ENVS 101

http://faculty.winthrop.edu/bollingerm

Environmental science

Environmental studies

Interdisciplinary!

Population changes over time

Hunter gatherers Agricultural revolution (~10,000

years ago) Industrial revolution (mid-1700s)

Limited Resources

Garrett Hardin – “Tragedy of the Commons” (1968)

Ecological footprints Renewable vs. nonrenewable

resources

Ecological footprint

Environmental ethics

Values

Anthropocentrism, biocentrism, ecocentrism

Preservation vs. conservation

Environmental justice

Sustainability

Preservation

Fundamental right of all organisms to exist

Protect environment in a pristine, unaltered state

John Muir

Conservation

Put natural resources to use

Manage resources wisely Greatest good for

greatest number of people for longest time

Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold

Economics

Subsistence vs. capitalism

Supply and demand

Cost-benefit analyses should Include

ecosystem services and other externalities

Is economic growth sustainable?

Environmental policies

Problem solving Examples from the United States

Federal vs. state level International policies depend on

customs and conventions

Policy development in US

Identify problem and its cause Identify a solution and organize Get access to policymakers Laws established by Congress and

President Administrative agency establishes

regulations and monitors compliance

US balance of power

Legislative branch Executive branch Judicial branch

Power of states?

United States examples

Westward expansion and exploitation

Preservation vs. conservation

Responses to pollution problems

Early Phase in US (1)

Driven by desire for westward expansion

From 1780s until late 1800s Western lands are infinite and

uninhabited?

Second phase in US: Preservation and Conservation

Late 1800s until now Correct some problems caused by

westward expansion Mitigation of exploitation

Preservation and conservation (2) First national park (1872)

Forest reserve system (1891)

First national wildlife refuge (1903)

Soil conservation laws during Dust Bowl (1930s)

Wilderness Act of 1964: “untrammeled by man”

Third phase in US: Response to pollution problems

Silent Spring and burning of Cuyahoga River

National Environmental Policy Act (1970)Creation of environmental agencyRequirement of Environmental Impact Statements for federal projects

Environmental Protection Agency established in 1970 – subsumed many agencies

Third phase or modern environmentalism Fight pollution and its effects Human health Environmental justice movement Many famous environmentalists Intervention in regulatory hearings,

books, mass media campaigns, law suits and litigation

Enforcing a policy

Command and control Economic incentives

Tax breaks or subsidiesGreen taxes (polluter pays)Cap and trade (tradable pollution

permits)Local incentives (tax breaks for water

efficient appliances, waste disposal penalties, for instance)

International environmental policies

System of conventions or treaties Pay attention to customs Powerful organizations

UN, World Bank, European Union, World Trade Organization, Non-governmental organizations (Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, for example)

Global environmentalism

Famous photo of Earth from space Activities primarily through United

Nations Links between poverty, oppression,

exploitation of humans, exploitation of environment

Earth Rise