Chapter 6 - Ethics, Economics, and Sustainable Development

Question 1

culture

Answer 1

the overall ensemble of knowledge, beliefs, values, and learned ways of life shared by a group of people

Question 2

ethics

Answer 2

the academic study of good and bad, right and wrong. the term can also refer to a persons or groups set of moral principles or values

Question 3

relativist

Answer 3

an ethicist who maintains the belief that ethics do and should vary with social context

Question 4

ethical standard

Answer 4

a criterion that helps differentiate right from wrong

Question 5

intrinsic (inherent) values

Answer 5

value ascribed to something for it intrinsic worth; the notion that the thing has a right to exist and is valuable for its own sake

Question 6

worldview

Answer 6

a way of looking at the world that reflects a persons (or groups) beliefs about the meaning, purpose, operation and essence of the world

Question 7

universalist

Answer 7

an ethicist who maintains the belief that their exist objective notions of right and wrong that hold across cultures and situations

Question 8

instrumental value

Answer 8

value ascribed to something for the pragmatic benefits it brings us if we put it to use

Question 9

environmental ethics

Answer 9

the application of ethical standards to environmental questions

Question 10

anthropocentrism

Answer 10

a human-centered view our relationship with the environment

Question 11

ecocentrism

Answer 11

a philosophy that considers actions in terms of their damage or benefits to the integrity of whole ecological systems, including both living and non-living things. for an ecocentrist, the well being of an individual is less important than the long-term well-being of of a larger integrated ecological system

Question 12

transcendentalism

Answer 12

a philosophical movement that flourished in the u.s. in the 1840’s. transcendentalist writers such as Henery david Thoreau, Ralph walda Emerson, and Walt Whitman viewed nature as a manifestation of the divine, championed a spriritual approach to life, and critiqued societies focus on material goods

Question 13

John Muir (1838-1914)

Answer 13

Scottish immigrant to the u.s. who eventually settled in California and made Yosemite valley his wilderness home. today he is strongly associated with the preservation ethic. he argued that naturre deserved protection for its own inherent values (a ecocentric argument) but also claimed that nature facilitated human happiness and fufillment (an anthropocentric argument)

Question 14

Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946)

Answer 14

the forest professionally trained american forester, Pinchot helped establish the u.s. forest service. today he is the person most closely associated with conservation ethic

Question 15

Ralph waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Answer 15

american author, poet, and philosopher who espoused transcendentalism

Question 16

Henery david Thoreu (1817-1862)

Answer 16

american transcendentalist author, poet, and philosopher. his book walden, recording his observations and thoughts while he lived at walden pond away from urban Massachusetts, remains a classic of american literature

Question 17

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Answer 17

american poet who espoused transcendentalism

Question 18

conservation ethic

Answer 18

an ethic holding that people should put natural resources to use but also have a responsibility to manage them wisely

Question 19

preservation ethic

Answer 19

an ethic holding that we should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state

Question 20

economy

Answer 20

a social system that converts resources into goods and services

Question 21

good

Answer 21

a material commodity manufactured for and bought by individuals and businesses

Question 22

service

Answer 22

work done for others as a form of buisness

Question 23

substance economy

Answer 23

a survival economy, one in which people meet most or all of their daily needs directly from nature and do not purchase or trade for most of life’s necessities

Question 24

capitalist market economy

Answer 24

an economy in which buyers and sellers interact to determine which goods and services to produce and how to distribute them

Question 25

centrally planned economy

Answer 25

an economy in which a nations government determines how to allocate resources in a top-down manner. also called a “state socialist economy”

Question 26

mixed economy

Answer 26

an economy that combines elements of a capitalist market economy and a centrally planned economy

Question 27

Adam Smith (1723-1790)

Answer 27

a Scottish philosopher known today as the father of classical economics. he believed that when people are free to pursue their own economic self-interest in a competitive marketplace, the marketplace will behave as if guided by an invisible hand that ensures that their actions will benefit society as a whole

Question 28

classical economics

Answer 28

founded by Adam Smith, the study of the behavior of buyers and sellers in a capitalist market economy. holds that individuals acting in their own self interest may benefit society, provided that their behavior is constrained by the rule of law and and by private property rights and operates within the competitive markets

Question 29

neoclassical economics

Answer 29

a mainstream economic school of thought that explains market prices in terms of consumer preferences for units of particular commodities and that uses cost-benefit analysis

Question 30

biocentralism

Answer 30

a philosophy that ascribes relative values to actions, entities, or properties on the basis of their effects on all living things or on the integrity of the biotic realm in general. the biocentrist evaluates an action in terms of its overall impact on living things, including - but not limited to - human beings

Question 31

cost-benefit analysis

Answer 31

a method commonly used by neoclassical economists, in which estimated costs for a proposed action are totaled and then compared to the sum of benefits estimated to result from the action

Question 32

external cost

Answer 32

a cost borne by someone not involved in an economic transaction. examples include harm to citizens from water or air pollution from nearby factories

Question 33

discounting

Answer 33

a practice in neoclassical economics by which short-term costs and benefits are granted more importance than long term costs and benefits. future effects are thereby “discounted” under the notion that an impact in the future should count much less than the one present

Question 34

economic growth

Answer 34

an increase in an economies activity - that is at is an increase in the production and consumption of goods and services

Question 35

affluenza

Answer 35

term coined by social critics to describe the failure of material goods to bring happiness to people who have the financial means to afford them

Question 36

economic development

Answer 36

improvement in the efficiency of production due o better technologies and approaches that allow us to produce more goods with fewer imput

Question 37

cornucopian

Answer 37

a world-view (or person holding the world view) that we will find ways to make earths natural resources meet all of our needs indefinitely and that human integrity will see us through any difficulty , in greek mythology, cornucopia- literally “horn of plenty”- is the name for a magical goats horn that overflowed with grain, fruit, and flower

Question 38

cassandra

Answer 38

a world-view (or person holding the world view) that predicts doom and disaster as a result of our environmental impacts. in greek mythology, cassandra was the princess of troy with the gift of prophecy, whose dire predictions were not belived

Question 39

environmental economics

Answer 39

a developing school of economics that modifies the principles of neoclassical economics to address environmental challenges. most environmental economists believe that that we can attain sustainability within our current economic systems. whereas ecological economists call for revolution, environmental economics call for reform

Question 40

non market value

Answer 40

a value that is not usually included in the price of a good or service

Question 41

steady-state economy

Answer 41

an economy that does not grow or shrink but remains stable

Question 42

ecological economics

Answer 42

a developing school of economics that applies to the principles of ecology and system thinking to the description and analysis of economics

Question 43

herman daly

Answer 43

contemporary american ecological economist and well-known proponent of a steady-state economy

Question 44

contingent valuation

Answer 44

a technique that uses surveys to determine how much people would be willing to pay to protect a resource or to restore it after damage has been done

Question 45

gross domestic product (GDP)

Answer 45

the total monetary value of final goods and services produced in a country each year. GDP sees all economic activity, whether good or bad, and does not account for benefits such as volunteerism or for extreme costs such as environmental destruction or social upheaval

Question 46

genuine progress indicator (GPI)

Answer 46

an economic indicator that attempts to differentiate between desirable and undesirable economic activity. the GPI accounts for benefits such as volunteering and for costs such as environmental degradation and social upheaval

Question 47

full cost accounting (true cost accounting)

Answer 47

an accounting approach that attempts to summarize all costs and benefits by assigning monetary values to entities without market prices and then generally subtracting costs from benefits. examples include GPI and happy planet index

Question 48

market failure

Answer 48

the failure of markets to take into account the environments positive effects on economies (for example, ecosystem services) or to reflect the negative effects of economics on the environment and thereby on the people (external costs)

Question 49

ecolabelling

Answer 49

the practice of designating on product labels how the product was grown, harvested, or manufactured, so that consumers are aware of the processes involved and can judge which brands use more sustainable processes

Question 50

socially responsible investing

Answer 50

investing companies that have met criteria for environmental or social sustainability

Question 51

greenwashing

Answer 51

a public-relations effort by s corporation or institution to mislead customers or the public into thinking it is acting more sustainable than it actually is

Question 52

triple bottom line

Answer 52

an approach to sustainability that attempts to meet environmental, economic, and social goals simultaneously

Question 53

development

Answer 53

the use of natural resources for economic advancement (as opposed to simple substance or survival)

Question 54

sustainable development

Answer 54

development that satisfies our current needs without compromising the future availability of natural capital or our future quality of life

Question 55

millennium development goals

Answer 55

a program of targets for sustainable development set by the international community through the un at the turn of this century