The Future

Question 1

What are the 2 main values?

Answer 1

Instrumental and Intrinsic.

Question 2

What is an instrumental value?

Answer 2

Conserve the environment as means to an end - using it for food, medicine, energy etc.

Question 3

What is meant by instrumental value?

Answer 3

Conserving the environment as an end to itself - it is valued in its own right for beauty, rarity and cultural qualities.

Question 4

How does the way values are applied affect an individual’s decisions about society?

Answer 4

Nature and social justice are subject to different valuations and these can lead to conflict over the decisions made about them and the need for economic growth.

Question 5

What is the triple bottom line?

Answer 5

Recognises the different values for environment, society and economics.

Question 6

What does the triple bottom line attempt to do?

Answer 6

Recognise the different values for environment, society and economics.

Question 7

How do we value nature?

Answer 7

1. Intrinsically: for its inherent beauty.
2. Hedonically: Aspects of excitement and/or fantasy.
3. Utilitarian: Desire to achieve some practical benefit.
4. Biogenically: To maintain life.

Question 8

Give an example of contested values.

Answer 8

Capel Celyn - where the benefits to Liverpool were ranked as being more important than the costs to Capel.

Question 9

What were the benefits of the Capel Celyn reservoir?

Answer 9

71 million litres of drinking water were provided to Liverpool.

Question 10

What were the costs of the Capel Celyn reservoir?

Answer 10

Twelve houses and farms lost, 48 people’s livelihoods were affected, post office, school and chapel lost.

Question 11

What does the case of the Grand Banks Cod highlight?

Answer 11

Demonstrates the contested character of values of a natural resource versus the values of the resource to society now and in the future.

Question 12

How can we apply instrumental or intrinsic values to the Grand Banks Cod?

Answer 12

Short term instrumental values: employment and income.

Long term intrinsic values: species close to extinction.

Question 13

What is the Grand Banks Cod also an issue of?

Answer 13

A Tragedy of the Commons: unrestricted access to a free resource.

Question 14

What is a monetary valuation?

Answer 14

Allows us to compare different value sets via a single easy to understand metric.

Question 15

What is contingent valuation?

Answer 15

A hypothetical market to measure an individuals’ value of environmental goods/services.

Question 16

What does ‘willingness to accept’ mean?

Answer 16

The amount of money you would be willing to accept as compensation for the reduction or loss of an environment or social commodity.

Question 17

What does ‘willingness to pay’ mean?

Answer 17

The amount of money you would hand over to protect an environmental or social commodity.

Question 18

What is an ‘externality’.

Answer 18

Defined as: something where the costs or benefits resulting from an economic transaction are not reflected by the associated pricing system.

Question 19

What is a ‘positive externality’?

Answer 19

Economic transaction increases the well-being of someone who is neither a buyer nor seller in the transaction.

Question 20

What is a ‘negative externality’?

Answer 20

An economic transaction reduces the well-being of someone who is neither a buyer nor seller n the transaction. E.g. pollution from a power station.

Question 21

What is the externalised cost of climate change?

Answer 21

Melting glaciers, decline crop yields, disease, weather extremes.

Question 22

How does the ‘production approach’ operate?

Answer 22

Uses the production approach to determine price.

1. In a competitive economy every person who has had something to do with the manufacturing process adds their own cost or value before passing it onto the next consumer.
2. This accumulates down the production line, from farmer to grocer.
3. This is the ‘production approach’.

Question 23

Did the willingness to pay outweighs the willingness to accept in the Yangtze River case study?

Answer 23

Economic costs of flooding were $31 billion - caused by deforestation, overgrazing and silt.

Reforestation is worth 3 x as much as the value of timber and resulting grazing and costs only $10 million.

The willingness to pay should have outweighed.

Question 24

What are the internal and external costs of private transport?

Answer 24

Internal: purchase, maintenance, battery and energy.

External costs: air pollution and health.

Question 25

How are extremities distributed spatially and temporally?

Answer 25

Spatial: The geographic location of the cost, the benefit and the decision making.

Temporal: the difference between the time and the benefit is experience and the time at which the cost is experienced.

Question 26

How can we legalise externalities?

Answer 26

Through the use of laws.

Question 27

What are the function of Green Taxes?

Answer 27

Tax internalises the externality in that previous external cost of the activity is now deducted from the profit associated with that activity.

Question 28

What are the issues with Green Taxes?

Answer 28

It’s difficult to determine what the polluting activity is. E.g. is the polluting activity owning a car or driving it?

Question 29

Give an example of an International Environmental Law.

Answer 29

GMO seed contamination; some countries ban the use of GMO seeds; others use GMO and export products resulting from their use.

Question 30

How are international laws decided upon?

Answer 30

1. Identification of Issues.
2. Analysis of Scientific Data.
3. Framework Convention.
4. Protocol.
5. Meeting of Parties.

Question 31

How successful is the law tackling the Ozone Tragedy of the commons?

Answer 31

It is predicted that the Ozone layer will be repaired (to pre 1980 levels) by 2049 in mid latitudes by 2065 over the arctic.

Question 32

What factors influence the interpretation of scientific research to develop policies and guide decision making?

Answer 32

Research, influences, meditation and interpretation.

Question 33

What is the current model of material flow in the product lifecycle?

Answer 33

1. Pre-production.
2. production.
3. Distribution.
4. Use.
5. End of Life.

Question 34

What is meant by “Circular Economy”.

Answer 34

An economic system aimed at minimising waste and making the most of resources e.g. rent a suitcase, carpooling and air bnb.

Question 35

Define what is meant by de-coupling?

Answer 35

An economy that would be able to grow without corresponding increases in environmental pressure.

Question 36

Why is de-coupling needed?

Answer 36

Intensifying global trade in the hope of economic growth implies growing environmental pressures associated with trade activities.

Question 37

What are some pressures involved with economic growth?

Answer 37

Transportation and the release of CO2 emissions and indirect pressures such as growing trade volumes resulting in CO2 emission increases.

Question 38

What are 3 problems for sustainability in the future?

Answer 38

1. Complexity of global environment and social interactions.
2. The number of stakeholders and contested nature of the science.
3. The need or changes in our own patterns of behaviour.

Question 39

What are the 5 stages for society moving towards a more sustainable model?

Answer 39

1. Ignorance.
2. Lack of Interest.
3. Reliance on technology.
4. Towards sustainability.
5. Absolute sustainability.