NRES Exam

1. What is the definition of an environmental worldview? 

A person’s view of the relationship between human and nature

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Master of Nature

Humans stand above nature. Humans are allowed to do with nature whatever they want. Economic growth and technology are expected to provide answers to (environmental) problems that may arise.

Steward of Nature

stands above of nature and is responsible for environmental conservation. Nature is not owned by the \*\*\*\***, but entrusted to him or her. The** \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* owes a responsibility to God of future generations.

Partner of Nature

The \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* stands side by side with nature. Humans and nature are considered to be of equal value. Humans should work together with nature in the conviction that this interaction will benefit both.

Participant of Nature

The \*\*\*\*\*\*\* **is part of nature, not just biologically, but also on a spiritual level. Although humans are a (small) part of nature, the are active participants. For the** \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*, the bond between self and nature is very important; it co-constitutes the self

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1. What are the reasons for studying and researching environmental worldviews?  

            

Understanding worldviews and knowledge is **interesting** but also provides evidence to anticipate **behavioral responses to policy change,Communication is more effective,Fair** representation and a **just** processes

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What “crisis” did Malthus predict was inevitable?

Population growth is the main driver of environmental degradation because it creates (resource scarcity)

1. What was Malthus proposed solution?

Helping the poor is counter productive - welfare programs just acilitate population growth, he said

Moral restraint (by women) is necessary to maintain population

Solutions are within the controls of individuals 

 

While Malthus blamed the poor for pending crises, contemporary thinkers like Paul Ehrlich place equal blame on the very wealthy. Why is this the case? (Hint: think I = P\*A\*T)

1. Affluence

• Measured by produced goods & services (e.g., GDP)

• Wealthier people tend to consume more resources

Who is likely to have a larger ecological footprint, you or a subsistence fisher in a low-income country?

1. Me because of the technology and affluence have, less devloped countries release less emissions.

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Describe the environmental Kuznets curve

1. based on the assumption that development will have increasing impact on the environment

What factors led to the dramatic decrease in population growth rates in Kerala, India?

Slowing population growth likely related to women’s empowerment, as shown by higher levels of education and literacy

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Compare the case of Kerala to India’s national population control program put into place in the 1970s

• Kerala has a higher life expectancy at birth rate compared to India

• Kerala had a lower fertility rate then India

• Kerala had a higher literacy rate

Population pyramids

Age structure:

          Proportion of males versus females in young, middle, or older age groups within a population

How are population pyramids helpful

It shows us the growth or decline in age structure,Slow decline is usually manageable whereas rapid

declines lead to economic problems

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Ecological footprint

theoretical extent of the earth’ssurface required to sustain an individual, or organization

with a particular lifestyle

Biocapacity

the ability of earth’s productive ecosystems to regenerate the renewable resources used

by a population, and absorb resulting waste & pollution

Carrying capacity

is the population of human or non-human organisms that could be sustained in an area over time

Malthusian

Population growth is the main driver of environmental degradation because it creates resource

 scarcity

Amartya Sen

Resource problems are caused by access not availability

Neo-Malthusian

Population growth is an important factor in environmental degradation,but affluence and 

technology mediate these effects(I-PAT)

Cornucopian

Population growth provides a resource for innovation to deal with resource scarcity

Demographic Transition Model

 Population growth is the result of underdevelopment 

Thomas Malthus

First economist to propose a systematic theory of population

Elinor Ostrom 

argues that population pressures will cause innovations that will allow us to avoid resource scarcity

American political economist who provided evidence against tragedy of the commons

Pigovian taxes

A tax on a market transaction that creates a negative externality, or an addition of all cost, borne by individuals not directly involved in transaction

Ecology

The scientific study of interconnecting between organisms and their (living-non-living) environment

Market failures

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When a situation or condition where product or exchange of a good or service is not efficient

occur when there is a mismatch between economic theory and the real world

transaction costs

The “costs of doing business” in time, money, personnel, or materials to ensure enforcement of exchange rules (e.g., lawyers, travel, police, time)(treaty-based)

Monopoly

one seller for many buyers –Seller determines the price

Monopsony

one buyer for many sellers –Buyer determines the price

Coase theorem

indicates externalities can be controlled through contracts & bargaining

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Subsidies

Government funding can be used to support sustainable products or practices

Paul Ehrlich

Neo-Malthusian, environmentalist Bet that the prices of 5 metals would increase over 10 years because population increase (and demand) would increase scarcity

Julian Simon

Cornucopian, economist Bet that the prices of the 5 metals would decrease over 10 yrs because of innovation (e.g., substitutes, more efficient extraction)

free-market economy

Environmental problems can be solved by the \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* controlled by supply & demand.

market-based instruments

protects the environment and internalize costs

Environmental scarcity

will drive markets, along with innovation and growth

The market response model

A model that predicts the economic response to scarcity

•Scarcity & availability mediated by supply and demand •Scarcity causes price to rises, which has two responses

Who wins the bet between Elrich and Simmons

Simmons

Externalties

Slipover of a cost or benefit, as where industrial activity at a plant leads to pollution off-site that must be paid for by someone else

Total cost accounting

Efforts to account for cost of negative externalities in addition to the market price of a product

Carbon offsets

Individuals or corporations provide donations for conservation activities

Green taxes

raise prices to reduce the use of resources and to drive innovation and substitution

Cap and Trade

Tradeable rights to pollute are distributed to reward efficiency

Green consumption

Consumers opt into more sustainable products

greenwashing

claims about green practices do not always correspond to actual practices

Green certification

can be used to verify claims about green practices

Decoupling

he ability of an economy to grow without corresponding increases in environmental pressures

Monetary Value

the amount that would be paid in cash for an asset or service if it were to be sold to a third party

Preventative checks

will lower birth rate

Positive checks

will occur to increase death rate

Oscillations

will occur due to scarcity & resource conflict

‘tragedy of the commons’

Hardin (1968) theorized the \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* would occur whereby people would overexploit shared resources

a type of prisoner's dilemma

A game where a particular action would benefit all, but individuals behaving selfishly will create a situation that is not optimal for everyone

What were Hardins two solutions

– Coercion (government regulation) – rules enforced by an authoritative leader – Privatization (markets) – individual, rather than communal ownership

Common-pool resources

natural and human constructed resources in which

– (i) exclusion of beneficiaries through physical and institutional means is especially costly – (ii) exploitation by one user reduces resource availability for others (Ostrom et al. 1999)

Free-riding

receiving a benefit without paying for it

Institutions

(in)formal laws and regulations

Res nullius

not owned, open to anyone open access

Res communes

common property owned collectively, only the group has access

What is SESF?

social-ecological systems framework

social-ecological systems framework

widely applied to gauge the sustainability of social- ecological systems

Collective action situations

are at the heart of the SESF

• Multiple challenges can arise in social-ecological systems: overharvest, pollution, habitat destruction, etc.

• People may work together through \*\*\*\*\*\*\* to maintain a sustainable social-ecological system

Top-down

Governance and management decisions are largely determined by state actors

Bottom-up

resource management determined by local stakeholders (“community-based natural resource management”)

Co-managed

collaboration between formal and informal governance structures (“integrated

What are the four categories of SESF

Actors, Resource System, Resource Units,Governance

Ethics

the philosophy of right and wrong

Factory farms

raise animals for industrial meat production

The supply chain

(system of organization) in factory farming is complex and scaled

Dominion thesis

humans should control nature and use it how they wish

Utilitarian perspective

Nature only has value if it is materially useful to humans

Transcendentalist perspective

Nature aids spiritual growth and connects humans to the rest of the world

John Muir

– Scottish-American naturalist and adventurer • Embodied “preservation”

Gifford Pinchot

– American forester and politician

• Embodied “conservation”

Who won the Hetch Hetchy Valley? Conservation(Pinchot) vs. Preservation(Muir)

Conservation( reservoir was approved in San Fransisco)

Who owns U.S. National Parks?

The citizens of the U.S.

Moral extensionism

extend moral concern beyond a human realm

Domain Thesis

humans are the pinnacle of creation

Anthropocentrism

• First priority is human use and well-being (people first)

Ecocentrism

First priority is sustaining ecosystems (nature first)

animal liberation

movement argues for extension of ethical consideration to animals

Deep ecology

focuses on the interactions between humans and the environment

focuses on specific

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– Self-realization about human dependence & impact on the environment – All organisms have the same rights & intrinsic value

Shallow ecology

focuses on specific environmental issues

– Seeks to eliminate the symptoms rather than the causes

Holism

prioritizes the entire ecosystem at the expense of individual entities

Scientism

extending scientific ideas & practices to issues of human social and political concern – Excessive belief in the power of scientific knowledge

naturalistic fallacy

assumes that because an ecosystem functions in a certain way, it should function that way

– Something is natural; therefore, it is morally acceptable

Social ecology

argues that social hierarchies are the root of environmental problems

Who was the conservation president

Theodore Roosevelt

Intrinsic Value

Value of natural object(human purposes)

Aldo Leopold

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Ecocentric world view

Advocates for a responsible relationship between people and the land they inhabit

What does Leopold’s land ethic argue?

something is “right” if it promotes healthy ecosystem functioning, and wrong when it does not

Uneconomic growth

growth that costs us more than it benefits us; growth that makes us all less well off

Conservation-related problems are rooted in ?

human behavior

Environmental Behavior

Actions that influence the environment

Does knowledge/awareness influence behavior

to a lesser degree

Emotions

can play a large role in short-term behavioral decisions

Values

a person’s principles, a person’s judgment of what is important in life

Attitudes

Positive or negative responses toward an ‘object’