Four Laws of Ecology
Barry Commoner’s famous laws of ecology:1.Everything is connected to everything else2.Everything must go somewherea.There is no “throwing away”, you’re just moving it somewhere else3.Nature knows best4.There is no free lunch: any use of nature carries with it some cost
Steady State(sustainable development)
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Steady-state refers to a level of activity within an ecosystem that can bemaintained over a long period of time. To think of it mathematically: INPUTS= OUTPUTS
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Steady-state is based on calculations of the earth’s carrying capacity
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Carrying capacity is the ability of the earth to regenerate itself equal to aspecific amount of human usage or impact
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This can be in the form of resource extraction or pollution introduction
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Determining carrying capacity is very controversial
Common Pool Resources
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The classic problem of the Tragedy of the Commons
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CPRs are resources that are either shared or unshared, but the costs of usingthose resources are borne by all
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Classic example of a CPR is the world’s oceans
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Because the costs born by each user or non-user are different, the incentivesto protect or not protect the resource vary as well
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Grazing sheep on a commons is the classic example put forth by biologistGarrett Hardin
Summary
: Some of us love tuna, some don’t. If you don’t eat it, you don’t care if itgets fished, overfished, or anything else.
Tragedy of the Commons
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CPR problem argued by Garrett Hardin
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Hardin argues population growth is the ultimate environmental problem
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Central thesis: If the Earth is finite then population must be limited
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Zero population growth is the balance to be achieved exceed carryingcapacity of the Earth
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There is no technological fix to the problem
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Two sides to the tragedy: Input and Output
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