Environmental Ethics - IIT Kanpur 7_Environmental... · Environmental Ethics - the study of ethical...

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Principles of Environmental Principles of Environmental ManagementManagement

CE 667

Dr Vinod TareDr Vinod TareProfessorProfessor

Environmental Engineering and ManagementEnvironmental Engineering and ManagementDepartment of Civil EngineeringDepartment of Civil Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology KanpurIndian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Environmental Ethics

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Instructor:Dr Vinod Tare

CE 667Principles of Environmental Management

How we treat the environment is a function ofHow we view the environment.

Culture – which influences our thinking through:

Knowledge

Beliefs

Values

How we view the environment is a function of:

Worldview – A comprehensive view of the world and human life -person’s or group’s beliefs about the meaning, purpose, operation and essence of the world.



One’s Worldview is influenced by

Environmental ethics

Classical economics and the environment

Economic growth and sustainability

Environmental and ecological economics

Religion

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Ethics is the study of good and bad, right and wrong.

Ethical Standards – criteria that help differentiate right from wrong. Examples?

Environmental Ethics - the study of ethical questions regarding human interactions with the environment




People with different Worldviews and Cultures may have different values and hence, their actions toward the environment may differ.

There are two possible types of ethicists:

Relativists - Ethics should and do vary with social context.

Universalists - Objective notions of right and wrong exist across all cultures and situations.

Culture and worldview affect perception of the environment and environmental problems.

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Some questions in environmental ethics

Should the present generation conserve resources for future generations?

Is it OK to destroy a forest to create jobs for people? Is it OK for some communities

to be exposed to more pollution than others?

Are humans justified in driving other species to extinction?

The answers depend, in part, upon the ethical standard you choose to use.



The History of Environmental EthicsExpansion of ethical consideration over time

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Early environmental ethics The roots of environmental ethics are ancient.

The modern urge for environmental protection grew with problems spawned by the industrial revolution.



“People have a right to what they produce themselves, butman has another right, declared by the fact of his existence—the right to use of so much of the free gifts of nature as maybe necessary to supply all the wants of that existence, andwhich he may use with interference with the equal rights ofanyone else; and to this he has title against all the world.”

Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1874

Environmental ethics: Some Quotes

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“According to the Public Trust Doctrine, the public ownscommon or shared environments—air, waters, dunes,tidelands, underwater lands, fisheries, shellfish beds, parksand commons, and migratory species. . . . These things ‘areso particularly the gifts of nature’s bounty that they ought to bereserved for the whole of the populace.’

(Joseph L. Sax, 1970).”




"The people have a right to clean air, pure water and tothe preservation of the natural, scenic, historic andaesthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvania'spublic natural resources are the common property of allthe people, including generations yet to come.”

~ Article 1, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution


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Three ethical worldviews

A human centered view ofnature. Anything notproviding positive benefitto people is considered ofnegligible value.



All life has ethical standing,and any actions taken considerthe effects on all living things,or the biotic world in general. .

Three ethical worldviewsThree ethical worldviews

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Considers the integrity ofecological systems – not justindividual animals (or species).Recognizes the need topreserve not just entities, butalso their relationships witheach other.

Three ethical worldviews



Economics

Economics studies how people use resources to providegoods and services in the face of variable supply anddemand.

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Ethics and economics

Both disciplines deal with how we value and perceive our environment.

These influence our decisions and actions.



Economics and the environment

Most environmental and economic problems are linked. Why?

The root “eco” gave rise to both ecology and economics.

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Classical economics

Adam Smith: Competition between people free topursue their own economic self-interest will benefitsociety as a whole (assuming rule of law, privateproperty, competitive markets).

This idea is a pillar of free-market thought today.

It is blamed by many for economic inequality and thesource of environmental degradation.



Neoclassical economics - Focuses on supply and demand.

An economic good or service can be defined as anything that is scarce.

Scarcity exists when the demand for an economic good exceeds its supply.

Supply is the amount of a good or service people are willing to sell at a given price.

Demand is the amount of a good or service that consumers are willing and able to buy at a given price.

The price of a good or service is its monetary value.

What determines the price is the relationship between supply and demand.

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The market favors equilibrium between supply and demand.



Assigning value to natural resources

The value assigned to natural resources is based on perception of scarcity.

What are you willing to pay for?

What are you not willing to pay for?

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Conventional view of economic activity

Conventional economics focuses on interactions betweenhouseholds and businesses; views the environment only asan external “factor of production.”



Ecosystem goods and services

Natural resources are “goods” we get from our environment.

“Ecosystem services” that nature performs for free include:

Soil formation

Water purification

Climate regulation

Pollination

Nutrient cycling

Waste treatment

etc.

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Estimates of various Ecosystem ServicesValue in trillion $

Soil Formation 17.1

Recreation 3.0

Nutrient cycling 2.3

Water regulation & Supply 2.3

Climate regulation 1.8

Habitat 1.4

Flood & storm protection 1.1

Food and raw materials 0.8

Genetic Resources 0.8

Atmospheric gas balance 0.7

Pollination 0.4

All other services 1.6

Total value of ecosystem services $33.3 Trillion dollars (average)

Global GNP is ~ $18 Trillion/year

Costanza et al. 1997. Nature



Precepts of neoclassical economics Resources are infinite or substitutable.

All of Earth’s resources are limited.

Even unlimitless ones are limiting if we use them at a rate faster than they can renew.

e.g. Topsoil, fossil fuels.

Long-term effects are discounted.

The depletion of resources will happen in the distant future –no worries.

Events in the future are discounted.

Items in the present are worth more than items in the future.

It is better to acquire resources now while they are worth more than to let them sit and use them later.

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Precepts of neoclassical economics Costs and benefits are internal.

The costs of any transaction are experienced only by the buyer and the seller and other members of society are not affected.

But pollution from a factory can harm people living nearby; The cost of cleaning up (stream) pollution might be born not by the buyer and seller, but by the taxpayer.

An example of a cost that has not been accounted for, and a cost that is external to the transaction.

In this case, since it costs taxpayers to clean-up pollution, this is a negative external cost.

Growth is good.

Economic growth is required to keep employment high and maintain social order (keep the working masses happy).

Each of these can contribute to environmental problems.

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