It's true! So what does this mean?
Well, land is classified into different groups depending on how its used such as cropland, forestland, grassland, residential land, commercial or industrial land, mineral land, recreation land, wetland, floodplains, barren or waste, and cities. Now, think about your own yard, how might you classify what type of land you live on? It could even be a combination of the different types if you have the the Great Bay or a forest in your backyard. Generally, land can be thought of as a portion of the earth's crust that you can walk on, build a house, grow crops etc.
Okay so what does this have to do with economics?
How land is used is a vital part of how economies function, by allocating land for a certain use, there is a value placed on that parcel of land... even if it is sitting idle or is used as a dump. In economics, land is thought of as not only a portion of the earth's crust but also something that people can attach ownership rights to. From there, the land also includes buildings, trees, and other objects of value. The value we put on land and how we use it is constantly changing... due to supply and demand.
You might be surprised to know that 60% of land in the United States is owned by private individuals, 34% by the federal government, 6% by state and local governments, and about 2% by Indian tribes. When it comes to land ownership, many individuals might get excited. It is a very hot topic in communities over who owns what land and how they are using it.
The value placed on land can be generally thought of as in relation to the type of use it is being used for. In economics, we refer to this concept as the highest and best use of land, or what type of land yields the greatest value to the owner. Commercial and industrial uses of land would be on the highest point of the spectrum, followed by residential, then cropland and arable pasture, forest, grazing, then at the bottom of the spectrum we have barren and waste (think an uninhabitable desert). When resources can be extracted from land, such as water, minerals, or used to grow crops it has a great value to us. However, how we use this land has consequences or externalities on the natural environment and communities of people around it. Also, there is an opportunity cost associated with using land in a particular way such as developing a residential neighborhood on what was formerly farmland and before then forestland, such is the case in many Durham neighborhoods.
Can you think of some externalities that you might create at your own home or a business might create to the surrounding community and/or natural environment? Are these positive or negative externalities?
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I feel that I value the land because it is the only one that we have and we should appreciate it more and put less pollution into the air and less deforestation, so that more carbon can be released into the atmosphere. My home would be an externality, due to my woodstove and how I urn all kinds of wood to keep my house warm. I burn different kinds of wood, pretty much whatever is in my backyard, or whatever we buy for the winter. I think that the woodstove does its purpose inside the house, but awful things outside the house. The pollution that a woodstove gives off is not good for the environment.
ReplyDeleteSome externalities created in the home could be the amount of trash put out every week and what kind of wood is put on the fire that would affect the quality of the smoke. Also, if a land-owner chooses to cut down trees on his/her property, that could negatively affect the neighbors and their quality of life and privacy. For the most part, resources used in both the home and work place are externalities. Paper and plastics used and wasted affect the environment, as well as producing techniques. It is important that households and businesses use equipment that affects the environment as little as possible, and in a positive way. Overall, both the home and work place produce many externalities, and our society should strive to reduce that amount.
ReplyDeleteI think that is everyone recycles, and takes care of their own stuff. And no one litters, that all the land will be better off.
ReplyDeleteExternalities that are created in neighborhoods and homes include the sources of energy you may be using in your home. Also, how much trash you go through everyday and what types of items you are putting in the trash. When it comes to businesses and big corporations the externalities have a much more negative result. Companies use many resources and most of them are negative externalities. Also, the amount of these externalities is much higher at businesses than in neighborhoods. It is important that everyone realizes these negative externalities are hurting our environment and affect everyone. Everyone needs to make a concious effort to reduce the amount of these externalities and that can be done by finding better alternatives and conserving as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteI live in a condominium and there are several buildings including a tennis court and a swimming pool. Very few of my neighbors use the tennis court or the pool and therefore it is easy for me to consider them as being wasteful and not good for the natural environment because they are taking the place of trees. However, these perks to the condominium complex does help when condo owners want to sell, therefore helping the town of Lee and Durham continue to be a desirable place to live, and with more people means more cash flow in the economy of the town.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in my house we do very little recycling and i wish the condominium had a big dumpster for recycling because they have two for trash, and i think if they had another one for recycling then it would remind people to recycle and therefore help the environment.
People are the most wasteful creatures on the planet. We constantly create externalities such as trash, sewage, carbon emissions, etc. To call any externality positive or negative is purely subjective. Maybe I prefer a wild grass from Africa for my lawn, but everyone thinks its ugly. It may increase local biodiversity, which may be positive, but it may also have evolved past the homeostatic properties of regular grass and spread across the whole neighborhood. Some people may think this is great, now everyone has cool, strong grass. Others may think it's ugly. It all comes down to one's definition of positive or negative.
ReplyDeleteThe Lee Transfer Station is a good part of the town of Lee, and it is nice to see people who work hard to get everything to where they are supposed to be. The Transfer Station is a great use in the community because it sorts trash out before they get shipped off to a bigger mess where it could get complicated to sort the trash.
ReplyDeleteThere was a debate going on around Northwood regarding bottled water. A company (I believe a part of poland springs) wants rights to pump springwater. Many people were against this, for several reasons, one being that if you pump water out of one property, distribution (areas of higher concentration flow into areas of lower concentration, etc.) dictates that the other properties nearby lose water as well. For those of us who use a well, instead of town water, this can be potentially disastrous. Something else I heard was that pumping too much water may cause microbes that live farther underground in deeper areas of the water table to rise up and start thriving in the upper water table, although I'm not sure if that's at all accurate.
ReplyDeletePeople produce externalities every day. The waste we produce such as water, food, paper, fossil fuels the list goes on and on. I don't think that there are many externalities that are posative to the environment. The only posative externalitie that I can think of is compost. It is produced everywhere and it benifits the environment in many different ways. For instance compost helps make dirt which takes many years for the earth to create. So for this externalitie we are benifiting the environment. But for most other externalitites we are abusing the environment.
ReplyDeleteExternalities are mostly created from resources we use in our homes.The quantity of trash we produce each day is one of the major factors hurting our enviroment. There are so many ways to conciously make an effort in reducing the amount we use and throw away. Such as, composting,recycling EVERYTHING that can be recycled instead of putting it in the trash and simply being aware of how much is being used of any resource and if it has a legitament importance of being used. The many alternatives to positively disposing trash can actually be positive and help improve our enviroment. Also, changing little things here and there to help our enviroment can go a long way.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the earth is very important, but I feel that with a Capitalist society, it is near impossible to convince people the stop expanding across the U.S., and but a stop to pollution when their business and factories rely on their old habits and methods of pollution and deforestation.
ReplyDeleteOne externality that could be created (but isn't) at my home would be the cutting down of trees on our 5 acres. this could affect the land around us by causing erosion. trees prevent erosion. Another externality could be fires. the smoke from the fires could affect your neighbors and the environment. Businesses on farm land could create manure which could be good because it enriches the soil and can be sold to be used for other reasons. It could also be negative if there is too much of it ansd it gets into the ground water.
ReplyDeleteZoning laws help protect a piece of property for what the town considers its highest and best use. I live in a residential zoned neighborhood which prevents farming and commercial use. This helps protect our land. If there weren't zoning laws, our family could decide to perhaps build a five story dorm in the middle of our residential neighborhood and make a lot of money. Therefore, the zoning laws are there to protect property from inappropriate use and avoid any negative externalities.
ReplyDeleteOur property would be considered forest land. We have lots of trees in my backyard that my dad uses for our woodstove so we no longer use any heating oil in the house. In the future, this will be a good decision because we are using natural resources to help out the government. It also doesn't really give out alot of poisonous gases in the air. Externalities in the environment come from what resources we use.
ReplyDeleteInstalling energy efficient technology in one's home saves money and is also good for the environment, as an example of a positive externality.
ReplyDeleteNegative externality of one's property could be if someone neglected to take care of their land, it could look bad in a neighborhood.
I think that the list of externalities could go on and on. We can sit and talk about how we create too much trash all day, but rather than trying to create trash maybe creating a way to dispose of it properly would be better. I think that the buildup of trash will only get greater with the population increasing and more and more products being produced. What we need to do eliminate trash efficiently. Also I feel that a huge amount of land is wasted with parking lots and businesses. We rather make a 1000 yard parking lot instead of walking ten minutes. What it comes down to is Americans and maybe even the world being lazy and now we’re going to have to pay for it unless we discover some solutions real quick.
ReplyDeleteThere are many externalities that could be set in place, bettering the enviorment. One way I feel strongly about, is conserving the land that we have. "In economics, land is thought of as not only a portion of the earth's crust but also something that people can attach ownership rights to. From there, the land also includes buildings, trees, and other objects of value. The value we put on land and how we use it is constantly changing... due to supply and demand" We must value our land enough to conserve it. As much as we want to beat around the bush, Americans are lazy and I feel that we need to be more thoughful about the land.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the right thing to do so I'm just gonna go with it. My yard is surrounded by both forestland and I also have a 2-3 acre field that could be considered grassland/cropland. There isn't any stores or any big industrial settlements around me so the economy has not really affected the land around me. If the economy has affected the land around me it would be the residential demand. New houses are being built slowly in the land around my house, eventually I would have to hypothesize that the land around my house is going to become a full blown neighborhood instead of a few scattered houses over dozens of acres.
ReplyDeleteI believe that everything in our environment has both positive and negative effects on someone or something else. A new development of houses has the obvious negative effects on the environment, animals, and our natural resources. But it also has positive effects, being that a family who chooses to live in this development is not adding to the population of the city life, where resources such as electricity and water are at times insuficcient for the citizens. We should try to conserve our land as much as possible, to limit the negative effects on the planet though. To do that, the whole world is going to have to work together, and each country is going to have to participate.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the earth is very important and I believe that everything in our environment has both positive and negative effects on someone or something else. if someone cuts down like 3 miles of forests for a shopping mall and only uses half of the land the cut down that has a negative effect on the Earth and they should try to fix what they did
ReplyDeleteI think that while land is an invaluable resource, it , like anything else, should be utilized in moderation, so we don't run out. We are rapidly using land as if it were an infinite resource. While it is a necessary resource for human survival, we can't keep on capitalizing on it without any consequences. If we are to keep on using land at the rate we are, it could have extreme negative results for the enviornment. What we should do is establish a mutualistic relationship with the enviornment, and replenish the earth's resources, instead of depleting them.
ReplyDeleteEveryone should just be responsible and then everything would be better off. If everyone recycled what they could and didn't litter the world would be better off. It's all about responsibility, if your not responsible then everyone suffers.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the durham transfer station is a very helpful part of our community because they do try to do their part and they recycle everything and they dispose of it in the right way.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of externalities that could be set in place, bettering the enviorment could go on and on. But something I believe that us as human beings must do is to save and preserve oyr land. In a world where technology is growing by the second, I think it is imperative that everyone takes an extreme effort to better the land we live on.
ReplyDeleteIn durham, there is a trash pick up program and also recycling program. In lee, there is just a trash company. Personally i think that it is better to just dispose of your own trash and you are able to make sure it is making it to the trash but in durham, i noticed that there is trash everywhere on the grounds, and this could be because of the wind blowing it away from its container or any weather condition.
ReplyDeleteWe produce externalities every day. It is part of our lives and I really do not think there is a way around it. We all waste products weither we realize it or not. Durham does a decent job trying to recycle and dispose of everything but there is no way they can get rid of it all. We should make a better effort to keep trash off the streets and away from land because we only have one and we should cherish it and keep it to the best of my ability.
ReplyDeleteRight down the road from where I live is a piece of property that is slated to be an industrial park, right on the water. Right now, since nothing has been built yet, the community uses the property for recreational purposes such as walking, hiking, and spending time outdoors. Some negative externalities include people leaving trash and people leaving their pets waste, which pollutes it. If businesses are developed there, there will be an increase in traffic on the already busy Route 4, the buildings with detract from the beauty of the natural landscape, and no matter how careful people are, its going to contribute to pollution. A positive impact could be that having the businesses there would possibly lower the residential taxes, but I would prefer it to stay in its current state.
ReplyDeleteI can't necessarily say that the land I live on provides an essential purpose other than a place where my family resides. I do believe that land has an extremely high value not just in property, but in the fact that if we didn't have it we'd have no where. We need to realize that without land we are nothing but extinct, with no resources.
ReplyDeleteI think that land is simply the original "material good". It is also a good investment and something i personally value. I also think it is important that the land be looked after and maintained. Land is one of the things we can own and that can not be taken away from us
ReplyDelete