Before beginning to read chapters from our brand new textbook, Environment and Society, we took some class time to discuss why we use this specific text over others. Although there was some criticism about judging a book by its cover, I think it was a valuable experience that legitimized the text. It was also a helpful exercise in the importance of always thinking critically: usually I would just accept the textbooks I was assigned as a given, but this made me begin to question all the reading materials I was assigned and if they actually match up with my experience of the world.
Economics is a frustrating subject for me because it’s hard for me to imagine how graphs and models can predict or describe such complex human systems. It’s especially hard for me to imagine the validity of applying these graphs and models to such a changing system as the environment. There are just so many factors to consider that aren’t encompassed in economic theories. For example, the Coase Theorem seems great in theory, but realistically there are way too many other costs and risks associated with free bargaining for it to be a legitimate option for people.
Although I was skeptical about parts of this reading, this chapter did help me realize the value in looking at environmental solutions from an economic standpoint. Cap and trade, market based solutions, and the market response model were all interesting and seemingly effective ways to consider solving environmental problems. I think the main part that was hard for me to accept was that many of these economic standpoints assume that humans are all inherently self interested, which may be true to an extent. That ideology just clashes with how I would prefer to approach a solution, which is more based on education. I definitely appreciated a new approach though, and I think many approaches need to be enacted in order to solve this growing problem.