What does the author mean by the statement "Nearly all environmental policy disputes are,
at heart, contests over values"?
Policy disputes attempt to balance out how we are to morally interact with
the natural world. "...in fact, almost all of them involve a fundamental
disagreement over...
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NRE 381 Exam 1 Questions and Correct
Answers | Latest Update
What does the author mean by the statement "Nearly all environmental policy disputes are,
at heart, contests over values"?
Policy disputes attempt to balance out how we are to morally interact with
the natural world. "...in fact, almost all of them involve a fundamental
disagreement over how humans ought to interact with the natural world"
(2).
Preservationism (1830-1911)
- George Catlin, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir
- "celebrated wild nature as a source of spiritual renewal" (2)
- Wilderness Preservation Act (1964), the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act (1968), and the
National Trails Act (1968).
Conservationism (early 1900s)
- "advocated the prudent use of natural resources"
- Federal government set aside forest reserves
- 1905: created U.S. Forest Service
Postwar environmentalism
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- "More concerned with fighting pollution and protecting biological
diversity than with preserving pristine natural areas or managing natural
resources efficiently"
- Aldo Leopold: Sand County Almanac
- Limits-to-growth thesis, Donella Meadows et all 1972; recognized importance of
relationships and feedback loops in complex systems
---- Human population is outrunning the earth's capacity to support it
Deep ecology
- Ecocentric: treat the world as "an intrinsically dynamic, inter -connected
web of relations in which there are no absolutely discrete entities and no
absolute dividing lines between the living and the nonliving, the animate
and the inanimate, or the human and the nonhuman
- Tests on the premise of "biospherical egalitarianism" - the inherent and equal value of all
living things
- Human quality of life depends on maintaining a deep connection to, rather than simply a
respectful relationship with, other forms of life
What values and beliefs characterize the cornucopian perspective?
Unlike environmentalists, cornucopians place a preeminent value on
economic growth; suggests abundance, even limitlessness. Believe that
environmental restrictions threaten their economic well -being or the
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economic health of their community. Also fear that such restrictions entail
unacceptable limits by government on individual freedom.
Technological optimism
Cornucopians have boundless confidence in humans' ability to devise
technological solutions to resource shortages (Julian Simon, Herman Kahn)
Individual liberty
- The freedom to do as one wishes without interference
- Criticize environmental regulations not only for limiting individual freedom but also for taking
out of the economy resources that would otherwise be used productively
Free-market environmentalism
- They propose that the best way to protect the environment is to ensure
that individuals can pursue material prosperity
- The role of government is to assign property rights in the earth's resources and let the market
dictate allocations of the goods and services that flow from these resources
What are some policy issues on which there are relatively small differences in the values of
environmentalists and cornucopians? On what issues are the differences in values relatively
large?
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- The schism between environmentalists and cornucopians arises out of
different worldviews
- Environmentalists range from those who believe that all life has value to those who yearn for
simpler, less harried times to those with practical concerns about the impact of pollution on
human health or quality of life
- Similar variation among cornucopians: some place a higher value on economic growth than
they do on the aesthetic or moral importance of the natural world; others are avid outdoor
enthusiasts who simply have more faith in individuals' than in government's ability to protect
natural amenities.
What does Layzer mean by the term problem definition? Why is establishing the dominant
problem definition an important objective for advocates on either side of an environmental
policy conflict?
Because the values of activists on both sides are entrenched,
environmental politics consists largely of trying to gain the support of the
unaware or undecided rather than trying to convert the already committed
(6)
Layzer notes that "a large majority of Americans profess their support for the goals of the
environmental movement." Do you think that this statement is true? What do you think it means
about the values held by Americans, in relation to the environmentalist and cornucopian
perspectives? How has this broad support for environmental protection affected the advocacy
tactics of cornucopians?
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