Week 1 Discussions and Required Resources

Assignment: This is a two-part assignment. Each part must be at least 200 words unless otherwise noted. Please read all attachments and follow ALL instructions.

To receive full credit you must include at least 2 citations of scholarly support to your answers for each discussion post (i.e. Discussion One – 2 citations, Discussion Two – 2 citations).  Citations should be within your post and include (Author, year, page number) if you are using a quote, page number is not required if you are paraphrasing.  Just listing references and not using them in your post does not count as a citation or support.  You can use your textbook as scholarly support and remember to include a reference for the support cited.  

Part 1: Preservation and Development

Preservation and development has been a heated topic given our scarce natural resources. As you know, many stakeholders are concerned about what the objectives are for land. The question that is always asked is what we should do, preserve or develop the land? Research one such debate and answer the following questions:

· Give a one paragraph synopsis of the debate with the appropriate link, so we are able to view it and read it.

· What are pros and cons with going through with Preservation? Make sure to identify the future implications of preserving the land.

· What are the pros and cons with going through with Development? Make sure to identify the future implications of developing the land.

Given your research, support your answer with what you think should have occurred and explain your position with appropriate use of economic terms.

Part 2: Costs for Meeting Environmental Standards

Certain environmental laws prohibit the EPA from considering the costs of meeting various standards when the levels of the standards are set. Pollution control is an obvious example of where the EPA has certain standards for society. Compare and contrast two approaches to deal with the collection and evaluation of costs when evaluating the environmental standards. Which approach do you find to be the most suitable given the implications of preserving the environment?

Required Resources

Text

Read the following chapters in your text, Environmental and natural resource economics:

· Chapter 1: Visions of the Future

· Chapter 2: The Economic Approach: Property Rights, Externalities, and Environmental Problems

· Chapter 3: Evaluating Trade-Offs: Benefit-Cost Analysis and Other Decision-Making Metrics

· Chapter 4: Valuing the Environment: Methods

Article

Cropper, M. L., & Oates, W. E. (1992, June). Environmental economics: A survey [Electronic version]. Journal of Economic Literature, 30(2), 675-740. Retrieved from JSTOR database

NOAA Coastal Services Center. (n.d.). Restoration economics . Retrieved from http://www.csc.noaa.gov/coastal/economics/index.htm.

Multimedia

Calvo Uyarra, M. (Presenter). The economic value of a seahorse on Bonaire [Motion Picture]. ScubaVision Films. Retrieved from http://wn.com/The_Economic_Value_of_a_Seahorse_on_Bonaire.