Chapter 16

Ecologism Introduction

Relationship between humans & nature?

Motivated by Environmental Crises

○ Climate change, pollution, resource

depletion, species decline/loss, & nuclear

weapons

Deep Ecology (Ecologism) vs. Shallow

Ecology (Environmentalism)

Carolina Parakeet

cocklebur

Shallow Ecology:

Environmentalism

Human Centered

Matters because of impact on humans

○ Operates from self-interest

Enlightenment View

Compatible with other ideologies

Why Humans Should Care:

Water Water Pollution:

Drinking Water

Cost of purification

Poisoning fish as food supply

Water for agriculture

Why Humans Should Care: Air

Pollution

Poor air quality human

health problems

Asthma, etc.

Acid rain

Direct physical damage

Spreads to water & soil

Why Humans Should Care:

Soil Pollution

Runoff to water

Harms crops

Uninhabitable areas

Homes & commercial development

○ London Olympic Park

Why Humans Should Care:

Biodiversity Loss

Plants possible sources for medicine

Biodiversity loss disrupts ecological

balance

Due to: habitat loss; overconsumption;

pollutants

Invasive species crowd out/kill off native

plants & animals

○ Light, water, food, toxins

Ex: see pix

Invasives Disrupt “Energy

Circuit” Interdependence of biosphere:

EX1: Clean streams need plants on banks

EX2: Seed dispersal ○ Squirrels & Oaks

○ Giant Ground Sloth & “Hedge Apples”

Impact on one impacts the other

Why Should I Care About

Biodiversity Loss? Loss of tourism & commercial $

Ex: Asian Carp--TN ($1.3 billion annually)

Ex: “weed” trees not functional

Harms farmers & hunters

Ex: crowding out forage grasses

Ex: “Small Game”—Native Grasses

Private/public cost of removal

/replacement

Invasive Species: Stopping

(Plant) Immigration

Lack of coordination

○ Ex: Ky Highway Dept used invasive plants

Public & private spending to remove

List of highly invasive species (Link;

KDF Link; UK Link)

○ Lowes, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.

Hardin: Tragedy of the

Commons In the example of public grazing land, is

it in a rationally self interested

herdsman’s interest to increase the size

of his flock that is grazing on the public

land? Why or why not?

If there are multiple herdsmen, is it in

their self-interest to reduce their impact

on the common land considering others

might be maximizing its use?

The Tragedy Continued

Thus, prisoner’s dilemma game

Short term interest to maximize use of public

good before others use up that good

○ Resource depletion

○ Justifies need for societal regulation

Cooperate Defect

Cooperate 3, 3 0, 5

Defect 5, 0 1, 1

Summary

Shallow Ecology built on rational self-

interest