Download Kasun Strategy Kasun Wonders Hardin`s Lifeboat

UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Strategy
Kasun
“The Unjust War against Population”
Stephen E. Schmid
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UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
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Kasun’s strategy is to argue that the doomsday predictions of
runaway population are wrong
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The population problem does have a solution and the solution is
not fundamentally different than the solution to other problems
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Kasun Wonders
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Hardin’s Lifeboat
Kasun wonders,
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Why cannot market mechanisms handle the population
problem?
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Why think the market won’t respond to scarcity as it has in
the past, by raising prices?
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Why can’t individual families be seen as able to adjust family
size given their income and access to resources?
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Why think that society will bear the brunt of over-population?
Stephen E. Schmid
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Hardin argues that the inhabitants of the world are on a lifeboat
and the lifeboat has a carrying capacity
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Kasun’s problem is that there appears no evidence to think that
there is a known carrying capacity on the planet
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If the boat carries too many, then it’s likely to capsize
There is no justification for advocating coercion when there is
no knowledge of the limits of resources and carrying capacity
Stephen E. Schmid
4
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Scarcity or Lifeboat Economics
Hardin’s Lifeboat
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Kasun argues that the lifeboat perspective is flawed
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Lifeboat economics assumes there is an absolute capacity and
argues that we are already reaching that point
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There is no set capacity. Or, if there is we have no knowledge
of it or evidence supporting a nearing of those limits
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Scarcity economics admits that scarcity is present in all
economic systems
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Rather, lifeboat economics discounts a primary resource of
wealth--humans
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“human labor and ingenuity are resources, means for creating
wealth. In the lifeboat, human beings are pure burdens,
straining the capacity of the boat. Which of these views is
closer to reality?” (404)
The task is to choose between varying alternatives,
acknowledging that one must choose what to produce, for
whom, and how from a set of limited alternatives
Stephen E. Schmid
5
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
How Many People Can Agricultural
Resources Support?
Can the Planet Continue to
Sustain Human Life?
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Kasun sees no evidence to the contrary
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Clark found that farmers using “best methods” could raise
enough food to feed more than 35 billion people an Americanstyle diet
Only about two percent of world’s population suffers serious
starvation (Eberstadt)
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If a Japanese-style diet were the standard, Clark estimates that
more than 100 billion people could be fed
Poorest of developing countries spend only about 10% of
export earnings on food
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Revelle found that food, beverages, fiber, rubber, and tabacco
could be provided for 40 billion people
Farmers use less than half of earth’s arable land and a fraction
of the water
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World food production has increased faster than human
population (per capita increase of 28-37% (Simon))
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Stephen E. Schmid
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Africa alone is capable of feeding 10 billion people
75% of world’s available crop land requires no irrigation
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Stephen E. Schmid
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UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
UW-Rock County
Is There Energy Available to
Feed the Planet?
Environmental Ethics
Is There Enough Land to Feed the Planet?
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Instead of a decline in arable land or desertification or urban
development, there’s been an increase in arable land
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Revelle states that theoretically farmers could produce the the
energy to power modern agriculture from inedible crop residues
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U.N. data show a six percent increase in arable land
worldwide from 1963-77
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Kasun also suggests using coal
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Simon writes that urban areas and human development total
only about three percent of U.S. land use, less than one
percent planet-wide
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
9
Environmental Ethics
Stephen E. Schmid
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Are There the Resources to Fuel Farms and
Feed the Planet?
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Advantages to Population Growth?
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Are we running out of resources and energy?
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Studies covering 1870-1972 show no decrease in available
metals and fuels
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As of 1980, prices did not reflect an underlying scarcity in
resources
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Metals, especially iron, aluminum and magnesium, appear
“inexhaustible”
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Simon and Kahn report in 1984 that they expect oil prices to
drop and reserves to increase
Stephen E. Schmid
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Population growth
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permits more efficient use of economic infrastructure
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encourages governments to invest more in education
encourages agricultural investment
increases size of markets spurring cost-saving, large-scale
production
results in more people with more idea and more exchanging
of ideas
Stephen E. Schmid
12
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
UW-Rock County
Environmental Ethics
Kasun’s Conclusion
Problems with Kasun’s Argument
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Kasun’s comments about energy sources appear dated
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“The question, then, is resolved in favor of the economic notion
of scarcity rather than the life-boat model of absolute limits
being the more nearly correct. While resources are always
scarce relative to the demands that human beings place upon
them, there is no indication of imminent, absolute limits. The
limits are so far beyond the levels of our present use of resources
as to be nearly invisible, and are actually receding as new
knowledge develops.” (411)
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Kasun’s solution to arable land encourages the destruction of
habitat, draining swamps, irrigation, and other “reclamation
techniques
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Are these activities feasible or wise?
Her appeal to other’s statistics does not acknowledge or appear
to include issues surrounding global warming
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Stephen E. Schmid
Crude oil prices have risen and reserves appear limited
A warming planet influences the production yields of
agricultural products, available water for irrigation, and
affordable access to energy
Stephen E. Schmid
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