powerpoint ® lecture prepared by gary a. beluzo a sustainable future will business as usual get us...
TRANSCRIPT
PowerPoint® Lecture prepared by Gary A. Beluzo
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Will Business as Usual Get Us There?
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Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of efforts to reduce environmental impacts by focusing on scale or efficiency.
• Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of efforts to reduce environmental impacts using market based mechanisms versus command and control strategies.
• Discuss the degree to which an environmental Kuznets curve implies that economic growth can increase affluence and reduce environmental impacts.
• Discuss whether a slowing in population growth sets the stage for economic development or whether the opposite is the case.
• Explain how biogeochemical cycles can be used to assess the sustainability of economic activities.
After reading this chapter, students will be able to
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Behind the Headlines: Drilling for Oil in ANWR• Politicians tend to frame
issues as a battle between the “good guys” and “bad guys”.
• Both sides exaggerate and use labels
• “Anti-growth Preservationists” who value Caribou more than jobs
• “Tools of the Oil Industry” unconcerned about the environment.
• A False Dichotomy
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
The Geography of Alaskan Oil
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Understanding Possible Solutions
• Efficiency gains reduce environmental degradation
• Reducing scale of economic activity reduces environmental degradation
Energy = Energy * GDPGDP
• Policies that focus on efficiency seek to reduce the amount of energy used to produce an inflation corrected dollar’s worth of GDP
• Policies that focus on scale seek to reduce GDP
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
The Parable of the Plimsoll Line
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Efficiency• Internalizing Externalities
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Efficiency
• Working with the Market
• Eliminating Subsidies
• Personal Choices
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Scale: An Upper Limit on Size and Economic Well-Being?
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Oil Balances in China
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Chinese Meat Consumption
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China’s Crude Birth Rate
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Environmental Kuznets Curve
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Sulfur Emissions, Scale vs. Emissions
Copyright © 2007 McGraw-Hill Publishing Company
Operationalizing the Precautionary Principle
• Society should err on the side of caution
• Should avoid actions that have potential to cause large irreparable environmental damage
• Society currently acts in nearly the opposite way
• Current generation must pay the potential cost to future generations
• Assurance Bonding