GEOG256 Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I Ecological Footprint II Four Conceptual Problems III The Capital Approach IV Thermodynamic Approach V Material Input Approach Outline of Current Lecture II Ethical Issues in Sustainability III Why Care IV Why be Fair V What Kinds of Fairness are There Current Lecture Ethical Issues in Sustainability 1 Why Care 2 Why Be Fair Types of Fairness George Perkins Marsh 1864 wrote a book about our use of resources on the planet Suggested we might be running out of timber Ought to develop a more scientific approach Charlie Rose Show About 80 people controlling half the worlds wealth Distribution of wealth is it linked to sustainability If there is a connection if you re financially unstable you don t have the option to make more sustainable choices healthy but more expensive options not having access to wealth making it hard to have access to resources If wealth is concentrated level of education without resources its hard to be educated Everyone can be better some may be more wealthy Is distribution of poverty more the problem These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Issue 1 Why Care Anthropocentrism Concern for human well being o Its good for people o Being sustainable is in our self interest You ll avoid future costs regulation risks etc o No man is an island As goes other people and species so goes ourselves Economic wellbeing of other countries generates markets for our economy Decline of Detroit or other cities having problems creates tax problems because everyone has to bail them out o You should protect each other the ethics or reciprocity Hillel the Elder That which is hateful to you do not do to your fellow Leviticus love your neighbor as yourself Confucius never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself Lao Tzu Regard your neighbor s gain as your own gain and your neighbor s loos as your own loss The snowball effect Its how we get along and sustain ourselves If you take the Old Testament and count the words from both ends and get to the exact middle that which is hateful Is right in the center o We have a responsibility to future people We ve benefited from the sacrifices of past generations so pay it forward It gives meaning to your having lived they will build on what you do Literally gives meaning to having lived How to decide on what you re going to do when you re older You wont live forever Philosophical ideas that say it makes sense to be sustainable not only for ourselves but for our society Biocentrism Deep Ecology Concern for nature We have duties to nature because o Other entities have inherent rights intrinsic value o Humans do not have a privileged role in the biosphere o Humans are not inherently superior to other species The reason for doing sustainability is to be respectful of nature Earth is not here just for us there are 8 4 mil species and they have as much value and right to live undisturbed and uncontaminated as human beings do Not good because it is useful just for humans the river has the right to flow uncontaminated It is a gift from nature and we receive it with gratitude and respect it by not polluting etc Is there a deep social ecology We have duties to other people cultures o Other people have inherent rights intrinsic value o All people are interdependent o You do not have a privileged role in society o One person is not inherently So why care Its in our self interest We should treat others as we d like to be treated We have an obligation to future generations Others deserve respectful consideration Issue 2 The Importance of Fairness in Sustainability Haughton fairness matters in sustainability because o It promotes cooperation Unfair burdens for mitigation and conservation undermines cooperation o It promotes less waste and pollution Cost Transference allows us to ignore responsibility taking responsibility for our mess encourages us to reduce our impacts Cost transference the unfair behavior of sending your pollution somewhere else If we take responsibility for these issues ourselves it will cause us to want to address the problem Examples of unfair Conservation Costs Undermining Cooperation o San Bruno Mountain and Brisbane CA Has endangered species butterfly The county around the mountain got together to make a deal that 90 of the mountain would be persevered and open for the butterfly and 10 of the mountain would be for development etc Just so happened that that 10 of the mountain fell around a little town that didn t want Town could fight the deal everyone was benefiting and they were the ones paying the cost Why fairness matters o Oregon Salmon Season 500 fisherman and their families who made their feelings known to the capital Wanted to shorten the fishing season so not as many fish are caught but fisherman fought otherwise If they don t fish they lose mortgages don t get paid Would have to go out and catch just as many fish as they would in a longer season Dangerous to fish in not good weather drowning Blocked progress came up with a new solution to catch less fish but make more money Hard to move forward if it isn t fair not really possible Issue 3 What Kinds of Fairness are there Haughton s Equities o Unfair burdens from waste or conservation can fall along any of these dimensions 1 Intra generational syn contemporary social equity justice e g Oregon fisheries 2 Geographical a spatial form of intra generational e g San Bruno Mountain 3 Procedural regulatory and participatory systems that treat people openly and fairly helps produces shared knowledge compromise etc e g back room deal on Tucson infill project o Essential to the American way o Everyone is able to participate on decision making 4 Intergenerational fairness to future generations the most widely recognized element of S e g bay conservation and development commission 5 Interspecies rights of natural objects emphasis on biodiversity e g sierra club vs Morton