Review for Midterm 2

How did a lack of representation and/or government failure lead to the Flint Water Crisis?

* Inability to hold parties or politicians accountable * Lack of state capacity to produce outcomes that advance citizens' interests

What led to a major loss of wetlands in the Mississippi wetlands?

Decades of dredging and petroleum development, exacerbated by upstream dams that altered sediment deposition

Focus on extractive benefits (harvests of timber, fish, cattle, etc)

built into agency cultures and supporting professional groups (forestry, fisheries science, range management, etc.)

Impact of the "frontier"

continued long after it closed - Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" (1893) and Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West (1899) posit a central role for the frontier in generating American politics and identity - The concept of "frontier" continues to serve as a useful concept for understanding change - In Friction, Anna Tsing traces the "frontiers of capitalism" in the forests of Kalimantan, Indonesia

Executive Order 12898 and accompanying Presidential Memorandum

"In accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, each Federal agency shall ensure that all programs or activities receiving Federal financial assistance that affect human health or the environment do not directly, or through contractual or other arrangements, use criteria, methods, or practices that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or national origin" - This order did not create a new law. Rather, it changed how the EPA administers existing environmental laws to better protect minority communities.

What are the two sets of important assumptions for Rawl's "Justice as Fairness"?

1. Social cooperation is possible. 2. Goods or harms can be distributed or redistributed.

Nature-Based Solutions

Considered cost-effective measures for mitigating climate change and enhancing ecosystem services

Pinchot's Conservation Ethic

anthropocentric; not focused on $$$, but it did call for sustaining the material benefits ecosystems provide to present and future generations

How do we measure inequality?

The Gini Coefficient (G) = A/(A+B)

US Institute of Medicine's definition of environmental justice

"The fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies. Fair treatment means that no population, due to policy or economic disempowerment, is forced to bear a disproportionate share of the negative human health of environmental impacts of pollution or environmental consequences resulting from industrial, municipal, and commercial operations of the execution of federal, state, local and tribal programs and policies" (US Institute of Medicine 1999)

Flint Water Crisis Emergency Management

- By 2002, Flint had $30 million in debt. - Two periods of Emergency Financial Management (2002-2004 and 2011-2015) - Consecutive Emergency Managers (not there to serve the will of the people, but to make unilateral decisions) designed the policy which resulted in the Flint Water Crisis

What led to the difference in outcomes between Hurricane Katrina and Ida?

- Difference in hurricane size and route - After Katrina, federal, state, and parish governments made $14 billion in investments to improve New Orleans' flood protection system - MRGO closed in 2009 with a storm surge barrier and subsequent wetland restoration.

What defines a person's "capabilities"?

- Education - Access to health care - Economic security - Freedom from discrimination - Cultural autonomy (incl. support for cultural identity) - Freedom from environmental harms - Political freedom This approach is flexible and can be adapted to different cultural contexts, bringing together notions of distributive, procedural, and social justice.

The Flint Water Crisis

- Flint, Michigan is the 7th largest city in Michigan, home of General Motors (Est. 1908) and nicknamed "Vehicle City" - First and Second Great Migrations witnessed a sharp increase in African American citizens - Since deindustrialization, Flint's population has halved. By 2010, Flint was 56.6% Black. For reference, the USA was 12.1% Black.

The Cradle of Conservationism

- In the 19th century, US politics emphasized free-market capitalism and a minimal role for the federal government - By the 1890s, concerns had arisen about natural resource depletion and the monopoly power of the railroad, oil, and banking sectors - The US had become an integrated national economy and that required policy and coordination at the national scale.

Locating justice in the political process

- Less theoretically, scholars on justice point to different points at which we observe justice: ** 1. Procedural/Process-Based Justice ** -> focusing on how decisions are being made, who is making the decisions, etc. ** 2. Distributive/Allocative Justice ** -> how outcomes are proportionally represented across different subgroups (harms/benefits) ** 3. Redistributive/Restorative Justice ** -> idea that justice must be served if someone has done something wrong

Methodological trends in political ecology

- Multiscalar, political economic, and historical analysis - Ethnography, discourse analysis, and ecological field studies

What restrictions were imposed under the ESA?

- No government action shall destroy critical habitat or otherwise "jeopardize the continued existence of any endangered or threatened species" - It is illegal for private individuals to "take" listed species. "Taking" includes actions that harm species "by significantly impairing essential behavioral patterns including breeding, feeding, or sheltering." Includes damage/destruction of critical habitat - Exceptions are possible only with the approval of a cabinet-level committee. But this process has been used only a handful of times.

Environmental Subjects and Identity

- Public lands and natural resource management play a large part in American identity. "The forests of America, however slighted by man, must have a great delight to God; for they were the best he ever planted. The whole continent was a garden, and from the beginning, it seemed to be favored above all the other wild parks and gardens of the globe." If public lands contribute to a sense of national identity, who manages and accesses these lands has important consequences for national identity, as well.

Michelle Alexander's arguments in her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

- Society is structured in ways that make racial injustice invisible to many privileged people. - This invisibility contributes to a cycle of underfunded schools, food deserts, mass incarceration, a lack of jobs, and (by extension) environmental burdens. - Social justice movements aim to make the invisible visible -> political change -> institutional change

Evidence for Environmental Racism

- Substantial evidence shows that hazardous facilities tend to be located in low-income minority neighborhoods. - In 1987, the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice concluded that 60% of African Americans live in areas at risk from landfills and toxic waste disposal. - Robert Bullard's Dumping in Dixie (1990): From the 1920s through the 1970s, the city of Houston placed all of its landfills and 6 out fo 8 incinerators in African American neighborhoods.

How was the state about to claim land?

- The definition of property that European immigrants brought to North America (recall our discussion of Agawam and Locke's political philosophy) - Decades of war with indigenous people (removal is not only physical, but symbolic) - Centuries of sociopolitical projects that marginalized indigenous people and people of color (recall "Environmentalism's Racist History" by Purdy)

Degradation and Marginalization

- The federal government owns about 1/3 of the continental US. National resource management -> major environmental + economic implications - Federal resource management agencies draw frequent criticism from environmentalists. The claim is that agencies 1. Are ineffective in protecting resource stocks 2. Stress resource extraction at the expense of wilderness + ecological values 3. Are "too cozy" with regulated industries

Democratic deficits related to environmental policy

- Unclear or unstable citizen preferences - Breakdown in communicating citizen preferences to political parties or politicians - Inability to hold parties or politicians accountable - Lack of state capacity to produce outcomes that advance citizens' interests

Environmental racism in the Mississippi Delta

- We have already encountered a case of environmental racism that affects Louisianans in the text. - Box 3.2 tells a story about how rent-seeking can drive ecological change that leads to environmental racism. (1700 to 1980/90, large reservoirs on the Missouri and Arkansas Rivers account for the biggest loss of sediment.) - In the Mississippi Delta, decades of dredging and petroleum development led to a major loss of wetlands. This was exacerbated by upstream dams that altered sediment deposition. - "An average of 34 square miles of South Louisiana land, mostly marsh, has disappeared each year for the past five decades, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)." - "From 1932 to 2000, [Louisiana] lost 1,900 square miles of land to the Gulf of Mexico" - An additional square mile of wetland in Orleans Parish is estimated to provide around $3 million in storm protection per year!

What two key problems emerged by the late 1800s with westward expansion?

1. **Abuse of the Homestead Act by railroad, timber, and mining interests** - "Settlements" were created in which small land holdings were quickly transferred to big business enterprises - This resulted in **monopoly power (railroads) + natural resource depletion** - This generated concerns - a new political narrative - that business emphasized short-term profits at the expense of long-term public interest 2. **The "Closing of the American Frontier" (US Census Bureau, 1890)** - The best agricultural lands had been transferred to the private sector - The remaining federal lands — mountains, deserts, forests, and grasslands — were inappropriate for dense human settlement.

What are two explanations for environmental racism?

1. Businesses choose to locate hazardous facilities in low-income minority neighborhoods because of rent-seeing (profit seeking). More affluent communities are better equipped to fight off "Locally Unwanted Land Uses" (LULU's). 2. Disadvantaged groups move to "bad neighborhoods" after industrial facilities have driven down property values. This is sometimes called "coming to nuisance." - In the context of research on environmental racism, this is sometimes called the "class vs race" debate - Both processes are at work, which results in disproportionately high levels of environmental hazards where the most vulnerable members of society live.

How will rational actors working from the original position (the veil of ignorance) structure institutions around common principles?

1.**Society should be structured in a way that maximizes people's freedom.** 2.**Difference principle = primary goods should be distributed in a way that is to the maximum benefit of the worst off person in society**;"Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others" - "Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both: (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under conditions of fair equality of opportunity (Rawls 1971, 302/266)" - The "difference principle" (2) is reformulated to clarify a "maximin" reasoning: We sometimes want to maximize the minimum outcome, bring the bottom up. This conceptualization encompasses the ideas of equality and equity.

Hurricane Ida

16 years later, on August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida makes landfall 45 miles West of where Katrina made landfall in 2005 - 26 died in Hurricane Ida and there was widespread power outage.

What are three hurdles for environmental justice?

1. Debate among environmentalists whether to address social injustice more generally or focus on narrowly environmental concerns. 2. Complicated nature of documenting disproportionate environmental harms or benefits 3. Not immediately obvious what should be done after an injustice has been documented: Addressing environmental injustice with public policy could involve complex and expensive local, national, or perhaps even global interventions

What are the two diversions of environmental harm from the production of goods?

1. Disproportionality 2. Rhetoric of Distraction

What did debates around environmental racism/injustice center on in the late 1980s?

1. Environmental burdens are borne disproportionately by members of low-income and (especially) minority groups. 2. Traditional environmental policies focused on the interests of privileged people. Three decades later, these issues remain largely unresolved.

What must the government do when a species is listed as endangered?

1. Identify "critical habitat" — tracts of land, rivers, etc. required to ensure species survival/recovery 2. Develop a recovery plan — specific steps to restore populations

Conservationist Policy Response: Creation of the U.S. Forest Service

1905 - Founding chief of USFS: Gifford Pinchot, a European-trained American forester and path-breaking conservationist who had attended the Yale School of Forestry - Pinchot believed in "scientific" management in the rational pursuit of the public interest. "Objective" science could supplant the corruption of markets and politics. - In this perspective, resource management should maximize the "greatest good for the greatest number" - This is the "Maximum Sustained Yield (MSY)" criterion, which constitutes an early approach to codifying "sustainability" - you can only take units out of a system that can be sustainably replaced

What happened as a result of environmental racism in the Mississippi Delta?

1. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 29, 2005, it breached levies that protected low-lying areas from flooding. Low-income African-Americans were most affected. - not well equipped with wetlands to protect New Orleans - up to 2000 ppl died (often the most vulnerable, unable to evacuate) and many left NO permanently for Houston and other areas 2. Health impacts on proximate communities - "Cancer Alley" refers to a set of Parishes between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that contain nearly 150 oil refineries, plastics plants, and chemical facilities. - In 2018, St. James Parish approved further industrialization through the "Sunshine Project" that would create one of the world's largest plastic facilities and two methanol complexes. This project would more than double cancer risks. - Cancer risks in predominantly African American districts are project to be 104 and 105 cases per million; predominantly white districts, 60 to 75 cases per million - Combined CO2 equivalent emissions per year in a single parish could exceed those of 113 countries. - A panel of UN Human Rights experts called the development of petrochemical complexes in the corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge "a form of environmental racism," and raised concerns about future industrialization.

Defining environmental justice

1. gives attention to unequal exposure to hazards 2. disproportional access to resources and decision making 3. who is able to frame the key terms of the debate

Disproportionality and Environmental Harm

A large fraction of the environmental harms comes from a very small fraction of the economy - ie. the case of the US Magnesium Corporation facility in Rowley, Utah

What was Warren County like?

A low-income area populated mainly by African Americans and Native Americans - State regulations required PCBs to be stored at least 50 feet above water table. But the proposed facility in Warren County had only a 15-ft buffer. - Protestors held a series of marches that led to over 500 arrests. - The protests did not succeed in blocking construction of the facility. - But they did start a social movement that led to significant long-run change and helped to define the term environmental racism. - Government authority ultimately settled on Warren County to dispose of toxic waste, even though there was no scientific evidence why it should be the location of the proposed facility.

"Wise Use" Movement

A movement towards greater resource extraction and motorized recreation

Aldo Leopold

A professional resource manager turned professor of resource management at the University of Wisconsin - Started out studying at the Yale School of Forestry established by Pinchot, receiving his master's degree in 1909. - Yet his life experiences led him to see that Pinchot's approach to "conservation" could have disastrous consequences if it was taken too far without sensitivity to the dynamics of the landscape (ecology) - Above all else, ***human actions should seek to maintain the basic structure and functioning of natural systems, which have a logic to them that is not analogous to human dominated systems like farms!!!**** - As a young professional, Leopold worked for the U.S. Forest Service in managing lands in the Southwestern US

Working definition of justice

A society is "just" to the extent it supports each person's capability to thrive - This is how Erbaugh has come to understand the Capabilities Approach developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum

"Ecological Fallacy"

A term we use to describe a type of incorrect inference. It is important to recognize critical differences between population-level inferences and individual experience.

How does something go on the policy agenda?

Agenda setting: policy, problem, and politics streams must converge

Political Ecology

An approach to studying nature-society relations that is concerned with the ways in which environmental issues both reflect, and are the result of, the political and socioeconomic contexts in which they are situated. - Contemporary political ecology is often traced back to Brookefield and Blaikie's 1987 work, Land Degradation and Society - **Seeks to understand environmental problems as emerging from political economy** - Political ecologists: 'accept the idea that costs and benefits associated with environmental change are for the most part distributed among actors unequally... [which inevitably] reinforces or reduces existing social and economic inequalities... [which holds] political implications in terms of the altered power of actors in relation to other actors

How as Pinchot's approach successful in many ways?

Approach was in many ways successful - In NH, the White Mountain National Forest was established in 1918 to address clear-cutting, which reduced forest cover while causing major fires plus flooding the Merrimac River basin. - His writings anticipated "sustainable development," recognizing: "the right of the present generation to use what it needs and all it needs of the natural resources now available [recognizing] equally our obligation so to use what we need that our descendants shall not be deprived of what they need"

Reaching Causal Inferences

Be skeptical about drawing causal inferences from correlations and regressions when there are reasons to believe that some third variable: 1. Has an important causal effect on the y-variable. 2. Is positively correlated with the x-variable. Always ask yourself: "Is there some other variable (or variables) that might causally explain the observed relationship between x and y?"

Why is Pinchot sometimes called a "utilitarian" (prioritizing something designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive)?

Because he was anthropocentric and emphasized the instrumental value of natural resources But the Conservation Ethic emphasizes the rights of future generations and the obligation of the present generation to serve as stewards, like the concept of usufruct.

What is Leopold's take on "the extension of ethics" to include the environment?

Believes it is both "an evolutionary possibility and an ecological necessity" - Leopold is concerned that "there is as yet no ethic dealing with man's relation to land and to the animals and plants which grow upon it. Land... is still property."

Understanding transmission and mortality

COVID-19 transmission and mortality are related to "compounding vulnerabilities" - Place-based factors, such as population density, can increase risk of transmission - Pre-existing conditions can increase the risk of mortality - Investigating the role of environmental and social factors with COVID-19 mortality resonates with foundational research on environmental justice

What is the region between New Orleans and Baton Rouge referred to as?

Cancer Alley because of its high levels of petrochemical industrialization

What did the Progressive Movement (1900s-190s) lead to?

Constitutional Amendments that: - Authorized a federal income tax - Based Senate elections on a direct popular vote - Gave women the right to vote - Prohibited the production and sale of alcoholic beverages

Data Visualization

Constructing graphs and images that help people draw inferences about how different variables are interrelated - Human beings are hard-wired to look for patterns that help them understand and navigate a complex world. - Data visualization can help us see patterns that otherwise would have been invisible.

The Problem of Causality

Correlation does not imply causality! - Suppose we found on average ppl who spend more at Starbucks (x) have longer lifespans (y) - Statistically this would involve a positive correlation between these two variables. But would it make sense to infer that spending more at Starbucks extends people's lives? - Clearly not! A better explanation would be that (all else equal) higher socioeconomic status leads casually to both: better health outcomes; and higher spending at cafes.

What disaster happened in Bhopal, India?

December 3, 1984: a release of methyl isocyanate (MIC) at Union Carbide's Bhopal facility led to 4000 deaths and 50,000 permanent disabilities - Long-term effects: Those who survived the leak were reported to be 6.5x more likely to die from COVID-19!!!

Leopold's essay "Thinking Like a Mountain"

Describes an instance in which Leopold and his group encountered a group of grey wolves - "In those days we had never heard of passing up a chance to kill a wolf. In a second we were pumping lead into the pack... We reached the old wolf in time to watch the fierce green fire dying in her eyes." (emotionally powerful text, emotional connection with dying wolf, seeing wolf as moral subject) - Reveals the ecological importance of wolves to maintaining the other elements of the ecosystem (less wolves -> "maze of new deer trails" -> seeing every edible bush and seedling destroyed

Environmental Racism

Different exposure to harm and limiting of access to resources that are reliant on, or that reproduce forms of, racial differentiation

How do federal agencies tend to manage land?

Differently along a spectrum of preservation to conservation

Government may fail to address problems because of:

Diffuse benefits and concentrated costs Close relationship between government and business Fragmented implementation of environmental policy

Zoonosis

Diseases transmitted from animals to humans - Increased risk through deforestation and other land use changes, antimicrobial resistance, intensified agriculture and livestock production, illegal and poorly regulated wildlife trade, climate change.

How is disproportionality related to environmental racism?

Disproportionate allocations of environmental harms, specifically defined by race, and disproportionate access

Rhetoric of Distraction

Diverts our attention away from disproportionality

What did Emergency Managers do in response to debt?

EMs sought to cut costs of water provision by using a nearby source. - Transitioned from purchasing water from Lake Huron through the City of Detroit to the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) - Two-year gap between the expiration of the City of Detroit contract and the new contract with KWA - Solution? Temporarily pump water from the Flint River - This process went unchallenged, due to the executive authority of the EMs

Leopold's "Land Ethic"

Emphasizes a moral responsibility to conserve the "integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community" Published posthumously in Sand County Almanac (1949) - The starting point — in human history, the rights of women and slaves were not always recognized. - Leopold makes this point by referring to the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War (as told by Homer) - But through moral progress, we have come to recognize the fundamental equality and rights of each human being. Living in community with others demands that we treat other members of the community with respect and a commitment to reciprocity (sounds a bit like Ostrom) ** "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise." ** - "A land ethic, then, reflects the existence of an **ecological conscience**, and this in turn reflects a conviction of individual responsibility for the health of the land. Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity."

Homestead Act of 1862

Encouraged westward settlement by allowing heads of families to buy 160 acres of land for a small fee ($10-30); settlers were required to develop and remain on the land for five years. Over 400,000 families got land through this law.

What happened when Flint residents received water from the Flint River?

For 18 months (2014-2015), Flint residents received water from the Flint River. ** Water-related health concerns followed. - GM notices corrosion when using treated water from the Flint River. - High-levels of total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) used to reduce bacteria load - Professionals within the EPA (del Toral), academia (Marc Edwards, Virginia Tech), and medicine (Mona Hanna Attash, Hurley Medical Center) provide evidence of **lead contamination and heightened blood lead levels in children.** - The Mott Foundation provides $4 million to subsidize a 6 month return to City of Detroit water system.

What would exclusion from forest lands do?

Force some of the most multidimensionally poor people — those who live in rural areas within low-income countries — to move or give up their current livelihood for a global carbon and biodiversity debt to which they contributed little

Hetch-Hetchy

Hetch-Hetchy was a beautiful valley in Yosemite. It damming in the 1920's caused major controversy among environmentalists. Opposition was led by John Muir and the Sierra Club. - City of SF received water rights, were able to construct a dam - Pinchot and Muir engaged via writing letters

1982 North Carolina Warren County Case

Historians trace the widespread recognition of environmental racism to a 1982 case in NC. - In Warren County, the state government sought to build a PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) disposal facility. The goal was to dispose of waste that had been discharged illegally along roadsides in rural areas. - PCBs are highly toxic chemicals that were once used in transformers and other electrical equipment. - They have adverse impacts on human health ecological systems.

Collapse of George's Bank cod fishery (early 1900s)

Illustrates the ineffectiveness claim of federal government in managing US national resources - The New England Fisheries Management Council was unsuccessful in sustaining stocks of cod and other groundfish - Under federal law, members of the Council were appointed to represent fishers and owners of fish-processing facilities. - These stakeholders were unwilling to ensure short-run reductions in employment and profits to secure the long-term sustainability of the system - Protections for cod and other commercial fisheries of George's Bank remain contentious

Executive Order 13990

In January of 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 13990, titled "Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis" - Speaking about the Order, Biden said "WIth this executive order, environmental justice will be at the center of all we do addressing the disproportionate health and environmental and economic impacts on communities of color — so-called fenceline communities, especially... the hard-hit areas like Cancer Alley in Louisiana or the Route 9 corridor in the state of Delaware."

What did Don Gifford write?

In the world without edges, "the boundaries that once defined specific places have dissolved in important ways" - We have become "urban nomads" whose lives cross scales from local to global. - This means we often have no idea where and how the goods we consume were produced and how our consumption patterns affect people and the environment in distant places. - Teddy Roosevelt (1908): "The average man... lives in big cities. He deals in industries that do not bring him in close touch with nature. He does not realize the demand he is making upon nature" (p. 87). - The book talks about "thirty-five pounds of guilt" (p. 78) - the point that 35 pounds of waste are generated for each pound of products delivered to consumers (Ayres, 2001). - Or with agriculture, it takes around one acre of farmland to feed one person given a typical American diet (= 1 football field) - So feeding NYC requires around 8.5 million acres, an area 1.4 times the size of NH

How does land cover change affect novel disease risk?

Land cover change increases the chances of novel disease transmission. - Shifting land use may alter the dynamics of disease transmission among wildlife to generate cross-species transmission. Increased risk of novel diseases coupled with globalized trade and mobile populations increases the risk of pandemic.

Correlation Coefficient (R)

Measures the degree to which any two variables follow a linear relationship. - Value of R ranges from +1 (perfect positive relationship) to -1 (perfect negative relationship)

Preservationist Policy Response: Creation of the National Park Service

Muir's ECOCENTRIC approach (nature is good because it is intrinsically good, not because it does anything for the ppl) 1916 - In contrast to the conservationist ethic that guides the National Forest Service - John Muir's preservationist philosophy is embodied in the NPS - Muir's family immigrated to the US from Scotland when he was 11, in 1849 - Widely known for his writing (300 articles, over ten books), which focuses on the **intrinsic and spiritual value of nature and wilderness** - Pivotal in establishing Yosemite National Park (1890) - Co-founded the Sierra Club and is regarded as a spiritual founder of the National Park Service

Federal Land Systems

National Park System National Wildlife Refuge System National Forest System National Wilderness System National Wild and Scenic River System National Marine Sanctuaries and National Estuarine Research Reserves National Rangelands

Bhopal, India case of environmental injustice

One of the most important chemical catastrophes that has ever occurred In Bhopal, Union Carbide (a transnational firm based in the U.S.) operated a pesticide plant in a densely populated area 3 factors favored locating this facility in Bhopal: 1. Providing chemicals to pesticides used by Indian farmers 2. Gain access to low-income workers 3. Avoiding the costs of more stringent U.S. health + safety regulations ("spatial fix" can produce for less)

What is happening now with the Flint Water Crisis?

Ongoing legal cases against administrative officials and academics continues. Health concerns for Flint residents (especially young children exposed to dangerous levels of lead) continues $600 million settlement aims to provide compensation and settle civil lawsuits against the State of Michigan

Statistical Significance

P-value reflects the relative likelihood of a false positive. If p is close to zero, we can be almost certain that the variables in question are truly correlated. - As a matter of convention, we sometimes say that results are "statistically significant" when p is less than 10%. - But the lower the p-value, the higher the degree of significance.

How was Pinchot not an environmentalist in the modern sense?

Pinchot's ANTHROPOCENTRIC approach (recognize that the environment is valuable in so far as it provides benefits to people). Believed in a utilitarian approach to the sustainable use of natural resources for material benefit - His concept of "conservation" was NOT informed by an understanding of ecology (which did not exist as a field in the early 1900s) - Instead, Pinchot saw forests (and other resources) as analogous to crops that should be maximize sustained yields.

The Endangered Species Act (ESA)

Requires protecting endangered species and their "critical habitats" even at substantial economic cost Passed by Congress in 1973, goal = to protect and restore species at risk due to human activities - The law was a response to well-publicized threats to "charismatic megafauna" (wolves, whooping cranes, gray whales, etc.) Under the ESA, the Fish & Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service are required to identify "threatened" and "endangered" species based on solely biological factors. - "Endangered" means "in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range" - "Threatened" means "likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future" *** Any citizen can petition agencies to consider "listing" particular species. The agencies then have 12 months to make a determination. Listing decisions must be based solely on biological evidence. Political + economic factors shall not be considered. FWS governs land and fresh water; NMFS covers marine organisms ***

The late 1800s (Gilded Age)

Right before the Progressive Era, when capitalists like Carnegie and Rockefeller made a TON of money mostly through extraction of natural resources

Muir's Preservationism

theocentric, ecocentric, can be linked to streams of Christian thought that divinity in God's creation reveals God's goodness, we should be good stewards

"Social choice" vs "social contract"

Sen focuses questions of justice on: 1. Assessments of social realizations, that is, on what actually happens. 2. Comparative issues of enhancements of justice. - Rawls and Sen both focus on the importance of public reasoning in realizing justice. - This scholarship on justice has been foundational for theories of "deliberative democracy" -> theory that posits the crux of democracy is about deliberation (consent of the governed), what communities all think is fair.

How did Amartya Sen critique and build upon Rawls' work?

Sen takes issue with "transcendental institutionalism" of social contract theorists - Focused on determining the nature of "the just" - Sen believes establishing "perfect justice" is neither necessary nor sufficient to realizing more just outcomes. Sen tries to identify social arrangements and assess whether they are more or less unjust than other outcomes. ** "The first disagreement concerns the difference between the transcendental and the comparative: Rawls discusses what a perfectly just society should do, whereas for Sen, the most important problems that we need to confront are comparative problems, concerning ways of moving toward societies that are less unjust." **

What is multiple use?

Since the 1960s, land-use statutes have called for multiple use, emphasizing the role of both recreational activities and (increasingly) biodiversity conservation on federal lands. - Balancing recreation and extraction is left up to agencies. Outcomes are affected by political maneuvering between competing interest groups - And the relative influence of different stakeholders differs dramatically between states and regions.

Forest restoration and climate justice

The Bonn Challenge in 2011 voluntarily commits countries to the goal of restoring forest area on 350 million hectares by 2030.

Critiques of the ESA

The ESA enjoyed strong support in the 1970s and 1980s. More recently, critiques have been lodged by both "wise use" activists and environmentalists. - The "wise use" movement is tied to grazing/logging interests in Western U.S. **Their concern is that the ESA: 1. Violates private property rights 2. Imposes costs on resource-dependent rural communities to promote urban "tree-hugger" goals ** - Environmentalists argue that the ESA offers "intensive care unit" approach to a problem that demands a systemic solution.

How did Western settlements reflect Thomas Jefferson's views?

The Western settlements reflected Thomas Jefferson's view that America should be a nation of rural farms. It was also tied to: 1. Locke's theory (libertarianism) that people can establish legitimate property rights by mixing their labor with the land, "at least where there is enough, and as good, left in common for others" 2. Territorial conflicts between the U.S., Native Americans, Mexico/Spain, and Canada, tied to the idea of Cowboy Economy or unlimited resource plain central to early ideas of the US

Are resource management agencies "too cozy" with regulated industries?

The claim is that agency cultures reflect industry cultures in terms of education, professionalization, and career opportunities. Under the revolving door model, government officials are often recruited from the private sector. They then return to industry following a period of public service. - Resource management decisions often have major impacts on regulated firms. Logging, grazing, and mining companies invest heavily in campaign finance + lobbying. Can see the iron triangle here

Economic Efficiency

The idea that goods and services should be allocated to best satisfy people's preferences

When did questions about environmental racism and environmental injustice enter policy discourse?

The late 1980s

COVID-19 as a catalyst for change

The pandemic has reshuffled how we interact with one another and with the environment. - Such "exogenous" events focus research that assesses system-level change. - "Paradigm shifts" in policy change are often coupled with drastic and sudden change.

R^2 Statistic

The squared value of the correlation coefficient - Measures the percentage of the variability in the y-variable that can be explained by the x-variable assuming that x has a true causal effect on y.

Linear Regression

Third step in our analysis — find an equation y = a + bx that best fits the data. This is called linear regression, and involves choosing the values of a and b to maximize the correlation between the observed and predicted values of y.

Progressive Era

Time at the turn of the 20th century in which groups sought to reform America economically, socially, and politically - Current institutions continue to reflect laws and policies from the Progressive Era of the early 1900s - Focused centrally on the need for the government to regulate the private sector to promote free and fair competition (Anti-Trust Law) - And it emphasized the need for government to conserve and protect natural resources for the benefit of both present and future generations

Disproportionality

When a privileged few are able to produce more environmental harm or receive greater environmental benefits

Westward Expansion (19th century)

When the nation was settled by Europeans, population growth was accommodated through westward expansion. - Immigrants settled the Midwest, the Mountain States, and the Pacific Coast (Great Frontier) - This was supported by land grants under the Homestead Act (1862) and related legislation. Property rights were transferred from the U.S. government to private citizens willing to work the land.

John Rawls

Writes about "justice as fairness" in A Theory of Justice (1971) and Political Liberalism (1993) - Justice as fairness is based on a thought experiment. Rational actors work from the original position (ie: the veil of ignorance) to decide how to allocate goods or harms. If you didn't know who you are, how would you make decisions that are just?

Land cover change and novel disease risk

is becoming more important with globalization.

Resilience

the rate at which an ecosystem returns to its original state after a disturbance; the ability to stabilize, important term in ecology