Environmental Economics and Science: Practical Applications and Incentives, Assignments of Environmental Science

Download Environmental Economics and Science: Practical Applications and Incentives and more Assignments Environmental Science in PDF only on Docsity! 1 Announcements • Extra credit: LEAD experience summary paragraph required. Email to TA. • Video extra credit: Screen play due in one week (Jan. 22th) – be creative, but make sure there is an important message. Also, littering and recycling are overdone.) • First assignment is ready on line. Due next Thursday, Jan. 22nd. WWU Student Environmental Organizations Environmental Center Coordinators: Chelsea Davis Kayla Henson , VU 424 Phone:(360) 650-6129 E-mail: AS.earth@wwu.edu Website: http://earth.as.wwu.edu/ Students for Renewable Energy Contact person: Rose Woofenden E-mail: info@westernsre.org Website: http://www.westernsre.org/ LEAD (Learning, Environment, Action, Discovery) Contact Persons: Stacia Dreyer, Jessee Moyer, E-mail: lead@wwu.edu Website: http://www.wwu.edu/~lead Surf rider Foundation Contact Person: Coordinator Contact: Stacy Dean Phone: 360-224-1537 E-mail: stacydean2003@yahoo.com www.surfrider.org/nws For more information, visit the following web sites: http://www.as.wwu.edu/programs http://www.wwu.edu/sustain/involve d/environmental-orgs/ Topics for today • Practical applications of environmental economics – Cost-benefit analysis and environmental policy – Incentives and environmental regulations • Science and the environment (Ch. 4) Environmental Economics • Summary of my long-winded argument – Economics and environmental stewardship not necessarily in conflict – Environmental quality from econ. perspective: • Monetary value of environmental goods and services is quantifiable and quite high • “Optimal” environmental quality occurs where marginal value of restoration = marginal cost • Environmental research and education improves the “optimal” environmental quality by shifting the MV and MC curves toward higher quality – Today: Practical implications for environmental policy 2 Economic incentives • What are some ways that government could provide economic incentives for adopting better environmental practices? Environmental Regulations • Setting pollution at the “optimal level” • Command and control: – Technology standards (e.g., catalytic converter on cars) – Pollution standard (e.g., Kyoto 1997 – reduce GHG to 1990 levels by 2012) – Easier to enforce, but not economically efficient and provides few incentives for innovation • Market-based instruments – Tradable emissions permits (e.g., Cap and trade) – Pollution taxes – Deposit programs (e.g., aluminum can recycling) – Potentially more efficient and more effective, but more difficult to enforce and control emissions Tradable Emissions Permits • Imagine Firm B is better suited to reduce pollution than Firm A • The overall environmental quality goal is QR • Firm B could make $ by selling pollution permits to Firm A Firm A Firm B MC MC MB MB Q* $* Quality Q* $* Quality QRQR 100% 0% 100% 0% Pollution Pollution $ pe r u ni t Cap-and-trade examples Plot from environmentaldefense.org • 1990 Clean-Air Act cap and trade amendment and sulfur dioxide emisions • Greenhouse gas cap and trade policy – Trade GHG emissions, sequester GHG, borrow against future GHG reductions Problems with environmental “markets” • Externalities: Polluters’ budgets don’t count the cost of environmental degradation. • Public goods: Lack of ownership of environmental goods (e.g., air) • Imperfect information: Lack of knowledge of harm done to the environment • Policies must internalize costs of environmental degradation, environmental education must improve communication of knowledge, and research must better quantify environmental degradation and identify cheaper methods of environmental restoration Science and the Environment • Topics – How science works – Scientific process – “Sound” science vs. “junk” science – Considerations when reading chapter on science 5 Interpretation of results • Putting these results into the bigger picture • What do these results indicate about sediment toxicity? • How will sediment toxicity change as organism communities in Boston Harbor recover from pollution? • Steps in interpreting scientific findings: 1: Compare results with those of related studies – review the literature 2: Think carefully and skeptically about your results and consider other alternative hypotheses that could explain your findings. 3: Make more observations or repeat your experiments Alternative explanation – animals flush methyl mercury out of the sediment R2 = 0.93 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 -20 30 80 130 180 Number of burrows per core Fl ux (p m ol m -2 d- 1 ) Variability in Nature • How to deal with natural variability 1: Repeat observations – replication 2: Repeat experiments 3: Compare results with those of other scientists 4: Determine the level of uncertainty (error or “noise” in observations) • Features of reliable observations: Replication, repeatability, comparability, proper quantification of uncertainty Communicating Results • Scientific results are reviewed by other scientists (peer review) 1: grant proposals 2: journal articles and edited books • Peer review is one important difference between sound science and junk science Sound Science vs. Junk Science • How can one tell the difference? • Characteristics of “junk” science Selective results Politically motivated Publication in un-reviewed journals or books • How can we tell the difference? Media sometimes presents junk science as valid Sometimes we don’t know the origin of a particular claim Sound Science vs. Junk Science • Telling the difference between sound science and junk science – Are the authors qualified? – Can observations be verified? – Are conclusions logical and do they flow clearly from the observations? – Are all observations accounted for? – Have other alternative hypotheses been considered? – Has uncertainty been quantified? – Has it passed peer review? 6 Sound Science vs. Junk Science • Why discuss junk science? The topics in environmental science have political dimensions and many parties have vested interests in the outcome of scientific research • Major trends to be discussed this semester: 1: Human population growth and increasing per capita consumption of goods 2: Decline of ecosystems: Coastal/marine, freshwater, agricultural, grasslands, forests 3: Global atmospheric changes: - CFCs and ozone - CO2 and global warming (30% increase in [CO2]in last century) 4: Loss of biodiversity: Habitat loss, pollution, poaching 5: Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge • Web assignment: Practicing critical thinking (go to assignment)