1 Economic Growth and the EnvironmentECON*2100 Week 1 – Lecture 3 Economic Growth and the Environment

2 Try to strike this term from your vocabulary:The Environment

3 It can be a meaningless abstractionIt includes everything outside your skin And a word that means everything means nothing Try using the word “everything” in place of “environment” and you’ll see the problem

4 In this class… As much as possible we will refer to specific issues:Air quality Water quality Land management Resource management Climate Etc. These are not the same issues; each one raises different considerations

5 The nature of value Are humans “harming” the natural world?Nature cannot “harm” nature One part just changes and reorganizes another

6 The nature of value What about humans?If humans are part of nature, then everything humans do is natural. So humans can’t “harm” nature either, just change it.

7 The nature of value What about humans?But suppose we take the view that humans are harming nature, not just changing it. That means humans aren’t part of nature.

8 The nature of value What about humans?So you can’t argue that humans are just another part of nature and that human activity is harmful to the natural word.

9 The nature of value If humans are not part of nature, what are they?The main options are: Something special An aberration

10 The nature of value Something special:Humans are not part of nature, and their well-being is of primary concern The natural world matters insofar as it matters to people Humans can harm nature and can harm one another by changing nature in deleterious ways

11 The nature of value Something special:“Man is the measure of all things” Protagoras (~450 BCE) i.e. whether a thing has value, and what value it has, is a judgment by individual humans, it is not inherent in the thing itself or determined by a universal law

12 The nature of value Aberration:Humans are not part of nature, and they matter less than nature The natural world has intrinsic value that is maximized when human activity is minimal or absent Humans harm nature by everything they do

13 Is environmentalism anti-human?The latter view can lead to radically inhumane opinions

14 In this class Human welfare is the criterion for valuing thingsAir quality, water quality, forest space, etc., all matter because they are valuable to people

15 The Energy Connection Economic growth and air pollution are linked through the harnessing of energy Energy requires a mechanism to turn it into usable power Economic history closely follows development of mechanisms

16 Power mechanisms Human and animal

17 Power mechanisms Wind, water and sun

18 Power mechanisms Modern world arose from finding and learning to use fossil fuels (as well as hydro and nuclear energy) Concentrated energy and efficient mechanisms Power output rose by spectacular amounts

19 Power mechanisms

20 Combustion Fuel-powered processes rely on combustionReaction of H+C+O2  CO2 + H2O + heat

21 Combustion Air pollution arises from by-products:Use of air (rather than oxygen) Impurities in the fuel Incomplete combustion CO2

22 Air Pollution Ground Level Ozone (O3) Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)Particulate Matter (PM, TSP) Sulphur Oxides (SOx) Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) Carbon Monoxide (CO)

23 Air Pollution Some result from emissions:SOx, NOx, particulates, VOCs, CO Some formed by secondary processes PM2.5, O3 These imply very different control problems

24 Air Pollution vs IncomeIs it like this?

25 Air Pollution vs IncomeSources for this and next 2 slides: Pollution data from World Bank Pollution Data: Pollution measures for 1995 except Johannesberg, Santiago, New York, Los Angeles: TSP measures for 1994, taken from survey in "Air Quality in Ontario 1995“ from Ontario Ministry of Environment; Background information is available in the 1998 World Development Indicators, p.162. Income Per Capita as of 1995: from Penn World Tables,

26 Air Pollution vs IncomeSources: See slide 12

27 Air Pollution vs IncomeSources: see slide 12

28 Ozone: 11 AM, Bay&Wellesley

29 Ozone: Monthly Averages

30 airqualityontario.com Guelph

31 NO2: Monthly Averages

32 TSP: Monthly Averages

33 Toronto Air Pollution Trends

34 Toronto Air Pollution Trends

35 Toronto Air Pollution Trends

36 Toronto Air Pollution Trends

37 SO2: Monthly Averages

38 Air Pollution Since 1940: USASource: US EPA,

39 Air Pollution vs Income: USASource for this and next slide Pollution: GDP per capita

40 Air Pollution vs Income: USA

41 Water Pollution (Kg/worker/day) vs IncomeSources: World Bank, World Development Indicators (water pollution); Penn World Tables (GDP per capita)

42 Water Pollution: Great LakesSource for this and next slide: Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington

43 Water Pollution: Great Lakes

44 Global Issues: Ozone Layerhttps://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/assessments/ozone/2014/summary/ch2.html

45 Global Issues: Ozone Layer

46 Global Issues: Global WarmingTotal CO2 emissions (in C equivalent)

47 Global Issues: Global WarmingCO2 emissions per capita

48 Global Issues: Global Warming

49 Global Issues: Global WarmingModels versus observations Black line CMIP5 lines

50 Summary The “Environment” as an abstract term: it makes more sense to discuss specifics To think of human activity as damaging to nature requires putting humans in a separate category from the rest of nature Valuing environmental damage requires adopting a human-centered point of view

51 Summary Combustion of fossil fuels ties economic growth to air pollution Most air pollutants do not necessarily increase with economic growth, many go down Stratospheric ozone depletion mainly occurred in polar regions and in the mid-latitudes during late Winter and early Spring CO2 emissions grow with fossil fuel use. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that is believed to have a warming effect on the climate

52 Next Models of economic growth