common assignment

The Environmental Law Podcast discusses the importance of legal and ethical reasoning in business, specifically in relation to environmental law. It explores the history and development of environmentalism and the laws created to protect the environment. The podcast focuses on California's plan to ban the sale of gasoline cars by 2035 and presents two perspectives on the issue. Proponents argue that the economic and environmental benefits outweigh the challenges, while opponents highlight the high costs, lack of infrastructure, and potential negative environmental impact of electric cars. The host concludes that a ban may not be the best solution and suggests exploring alternative approaches to address climate change. Hello, this is the Environmental Law Podcast for the Common Assignment. So to get started, the background of this class is for Introduction to Legal and Ethical Reasoning in Business. Essentially, what that is, is that it just studies the standards of what's morally right and wrong while doing business. It's used in all fields of business, but it's not limited to other fields such as like science and engineering and other things like that. It's something that's used every day when doing business. It's kind of just like a given, you know, you would want to do what's morally right, but sometimes things can get confusing or things are just up for debate. So the topic we're going to be discussing in this podcast, we're going to be talking about environmental law, and we're going to talk about real examples of the ongoing dilemma. And then more specifically, we're going to talk about California's plan to ban the sale of gasoline cars or internal combustion engine cars within the state. We're also going to talk about two perspectives and then give my opinion on it, and then we're going to give a conclusion about this. But to get started, environmental law consists of laws or policies that are created and enforced by local, national, or international governments to manage or control human treatment towards the non-human world. The idea of environmental law, or called environmentalism, wasn't practiced by society. It wasn't really taken seriously until the late 1960s, after most of the world was already industrialized. This is the time when public populations started to express and become more passionate about society's role in preserving the environment from globalization. So the real start of this is when the U.S. started to pass laws that would protect air and water pollution, along with waste disposal. This is just when, like, cities were starting to get dirty because of just, like, being very industrialized after World War II, and there's kind of just a lot of trash and just, like, smog in the air, just from, like, all the factories and just development in general. So this led to create the Environmental Protection Agency. This was designed to monitor and enforce compliance with these laws in place, you know, like, if you're running a factory, only, like, a certain amount of, like, fumes could be emitted, or if you're driving a car, only a certain amount of fumes can be emitted into the atmosphere, or else it would be illegal for sale. So putting these new standards into place drastically increased the national government's role in protecting the environment. So some of the key terms, globalization, which is the process which business or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale. Then we have environmentalism, which is basically the raised concern of protecting the environment, just like that's, like, what your beliefs are. And then ICE, internal combustion engine. So pretty much any vehicle that is, like, powered by fossil fuels, trucks, cars, anything. So now we're going to talk about what is the California ban on ICE, internal combustion engine, vehicles. So as of right now, there is no outright ban on gas-powered cars in the state, but there is a goal to ban all sale of gas-powered cars by the year 2035. This is a very ambitious goal, since 2035 isn't super far away. It's, you know, the sale, you know, to end the sale of all gas cars, you know, in basically 10 years, and convert to a fully electric car, you know, state. It's, you know, it's one of the more ambitious goals that any state has in the country as of right now, or even the world, arguably. So as of right now, only, like, just with our given technology, only electric cars or hydrogen-powered cars can only meet this standard. And hydrogen cars aren't even really obtainable yet. That technology is still, like, extremely new. Or even, like, if you were able to obtain one, I mean, like, it's, like, really expensive. But there is a concern that this goal won't be met due to various, you know, reasons. But first, we'll hear from the perspective of an environmental advocate who is in support of the ban on gas-powered cars in the state of California. Many believe the economic impact of this will be worth it in the long run. So I suppose that, you know, this group is, like, admitting that it's not going to be a smooth transition. But at the rate that we're at right now, you know, the damage that's being done to the environment economically, you know, like, to make those repairs over time, you know, just dealing with this bump in the road, it would be worth it for the long run. So, you know, investing the money to protect our environment will now be far worth it if you compare it to the damage done if this bill would have never been a thing. Okay, so I can kind of agree with that. But, you know, at the same time, you know, when we put things into reality, how, you know, will it play out that way? Maybe so, maybe not. It's also supported since it's a good-hearted bill. Yeah, so the bill is morally, you know, there's nothing wrong with it, you know, it's like, it doesn't want anything bad. It just seems like, you know, it's just a little bit out of reach. And but it's not like it's aimed at doing any damage. It's just, you know, the intent is to make things better. I'm just wanting to simply protect the environment. And then another point they make is that enacting laws that would protect our planet, it's a crucial step to have a sustainable society. You know, these laws are far overdue. So I mean, this has been going on since the 60s and have we made too much of an improvement? You know, if it's still a huge debate, you know, we since then, you know, we may or may not have gotten super far, especially just like over time as, you know, society grows as a whole. But that's the argument that environmentalists are making. So the opposing perspective is that the ban of gas-powered cars is not worth the effort for California, basically saying it's a waste of time. Doing so would place an economic burden on most of its citizens, you know, just because like even electric cars, hydrogen cars are kind of like out of the question for anyone unless you're like a multimillionaire and you're just like really interested in that kind of thing. Electric vehicles, they're far more expensive still than gas-powered cars and the infrastructure just isn't there yet. As of right now, only a fraction of the needed charging stations in California are – only a fraction of the current charging station that California has is – it's just a fraction of what we would actually need to support, you know, this ambitious goal. So that's one thing. That's billions of dollars to, you know, just have these charging stations everywhere and, you know, it takes a certain amount of time to charge. As of right now, you know, technology could get better in the future where, you know, it may take 20 minutes to charge your car full. And the tax money like really isn't there. So you know, they're kind of just like, okay, you know, we're going to ban gas-powered cars and we're going to put this bill into effect, we're going to vote on it, and how are we going to do it and where are we going to get this money? Not really sure. The only really place to get it from is just taxpayer dollars, which is something that this opposing argument, you know, wouldn't want to raise taxes, you know, and they don't even – they don't even want electric cars. They, you know, as of right now, they prefer to drive their gas car because it's more convenient and, you know, just gas stations are just everywhere. And one argument that I found, I found this statistic on Fox News that electric vehicles aren't good for the environment either because like if you really look at it, because like especially making the big batteries that these cars hold, so like I'm pretty sure it was for like the average electric vehicle, the manufacturing process to build the battery and everything. It takes six times more fossil fuels to build that car than it would be to make a Toyota RAV4. I mean, a RAV4 is a pretty – it's a big SUV but, you know, at the same six times more, you know. So, you know, like I think that's like a very valid point because, you know, you need all the equipment, you know, to be able to get all these materials, especially like all the lithium and all that stuff to make the batteries and everything and like you just like the equipment to make all this stuff uses fossil fuels and it's just more complex to make. So yeah, this is really turning out to be, you know, just like a debate between like the environment and the economy and it just seems like the electric vehicles aren't making that much of an impact. So that's pretty much like that whole perspective. I mean, maybe like – maybe this perspective could change like if an electric car was as convenient as having a gas-powered car. I think that, you know, after doing my own research, I kind of like side more with the opposing view that like banning it right now so soon just isn't worth it. It's not a smooth transition. I think there's like – I think like if we take more time to brainstorm, there could be other ways to like, you know, support the climate change movement. I'm not denying that cars are polluters but, you know, simply just placing a ban on them and forcing people to, you know, to limited options isn't, you know, I don't think that's really a good thing either. I think people should be able to choose what kind of car they drive to an extent. And the majority of people is not ready for the change. Electric cars are unaffordable. Me personally, I can't afford an electric car and the infrastructure is not there. I live in a mid-sized city in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and the closest place I know I could charge my car is like if I had an electric car, it would be like 20 minutes away. I don't have a garage. A lot of people don't have garages here. So like you can't really run a wire out onto the street. That's just not practical. You know, what if it's raining? You know, it's just – it's really just – as of right now. Let's say it was more convenient just as like having my gas car, you know, maybe, you know, and the price was the same or if anything, it should be cheaper if I'm using electricity than – I mean, you know, it would be a consideration. But as of right now, gas is just more attractive. It's just more practical for the majority of people, you know, especially like if you're going on a long road trip, you know, gas stations are everywhere. You've got to plan out – if you had an electric car, you're going to plan out where you're going to get the next charging station, and you can only go so far. But I think like if – especially in cities where like there's like a lot of sitting traffic and stuff like that, you know, cars are just burning gas and not really going anywhere else. I think like the concept of hybrids is like – I think that's like a, you know, probably a better move, you know, for anyone as of right now because you're saving money on gas if you're in traffic. And you know, from an environmental perspective, you're kind of just using – you're just using electricity in traffic. You're not burning anything. You know, and then, you know, when stuff picks up in the highway or whatever, you know, everything gets going again, you start using gas. You know, it's a money saver, environment saver. It's just practical. And hybrids are – they're kind of maturing in the market now, I think. They're not really too expensive. They're just starting to get cheaper. You could probably – I think you could find a used hybrid, you know, a reliable one, a good one, maybe with a warranty for not too many miles on it, you know, probably for under 20 grand, I would assume. So yeah. To the conclusion, I mean, we're concluding that, you know, the California ban on gas cars, it's not a wrong step. Technically, it would be the right step, but, you know, to be more sustainable as a society. But it's, you know, it's really like are we ready for such like a change so fast, you know, because it wouldn't really be a smooth transition. And the public seems to be supportive of the, like, intentions, you know, like no one's disagreeing with that. But, you know, just the actual execution of the plan, no one's really ready to commit to that. But it's not just California. All of America, you know, isn't really ready for that. And it's not just America either. It's really the rest of the world is slowly – should slowly transition. But, you know, as of right now, fossil fuels still runs the world. But that sums it all up. That concludes the podcast. So yeah.