Bus 303
Week Ten – 3 – 29
“The American way of life is not negotiable.” President Ronald Regan
“If everyone on the planet lived like the average North American, we would need four more planets!” Sallie McFague
“The success of the system is seen in the inability to imagine any alternative.” Herbert Marcuse
Class Timetable
5:30 – 6:00
Teacher Evaluation
6:00 – 7:00
Environment – Part II
7:00 – 7:15
BREAK
7:15 – 8:15
Case #2 Returned & Discussed
8:15 – 8:20
Next Week
The Environment Part Two
“At the Shrine of Our Lady Fatima Or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic” in Honest Work pp. 459-466
1. • • • • •
Level of the consumer. Frame of Reference Author is Critiquing There is an environmental problem only when some resource is not allocated in equitable and efficient ways. Consumer values are all that count and the measure of these values is the individual’s willingness to pay. The problem of justice or fairness in society becomes the problem of distributing goods and services so that more people get more of what they want to buy. The only values we have, according to this view, are those that a market can price.
“How much do you value open space, a stand of trees, an “unspoiled” landscape? Fifty dollars? A hundred? A thousand? This is one way to measure value. You could compare the amount consumers would pay for a townhouse or coal or a landfill to the amount they would pay to preserve an area in its “natural” state. If users would pay more for the land with the house, the coalmine, or the landfill, than without – less construction and other costs of development – then the efficient thing to do is to improve the land and thus increase its value. This is why we have so many tract developments, pizza stands, and gas stations. How much did you spend last year to preserve open space? How much for pizza and gas? “In principle, the ultimate measure of environmental quality is the value people place on these . . .
“The American way of life is not negotiable.” President Ronald Regan
“If everyone on the planet lived like the average North American, we would need four more planets!” Sallie McFague
“The success of the system is seen in the inability to imagine any alternative.” Herbert Marcuse
Class Timetable
5:30 – 6:00
Teacher Evaluation
6:00 – 7:00
Environment – Part II
7:00 – 7:15
BREAK
7:15 – 8:15
Case #2 Returned & Discussed
8:15 – 8:20
Next Week
The Environment Part Two
“At the Shrine of Our Lady Fatima Or Why Political Questions Are Not All Economic” in Honest Work pp. 459-466
1. • • • • •
Level of the consumer. Frame of Reference Author is Critiquing There is an environmental problem only when some resource is not allocated in equitable and efficient ways. Consumer values are all that count and the measure of these values is the individual’s willingness to pay. The problem of justice or fairness in society becomes the problem of distributing goods and services so that more people get more of what they want to buy. The only values we have, according to this view, are those that a market can price.
“How much do you value open space, a stand of trees, an “unspoiled” landscape? Fifty dollars? A hundred? A thousand? This is one way to measure value. You could compare the amount consumers would pay for a townhouse or coal or a landfill to the amount they would pay to preserve an area in its “natural” state. If users would pay more for the land with the house, the coalmine, or the landfill, than without – less construction and other costs of development – then the efficient thing to do is to improve the land and thus increase its value. This is why we have so many tract developments, pizza stands, and gas stations. How much did you spend last year to preserve open space? How much for pizza and gas? “In principle, the ultimate measure of environmental quality is the value people place on these . . .