1 Independent Study - Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Friday 03 May 2006, 45th class meeting
Independent Study
(Miller Chapter 14)
(Participate in research and receive credit)
Environmental Biology (ECOL 206)
U. Arizona, spring 2006
Kevin Bonine, Ph.D.
Alice Boyle, Kristen Potter, Graduate TAs
TODAY: Environmental Justice,
Economics,
What to do next…?
I am looking for undergraduate students to assist with a PhD
research project. I am examining prescribed fires and livestock
grazing and how these influence grass communities in the
Santa Rita Experimental Range.
-please turn in your Group Project
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Chris McDonald: [email protected]
621-7281
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Environmental Justice
The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines
environmental justice as
‘the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people
regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with
respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement
of environmental laws, regulations and policies’.
It continues:
‘Fair treatment means that no group of people, including racial, ethnic,
or socio-economic groups should bear a disproportionate share of the
negative environmental consequences resulting from industrial,
municipal, and commercial operations or the execution of federal,
state, local, and tribal programs and policies.’
2002, MIT Press
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One important example of contamination at Altgeld
Gardens is a sample taken at the south end of a courtyard
surrounded by Chicago Housing Authority buildings. This
area is open, accessible and clearly residential.
This table reflects PAHs found in the sample:
Chemical
Amount Found in
Sample
Safe Amount Proposed
by IEPA
How much Sample
exceeds IEPA
suggestion
Benzo(b) flouranthene
7.9 mg/kg
.9mg/kg
8.7x
Benzo(k) flourathene
11mg/kg
9mg/kg
1.2x
Benzo(a) pyrene
9mg/kg
.09mg/kg
100x
Indeno(1,2, 3-cd)
pyrene
4.6mg/kg
.9mg/kg
5x
Benzo(a) anthracene
9.7mg/kg
.9mg/kg
10.7x
Dibenzo(a,h)
anthracene
2.3mg/kg
.09mg/kg
25x
The existence of PAHs in Altgeld Gardens soil corresponds with a recurrent
complaint made by loc residents—skin irritation. All PAHs have similar
effects on human health. Non-carcinogenic PAH's are know skin irritants.
Carcinogenic PAHs are also skin irritants in addition to having an
immunosuppressive effect.
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http://www.geology.wisc.edu/~wang/EJBaldwin/PCR/pcrenvhealth.htm
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NYTimes 29 March 2004
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environmental justice
It has come a long way since its humble beginning in the predominately rural
African American Warren County, North Carolina, where in the early 1980s a
hazardous waste landfill ignited protests which resulted in over 500 arrests. The
protests provided the impetus for the United States General Accounting Office to
conduct an independent investigation. They also led the United Church of Christ
Commission for Racial Justice to produce its historic report, Toxic Waste and
Race in the United States, in 1987. This was the first national study to correlate
waste facility sites with demographic characteristics.
Over 28.4 per cent of all low-income African American
children are lead-poisoned compared to 9.8 per cent of
low-income white children
Bad air hurts. It is also costly: the federal Center for Disease Control and
Prevention places air pollution-related health costs at $14 billion a year. Ozone
has been associated with rising asthma, allergic and cardio-respiratory disorders
and death. Asthma accounts for 10 million missed school days, 1.2 million
emergency room visits, 15 million outpatient visits, and 500,000 hospitalizations
each year. The asthma hospitalization rate for African Americans and Latinos is
three to four times greater than for whites.
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=14-1 Miller 2003
Conventional
Neoclassical
Economics
AZDStar
22April2005
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Miller Chapter 14
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Brennan and Withgott 2005
Brennan and Withgott 2005
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Return to pre-neoclassical ideas
Ecological or
Environmental
Economics
=14-2 Miller 2003
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Scavengers are key; we can’t really throw things away.
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Brennan and Withgott 2005
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~1700
~2000
Economic Growth?
Overwhelm?
VanDyke, 200319
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Full Cost Pricing
e.g., CAR
Internal Costs
factory, materials, labor, marketing, shipping, dealer
gas, maintenance, repair, insurance
C: ~$436 billion
External Costs (not included in market place = Externalities)
depletion of nonrenewable and energy and resources
solid and hazardous waste
water and air pollution
land conversion
Need to internalize the external costs
global climate change
(regulations, taxes, subsidies,
biodiversity
awareness, price increase)
EVERYONE PAYS
health
insurance and medical costs
taxes for pollution cleanup
loss of aesthetic beauty
etc.
B: >$6.8 trillion
1:16 -> C:B
Wright and Nebel 2002
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Herman Daly (STEADY STATE ECONOMY)
Former Environmental Economist with Worldbank
Professor at U. Maryland
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Center for the Advancement of the
Utility vs. Throughput
Utility not measurable; it is an experience
Steady State Economy
Circulatory system vs. digestive system
(perpetual motion machine)
http://www.steadystate.org/Index.html
Wealth vs. Ilth (accumulation of goods vs. bads)
Micro vs. Macro economics
(MR=MC vs. endless)
G”
CIN rowth
ISFI
G
“SAT ent vs.
m
p
o
l
e
Dev
If resources infinite then price = 0,
but if pay for resources then can redistribute wealth
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-Harmful environmental effects
-Natural resource depletion
-Unpaid work/volunteerism
-Income distribution
-Environmental and Economic Justice
GDP - Gross Domestic Product
(or per capita)
GPI - GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR
=14-4 Miller 2003
Vs.
U.S.
Positive
DISCOUNT
RATE
U.S.
replace income tax with environmental tax?
”a Cadillac now means fewer human lives later”
-Nicolas Georges-Roegen
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Declaration of Interdependence
4 SPIKES
1 Global Climate Change
Triple Bottom Line
-economic profits
-environmental protection
-social justice
2 Extinction
3 Consumption
4 Population
2005
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Ecological Footprint
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Ecological Footprint
pt
ion
-Reproduction
-Housing
-Travel
-Food
-Etc.
Co
ns
um
The big choices seem to matter the most:
-transportation
-food (unprocessed, local, trophic level)
-housing
-reproduction
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pt
ion
pt
ion
Co
ns
um
Co
ns
um
sit
y
/E
xt
in
ct
ion
Co
an
ns
Po
um
pu
pt
lat
ion
ion
Hu
m
Bi
od
ive
r
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AZDStar 11 Apr 2004
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an
eC
ng
e
lat
ion
ha
Po
pu
Cl
im
at
Hu
m
Gl
ob
al
4 spikes:
1. Global Climate Change
2. Consumption
3. Extinction
4. Human Population Growth
UN Funded Millenium Assessment
saving the world as we know it…
Responsibility
Sustainable Economies
Ecosystem Services $33 trillion/year
Full-cost pricing
Biosphere II
Chernobyl
Solutions rather inexpensive $30 billion
Somalia from space
Political Will
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Deep Sea Bycatch (emailed to KEB by Caren Penneman):
Prickly shark
Lizard fish
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Chimaera pup
Blob fish
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Umbrella mouth gulper eel
Basketwork eel
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Coffin fish
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Fangtooth
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Stargazer
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Stone crab
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Black dragon fish
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Oreo dory
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Sea spider
Firefly squid
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Blind lobster
Gunard
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ECOL206 spring 2006
1991 EarthWorks Press
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William A. Calder III, 1934–2002
Bill Calder, Rocky Mountain Biological Station, Gothic,
Photograph taken in July 1999 by Lorene Calder.
1998
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Precautionary Principle…
ECLIPSE
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Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan
Pima County
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Thermal Depolymerization
Discover May 2003
Thermal Depolymerization
Discover May 2003
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Thermal Depolymerization
Discover May 2003
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Biosphere 2, Oracle Arizona
$200 million failure
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Brennan and Withgott 2005
Brennan and Withgott 2005
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Brennan and Withgott 2005
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