ESC110 Chapter Fourteen Sustainability & Human Development

Chapter Fourteen Readings & Objectives

Required ReadingsCunningham & Cunningham, Chapter Fourteen Sustainability and Human Development

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:• explain the difference between neoclassical and ecological economics, and how each discipline views ecological processes and natural resources• distinguish between different types and categories of resources; • discuss internal and external costs, market approaches to pollution control, and cost-benefit analysis;• analyze the role of business and some possible strategies for achieving future sustainability;• recognize the push-and-pull factors that lead to urban growth;• appreciate how cities fail to be sustainable and how they might become more sustainable;• understand the causes and consequences of crowding and pollution in cities; and,• see the connection between sustainable economic development, social justice, and the solution of urban problems.

Chapter Fourteen Key Terms

capital page 322 of text communal resource management systems 325cost-benefit analysis (CBA) 325discount rate 327ecological economics 322ecological services 322externalizing costs 327gross national product (GNP) 322internalizing costs 327• limits to growth 324•megacities 331

nonrenewable resources 322open access system 325pull factors 333push factors 333renewable resources 323 resources 320 sprawl 337 smart growth 337 steady-state economy 322 sustainable development 320

The Tragedy of the Commons 325

urbanization 331

Chapter 14 Topics

• Sustainability and Resources• Cost-Benefit Analysis and Natural Resource

Accounting• Trade and Development• Green Business and Green Design• Urban Development and Sustainable Cities• Urban Problems in Developing Countries• Urban Sustainability in Developed Versus Developing

Worlds• Cities and Sustainability

PART 1: SUSTAINABILITY AND RESOURCES

• Sustainability is a critical theme of environmental science. It implies that resources should be used in ways that do not diminish them.

• Resources are anything that is useful for creating wealth or improving our lives.

• Sustainable development is when the needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

• Must be available to all to be enduring, not just the privileged.

Can Development be Sustainable?

• Sometimes, development projects cause environmental, economic, and social disasters. Three Gorges Dam was an example of this. It provides electricity but displaces people and wildlife and accumulates pollutants.

• Other times, development projects work more closely with both nature and local social systems. Seattle peas patches and the Burke Gilman Trail are examples of this.

Resources in Classical Economics• Resources exist in fixed (finite) amounts.

– As populations grow, scarcity of these resources reduces quality of life, increases competition, and eventually causes populations to fall again.

• In a free market, supply and demand should come into market equilibrium.– Marginal Costs is the cost of producing one more unit of a

product or service.– Price Elasticity is when raising the price does not

necessarily reduce demand (I.e., the seller makes more money at the higher price).

Resources can be viewed in terms of:Classical,Neoclassical, andEcological Economics

Neoclassical Economics (19th century)• Natural resources viewed as merely factors of production rather

than critical supplies of materials, services, and waste sink• Capital is any form of wealth that contributes to the production

of more wealth.• Expanded idea of resources to include labor, knowledge, and

capital.• Capital can be natural, human, or manufactured.• Continued growth is necessary.• Natural resources are interchangeable and substitutes can be

found when a resource is depleted. • More throughput is equated with greater consumption and

greater wealth.• Gross National Product (GNP) is a measure of the vigor of an

economy.• Social and environmental consequences and costs are not

considered.

NeoclassicalEconomics

Resource Types• Resource - Anything with potential use in creating wealth or giving

satisfaction.– Nonrenewable resources - Materials present in fixed amounts

in the environment.– Renewable resources - Materials that can be replenished or

replaced.

Ecological Economics

Ecological Economics (late 20th century)• Applies ecological ideas of system functioning and

recycling to the definition of resources. Acknowledges dependence on essential life-support services provided by nature.

• Natural capital is a key to economic calculations.• Ecological functions are ecological services.• Steady-state economy is one in which economic

health can be maintained without constantly growing consumption and throughput.

• Renewable and nonrenewable resources are distinct.• Some aspects of nature are regarded as irreplaceable

and essential.• Principle concern is equitable distribution of resources

and rights.

Hubbert Curve

Scarcity and Limits to Growth

Limits ToGrowthModel

Beyond TheLimits Model

Communal Property and the Tragedy of the Commons

• Tragedy of the Commons is when commonly held resources are degraded and destroyed by self-interest

• Open access systems have no rules to manage resource use.• Communal resource management systems enforce restraint

over harvesting.• Privatization, instead of solving problems, often leads to

disaster.• Garret Hardin argued that commonly held resources are

inevitably degraded because self-interests of individuals tend to outweigh public interests. He theorized each individual will attempt to maximize personal gain.

• Critics of Hardin’s concept claim Hardin was not describing a commons, but an open access system to communal property with no rules to manage resource use.

Features of a Sustainable Commons• Communal Resource Management Systems• Community members have lived on resource.• Resource has clearly defined resource.• Group size is known and enforced.• Resource is relatively scarce and variable.• Local, collective management strategies.• Resource and use are actively monitored.• Effective conflict resolution mechanisms.• Incentives encourage rules compliance.

Cost-Benefit Analysis For Reducing Air Pollution

PART 2: COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS & NATURAL RESOURCE ACCOUNTING

Accounting for nonmonetary resources means that it is necessary to:

•assign value to ecological services;•use alternative measures of wealth & development;•account for resource depletion or ecosystem damage;•calculate an Index of sustainable economic welfare; and• determine a human development index

Discount Rates• Economic method of introducing a time factor into

accounting such that future commodities have reduced value. This means you expect them to be worth more today than in the future.

Internal Versus External Costs• Internal costs are expenses borne by those

using a resource.• External costs are expenses borne by

someone other than those using a resource.• Internalizing costs is a method of insuring

those that reap the benefit of resource use also bear all external costs.

PART 3: TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT• A sustainable society

requires an equitable resource distribution.

• International trade externalizes costs by leaving environmental external costs to less developed countries with no environmental laws.

• This is major reason for controversies with WTO, GATT & World Bank.

• Microlending supports sustainable economies

PART 4: GREEN BUSINESS AND GREEN DESIGN

Market-based Environmental Protection• Pollution Charges are when fees are assessed per unit of

effluent. Such fees encourage businesses to perform as much pollution control as possible.

• Tradable Permits allow companies or nations that can reduce pollution below target levels to sell their excess capacity.

Green Business• During first Industrial Revolution, raw materials were seen as

inexhaustible. Recently many businesses have realized this theory is flawed.

• Operating in a socially responsible manner consistent with principles of sustainable development can be good for sales, public relations and employee morale.

• Green businesses are a fraction of the total economy, but they are pioneers in developing innovative technologies & services.

Jobs and the EnvironmentBusinessmen and

politicians claim pollution control, protection of natural areas and endangered species, and limits on use of nonrenewable resources slow our economy and cost jobs.

Ecological economists found that 0.1% of large-scale layoffs in the U.S. were due to gov't. regulations.

Recycling takes more labor than using virgin materials.

PART 5: URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES

• Until now majority of world's people lived in rural areas. Today 50% live in industrialized urban areas (>10,000,00 = megalopolises or megacities).

U.S. Urban Core Agglomerations

Right - Large City Growth: 1984, 2025

Left - Cities in Developing Countries

Future Growth: Developing Countries

ImmigrationPush Factors

• Overpopulation• Economics• Politics• Racial or Religious Conflicts• Land Tenure• Changes in Agriculture

– Large monoculture farms push out small farmers.

Pull Factors•Excitement and Vitality•Jobs•Housing•Entertainment•Social Mobility and Power•Specialization of Professions

Gov't policies favor urban over rural areas in push and pull factors.Developing countries often spend majority of budgets on improving urban areas.Major cities gain a monopoly on new jobs, education and general opportunities.

• Dense traffic, smoky factories, use of wood or coal fires cause excessive air pollution.

• Lenient pollution laws, corrupt officials and ignorance cause even more pollution.

• Only 35% of urban residents in developing countries have satisfactory sanitation services.

PART 6: URBAN PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Urban Problems in the Developing World– Many problems arise from unplanned and

uncontrollable growth.• Lack of Infrastructure• Adequate Food• Housing• Jobs• Basic Residential Services

PART 7: URBAN SUSTAINABILITY IN THE DEVELOPED WORLD

• The rapid growth of central cities in Europe and North America has now slowed or even reversed.

• The good news is better air and water quality, safer working conditions, fewer communicable diseases.

• The bad news is urban decay and sprawl and transportation issues have worsened

• A Current Developed World Problem Is Urban Sprawl– In most American metropolitan areas, the bulk of new

housing is in large, tract developments that leapfrog beyond city edges in search of inexpensive land.

• Urban sprawl consumes about 200,000 ha of US agricultural land annually.• Planning authorities are often divided among many small local jurisdictions.

Urban Decayand Sprawl

Transportation

• Most American cities devote about a third of their land area to cars.

• Freeways have profoundly reshaped our lives.

• Public transportation is expensive and difficult to establish.

PART 8: CITY PLANNING AND SUSTAINABILITY

City planning has a long history!

Urban Sustainability in the Developed World

• Limit city sizes• Greenbelts, open space• Development planning• Encourage walking, car

alternatives• More diverse housing• Grow food locally• Public participation

Urban Sprawl in Developed CountriesBecause many

Americans live far from work, they consider a private automobile essential. The average US driver spends 443 hours per year behind a steering wheel. In some metropolitan areas, it is estimated one-third of all land is devoted to automobile infrastructure. Traffic congestion costs US $78 billion annually in wasted fuel and time.

Smart Growth

• Smart growth makes effective use of land resources and existing infrastructure by encouraging in-fill development.– It attempts to provide transportation options.

• Goal is not to block growth, but to channel it to areas where it can be sustained over the long term.

– It protects environmental quality.

Designing For Open Space

• Traditional suburban development typically divides land into a checkerboard layout of nearly identical 1-5 ha parcels with no designated open space.

• Conservation Development preserves at least half of a subdivision as natural areas, farmland, or other forms of open space.

Designing for open space favors cluster housing (open-space zoning) over conventional subdivisions. Here, both plans contain 36 sites, but the lower has cluster homes.

Ways to Achieve Urban Sustainability• Limit city size, or organize into modules of 30,000 to 50,000

people.• Maintain greenbelts in and around cities.• Determine in advance where development will take place.• Locate everyday services more conveniently.• Encourage walking and low-speed vehicles.• Promote more diverse, flexible housing as an alternative to

conventional housing.• Grow food locally, recycling wastes and water, etc.• Invite public participation in decision-making.• Plan cluster housing, or open-space zoning, which preserves

at least half of a subdivision as natural areas, or other forms of open space.

What Can Be Done to Improve Conditions in Third World Cities?

• Civic action, environmental education• Redistribution of unproductive land, squatters’

rights• Rolling land banks• Democracy, security, improved economic

conditions• Social welfare safety net• Local nontraditional exchange of goods

Sustainable Development in the Third World• Many planners argue social justice and sustainable economic

development are answers to urban problems.• Another important measure of progress may be institution of

social welfare providing care to the sick and elderly.• The best way may be for developing countries to delink from

international economic systems and develop self-sustainability.