[PEN-L:2439] Re: The V-word

[mmeeropo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Mike Meeropol)]

Just ONE THOUGHT on Terry's post responding to Blair:

Terrence  Mc Donough wrote:

most omitted

>
> Questions of the value of nature must be posed as considering the
> preservation of the system as a whole rather than comparing the
> marginal value of bits of it.  Whatever criteria are used (utility,
> use value, spiritual, aesthetic) it can be agreed that the remaining  ecosystem
> and its component parts have much  more value than any conceivable
> alternative human use of the resources and consequently the
> preservation of the ecosystem at its current level of diversity
> becomes a bedrock principle  which is not in practice subject to
> debates about the relative value of the environment.
>
I know this uses the neoclassical approach but one way I have tried to bring
home to me students the importance of what Terry has stated in this
paragraph is to ask them to consider the VALUE of the enironment in which we
humans must live to be INFINITE.  This gets away from the neo-classical idea
that "efficiency" requires that "we" exploit the environment until marginal
costs EXCEED marginal benefits.  With infinite costs to further
environmental deterioration, it forces us to set limits as quickly as
possible.

Mike


--
Mike Meeropol
Economics Department
Cultures Past and Present Program
Western New England College
Springfield, Massachusetts
"Don't blame us, we voted for George McGovern!"
Unrepentent Leftist!!
mmeeropo@xxxxxxxx
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