A TAXONOMY OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM
Extrato do livro Horst Siebert, Economics of the Environment
A Taxonomy of the Environmental Problem Theoretical models always abstract from real aspects of a problem. Therefore, it is worthwhile to survey the main components of a problem even if some aspects are not analyzed later. The environmental problem, then, should take into account the following aspects. [SIEBERT, 1998:19]
Environmental Media. Air, water, land, and natural ecological systems are the environmental media mentioned most often. Depending on the medium to be considered, specific problems are to be dealt with. For instance, the diffusion function differs among environmental media. It may be easier to find solutions to the environmental problems of smaller systems, such as a pond in a local neighborhood, than for larger systems, such as the ozone layer of the world. Purification may be possible after emissions have entered one medium (water) but not another (air). [SIEBERT, 1998:19]
Spatial Extent oj Environmental Media. Environmental media may be local, regional, national, international, or global. [SIEBERT, 1998:19]
Form of Appearance of Pollutants. Pollutants may arise as joint outputs of consumption or production. This is the case with which I concern myself mostly in this book. Pollutants may also be found in consumption goods such as DDT in agricultural products (the case of the apple). Then they are not joint outputs, but rather joint inputs, for instance, in consumption processes. [SIEBERT, 1998:19]
Pollutants may be linked to using a specific good, either a consumption good or an input (the case of the diesel). Pollutants may also be found in new products that enter the market, such as chemicals. [SIEBERT, 1998:20]
Pollutants may arise in a regular fashion (smoke stack) or at random in environmental accidents (Bhopal, Seveso, Sandoz). Finally, pollutants may arise when consumption or capital goods are discarded into the environment (beer cans, cars, refrigerators).[SIEBERT, 1998:20]
Type oj Pollutants. Pollutants may differ with respect to their properties (organic wastes, chemical properties). They may be poisonous, damaging in the long run, or neutral.[SIEBERT, 1998:20]
Origin of Pollutants. Pollutants may stem from raw materials or from energy. They may come from stationary or mobile sources. Time Pattern oj Generation. Pollutants may occur in a continuous or random fashion (Bhopal, Seveso, Sandoz). Examples are emissions from smoke stacks and technical accidents, respectively.[SIEBERT, 1998:20]
Longevity of Pollutants. Pollutants may be easily absorbed by environmental media, such as organic wastes in water, or they may take longer, as is the case with DDT with respect to the food chains in nature. Consequently, we may distinguish between short-, intermediate-, and long-term problems.”[SIEBERT, 1998:20]
REFERÊNCIA
SIEBERT, Horst., (1998) Economics of the Environment: Theory and Policy. Springer