Economics, Politics, Worldviews

and the Environment

Chapter 14
Economic Resources

• Capital
• Natural resources
• Human resources
• Physical resources
Neoclassical vs. Ecological
Economists

• Differing views of natural resources

• Differing views on economic growth
• “Eco-economy”
• indicators of economic and environmental health
• full-cost pricing
• swap subsidies
• green taxes
• stricter pollution laws
• tradable permits
• reduce poverty
Monitoring Environmental Progress

• Gross domestic
product (GDP)
• Per capita GDP
• Genuine progress
indicator (GPI)
• GPI = GDP + non-
economic goods and
services – harmful
costs
Harmful External Costs and Full-
Cost Pricing
• Internal costs (direct)
• External costs (indirect)
• Full-cost pricing
Improving Environmental Quality
and Shifting to Full-Cost Pricing
• Government subsidies and tax breaks
• Green taxes
• Environmental tax reform
• Innovation-friendly regulations
• Tradable pollution and resource-use rights
• Market forces
Reducing Poverty to Improve Environmental
Quality and Human Well-Being

• Poverty
• Premature death and
health problems
• Environmental impact
of poverty
• Role of the World Bank
• Poor help themselves
Developing, Influencing, and
Implementing Environmental Policy
• Humility Principle
• Reversibility Principle
• Precautionary Principle
• Prevention Principle
• Polluter Pays Principle
• Integrative Principle
• Public Participation Principle
• Human Rights Principle
• Environmental Justice Principle
Opponents of Environmental Groups
and their Claims
• Threatened by environmental regulations
• Threats to private property rights and jobs
• Local and state governments resent
unfunded federal regulations
• Businesses and individuals resent complex
and expensive federal regulations
• View environmental regulations as
unnecessary, ineffective and too costly
Global Environmental Policy

• Military security, economic security

• Environmental security
• International organizations and meetings
• International agreements
• Effects of GATT and the WTO
 What Can You Do?
Influencing Environmental Policy

• Become informed on issues

• Run for office (especially at local level)
• Make your views known at public hearings
• Make your views known to elected representatives
• Contribute money and time to candidates for office
• Vote
• Form or join nongovernment organizations (NGOs)
seeking change
• Support reform of election campaign financing
Environmental Worldviews in Industrial
Societies
• Self-centered
• Anthropocentric
• Biocentric
• Ecocentric
• Biosphere- or earth-centered
Environmental Worldviews in Industrial
Societies
Planetary Management Worldview

• As the planet’s most important species, we

are in charge of the earth.
• Because of our ingenuity and technology we
will not run out of resources.
• The potential for economic growth is
essentially unlimited.
• Our success depends on how well we
manage the earth’s life-support systems
mostly for our benefit
Stewardship Worldview

• We are the planet’s most important species but we

have an ethical responsibility to care for the rest of
nature.
• We will probably not run out of resources, but they
should not be wasted.
• We should encourage environmentally beneficial
forms of economic growth and discourage
environmentally harmful forms.
• Our success depends on how well we manage the
earth’s life-support systems for our benefit and for
the rest of nature
Environmental Wisdom Worldview

• Nature exists for all species and we are not in

charge of the earth.
• Resources are limited, should not be wasted, and
are not all for us.
• We should encourage earth-sustaining forms of
economic growth and discourage earth degrading
forms.
• Our success depends on learning how the earth
sustains itself and integrating such lessons from
nature into the ways we think and act.