Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: understand why systems thinking might be useful and know something about how it can be applied in the context of environmental responsibility; describe the significance of environmental pragmatism and cognitive justice as tools for supporting environmental policy and action.
1.2.7 In praise of cheap offshore labour? Claims over the benefits of globalisation and the exploitation of cheap offshore labour generate strong feelings and, not surprisingly, divide opinion between those who favour the global marketplace and its detractors. The issue turns on whether the constant search for ever-cheaper manufacturing and service locations is seen as a good or a bad thing. It may appear odd, at first, to suggest that exploiting the poor of another country can, on any measure, be regarded as a good thing, but
1.1.2 Activity 1 You have already glanced at Figure 1 and some of the worki 6.6.1 The Royal Commission on environmental pollution scenarios The UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution produced (RCEP) its 22nd report Energy: the Changing Climate in June 2000. The Commission examined what changes would be needed in Britain's energy systems if, as suggested by the various reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001), it should prove necessary to reduce the country's emissions of greenhouse gases by about 60 per cent by 2050. The Commission investigated the various possibilities very tho 6.3 (b) Switching to renewable energy sources The use of renewable energy usually involves environmental impacts of some kind, but these are normally lower than those of fossil or nuclear sources. Approaches (a) and (b) are essentially ‘supply-side’ measures – applied at the supply end of the long chain that leads from primary energy production to useful energy consumption. 5.3 The rebound effect When individuals or organisations implement energy efficiency improvements, they usually save money as well as saving energy. However, if the money saved is then spent on higher standards of service, or additional energy-consuming activities that would not have otherwise been undertaken, then some or all of the energy savings may be eliminated. This tendency is sometimes known as the ‘rebound effect’. For example, if householders install improved insulation or a more efficient heating boi 4.3 Indirect use of solar energy The above examples illustrate the direct harnessing of the sun's radiant energy to produce heat and electricity. But the sun's energy can also be harnessed via other forms of energy that are indirect manifestations of its power. Principally, these are bioenergy and hydropower, already discussed in Section 3 above, together with wind energy and wave power. 3.1 Introduction So what are the principal energy systems used by humanity at present, and how sustainable are they? Until quite recently, human energy requirements were modest and our supplies came either from harnessing natural processes such as the growth of plants, which provided wood for heating and food to energise human or animal muscles, or from the power of water and wind, used to drive simple machinery. 2.4 Natural science valuation: towards ecological restoration While the previous two subsections dealt with the social sciences, the ideas of ecology represent more the natural sciences tradition. In the early years of controversy around how to practise sustainable development, some concern was expressed about the perceived bias towards social rather than natural sciences. Bryan Norton (1992), for example, is critical of the social scientific approach. He argues that reliance on standard economic and other social scientific tools will not be enough to e 2.2.3 Ecological economics Ecological economics, which formally came to prominence in the mid-1980s, represents a departure from reliance on the use of mainstream economic modelling. Instead, it branches out to actively engage with and incorporate the ethical, social and behavioural dimensions of environmental issues. In short, ecological economics attempts to provide an interdisciplinary approach to environmental issues, whereas environmental economics maintains the primacy of economic modelling. Mark Sag 2.2.2 Environmental economics and green consumerism In economic terms, green consumerism is typically expressed using measures based on the willingness to pay (WTP) principle. As mentioned above, this takes two main forms: eco-taxation, in which environmental costs are estimated and added to the price of commodities (e.g. vehicles with high carbon emissions); and eco-labelling, in which products are labelled with relevant environmental information, such as is now required by the food industry and governments in many industrialised count 2.2 Economic valuation: towards ecological economics The blue whale could have supplied indefinitely a sustainable yield of 6000 individuals a year. This is one of the earliest references to sustainability in the literature, taken from the 1971 edition of the science journal Nature (cited in Senge et al., 2006, p. 45). Here, the blue whale is given instrumental value – a means of measuring not the survival of the blue whale for its intrinsic v 1.3 The influence of environmental ethics: value and care Religious ethics can play a significant role in shaping appropriate narratives that provide for a lived ethic – that is, the obligations and entitlements associated with human relationships with Nature that embody what’s good and what’s right. But how might other ethical traditions help towards developing a lived ethic? To what extent has the emergence of environmental ethics since the 1970s influenced a lived ethic commensurate with developing care for the environment? Andrew Lig Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: describe environmental matters regarding obligation and entitlements from a ‘caring’ perspective; appreciate the significance of environmental consequentialist ethics in conversations around developing care; identify and compare formal and less formal expressions of environmental responsibility; understand ‘accountability’ in the context of environmental issues; ide Introduction Nature Matters considers environmental responsibility and what may matter from a caring perspective and an accountability perspective. A reading by Andrew Light reflects on four key debates in environmental ethics regarding the way in which nature is valued, and prompts the question on how such debates might inform environmental responsibility. Section 2 examines the formal processes involved in developing accountability in the context of sustainable development. The persuasiveness of t References 2.1 Conversing with environment Consider a situation involving what might be regarded as eco-social collapse. For example, the trigger of global warming (caused primarily by use of fossil fuels in developed countries) has encouraged the rapid development of biofuel agriculture through grants from rich countries in the global North to Brazil and other tropical countries in the global South. This has generated both ecological problems (deforestation, pesticide pollution, etc.) and socio-economic problems – particularly with 1.2 Connecting human and non-human nature Environmental responsibility – caring and generating accountability – requires interaction between human and non-human nature. For example, from a caring perspective what matters in climate change might constitute, say, the continued existence and protection of an arctic wilderness (Figure 3). But this necessarily involves a conne Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: appreciate different connotations and traditions of the terms ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ in the context of environmental responsibility; use conversation as a core metaphor for describing ‘what matters’ in environmental responsibility; identify and compare formal and less formal expressions of environmental responsibility. 7.4 Closing thoughts Of course, doing anything about this needs scientific evidence and understanding, but it also requires social, economic and technological changes, which can only be achieved through political will. If you want to explore some of the broader context, a good place to start would be the New Internationalist issue 357, ‘The Big Switch: Climate Change Solutions’ at New Internationalist. Faced with the sort of predictions climatologists are making, is it sufficient for science teac
