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Biosphere Ch 5-10 > Chapter 5 > Flashcards

Chapter 5 Flashcards

1
Q

Economy

A

a social system that converts resources into goods and services

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2
Q

Economics

A

the study of how people decide to use potentially scarce resources to provide goods and services that are in demand; study of how people use resources in the face of demand

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3
Q

Capitalist Market (capitalism)

A

free market; determined by the people rather than the government; private buyers and sellers

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4
Q

Centrally Planned

A

socialism; economic decisions made by the state or government rather than interactions between consumers and businesses; i.e. China and North Korea

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5
Q

Mixed Economy

A

Combination of private and public enterprise; features characteristics of both capitalism and socialism; i.e U.S. (army, navy, etc/ hurricane relief/ govt regulation to make things fair)

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6
Q

Classical Economics

A

the study of the behavior of buyers and sellers in a capitalist market economy; founded by Adam Smith

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7
Q

Adam Smith

A

Scottish philosopher’ argued that self-interested economic behavior can benefit society, if the rule of law and private property rights constrains it in a competitive market place; economy led by invisible hand (quote on page 149)

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8
Q

Neoclassical Economics

A

examines consumer choices and explains market prices in terms of our preferences for units of particular commodities; buyers want low price and sellers want high price; more quantitative

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9
Q

Cost-benefit analysis

A

to evaluate a decision; compares estimated costs with the estimated benefits; if costs outweigh/exceed benefits it should not be done; controversial: not all costs and benefits are clear/hard to measure

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10
Q

Demand

A

quantity of a good consumers want at a given price; low price want to buy a lot; high price want to buy little

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11
Q

Supply

A

quantity produced at a given price; high price producers want to produce a lot and low price little quantity

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12
Q

Replacing Resources

A

market imposes no penalties for depleting resources b/c it is assumed that we will always have replacements; run out of oil replace w/ something else, trees replaced with bamboo; assumes all resources are abundant and replaceable

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13
Q

External Costs

A

costs of a transaction that affect people other than the buyer or seller; i.e pollution in factory town in China; external costs tend to affect the poor the most

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14
Q

Discounting

A

in the future something will have less value than in the present; reflects how people value things; present things more important than future things

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15
Q

Growth

A

an increase in an economy’s production and consumption of goods and services; growth=good; criticism: b/c economy is growing doesn’t mean people’s lives are better

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16
Q

Environmental Economics

A

modifies neoclassical economics to address environmental challenges; believes sustainability can be attained within our current economic systems

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17
Q

Ecological Economics

A

applies to ecology; stresses in nature, every population has a carrying capacity and systems are self-renewing cycles; sustainability requires more far-reaching challenges

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18
Q

Steady-state Economy

A

economy that does not grow or shrink but remains stable

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19
Q

Accounting for non-market values

A

may help us make better economic and environmental decisions

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20
Q

Use Value

A

the worth of something we use directly

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21
Q

Existence Value

A

the worth of knowing that something exists even if we never experience it ourselves

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22
Q

Option Value

A

the worth of something we might use later

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23
Q

Aesthetic Value

A

the worth of something’s beauty or emotional appeal

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24
Q

Scientific Value

A

worth of something for research

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25
Q

Cultural Value

A

worth of something that sustains or helps define a culture

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26
Q

Monetizing Natural Resources

A

estimate of the value of the world’s ecosystem services; $143 trillion dollars

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27
Q

Contingent Valuation

A

survey-based economic technique for the valuation of non-market resources, such as environmental preservation or the impact of contamination; how much would you be willing to pay to protect this? may overinflat it

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28
Q

Full Cost Accounting

A

attempts to summarize all costs and benefits by assigning monetary values to entities without market prices and then generally subtracting costs from benefits

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29
Q

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A

Calculating the total monetary value of final goods and services the nation produces each year to assess the nation’s economy; GDP always going up: misleading

30
Q

Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

A

Differentiates between desirable and undesirable economic activity; benefits = volunteering; costs= environmental degradation; GPI more steady/ how people actually feel

31
Q

Policy

A

formal set of general plans and rules intended to guide decision making

32
Q

Public Policy

A

Policy made by the government

33
Q

Environmental Policy

A

Pertains to our interactions with the environment; aims to regulate resource use, reduce pollution, promote human welfare and protect natural resources

34
Q

Tragedy of the Commons

A

when publicly accessible resources are open and unregulated they become exploited and degraded; taking more than your share; forests, fisheries, clean air, clean water

35
Q

Economic rationale to tragedy of the commons

A

you benefit from taking more and negative spread out among everyone; you get the full benefits and cost and spread out

36
Q

Free Riders

A

a party that fails to carry out environmentally responsible activities and relies on others to do so

37
Q

Obstructions to Environmental Policy

A
  • Environmental protection means economic sacrifice
  • Regulations viewed as restrictive, costly
  • time and money lost
  • reviews by government agencies
  • env controls, monitoring and mitigation
  • env problems are long term and that’s not how humans act
  • checks and balances in democracy
38
Q

Role of Science in Policy

A

whether to regulate a substance that may pose public health issues/risk; bill to reduce pollution; impacts of pollution/ benefits from the bill

39
Q

Congressional Legislation

A

laws created by Congress by crafting bills that can become law with the signature of the head executive branch, the president

40
Q

Executive Legislation

A

implements and enforces laws once they are enacted

41
Q

Judicial Interpretations

A

consists of the Supreme Court and various lower courts, interprets law and is an important arena for environmental policy

42
Q

Federal Government

A

divides up power into national and local governments; the three branches

43
Q

State Government

A

shares political power with the federal government

44
Q

Local Government

A

Administration of a particular town, county or district

45
Q

Frontier Expansion and Development

A
  • 1780’s- late 1800’s
  • promoted western settlement and the extraction and use of the continent’s abundant/inexhaustible natural resources
  • General Land Ordinances: govt’s right to manage land it was taking from the Native Americans
  • relieved crowding in Eastern cities
46
Q

Conservation and Preservation

A
  • 1800’s - mid 1900’s
  • emerging conservation and preservation ethics; laws to relieve environmental impacts of westward expansion
  • Yellowstone first national park
  • national park system, forest system and wildlife refugee system
  • understanding that the continent’s resources are exhaustible and required protection
47
Q

Pollution Control

A
  • 1960’s - 1990’s
  • densely populated nation driven by industry and technology and intensive resource consumption
  • Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring: health impacts of pesticides
  • Ohio’s Cuyahoga River fire; so polluted with oil and industrial waste; higher water quality and public health
  • public demand for a cleaner environment during this time
48
Q

Clean Air Act

A
  • 1963
  • amended 1970 and 1990
  • set standards fro air quality, restricts emissions from new sources, citizens can sue violators, funds research
49
Q

Endangered Species Act

A
  • 1973
  • protects species threatened with extinction
  • forbids destruction of habitat, provides funding for recovery efforts
50
Q

Safe Drinking Water Act

A
  • 1974
  • authorizes EPA to set quality standards for tap water provided by public water systems and to work with states to protect drinking water sources from contamination
51
Q

Toxic Substances Control Act

A
  • 1976
  • Directs EPA to monitor thousands of industrial chemicals and gives power to ban those found to pose too much of a health risk
52
Q

Resources Conservation and Recovery Act

A
  • 1976

- sets standards and permitting procedures for the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste

53
Q

Clean Water Act

A
  • 1977
  • regulates discharge of wastes, esp from industry into streams and rivers; aims to protect wildlife and human health and helps clean up U.S. waterways
54
Q

Soil and Water Conservation Act

A
  • 1977
  • directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture to survey and assess soil and water conditions across the nation and prepare conservation plans
  • responds to worsening soil erosion on farms
55
Q

CERCLA (“Superfund”)

A
  • 1980
  • funds the Superfund programs to clean up hazardous waste at the nations most polluted sites; costs were paid by polluters at first but now borne to taxpayers
  • Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act
56
Q

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

A

U.S. law enacted on January 1, 1970 that created an agency called Council on Environmental Quality and required that an environmental impact statement be prepared for any major federal action

57
Q

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

A

a report of results from detailed studies that asses the potential effects on the environment that would likely result from development projects or other actions undertaken by the government

58
Q

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A

conducts and evaluates research, monitors environmental quality, sets and enforces standards, assists states in meeting standards and goals for environmental protection and educates the public

59
Q

Political Backlash

A
  • 1990’s - now
  • environmental issues predominantly Democratic concern
  • bipartisan advances rarely occur and U.S. is not advancing like other countries in regards to the environment
60
Q

Environmental Policy Today

A

focused on sustainability and sustainable development; big issue of global climate change

61
Q

Lawsuits

A
  • how most environmental policy questions were addressed in court before legislation in the 1960s and 1970s
  • people suffering external costs from pollution would sue polluters but with industrialization there was too much
  • legislation and regulation was better
62
Q

Command-and-Control Policy

A

a regulating agency prohibits certain actions or sets rules/standards/limits and threatens punishment for violators; government can regulate emissions

63
Q

Economic Policies (i.e. market based approaches)

A
  • economic policy tools can create financial incentives to promote desired outcomes to encourage entities to generate new and better solutions at lower cost
  • a factory that pollutes less will outcompete the one that pollutes more through permit trading, avoiding green taxes or selling ecolabeled products
  • benefits the public
64
Q

Green Taxes

A

taxes on environmentally harmful activities and products; business is reimbursing the public for environmental damage it causes

65
Q

Subsidies

A

a government giveaway of money or resources that is intended to support or promote an industry or activity; takes many forms and one is a tax break

66
Q

Ecolabeling

A

sellers who use sustainable practices in growing, harvesting or manufacturing products advertise this fact on their labels, hoping to win approval from buyers

67
Q

Emissions trading

A

a government creates a market in permits for the emission of pollutants and companies, utilities or industries then buy and sell permits among themselves

68
Q

Market Incentives

A

rebates to residents who buy water-efficient toilets and appliances, discounts to high-efficiency appliances, etc

69
Q

Sustainable Development

A

economic progress that maintains resources for the future

70
Q

Triple Bottom Line

A

a trio of goals including economic advancement, environmental protection and social equity which will lead to sustainable development

Biosphere Ch 5-10 (5 decks)

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