Resolved: “A government's obligation to protect the enviro

Observation 1: Definitions: I will now clarify the terms of the debate by offering up the following definitions found in Blacks Law Dictionary, Fifth Edition.

a) Environment: the condition of the air, water, soil, plants, animals, and natural surroundings.

b) Economic Development/Growth The process by which a country increases its ability to produce goods and services.

c) Governmental obligation: A governing body or organization that is bound by a social, legal or moral tie.

d) Precedence: the fact or state of priority. Meaning that one must come before the other.

Observation 2: Value and Criterion.

Criterion: The only way to uphold the value of Social Welfare is the standard of Governmental Legitimacy. This can be defined as a government conforming to all moral codes and providing the best moral outcome for a society. Only through a government using its own hegemony can a people be protected to the fullest moral extent.

b) As the economy presses forward, it is using more resources than ever before. With this constant consumption, the worlds people will have no where to live. According to Portney/Haas in Current Issues in Natural Resource Policy, 1999, “the results [of depletion] are… alarming, indicating that within the next 100 years the world will run out of copper, lead, nickel, tin, zinc, and a host of other mineral commodities.” Ted Trainer also notes that “Only one-fifth of the worlds people live in rich countries, but we are using up about four-fifths of the worlds annual resource output, at a per capita rate seventeen times that enjoyed by half the worlds people.” Furthermore, he states in his book Developed to : Rethinking Third World Development, “this economy is only healthy if the amount of producing and the consuming going on constantly increases.” The impacts of this analysis are four fold. First, that by destroying the metals and minerals listed, we will be the economy. Some examples are copper is used primarily in the electrical trade to make wire and piping and used to make pennies, tin is used in the automotive industry, which is the nations largest industry. Second, by destroying the natural resources, we are taking away the biodiversity of the environment which may one day lead to the cure for a virus of today or tomorrow. By taking away a possible cure for a disease, you are denying the right for someone to live. This action is immoral; therefore, we must protect the environment before the economy in order to save lives. Thirdly, with the economy always expanding to stay with the status quo, there will never be an end to expansion. The status quo will continue to rise until there is no more environment left to live in. A government’s sole obligation is to the welf

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