NREM 120 1st Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 13 Lecture 1 January 12 Introduction What are renewable and natural resources Define carrying capacity Renewable Resource a resource that replenishes through a biological or geophysical process on a time frame useful to humans Solar energy direct and indirect wind energy flowing water essentially exhaustible Best to call renewable resources potentially renewable Renewability key issue is time frame different resources have different time frames for renewal Natural Resource anything of the natural environment that species primarily humans anthropocentric view depend on for their welfare Carrying Capacity the population size living in a given manner that can be supported indefinitely Lecture 2 January 14 US Renewable Resource History What are the different management approaches What are the four waves of conservation History of Renewable Resources What major fires occurred that changed views on forest protection What are different perceptions of resource scarcity Management approaches Exploitation Preservation Utilitarian Ecological or Sustainable Four Waves of Conservation 1 Progressive 1901 09 2 New Deal 1933 41 3 Ecological 1960 80 4 Sustainable 1980 Colonial Period Population was small relative to renewable resources Vast wilderness with great diversity compared to Europe Limited tools for making an impact fire used as main management tool Many immigrants came to farm and saw native vegetation and wild animals seemed like obstacles 1600s fuel wood crisis in Europe while North America seemed limitless As farming became more intensive habitat was lost and altered and soils were depleted Early regulations Broad Arrow Policy 1691 First Deer Reeves 1620s King wanted wood from forests for ships 1781 and 1803 Creation of the Public Domain Western lands given up by the colonies to become the US Public Domain Louisiana Purchase Intent to promote settlement and development Myth of super abundance of land and other resources 1862 Railroad Land Grants Railroads granted alternate sections of land along rights of way resulting in checkerboard ownership patterns railroads tied to the forest industry Major fires on October 8 1871 in Chicago Wisconsin Peshtigo and Michigan Idea that forests need protection from fire and overuse Perceptions of Resource Scarcity 1870 American Fisheries Society formed to halt the depletion of fishery resources 1871 Creation of the US Fisheries Commission George Perkins Marsh Man and Nature 1864 about modifying the earth Lecture 3 January 16 The Dam Dilemma Utilitarian vs Preservationist Viewpoint through Gifford Pinchot and John Muir What happened in the Second Wave How did World War Two change the view of the environment What happened in the Third Wave Gifford Pinchot Utilitarian Expert in professional forestry and believed in efficiency rational use of conservation of resources for public benefit Chief of USFS 1905 60 national forests managed under the department of agriculture John Muir Preservationist 1892 Sierra Club founded after Muir popularized the values of wilderness and sought to preserve remnants Hetch Hetchy Valley 1882 1913 1934 35 Dust Bowl on the Great Plains Unsustainable practices and drought caused tremendous soil losses Problems plainly visible to the rest of society 1933 41 Second Wave New Deal FDR Prairie States Forestry Project CCC Civilian Conservation Service SCS Soil Conservation Service TVA Tennessee Valley Authority North American Wildlife Conference Aldo Leopold 1924 he convinced the forest service to establish the Gila Wilderness Area with the concept of wilderness as use 1933 started wildlife management with game management deer turkey and ducks Ding Darling Iowa editorial cartoonist Need for conservation legislation 1939 45 WWII Skyrocketing demand for wood products and natural resources Postwar era realization of not enough resources to meet demand unless management improved 1960 80 Third Wave June 1969 third fire on Cuyahoga River and there were similar problems elsewhere Corporations preferred federal regulation Bipartisan Richard Nixon Rachel Carson Oceanographer author of The Sea Around Us Lecture 4 January 21 Conservation Environmental Ethics Define Ethics What are the different types of ethics Ethics rules and standards of conduct to govern individual and social actions Environmental Ethics Extension of ethics in everyday life to interactions of people with their environment Frontier Ethics Humans above nature Plants and animals exist solely for the use of humans Individual property rights No need to worry about population because God will make things right Dominant ethic that shaped the development of the US and made it the rich and powerful nation that it is today Bad reputation for use of resources Frontier Ethics Utilitarian Model Added concept of conservation of resources for wise use Founding tenet of many resource professions Use it not abuse it Ecocentric Ethics All life has inherent right to existence view of Earth as an organic whole Humans should work with nature instead of against it Community over individual science and technology often cause problems Areas set aside where humans don t dominate Stewardship Effects Humans are part and apart from nature Individual rights also carry responsibilities Somewhat of middle ground between utilitarian and ecocentric ethics Ethic of many of resource professions today Lecture 5 January 23 Ethics and Economic Systems What are three myths of environmental economics What are problems with the market and different mechanisms used Mixed Economic System Free Market Centralized command Government levels the playing field rules SEC Ethics cultural norms myth underlie economics Notion of unlimited abundance Humans are apart from nature and have domination and control Individualism and competition Myth 1 Environmental protection is bad for the economy Myth 2 Environmental protection is about quality of life and economy is about survival Myth 3 Economic growth is good and essential Cf Sustainable economy Limits to growth from optimists to moderates Problems with the economic system Rational people choose cheapest most profitable alternative supply and demand is short sided Market failures due to population ill defined property rights market power monopoly and incomplete information used cars Making decisions time preference opportunity costs discount rates Conservation mechanisms and strategies Incentives cost sharing on conservation