damage by pollution. Natural Beauty, health costs, etc.

2. The risks of unanticipated environmental catastrophe are not taken into account. How many people or species are at risk?

On December 3, 1984, at least 27 tons of methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, immediately killing at least 3,800 people and causing significant morbidity and premature death for many thousands more.

Union Carbide Corporation involved in what became the worst industrial accident in history immediately tried to dissociate itself from legal responsibility. Eventually it reached a settlement with the Indian Government through mediation of that country's Supreme Court and accepted moral responsibility. It paid $470 million in compensation,

Command and control regulations – pollution control laws that work by setting limits on levels of pollutionEmission Charge ( a tax on pollution)

Incentive Based Regulation – pollution control laws that work by establishing emission targets and providing industries with incentives to reduce emissionsMarketable waste-discharge permits ( Emission Reduction Credits –ERC)

Case-in-Point: Forest in the Pacific Northwest

Northwest Forest Plan-balance between environmental and timber interests.

Consists of bordering regions of former East Germany, Czech Republic and Poland

Water was so poisoned by raw sewage and chemicals that it could not be used for industrial purposes, let alone for drinking

Dumpsites leaked unidentified chemicals, poisoning fruits and vegetables

Power plants emitted soot and sulfur dioxideThe average Eastern European lived 11 years less

than the average western EuropeanThe environment is slowly improving by moving

toward a market economy and away from a communist economy