23、政府和工業間的關係使環保舉步維艱
In some countries, the immense problem regarding the lobbying and bipartisan influences on the government cannot be ignored. No mechanism can be provided easily to counteract this dilemma. It is also hard to imagine that powerful governmentally-favored industries, such as the automobile and nuclear industries, which are responsible for large amounts of pollution, would suddenly be open to scrutiny. Clearly, some sort of interim activity seems necessary to unshield these intrinsically polluted areas. In addition, monetary incentives take on a punitive aspect which may serve to create a climate where cleverness is devoted towards masking the dilemma rather than contributing to repairing the problem. Depending on the craftiness of parties concerned, the ECI incentive system might enable a merry-go-round of pollution-shifting within a certain region.
24、隻關注經濟增長危害環境
However, if economical growth is all the people think about, what will happen to the environment around us? It will decay into depletion. Diseases and health problems, due to the regulations of certain acts, will become a critical issue in the future. The continuation of the environmentally hazardous laws made by the WTO will some day lead to the total destruction of nature. All our natural resources may be used up, if we do not regulate the frequent and increasingly large amount we have used so far. The regulation of corporate excesses must be enforced, and this will not be achieved through the WTO unless someone stands up and oppose the rulings made by them. The people that spread and support globalization will be the ones that will be in remorse. If the people who are affected by it the most do not fight for it, then no one will. At the end they will be the ones suffering.
25、環保投資
Some offer the suggestion that the money that is used to fund war and preparation for war should be funneled towards the transformation. How this would be practically implemented is not apparent. It is apparent, however, that some policy consistent with the goals of decreasing pollutants and increasing economic growth must be forthcoming. If we do not implement sound strategies incorporating these two facets together, perhaps environmental concerns will become secondary.
26、美國政府的環保政策
The government’s environmental programs are working well, according to EPA administrator William K. Reilly in the Green Thumb of Capitalism: The Environmental Benefits of Sustainable Growth. Solid governmental programs have been developed for the improvement of the environment, indicates Reilly; several situations quantify its success. According to Reilly, the government is creating adequate market incentives to curb pollution, encourage energy efficiency and waste reduction through low-cost programs, in conjunction with the private sector. To his credit, Reilly cites some powerful programs which may make at least short-term environmental and economic success: bioremediation, telecommuting, curtailing emissions and reusing resources. However, Reilly seems to follow a predictable governmental pattern to avoid discussion of the savored trucking and nuclear industries （industries with notoriously powerful lobbying abilities）, among others. Rather, he focuses on the aftermath of the Exxon-Valdez cleanup catastrophe. It is not only curious that a catastrophe could be listed as a success in the larger scheme of environmental issues, it also does not address the aspect of making a corporation more accountable for its failures, or even discuss what changes have been made in the oil industry to prevent such catastrophes from occurring again. Additionally, the idea that accounting for the national well-being be measured by some other bean-counting system besides the GNP and NNP really avoids considerations of common sense. For example, if discontinuing usage of CFCs will enable the restoration of the ozone layer, it follows that proper policy-making would include the discontinuance of CFCs. Bean-counting does not provide for this logical relationship. Reilly espouses the thought that capitalism is not a threat to the environment; he indicates that its mechanisms actually encourage decisions that respect environmental values. He evidences that the situation in the United States is exemplary in comparison to third-world counties in South America and in the former USSR.
27、保護生態學的概念
Conservation biology, or conservation ecology, is the science of analyzing and protecting Earth’s biological diversity. Conservation biology draws from the biological, physical and social sciences, economics, and the practice of natural-resource management. Conservation ecology addresses population dynamics issues associated with the small population sizes of rare species （e.g., minimum viable populations）. The term “conservation biology” refers to the application of science to the conservation of genes, populations, species, and ecosystems. Conservation biology is the scientific study of the phenomena that affect the maintenance, loss, and restoration of biological diversity. For the history of biodiversity conservation and volunteer activity, see conservation movement.
28、保護生態學的曆史
In the 19th century actions in the United Kingdom, the United States and certain other western countries emphasized the protection of habitat areas pursuant to visions of such people as John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt. It was not until the mid-20th century did efforts arise to target individual species for conservation, notably efforts in big cat conservation in South America led by the New York Zoological Society. By the 1970s, led primarily by work in the United States under the Endangered Species Act along with Biodiversity Action Plans developed in Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, hundreds of specific species protection plans ensued. The Society for Conservation Biology is a global community of conservation professionals dedicated to advancing the science and practice of conserving Earth’s biological diversity.
29、環境倫理學的生態擴展
Marshall’s Ecological Extension places emphasis not on human rights but on the recognition of the fundamental interdependence of all biological and abiological entities and their essential diversity. Whereas Libertarian Extension can be thought of as flowing from a political reflection of the natural world, Ecological Extension is best thought of as a scientific reflection of the natural world. Ecological Extension is roughly the same classification of Smith’s eco-holism, and it argues for the intrinsic value inherent in collective ecological entities like ecosystems or the global environment as a whole entity.
This category includes James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis; the theory that the planet earth alters its geo-physiological structure over time in order to ensure the continuation of an equilibrium of evolving organic and inorganic matter. The planet is characterized as a unified, holistic entity with ethical worth of which the human race is of no particular significance in the long run.
30、環境倫理學的自由主義擴展
Marshall’s Libertarian Extension echoes a civil liberty approach （i.e. a commitment to extend equal rights to all members of a community）. In environmentalism, though, the community is generally thought to consist of non-humans as well as humans. Libertarian Extension encompasses those theories that extend individual human rights to individual non-human animals and possibly even the inanimate. Michael Smith classified the extension of rights to non-human animals a biocentric ethic, since it focuses on the rights of biotic entities. Andrew Brennan, however, was an advocate of ecological humanism （eco-humanism）, the argument that all ontological entities, animate and inanimate, can be given ethical worth purely on the basis that they exist. The work of Arne and his collaborator Sessions also falls under the Libertarian Extension, although they preferred the term “deep ecology.” Deep ecology is the argument for the intrinsic value or inherent worth of the environment—the view that it is valuable in itself. Their argument, incidentally, falls under both the Libertarian Extension and the Ecological extension.
Peter Singer’s work can be categorized under Marshall’s Ecological extension. He reasoned that the “expanding circle of moral worth” should be redrawn to include the rights of non-human animals, and not to do so would be guilty of speciesism. Singer found it difficult to accept the argument from intrinsic worth of abiotic or “non-sentient” （non-conscious） entities, and concluded in his first edition of Practical Ethics that they should not be included in the expanding circle of moral worth. This approach is essentially then, bio-centric.
31、綠色無政府主義的概念
Green anarchism is a school of thought within anarchism which puts an emphasis on the environment. Some green anarchists can be described as anti-civilization anarchists and sometimes anarcho-primitivists, though not all green anarchists and anti-civilization anarchists are primitivists. Likewise, there is a strong critique of technology among some green anarchists, though not all reject it entirely. Sometimes green anarchism is said to be techno-positive or techno-negative to differentiate between those who advocate use of advanced green technology to create and maintain an anarchist society and those who mainly see civilization and modern technology as something negative.
32、貿易支持者和環保主義者之間的爭論
There are two main arguments that are debated among free trade supporters and the environmentalists. First, free traders believe that economic growth will generate more opportunities for environmental protection, whereas environmentalists focus on the increasing environmental burden caused by economic growth. Second, in relieving the environmental effects of trade, environmentalists focus on trade policy, while free traders tend to focus on environmental policy.
Case studies are necessary to identify the likely effects of trade liberalism for particular products and to investigate whether or not this development is favorable for the environment. From an analysis of trade liberalization of the coal and food sector: Trade liberalization may not only generate large global income gains, but may also likely reduce global environmental damage from coal consumption and farming. Thus, from a welfare economic viewpoint and seen from a world trade perspective, globalization should enhance economic efficiency. But there is considerably less consensus among ecological economics researchers on what this means in practice, or on the social costs or benefits of globalization for society at large. Changes in international trade patterns, markets, technologies and communication patterns affect both the economy and the environment.
Globalization has been spread worldwide ever since the age of Industrial Revolution. It has proved to create a country that is more independent and wealthy with the advantage of free trade, and vast rights from the WTO.
33、人類活動導致動物棲息地的破壞
Most of the species extinctions from 1000AD to 2000AD are due to human activities, in particular destruction of plant and animal habitats. Raised rates of extinction are being driven by human consumption of organic resources, especially related to tropical forest destruction. While most of the species that are becoming extinct are not food species, their biomass is converted into human food when their habitat is transformed into pasture, cropland, and orchards. It is estimated that more than 40%of the Earth’s biomass is tied up in only the few species that represent humans, livestock and crops.
As an ecosystem decreases in stability as its species are made extinct, these studies warn that the global ecosystem is destined for collapse if it is further reduced in complexity. Factors contributing to loss of biodiversity are: overpopulation, deforestation, pollution （air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination） and global warming or climate change, driven by human activity. These factors, while all stemming from overpopulation, produce a cumulative impact upon biodiversity.
34、生態係統的管理
The conservation of biological diversity has become a global concern. Although not everybody agrees on extent and significance of current extinction, most consider biodiversity essential. There are basically two main types of conservation options, insitu conservation and ex-situ conservation. In-situ is usually seen as the ideal conservation strategy. However, its implementation is sometimes infeasible. For example, destruction of rare or endangered species’ habitats sometimes requires ex-situ conservation efforts. Furthermore, ex-situ conservation can provide a backup solution to in-situ conservation projects. Some believe both types of conservation are required to ensure proper preservation. An example of an in-situ conservation effort is the setting-up of protection areas. Examples of ex-situ conservation efforts, by contrast, would be planting germplants in seedbanks, or growing the Wollemi Pine in nurseries. Such efforts allow the preservation of large populations of plants with minimal genetic erosion.
At national levels a Biodiversity Action Plan is sometimes prepared to state the protocols necessary to protect an individual species. Usually this plan also details extant data on the species and its habitat. In the USA such a plan is called a Recovery Plan.
The threat to biological diversity was among the hot topics discussed at the UN World Summit for Sustainable Development, in hope of seeing the foundation of a Global Conservation Trust to help maintain plant collections.
35、生態係統的內在價值
Some people criticize the notion that the intrinsic value of ecological systems exists independently of humanity’s recognition of it. An example of this approach is that one might say that a work of art is only valuable insofar as humans perceive it to be worthwhile. Such people claim that the ecosystem’s value does not reach beyond our appreciation of it. Intrinsic value is a philosophical concept which some do not accept. However, intrinsic value defined as value existing separate from human thought may in this case be conflated with intrinsic value defined as natural worth existing independent of modification or application of a substance or entity, clouding the argument. This entire argument, however, assumes both the primacy and uniqueness of the ability of humans to create value, as opposed to a collection of sentient beings dependent on a perfectly ordered system for life or even a natural system devoid of sentient life being incapable of possessing inherent value. It also is a result of the confusion between anthropogenic—something being created by humans, and anthropocentric—exclusive value being given to humans.
36、生物多樣性的定義
The most straightforward definition biodiversity is “variation of life at all levels of biological organization”. A second definition holds that biodiversity is a measure of the relative diversity among organisms present in different ecosystems. “Diversity” in this definition includes diversity within a species and among species, and comparative diversity among ecosystems.
A third definition that is often used by ecologists is the “totality of genes, species, and ecosystems of a region”. An advantage of this definition is that it seems to describe most circumstances and present a unified view of the traditional three levels at which biodiversity has been identified:
1.Genetic diversity—diversity of genes within a species. There is a genetic variability among the populations and the individuals of the same species.
2.Species diversity—diversity among species in an ecosystem. “Biodiversity hotspots” are excellent examples of species diversity.
3.Ecosystem diversity—diversity at a higher level of organization, the ecosystem.
37、生物多樣性定義的爭議
The 1992United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro defined “biodiversity” as “the variability among living organisms from all sources, including ‘inter alia’, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems, and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems”. This is, in fact, the closest thing to a single legally accepted definition of biodiversity, since it is the definition adopted by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.
If the gene is the fundamental unit of natural selection, according to E. O. Wilson, the real biodiversity is genetic diversity. For geneticists, biodiversity is the diversity of genes and organisms. They study processes such as mutations, gene exchanges, and genome dynamics that occur at the DNA level and generate evolution.
For ecologists, biodiversity is also the diversity of durable interactions among species. It not only applies to species, but also to their immediate environment （biotope） and their larger ecoregion. In each ecosystem, living organisms are part of a whole, interacting with not only other organisms, but also with the air, water, and soil that surround them.
38、某些物種具有多樣性原因
The rich diversity of unique species across many parts of the world exist only because they are separated by barriers, particularly large rivers, seas, oceans, mountains and deserts from other species of other land masses, particularly the highly fecund, ultra-competitive, generalist “super-species”. These are barriers that could never be crossed by natural processes, except for many millions of years in the future through continental drift. However, humans have invented ships and airplanes, and now have the power to bring into contact species that never have met in their evolutionary history, and on a time scale of days, unlike the centuries that historically have accompanied major animal migrations.
39、對生物多樣性保護的資助
The field of biodiversity research （inevitably） suffers from natural human egocentric “myopic” cognitive biases. It has often been criticized for being overly defined by the personal interests of the founders （i.e. terrestrial mammals） giving a narrow focus, rather than extending to other areas where it could be useful. This is termed the founder effect by Norse and Irish, （1996）. （This was a play on words: the founder effect in ecology typically refers to the genetic outcome when a small population establishes an isolated breeding group.） France and Rigg reviewed the biodiversity literature in 1998and found that there was a significant lack of papers studying marine ecosystems, leading them to dub marine biodiversity research the sleeping hydra. More work has been carried out for accessible, diverse coastal systems such as coral reefs than for inaccessible, species-poor deep sea areas.
It has been easier to mobilize public opinion and national legislation for the terrestrial realm, which has higher visibility and falls within countries’ territorial boundaries. Marine conservation involves having to pioneer new and international mechanisms of protection as well as solving methodological problems in marine biology relating to marine ecosystem classification and data-gathering on some of the earth’s most difficult species to access and monitor.
40、生物多樣性測量的三大指標
Biodiversity is usually plotted as taxonomic richness of a geographic area, with some reference to a temporal scale. Whittaker described three common metrics used to measure species-level biodiversity, encompassing attention to species richness or species evenness:
1.Species richness—the least sophisticated of the indices available
2.Simpson index
3.Shannon index
There are three other indices which are used by ecologists:
1.Alpha diversity refers to diversity within a particular area, community or ecosystem, and is measured by counting the number of taxa within the ecosystem （usually species）.
2.Beta diversity is species diversity between ecosystems; this involves comparing the number of taxa that are unique to each of the ecosystems.
3.Gamma diversity is a measure of the overall diversity for different ecosystems within a region.
41、生物多樣性的衡量
Biodiversity is a broad concept, so a variety of objective measures have been created in order to empirically measure biodiversity. Each measure of biodiversity relates to a particular use of the data.
For practical conservationists, this measure should quantify a value that is broadly shared among locally affected people. For others, a more economically defensible definition should allow the ensuring of continued possibilities for both adaptation and future use by people, assuring environmental sustainability.
As a consequence, biologists argue that this measure is likely to be associated with the variety of genes. Since it cannot always be said which genes are more likely to prove beneficial, the best choice for conservation is to assure the persistence of as many genes as possible. For ecologists, this latter approach is sometimes considered too restrictive, as it prohibits ecological succession.
42、生物多樣性與立法
Biodiversity is beginning to be evaluated and its evolution analyzed （through observations, inventories, conservation...） as well as being taken into account in political and judicial decisions.
The relationship between law and ecosystems is very ancient and has consequences for biodiversity. It is related to property rights, both private and public. It can define protection for threatened ecosystems, but also some rights and duties （for example, fishing rights, hunting rights）.
Law regarding species is a more recent issue. It defines species that must be protected because they may be threatened by extinction. The U.S. Endangered Species Act is an example of an attempt to address the “law and species” issue.
Laws regarding gene pools are only about a century old. While the genetic approach is not new （domestication, plant traditional selection methods）, progress made in the genetic field in the past 20years have led to a tightening of laws in this field. With the new technologies of genetic analysis and genetic engineering, people are going through gene patenting, processes patenting, and a totally new concept of genetic resources. A very hot debate today seeks to define whether the resource is the gene, the organism itself, or its DNA.