Issue#2: Is Biodiversity Overprotected?
“Extinction is normal”(pg26, 1st paragraph). However, the rate this process is happening is up to us, to some extent. In this article, two sides are discussing this rate. One side is arguing that biodiversity is overprotected and the other the opposite.
The first argument, against protection of biodiversity, states that “at a macro level, there is a tradeoff between production/consumption of timber and production/consumption of related environmental amenities”(pg28, 2nd paragraph). In terms of economy that is very true, however, I believe the author is missing some points. Even though people face tradeoffs in their lives, most of the tradeoffs have one beneficial outcome. After this the author introduced the idea of tragedy of the commons, a term which we are familiar from economy (pg29, 4th paragraph). I did not understand how this affected the biodiversity or the protection of it in anyway. Among the others, his best argument was the one about costs to people. He stated that some people have different costs and this differentiation causes overprotection of the biodiversity. “It is irresponsible to enact environmental policies…production of environmental amenities.” (pg31, 2nd paragraph). Overall, before reading the second argument, this argument was convincing enough for me—especially with the help of his last point.
