Ecologism Introduction Relationship between humans & nature? Motivated by Environmental Crises Climate change, pollution, resource depletion, species decline/loss, & nuclear weapons Deep Ecology (Ecologism) vs. Shallow Ecology (Environmentalism)
Carolina Parakeet cocklebur
Shallow Ecology: Environmentalism Human Centered Matters because of impact on humans Operates from self-interest Enlightenment View Compatible with other ideologies
Why Humans Should Care: Water Water Pollution: Drinking Water Cost of purification Poisoning fish as food supply Water for agriculture
Why Humans Should Care: Air Pollution Poor air quality human health problems Asthma, etc. Acid rain Direct physical damage Spreads to water & soil
Why Humans Should Care: Soil Pollution Runoff to water Harms crops Uninhabitable areas Homes & commercial development London Olympic Park
Why Humans Should Care: Biodiversity Loss Plants possible sources for medicine Biodiversity loss disrupts ecological balance Due to: habitat loss; overconsumption; pollutants Invasive species crowd out/kill off native plants & animals Light, water, food, toxins Ex: see pix
Invasives Disrupt “Energy Circuit” Interdependence of biosphere: EX1: Clean streams need plants on banks EX2: Seed dispersal Squirrels & Oaks Giant Ground Sloth & “Hedge Apples” Impact on one impacts the other
Why Should I Care About Biodiversity Loss? Loss of tourism & commercial $ Ex: Asian Carp--TN ($1.3 billion annually) Ex: “weed” trees not functional Harms farmers & hunters Ex: crowding out forage grasses Ex: “Small Game”—Native Grasses Private/public cost of removal /replacement
Invasive Species: Stopping (Plant) Immigration Lack of coordination Ex: KyHighway Dept used invasive plants Public & private spending to remove List of highly invasive species (Link; KDF Link; UK Link) Lowes, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc.
Hardin: Tragedy of the Commons In the example of public grazing land, is it in a rationally self interested herdsman’s interest to increase the size of his flock that is grazing on the public land? Why or why not? If there are multiple herdsmen, is it in their self-interest to reduce their impact on the common land considering others might be maximizing its use?
The Tragedy Continued Thus, prisoner’s dilemma game Short term interest to maximize use of public good before others use up that good Resource depletion Justifies need for societal regulation
Summary Shallow Ecology built on rational self-interest