Utilitarian killing,replacement, and rights

The ethical theory underlying much of our treatment of animals in agriculture and research is the moral agency view. It is assumed that only moral agents, or persons, are worthy of maximal moral significance, and that farm and laboratory animals are not moral agents. However, this view also excludes human non-persons from the moral community. Utilitarianism, which bids us maximize the amount of good (utility) in the world, is an alternative ethical theory. Although it has many merits, including impartiality and the extension of moral concern to all sentient beings, it also appears to have many morally unacceptable implications. In particular, it appears to sanction the killing of innocents when utility would be maximized, including cases in which we would deliberately kill and replace a being, as we typically do to animals on farms and in laboratories. I consider a number of ingenious recent attempts by utilitarians to defeat the killing and replaceability arguments, including the attempt to make a place for genuine moral rights within a utilitarian framework. I conclude that utilitarians cannot escape the killing and replaceability objections. Those who reject the restrictive moral agency view and find they cannot accept utilitarianism's unsavory implications must look to a different ethical theory to guide their treatment of humans and non-humans.     

The Supreme Court,the commerce clause,and natural resources

The Supreme Court's interpretation of the commerce clause controls the balance of power between state and federal governments in the United States. An understanding of the relationship between the different government levels is essential for resource managers concerned with resource and environmental issues. This study examines selected Supreme Court decisions between 1976 and 1988 to answer three questions raised by the commerce clause: (1) Is the regulated item an article of commerce? (2) Do state laws burden interstate commerce? (3) Is federal commerce regulation limited? The balance of power among the justices and the commerce clause theories affecting the federal role in resource management are also examined. Since ratification of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has continuously increased federal power, but states have power to act independently as long as contradictory federal laws do not exist and state law does not impermissively affect commerce. If Congress regulates an individual's use of resources, their power is unquestioned. Future Court decisions will not significantly reduce the federal role in resource management even if the Court's membership changes. Even the supporters of states' rights on the Court realize increased federal power is a necessary part of the country's evolution. The purpose of the commerce clause is to create a national economic unit with free location principles. The Court supports this purpose today and will in the future.     

Images of war: using satellite images for human rights monitoring in Turkish Kurdistan

In areas of war and armed conflict it is difficult to get trustworthy and coherent information. Civil society and human rights groups often face problems of dealing with fragmented witness reports, disinformation of war propaganda, and difficult direct access to these areas. Turkish Kurdistan was used as a case study of armed conflict to evaluate the potential use of satellite images for verification of witness reports collected by human rights groups. The Turkish army was reported to be burning forests, fields and villages as a strategy in the conflict against guerrilla uprising. This paper concludes that satellite images are useful to validate witness reports of forest fires. Even though the use of this technology for human rights groups will depend on some feasibility factors such as prices, access and expertise, the images proved to be key for analysis of spatial aspects of conflict and valuable for reconstructing a more trustworthy picture.     

Agriculture,ethics, and restrictions on property rights

The argument in this essay is twofold. (1) Procedural justice requires,in particular cases, that we restrict property rights in natural resources, e.g., California agricultural land or Appalachian coal land. (2) Conditions imposed by Locke's political theory and by dense population require,in general, that we restrict property rights in finite or non-renewable natural resources such as land. If these arguments are correct, then we have a moral imperative to use land-use controls (such as taxation, planning, zoning, and acreage limitations) to restructure land ownership and land use in a far more radical way than has ever been accomplished in the past.     

THE REGULATED RIPARIAN VERSION OF THE ASCE MODEL WATER CODE: THE THIRD WAY TO ALLOCATE WATER1

ABSTRACT: Lawyers, engineers, and hydrologists are accustomed to thinking of water law as falling into one of two incompatible models: riparian rights (under which water is allocated by courts according to the relative reasonableness of the competing uses) and appropriative rights (under which water is allocated according to the temporal priority of the competing uses, largely by the action of the water users themselves but perfected by the issuance of an administrative permit). Usually unnoticed is the existence of a third approach, which I have dubbed “regulated riparianism.” Under regulated riparianism, water is allocated by water permits issued after an administrative determination of the reasonableness of the proposed use before the use is commenced. This system, now in place in about half of the states east of Kansas City (plus Hawaii), thus is fundamentally different from either the traditional ripanan rights that it replaces or the appropriative rights found in western states.     

MANAGEMENT ASPECTS OF CYCLIC STORAGE OF WATER IN AQUIFER SYSTEMS1

ABSTRACT: Most of California's precipitation falls at the wrong place in the wrong season in relation to the water needs. Redistribution and regulation are essential. Aquifer systems – groundwater basins – can provide a share of the future cyclic storage regulation. There are some differences in management concepts in using a full basin in comparison with a partially dewatered basin. Legal, water quality, and physical impacts on aquifer systems, including subsidence, are concerns. Storage may be for the benefit of overlying water users or for distant areas. Extraction during dry periods or recharge methods will require careful planning. Existing rights and uses and equitable treatment of all parties must be assured. Financial compensation may be involved. Changes in methods of operation or degree of self-determination by affected water agencies will require committed watermanship to resolve. Legislation or amendments to organic acts may be needed but much can be accomplished within existing statutes. Environmental impacts which can be avoided by not using large surface storage sites are important. Energy for pumping will be a key consideration. About 40 percent of California is underlain by aquifer systems. This resource offers major potential in overcoming the maldistribution of natural water resources.     

不同情境下中国碳排放权交易市场的风险度量

以深圳、湖北、广东、上海及北京5个碳交易中心2015～2020年的日交易数据为基础,设置了Ave、Med、Max、Min4种交易情境,采用TGARCH-VaR模型对不同情境下的碳排放权交易市场风险进行了研究.结果表明,不同情境下碳排放交易市场风险存在差异,各情境的市场稳定性、政策响应度均存在一定规律:Ave情境碳现货收...     

Indigenous benefits and carbon offset schemes: An Australian case study

The nexus between human rights and the environment is a key issue for climate policymakers and Indigenous peoples around the world. We combine national spatial, social and biological datasets from Australia to describe where Indigenous carbon projects are happening, why Indigenous people are participating, and how effective these schemes might be at marrying Indigenous co-benefit, biodiversity and carbon emission mitigation goals. Our study shows that many Indigenous people engage in carbon offset schemes as part of their broader cultural responsibility for landscapes, and that they seek to grow the relationship between social and ecological benefits. It also highlights the challenges associated with designing carbon offset schemes that address the impacts of climate change and respond to Indigenous peoples’ world views about what is required to sustain cultural-social-ecological systems.     

创建矿业安全卫生法 保护矿工生命健康权

通过对比分析可知,现行《矿山安全法》的根本目的不是矿山职业安全,而是为了矿山生产安全和促进采矿业发展,并且缺少保护矿工健康权的规定。民国时期的《矿场法》属于可以继承的矿业安全与健康立法,并有多数国家制定的《矿业安全与健康法》可供借鉴。可以得出结论:以效率为本向以人为本的转变和落实,必须依靠法律制度的固定和保障;人们健康安全需要层次的提升是制度变迁的动因;我国缺乏保障矿工基本人权的《矿业安全与健康法》而出现制度断层。     

山东临沂市集体林权改革环境影响调查研究—以小山口村、魏城村和南垛庄铺为例

本文选取小山口村、魏城村和南垛庄铺三个林权改革试点村作为调查对象,通过描述统计、交叉列联表分析和Ridit分析,就林权改革的方式、林改对经济和环境产生的影响及林权流转三个方面的问题对山东临沂市的集体林权制度改革现状展开调查研究。分析发现,在历经3年的林改中,临沂市始终坚持尊重实际、区别对待,灵活选择林权改革的方式,使当地的林权制度改革受到村民的欢迎。此外,林权改革后,当地的经济收入和生态环境及对林业的投入均有不同程度的提高和改善,村民的营林、护林积极性也大大增加。但是在涉及到林权流转方面的问题时,大部分的村民不能清楚认识到林权的价值,从而使落实处置权的目标短期内难以实现。