ESS Topic 1

• Environmental value system (EVS)


  A worldview or paradigm that shapes the way an individual, or group of people, perceives and evaluates environmental issues, influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political contexts
• EVS


  Can be considered a system because it has inputs and outputs
• Inputs of EVSs


  • Family
  • Peers
  • Media
  • Religion
  • Education
  • Politics
  • Science
• Outputs of EVSs


  • Course of action
  • Perspectives
  • Decisions
• Ecocentrism


  • Integrates social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions into a holistic ideal
  • Puts ecology and nature as central to humanity
  • Emphasizes a less materialistic approach to life with greater self-sufficiency of societies
• Beliefs of Ecocentrism


  • Environmental conservation is central to decision-making
  • Humans are part of nature
  • Individual responsibility and accountability
  • All life has inherent value
  • Against causing extinction of other species
  • Protection of habitats and ecosystems
  • Humans are not more important than other species
• Anthropocentrism


  • Argues that humans must sustainably manage the global system
  • Could be done through taxes, environmental regulation and legislation
  • Debate is encouraged to reach a consensual, pragmatic approach to solving environmental problems
• Beliefs of Anthropocentrism


  • The environment is a resource for humans to use as needed
  • Human health and well-being as central to decision-making
  • People are environmental managers
  • Government regulation towards environment: taxes, legislation
  • Population control is as important as resource use
  • Humans are the most important species
• Technocentrism


  • Argues that technological developments can provide solutions to environmental problems
  • Optimistic view of the role humans can play in improving humanity
  • Scientific research is encouraged in order to form policies and understand how systems can be controlled, manipulated and exchanged to solve resource depletion/other problems
• Beliefs of Technocentrism


  • Nature is a model, but can be replaced by technology when needed
  • Human health and well-being are central to decision-making
  • Technology can keep pace with an provide solutions to environmental problems
  • We must understand natural processes to manage and control resources
  • We can solve any problem we cause
  • Economic growth is good and necessary
• Deep Ecologists


  • Believe that nature is of more value than humanity
  • Believe that humans are not more important than other living things
  • Not all natural resources are for human use, humans should consume less
  • Seek a more holistic view of the world we live in
  • Believe everyone should be involved in making decisions about the environment
• Self-reliance/Soft Ecologist


  • Small-scale, local community action
  • Individuals can make a difference
  • Self-sufficiency in resource management
  • Against large-scale profits, prefer small-scale local markets
• Environmental Managers


  • The Earth needs tending or stewardship
  • Governments legislate and protect the environment
  • No radical political agenda, promote working to create change within existing social and political structures
  • Current economic growth can be sustained if environmental issues are managed by legal means or political agreement
  • Believe that the environment can be used if managed properly
• Cornucopians


  • The world has infinite resources
  • They do not see environmental issues as problems because humans have always found a way out of difficulties in the past
  • New resources and technologies will solve any environmental problems as they are encountered
  • There is no need for a radical agenda, socio-economic or political reform
  • Growth and capitalism are the best ways to manage the free-market economy
• The modern environmental movement was catalysed by Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, published in 1962
• Silent Spring


  Warned of the effects of pesticides on insects, both pests and others, and how this was being passed along the food chain to kill other animals, including birds (hence a silent spring)
• What really gained people's attention was her belief that pesticides such as DDT were finding their way into people and accumulating in fatty tissues, causing higher risks of cancer
• Chemical industries tried to ban the book but many scientists shared her concerns and when an investigation, ordered by US president John F. Kennedy, confirmed her fears, DDT was banned
• In the decades since the publication of Silent Spring, it has been criticized as scaremongering without enough scientific evidence. The banning of DDT may have caused more harm than good by allowing the mosquitoes that carry malaria to survive and so spread the disease causing millions of deaths
• Al Gore, former US vice-president, was heavily influenced by the book to become involved in environmental issues, particularly with his documentary on climate change – An Inconvenient Truth, 2006
• This raised awareness on climate change, then called global warming, and clearly stated that global climate change was a result of greenhouse gases released by human activities and that we had to act as this is a moral issue
• George Bush's response to the documentary when he was president of the USA was 'Doubt it' and he later said that we should focus on technologies that enable us to live better lives and protect the environment
• The Chisso Corporation built a chemicals factory in Minamata, Japan and was very successful for years. But a by-product was methylmercury which bioaccumulated in the bodies of humans, causing mercury poisoning
• The villagers sued Chisso many times and asked for compensation, until the government finally had Chisso pay them compensation and treat their illnesses
• In the early hours of the morning of 3 December 1984, in the centre of the city of Bhopal, India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a Union Carbide pesticide plant released 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, immediately killing nearly 3,000 people and ultimately causing at least 15,000-22,000 total deaths. This has been called the Bhopal Disaster and is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster
• The people are still suffering till today
• In 1986, at Chernobyl, the worst nuclear disaster ever occurred. This was a few miles north of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine (then part of the USSR) where an explosion and then fire resulted in a level 7 event (the highest)
• The reactor vessel containing the uranium radioactive material split so exposing the graphite moderator to air which caused it to catch fire. The reactor went into uncontrollable meltdown and a cloud of highly radioactive material from this drifted over much of Russia and Europe as far west as Wales and Scotland
• Fission products from the radioactive cloud, e.g. isotopes of caesium, strontium and iodine, have a long half-life and were accumulated in food chains
• There is much debate about how many people have been affected by the radiation as long-term effects, such as cancers and deformities at birth, are difficult to link to one event
• 31 workers died of radiation sickness as they were exposed to high levels in trying to shut down the reactor and some had a lethal dose of radiation within one minute of exposure
• Estimates of later deaths vary but some state about 1,000 extra cases of thyroid cancer and 4,000 other cancers caused by the fallout cloud. Other estimates state that 1 million people will have died as a result of the disaster
• Even today, the reactor is still dangerous. It was encased in a concrete shell but the other reactors continued to run until 2000. Now, a metal arch is being built as the concrete shell only has a lifetime of 30 years but estimates of the date of completion have been put back to 2016
• In 2011, there was another nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan. An earthquake set off a tsunami which caused damage resulting in meltdown of 3 reactors in the plant. The water flooding these became radioactive and will take many years to remove
• Although the radiation leak was only about 30% that of Chernobyl and radiation levels in the air low, one third of a million people were evacuated as the plant was sited in a densely populated area
• Later reports showed the accident was caused by human error – it was not built to withstand a tsunami even though it was close to the sea in an earthquake zone. The plant is still not secured
• After the disaster, there were anti-nuclear demonstrations in other countries and Germany announced it was closing older reactors and phasing out nuclear power generation. France, Belgium, Switzerland all had public votes to reduce or stop nuclear power plants. In other countries, plans for nuclear plants were abandoned or reduced
• System


  An organised collection of interdependent parts that perform a function and which are connected through the transfer of energy and/or matter
• Systems approach


  A way of visualising a complex set of interaction which may be ecological or societal
• System


  Composed of storages and flows