Topic:	The Envrionment and Global Justice
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Guest:	Lawrence Goulder, Department of Economics, Stanford University
What is it?	Our current way of life is unsustainable.   Depletion of the ozone layer,  the dwindling of the rain forest, the loss of animal habitat, toxic runoff into lakes, streams and rivers are just a few of the environmental challenges we face. The environment is a golabal problem that no one nation can address on its own. Something must give, somewhere.  But who will pay what costs for improving the global environment?   Wealthy nations of the north? Developing nations of the South?  By what principles of justice shall we decide?

About the Guest:

Lawrence H. Goulder is the Shuzo Nishihara Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics at Stanford University. He is also a Senior Fellow at Stanford's Institute for International Studies and its Institute for Economic Policy Research; a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research; and a University Fellow of Resources for the Future, a non-profit environmental and natural resource research firm located in Washington, DC.

Goulder's research examines the environmental and economic impacts of U.S. and international environmental policies. He has focused considerably on policies to reduce emissions of "greenhouse gases" that contribute to climate change, and on "green tax reform" - revamping the tax system to introduce taxes on pollution and reduce taxes on labor effort or investment. In other work he has examined connections between environmental policies and technological innovation. His work often employs a general equilibrium analytical framework that integrates the economy and the environment and links the activities of government, industry, and households. The research considers both the aggregate benefits and costs of various policies as well as the distribution of policy impacts across industries, income groups, and generations. Some of his work is interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with climatologists and biologists. He has conducted analyses for several government agencies and environmental organizations.

Listening Notes:

The lifestyles of the first-world countries seem to have a large effect on the environment. Should we change our lifestyles to help preserve the environment? Should developing nations adopt environmentally friendly policies and skip the period of relatively destructive policies? Ken introduces Larry Goulder, professor of economics at Stanford. Goulder says that our current way of life is not environmentally sustainable, for either the richer countries or the third-world countries. Goulder thinks that historical considerations lead him to think that the richer countries should be the first ones to transition to environmentally friendly policies and technologies.

Should we be developing new environmentally friendly technologies? Should we provide these technologies to developing countries? Doesn't Rawls's theory of justice apply internationally? Goulder discusses Rawls's difference principle, that is, resources should be evenly divided except when giving more resources to a particular individual would benefit everyone. Goulder says that we need to consider externalities, the social cost of using something that is over and above its market price. In the absence of an international court, can countries be made to offset the costs of avoiding environmentally destructive industry, like deforestation in Brazil? Goulder thinks that there are circumstances in which it is in everyone's best interest to do so.

Do countries have obligations to people that are not their citizens? Most theories of justice are geared towards dealing with problems within a single nation. Does justice entail obligations to future generations, meaning that we must leave the world in good enough condition for future generations? Should the richer countries be forced to pay reparations to countries in the Southern hemisphere for environmental damages? Goulder thinks that that idea is not feasible.

• Amy Standen the Roving Philosophical Reporter (Seek to 04:25):  Amy Standen interviews Jennifer Turner, coordinator of the China Environment Forum, about the Chinese auto and oil markets.

• Philosophy Talk Goes to the Movies (Seek to 46:50):  John and Ken discuss the existential and moral dimensions of Spider Man II.

Additional Resources

• The website of Resources for the Future, an energy policy research group

• The Globalization website

• The World Bank's website on international environmental law

• The website of the China Environment Forum

• The Environmental Protection Agency's website

• The theories of justice page at Ethics Update

• The website of the Working Group on Environmental Justice at Harvard

• The Global Policy Forum's website

• The Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs webpage

• Spider-Man 2 on DVD (Discussed by John and Ken on-air)

The Stanford Encyclopedia

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on International Justice

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Globalization

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on the Original Position

• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Distributive Justice

Books and Articles

• John Rawls's Theory of Justice

• John Rawls's Law of the Peoples

• Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State and Utopia

• The collection Utilitarianism and Beyond, edited by Amartya Sen and Bernard Williams

• The collection Traditions of International Ethics

• Wilfred Beckerman and Joanna Pasek's Justice, Posterity, and the Environment

• Amartya Sen's On Ethics and Economics

• The collection International Justice and the Third World

• Kristin Shrader-Frechette's Environmental Justice