Unit 11- Environmental Ethics and Economics

Question 1

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK):

Answer 1

• Also known as indigenous ecological knowledge
• Intimate knowledge of a particular environment possessed and passed along by those who have inhabited an area for many generations
i.e. medicinal properties of plants

Question 2

Categorical Imperative Ethics:

Answer 2

• “Golden rule”

Do unto other as you would have other do unto you

Question 3

Utilitarian Principle:

Answer 3

• Something is right when it produces the greatest practical benefits for the most people
i.e. forests should be conserved because they might be a cure for cancer within it, rather than because it has intrinsic value

Question 4

Environmental Ethics- Questions:

Answer 4

• Does the present generation have an obligation to conserve resources for future generations
• Are there situations that justify exposing some communities to pollution
Are humans justified in driving species to extinction or causing permanent changes in ecological systems

Question 5

Sustainable Development:

Answer 5

Ability to meet current needs without compromising the availability of natural resources or quality of life for future generations

Question 6

Anthropocentrism:

Answer 6

• Nonhuman entities do not have rights

Measures costs and benefits of actions solely to their impact on people

Question 7

Biocentrism:

Answer 7

• All living things have rights

Evaluates actions in terms of their overall impact on living things, including, but not exclusively focusing on humans

Question 8

Ecocentrism:

Answer 8

• Judges actions in terms of their benefit or harm to the integrity of whole ecological systems, which consist of biotic and abiotic elements and the relationships among them
• Value well being of entire species, communities, or ecosystems over the welfare of a given individual
Holistic perspective- preserving the entire system will protect its components

Question 9

Preservation Ethic:

Answer 9

• We should protect the natural environment in a pristine, unaltered state
• Embodies both anthropocentism and ecocentrism values
Nature has its own inherent value, but also plays a role in human happiness and fulfillment

Question 10

Conservation Ethic:

Answer 10

• Humans should put natural resources to use, but we also have the responsibility to manage them wisely
Promotes conservation of resources for the benefit of future generations, rather than because they have intrinsic value

Question 11

Deep Ecology:

Answer 11

Awareness that humans are inseparable from nature, and that all living things have equal value, so we should protect all living things as we would protect ourselves

Question 12

Ecofeminism:

Answer 12

• Patriarchal structure causes environmental problems

Interrelationships and cooperation is more compatible with nature than a world based on hierarchies and competition

Question 13

Economics:

Answer 13

• Study of how people decide to use scarce resources to provide goods and services in the face of demand for them
  
  • Environmental problems are economic problems that can intensify as population and resource consumption increase

Question 14

Ecosystem Services:

Answer 14

• Essential services that sustain the life that makes our economic activity possible
  
  • Ie. Trees purify air

Question 15

Cost-Benefit Analysis:

Answer 15

• Estimated costs for a proposed action are totaled and compared with the sum of benefits anticipated to result from the action
• If total benefits exceed costs, action should be pursued
• If costs exceed benefits, action should not be pursued
Controversial because environmental costs/benefits can be hard to quantified

Question 16

Valuation:

Answer 16

Attempt to quantify the value of a particular environmental good or service, even if it cannot be easily expressed in monetary terms

Question 17

Contingent Valuation:

Answer 17

Use of surveys to determine how much people are wiling to pay to protect a resource or to restore it after damage has been done

Question 18

Economy

Answer 18

Social system that converts resources into goods (material commodities) and services (work done for others)

Question 19

Subsistence Economy

Answer 19

Meeting daily needs directly from nature, and do not purchase or trade for most of life’s necessities

Question 20

Capitalist Market Economy

Answer 20

Buyers and sellers interact to determine which goods and services to produce, how much to produce, and how these should be produced and distributed

Question 21

State Socialist/ Centrally Planned Economies

Answer 21

Government determines in a top down manner how to allocate resources

Question 22

Mixed economies

Answer 22

○ Mix of market and socialist economies
Government intervention to eliminate unfair advantages held by monopoly buyers or sellers, providing social services, manage commonly owned resources..etc