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Kent State University *

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22070

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Philosophy

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Oct 30, 2023

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Slide 1 The value of nature Humans have long taken an interest in the value of nature, but for the most part our interest has not been in the value for its own sake, but instead in how we could benefit from these natural resources.

Slide 2 Finding value in nature » Using nature for human benefit » Preserving or restoring nature to benefit humans The role of value in making decisions about resources can range from using all the resources up to provide immediate gratification or economic gain. Or, as many approach this today, we could calculate the value of preserving or restoring a resource but still from a perspective of how humans can benefit. You may have seen these signs around Kent, posted by Davey Tree (local tree cutting business) on Earth Day. They show the value of the services provided by the trees in town. We’ll talk about that in a minute. Image source: Davey Tree

Slide 3 Utilitarianism » The greatest good is happiness & acts that promote this are morally right Preserving resources make humans happy! Using resources makes humans happy! The source of the focus on value as an ethical consideration can be traced to the principle of utilitarianism, which holds that the greatest good is happiness and acts that promote happiness are therefore morally right. From an environmental perspective, this could lead to a broad range of approaches, as using up resources could produce happiness such as being able to travel by car, but so too could preserving resources and enjoying them over time. Image source: The Noun Project

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Slide 4 Locke’s approach » (Hu)man is the ”infinitely wise maker” » "land that is left wholly to nature, that hath no improvement of pasturage, tillage, or planting, is called, as indeed it is, waste ; and we shall find the benefit of it amount to little more than nothing" ( Second Treatise of Government ). Political philosopher John Locke is seen as a key thinker in utilitarianism, as he saw humans as infinitely wise in making decisions about the environment and even more so that it was their ethical responsibility not to let any of these wonderful natural resources go to waste. Image source: Logging a big load in 1880s Michigan. (Detroit Publishing Co./Library of Congress)

Slide 5 Ecosystem services » Economic benefits of ”natural” services Beyond economic? A more modern approach to recognizing the value of natural resources is known as ecosystem services. This approach calculates the primarily economic value of natural resources to identify aspects of the environment that we typically think of as “free” and recognize their monetary value. This is generally used to aid in preservation as opposed to Locke’s approach of using everything up BECAUSE it is valuable. Instead the interest is in preserving resources or compensation for what is lost. There are three types of ecosystem services: provisioning, regulating, and cultural.

Slide 6 Provisioning resources are the most clear-cut: food, even and especially that which doesn’t require careful cultivation, has value. Wood, we use for trees. We may find many medicines in “nature.” Energy, through fossil fuels, or water or wind or solar, we can also put a value on that. And fibers used for fabric are also valuable. There are, of course, other resources that fit here, like sand or marble. But these are just examples of services available to us in “the wild” that provide uncalculated benefits.

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Slide 7 The second type of ecosystem service is regulating service. These services are less obvious but equally important as provisioning services. These are services like the role of permeable surfaces in water filtration and flooding control, and the importance of soil for decomposting waste, and the job of bees in crop pollination. Actions by humans can diminish these services, causing harm to humans and other parts of the ecosystem either directly or indirectly.

Slide 8 Cultural services are bit harder to pin down in terms of economic costs, but most agree that these are indeed beneficial to humans. These could include the aesthetic benefits of having parks – everything from small pocket parks in a city to large swaths of protected wilderness. These can enhance appearances of neighborhoods (and with them, property values), provide for stress-reduction, supporting mental health, and offer places for leisure activities.

Slide 9 These three types of services can be connected to specific environmental features, as this chart shows, and many of the services can identified as having a specific monetary value, which is then used to argue for their preservation or restoration.

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