HL Lenses

HL.a.1 Laws are rules that govern human behaviour and are enforced by social or governmental authority.

HL.a.2 Environmental law refers specifically to the rules about how human beings use and impact natural resources, with the aim of improving social and ecological sustainability.

HL.a.3 Environmental laws can have an important role in addressing and supporting environmental justice, but they can be difficult to approve due to lobbying.

HL.a.4 Environmental law is built into existing legal frameworks, but its success can vary from country to country.

HL.a.5 Environmental constitutionalism refers to the introduction of environmental rights and obligations into the constitution.

HL.a.6 Environmental laws can be drafted at the local, national or international level.

HL.a.7 International law provides an essential framework for addressing transboundary issues of pollution and resource management.

HL.a.8 UN conferences produce international conventions (agreements) that are legally binding, and protocols that may become legally binding, to all signatories.

HL.a.9 International agreements can generate institutions or organizations to aid their implementation.

HL.a.10 The application of international environmental law has been examined within international courts and tribunals.

HL.a.11 There are an increasing number of laws granting legal personhood to natural entities in order to strengthen environmental protection.

HL.a.12 Both legal and economic strategies can play a role in maintaining sustainable use of the environment.

HL.b.1 Economics studies how humans produce, distribute and consume goods and services, both individually and collectively.

HL.b.2 Environmental economics is economics applied to the environment and environmental issues.

HL.b.3 Market failure occurs when the allocation of goods and services by the free market imposes negative impacts on the environment.

HL.b.4 When the market fails to prevent negative impacts, the polluter-pays principle may be applied.

HL.b.5 “Greenwashing” or “green sheen” is where companies use marketing to give themselves a more environmentally friendly image.

HL.b.6 The tragedy of the commons highlights the problem where property rights are not clearly delineated and no market price is attached to a common good, resulting in overexploitation.

HL.b.7 Environmental accounting is the attempt to attach economic value to natural resources and  their depletion.

HL.b.8 In some cases, economic value can be established by use, but this is not the case for non-use values.

HL.b.9 Ecological economics is different from environmental economics in that it views the economy as a subsystem of Earth’s larger biosphere and the social system as being a sub component of ecology.

HL.b.10 While the economic valuation of ecosystem services is addressed by environmental  economics, there is an even greater emphasis in ecological economics.

HL.b.11 Economic growth is the change in the total market value of goods and services in a country  over a period and is usually measured as the annual percentage change in GDP.

HL.b.12 Economic growth is influenced by supply and demand, and may be perceived as a measure  of prosperity.

HL.b.13 Economic growth has impacts on environmental welfare.

HL.b.14 Eco-economic decoupling is the notion of separating economic growth from environmental  degradation.

HL.b.15 Ecological economics supports the need for degrowth, zero growth or slow growth, and  advocates planned reduction in consumption and production, particularly in high-income countries.

HL.b.16 Ecological economists support a slow/no/zero growth model.

HL.b.17 The circular economy and doughnut economics models can be seen as applications of  ecological economics for sustainability.

HL.c.1 Ethics is the branch of philosophy that focuses on moral principles and what behaviours are  right and wrong.

HL.c.2 Environmental ethics is a branch of ethical philosophy that addresses environmental issues.

HL.c.3 A variety of ethical frameworks and conflicting ethical values emerge from differing  fundamental beliefs concerning the relationship between humans and nature.

HL.c.4 Instrumental value is the usefulness an entity has for humans.

HL.c.5 Intrinsic value is the value one may attach to something simply for what it is.

HL.c.6 The concepts of instrumental and intrinsic value are not exclusive.

HL.c.7 An entity has “moral standing” if it is to be morally considered with regard to how we ought  to act towards it.

HL.c.8 There are three major approaches of traditional ethics: virtue ethics, consequentialist (for  example, utilitarian) ethics and rights-based (deontological) ethics.

HL.c.9 Virtue ethics focuses on the character of the person doing the action. It assumes that good  people will do good actions and bad people will do bad actions.

HL.c.10 Consequentialist ethics is the view that the consequences of an action determine the  morality of the action.

HL.c.11 Rights-based ethical systems focus on the actions and whether they conflict with the rights  of others. There is debate about what these rights might be.

HL.c.12 Some people hold the view that whatever is natural is correct or good. This position is  contentious and is described as the “appeal to nature” fallacy.

HL.c.13 Environmental movements and social justice movements have developed from separate  histories but are increasingly seeking common goals of equitable and just societies.