Environmental Justice, External Costs, Cost-Benefit Analysis, the Story of Broke Notes
Environmental Justice
- In the 1990's researchers began to ask who lives around the most polluting facilities?
- Political movement emerged to ensure all communities don't bear a disproportionate share of pollution
- The movement was called the 'Environmental Justice Movement'
- Not clear what the government can do about the problem regarding the cheap land
- Governments are beginning to find some of the answers
- As a result of political movement, federal and state governments have enacted new laws and regulations designed to take into account, the concerns of environmental justice advocates
- If a steel producing company can minimize production cost by dumping waste for free, the company will do so
- Negative effects of pollution are: external costs that are passed on to our society and environment
- Product demand yields price and quantity
- Social curve adds external cost due to pollution
- Government could correct difference between private and social outcomes, by taxing companies for polluting.
- Tax revenue could be used to reduce pollution
- Technology cannot achieve that outcome at a reasonable economic level
- Initially, social cost is relatively low
- Necessary to determine a level of pollution reduction that is beneficial and cost efficient
- As pollution reduction is nearing 100 percent, social cost rises dramatically
- As technology improves, social cost shifts outward which means it's practical to increase pollution reduction
- Tax money used to 'create a better future'
- Country becomes broke
- Instead of moving forwards, things are moving backwards
- Tax money goes to the military ($726 billion in 2011)
- Subsidy is a giveaway that gives some companies a lift over others
- Problem is that the government is lifting companies that are dragging us down
- Everywhere in the economy, you will find subsidies
- Freebie subsidies are where the government gives things that belong to us to corporations for cheap/free
- Without laws that make polluters pay, we all pay with loss of clean air and water
- By the time all the subsidies are handed out, there isn't enough to pay our bills and building a better future
- Senators wanting to keep oil subsidies earned 5x more in big oil campaign cash than those who were against it
- We need to subsidize zero waste and raising recycle rate to 75% will create new jobs