Precautionary Principle Negative (JV & V Only) SLUDL / NAUDL 2013-14
PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE NEGATIVE
Summary 2
Glossary 3
ANSWSERS TO OCEANS ADVANTAGE
Oceans are resilient 4
Oceans are resilient - Extensions 5
Land based problems 6
Answers to: Human/Nature Divide 7
ANSWERS TO DECISION MAKING ADVANTAGE
Precautionary Principle is a bad way to make decisions 8
Precautionary Principle is not a decision making system 9-10
Perfection is the Enemy of the Good 11
Perfection is the Enemy of the Good – Extensions 12
Policy Paralysis 13
Policy Paralysis- Extensions 14
Regulatory Overload 15
Precautionary Principle hurts innovation 16
Precautionary Principle Hurts Innovation- Extensions 17
ANSWERS TO GREEN DEMOCRACY ADVANTAGE (JV & V Only)
Answers to: Green democracy leads to better decision 18
You can’t change the government 19
Democracy hurts the environment 20
Scientific Debate Needed for Democracy 21
Scientific Debate- Extensions 22
OFF CASE
Social Services Tradeoff Link 23
Develoment Disadvantage 1NC 24-25
Brink- Africa on the verge of agricultural revolution 26
Link—Precautionary Principle prevents development 27
Link—Precautionary Principle expansion 28
Internal Link- Food Production 29
Impact – Value current deaths over future 30
Answers to: The Precautionary Principle changes how decisions are made 31
Summary
The negative case against the Precautionary Principle is based around the danger of using absolute standards to do the work of managing in the real world. Every decision has a cost and the Precautionary Principle asks decision makers to look at those costs in a very specific way. The negative will argue that maintaining rigid rules creates a number of problems.
Development Disadvantage- the first unseen consequence of widespread adoption of the precautionary principle is for the world’s poor. Expansive use of the precautionary principle will slow innovation or ban use of technologies necessary to continue to feed the world as populations increase. The effort to preserve the oceans for future generations has very harsh effects on the poor and hungry especially in developing nations who need to employ new technologies to catch up to the developed world. This disadvantage calls into question the affirmatives ethical decision making framework by asking who should a decisions maker be responsible to, people currently living in poverty or future generations who will need to utilize ocean resources.
Oceans Advantage Answers- These arguments downplay the threat of humans on the oceans. Such large and complicated systems have a way of balancing themselves out. Humans would have to work very hard to fundamentally alter a system that covers 70% of the earth’s surface. In addition, since the plan only effects the ocean it does not stop pollutants from entering the ocean from land based sources like fertilizer run off.
Decision Making Answers- Arguments here question the use of the precautionary principle as a decision making, or ethical, system. The principle can be easily manipulated by extreme voices and challenages the logic of decision makers to prove a negative that a potential policy will not do harm. Finally, the “Perfect is the Enemy of the Good” argues that the principle prevents pragmatic short term solutions and efforts from being implemented because they may have some unforeseen consequence. In the long run this will hurt the health of the oceans.
Solvency Answers- How will the Precautionary Principle be implemented? History from other government agencies suggests three major problems can occur. First, policy paralysis, the decision makers will continue to not take actions since they cannot know for certain that a negative result is not possible. This prevents any policies from being implemented, even ones that are overall positive for the ocean or coastal communities. Second, regulatory overload, agencies will be so busy studying all of the potential effects of a development or exploration that they will not have the time or resources to enforce current laws and regulations. This tradeoff creates a loss of protection for the ocean. Finally, innovation, the new regulations and government oversight of development efforts will prevent new ideas from making it to the ocean. These can both be ideas that grow the economy or help sustainably develop the ocean.
Glossary
Agriculture- practice of farming, including cultivation of the soil for the growing of crops and the rearing of animals to provide food, wool, and other products
Developing country- a poor agricultural country that is seeking to become more advanced economically and socially.
Hierarchy- a system or organization in which people or groups are ranked one above the other according to status or authority.
Genetically Modified Organism- an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques.
Paralysis- inability to act or function
Precautionary Principle- the principle that the introduction of a new product or process whose ultimate effects are disputed or unknown should be resisted
Resilient- the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.
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Precautionary Principle Negative (JV & V Only) SLUDL / NAUDL 2013-14
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Precautionary Principle Negative (JV & V Only) NAUDL 2013-14
Answers to: Oceans Advantage
Oceans are resilient
Climate change proves oceans and marine biodiversity are resilient. Their alarmist predictions have not come true.
Taylor, senior fellow of The Heartland Institute, 2010
(James M. is a and managing editor of Environment & Climate News., “Ocean Acidification Scare Pushed at Copenhagen,” Feb 10 http://www.heartland.org/publications/environment%20climate/ article/26815/Ocean_Acidification_Scare_Pushed_at_Copenhagen.html]
With global temperatures continuing their decade-long decline and United Nations-sponsored global warming talks falling apart in Copenhagen, alarmists at the U.N. talks spent considerable time claiming carbon dioxide emissions will cause catastrophic ocean acidification, regardless of whether temperatures rise. The latest scientific data, however, show no such catastrophe is likely to occur. Food Supply Risk Claimed The United Kingdom’s environment secretary, Hilary Benn, initiated the Copenhagen ocean scare with a high-profile speech and numerous media interviews claiming ocean acidification threatens the world’s food supply. “The fact is our seas absorb CO2. They absorb about a quarter of the total that we produce, but it is making our seas more acidic,” said Benn in his speech. “If this continues as a problem, then it can affect the one billion people who depend on fish as their principle source of protein, and we have to feed another 2½ to 3 billion people over the next 40 to 50 years.” Benn’s claim of oceans becoming “more acidic” is misleading, however. Water with a pH of 7.0 is considered neutral. pH values lower than 7.0 are considered acidic, while those higher than 7.0 are considered alkaline. The world’s oceans have a pH of 8.1, making them alkaline, not acidic. Increasing carbon dioxide concentrations would make the oceans less alkaline but not acidic. Since human industrial activity first began emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere a little more than 200 years ago, the pH of the oceans has fallen merely 0.1, from 8.2 to 8.1. Following Benn’s December 14 speech and public relations efforts, most of the world’s major media outlets produced stories claiming ocean acidification is threatening the world’s marine life. An Associated Press headline, for example, went so far as to call ocean acidification the “evil twin” of climate change. Studies Show CO2 Benefits Numerous recent scientific studies show higher carbon dioxide levels in the world’s oceans have the same beneficial effect on marine life as higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have on terrestrial plant life. In a 2005 study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, scientists examined trends in chlorophyll concentrations, critical building blocks in the oceanic food chain. The French and American scientists reported “an overall increase of the world ocean average chlorophyll concentration by about 22 percent” during the prior two decades of increasing carbon dioxide concentrations. In a 2006 study published in Global Change Biology, scientists observed higher CO2 levels are correlated with better growth conditions for oceanic life. The highest CO2 concentrations produced “higher growth rates and biomass yields” than the lower CO2 conditions. Higher CO2 levels may well fuel “subsequent primary production, phytoplankton blooms, and sustaining oceanic food-webs,” the study concluded.
Oceans are resilient - Extensions
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[___] Human damage to oceans limited by new regulations on fishing and other negative activities. Sustainable ocean management is coming soon.
NOAA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2011
(" The Road to End Overfishing: 35 Years of Magnuson Act," http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/stories/2011/20110411roadendoverfishing.htm,)
I want to acknowledge and highlight the 35th anniversary of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. Simply called “the Magnuson Act”, this law, its regional framework and goal of sustainability, has proven to be a visionary force in natural resource management - both domestically and internationally. The Magnuson Act is, and will continue to be a key driver for NOAA as we deliver on our nation’s commitment to ocean stewardship, sustainable fisheries, and healthy marine ecosystems.
Because of the Magnuson Act, the U.S. is on track to end overfishing in federally-managed fisheries, rebuild stocks, and ensure conservation and sustainable use of our ocean resources. Fisheries harvested in the United States are scientifically monitored, regionally managed and legally enforced under 10 strict national standards of sustainability. This anniversary year marks a critical turning point in the Act’s history. By the end of 2011, we are on track to have an annual catch limit and accountability measures in place for all 528 federally-managed fish stocks and complexes. The dynamic, science-based management process envisioned by Congress is now in place, the rebuilding of our fisheries is underway, and we are beginning to see real benefits for fishermen, fishing communities and our commercial and recreational fishing industries.
Land based problems
An ocean only approach will fail to protect marine life. Most harm comes from land based pollutants and practices.
Wilder, Tenger, and Dayton, Researcher at the Marine Science Institute, Research marine biologist, and Professor of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, 1999
(Robert, Mia and Paul, “Saving Marine Biodiversity”, Issues, 15:3, November 27, http://issues.org/15-3/wilder/)
The lack of cogent jurisdiction is perhaps most problematic with regard to management of water pollution. Water quality from the coastline to far out at sea is degraded by a host of inland sources. Land-based nutrients and pollutants wash down into the sea in rivers, groundwater, and over land. The sources are numerous and diffuse, including industrial effluents, farm fertilizers, lawn pesticides, sediment, street oils, and road salts. The pollutants kill fish and microorganisms that support the ocean food web. Excessive sediment blankets and smothers coral reefs.
Nutrients such as fertilizers can cause plant life in the sea to thrive excessively, ultimately consuming all the oxygen in the water. This chokes off animal life and eventually the plant life too, creating enormous dead zones that stretch for thousands of square miles. Studies show that the size of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico off Louisiana has doubled over the past six years and is now the largest in the Western Hemisphere. It is leaving a vast graveyard of fish and shellfish and causing serious damage to one of the richest U.S. fishing regions, worth $3 billion annually by some estimates.
Rectifying these problems is not a technologically difficult proposition. The thorniest matter is gathering the needed political willpower. Because pollutants cross so many political boundaries of the regulatory system, the action needed now must be a sharp break from the past.
Answers to: Human/Nature Divide
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[___] Maintaining the divide between human and nonhuman communities is needed for the survival of all species—only humans have the mental ability to make moral decisions to preserve their environment.
Younkins, Professor of Accountancy and Business Administration at Wheeling Jesuit University, 2004
(Edward, The Flawed Doctrine of Nature's Intrinsic Value, http://www.quebecoislibre.org/04/041015-17.htm)
¶ Man’s survival and flourishing depend upon the study of nature that includes all things, even man himself. Human beings are the highest level of nature in the known universe. Men are a distinct natural phenomenon as are fish, birds, rocks, etc. Their proper place in the hierarchical order of nature needs to be recognized. Unlike plants and animals, human beings have a conceptual faculty, free will, and a moral nature. Because morality involves the ability to choose, it follows that moral worth is related to human choice and action and that the agents of moral worth can also be said to have moral value. By rationally using his conceptual faculty, man can create values as judged by the standard of enhancing human life. The highest priority must be assigned to actions that enhance the lives of individual human beings. It is therefore morally fitting to make use of nature. ¶ Man’s environment includes all of his surroundings. When he creatively arranges his external material conditions, he is improving his environment to make it more useful to himself. Neither fixed nor finite, resources are, in essence, a product of the human mind through the application of science and technology. Our resources have been expanding over time as a result of our ever-increasing knowledge. ¶
Unlike plants and animals, human beings do much more than simply respond to environmental stimuli. Humans are free from nature’s determinism and thus are capable of choosing. Whereas plants and animals survive by adapting to nature, men sustain their lives by employing reason to adapt nature to them. People make valuations and judgments. Of all the created order, only the human person is capable of developing other resources, thereby enriching creation. The earth is a dynamic and developing system that we are not obliged to preserve forever as we have found it. Human inventiveness, a natural dimension of the world, has enabled us to do more with less.
¶ Those who proclaim the intrinsic value of nature view man as a destroyer of the intrinsically good. Because it is man’s rationality in the form of science and technology that permits him to transform nature, he is despised for his ability to reason that is portrayed as a corrupting influence. The power of reason offends radical environmentalists because it leads to abstract knowledge, science, technology, wealth, and capitalism. This antipathy for human achievements and aspirations involves the negation of human values and betrays an underlying nihilism of the environmental movement.
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Precautionary Principle Negative (JV & V Only) NAUDL 2013-14