Tournament: UPS | Round: 1 | Opponent: x | Judge: x
A. Economic growth is the root cause of biodiversity loss. The brink is NOW. Rosales 

Jon Rosales 2006.  Journal of Conservation Biology, Vol. 20, No. 4, Department of Environmental Studies, St. Lawrence University. “Economic Growth and Biodiversity in an Age of Tradable Permits.” http://www.steadystate.org/Rosales_on_EG_and_Tradeable_Permits.pdf 

The main cause ... factor for conservation. 

B. Biodiversity loss causes extinction. Diner 

David N. Diner 1994, Judge Advocate’s General’s Corps of US Army, Military Law Review, Winter, 143 Mil. L. Rev. 161, l/n, David N.

In past mass ... to the abyss.

Tournament: Golden Desert And Any JanFeb Tournament | Round: 2 | Opponent: Any | Judge: Any
All of the 1AR theory that I read at GD. I'll add to this list as I break more shells. 

A. Interpretation: Debaters must disclose all topicality and theory interpretations at least 30 minutes before the round on the NDCA wiki at hsld.debatecoaches.org, OR place contact information on the wiki at least 30 minutes before the round. They must use the NDCA wiki specifically as opposed to other wikis since it's used the most and is most accessible in the LD community. 

A. Interpretation: If then negative criticizes or "kritiks" the affirmative advocacy, discourse, or mindset, then that criticism must have a written out alternative that describes a comparative world supported by a solvency or philosophy advocate who describes what that world would look like and how it would solve for that criticism.

Tournament: Throughout Jan Feb | Round: 1 | Opponent: X | Judge: X
I value Morality, since should implies a moral obligation. 

Presume aff
Aff gets RVIS on drop the debater voters
Drop arg  drop deb

A IS ONTOLOGY
Sub-point A: Ontology. 

Theories of being are necessary before we can justify any ethical or substantive arguments because we must know what should count as units of ethical or political evaluation. Being isn’t based in binaries or hierarchies. Rather, the subject is created through social contexts that change. A view of being cannot be universally based otherwise identity is subverted and being becomes meaningless. Butler writes:

Judith Butler Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetori and Comparative Literature at Berkley. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge publishing: 2009. Print. 

This ontological characterization presupposes that ... the (now repressed) maternal body.

Thus, ontology is defined outside of categories and grounded in a subjective cultural context. This prescribes being based on emotional connections that dictate how we perceive the self. Stanley and Wise write :

Liz Stanley and Sue Wise. Breaking Out Again: Feminist Ontology and Epistemology. New Edition. Routledge publisher, 2002. Google Books. 

Our feminist ontology, then, rejects binary ... processes in non-reductionist terms.

So, ethical and substantive arguments must be based a) in social context and b) in a combination of reason and emotion.

B IS EPISTEMOLOGY
Sub-point B: Epistemology. 

A theory of knowledge is necessary to justify both ethical and substantive arguments because how we come to know determines what counts as an argument and the nature of truth. Knowledge must be grounded in reason and emotion. We cannot appeal to some standard of reason detached from the emotional context we perceive it in. Stanley and Wise 2 write:

Earlier we noted that our feminist ... when looked at from a feminist viewpoint.

Thus knowledge is understood through a social lens that combines both emotion and reason to understand social contexts. This is especially true since the alternative, rationality-based epistemologies are insufficient. Warkentin:

Warkentin, Traci. "Interspecies etiquette: An ethics of paying attention to animals." Ethics the Environment, 15 (Forthcoming)

For some time now, feminists ... imagine how the other feels".

Thus arguments must a) be grounded in sympathy and emotion and b) be contextual based on each circumstance instead of universal and abstract from the specific situation.

neg has to have counter epistemology or ontology

C IS THE ETHIC
Sub-point C: the ethic.
I prescribe the ethic of care as the normative standard for the round. The ethic of care is based in emotional understanding and attentiveness to subjects of justice. Donovan 2 writes: 

 Josephine Donovan. ATTENTION TO SUFFERING: A FEMINIST CARING ETHIC FOR THE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. JOURNAL  of SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, Vol. 27 No. 1, Spring, 1996, 81-102 1996 Journal of Social Philosophy

Sympathy theory of the past, ... drug corporations and university collaboration.

The ethic of care thus meets the framework since it’s contextually based and sympathetic towards the subject, so the standard is maintaining consistency with the ethics of care, which is acting towards individuals in a compassionate manner

CONTENTION

I advocate for a whole resolution interpretation and defend that environmental protection should be prioritized over resource extraction to form caring relationships.  Saap 

 Keith saap 2011 Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy discussion paper proposal Pragmatist Feminists Gone Wild:  Addams, Noddings, and a Relational Approach to Environmental Ethics

The debate within environmental ethics ... difference and an object of care.”

Tournament: CPS | Round: 1 | Opponent: X | Judge: X
A is Free Will. the universe is causally closed which rules out free will. Papineau:
David Papineau, “Naturalism,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2007.

In the middle ... those physical antecedents.
 
There’s no such thing as free will, either actions are pre-determined or they’re pure chance. Ayer:
Ayer, A.J. “Freedom and Necessity.” In Free Will, ed. Watson, 1982.

But now we ... back to determinism.

Analytic stuff

Its contradictory to say that an agent ought to do something they’re not in control of so the only ought that rational deliberation could allow is what happens. Streumer :
Streumer, Bart. Reasons and Impossibility, 2004

The argument from ... having such results.36

Its like saying an inanimate object ought to do an action. Streumer 2:
Streumer, Bart. Reasons and Impossibility, 2004

The argument from ... (R) is true.

B is Quantum Physics: If quantum mechanics is deterministic, every decision is too. Meachem:
 Beyond the Causal Veil, Bill Meacham October 24th, 2011

Once the photon ... the quantum level.

Bohmian QM prescribes an additional equation to determine all particle movements, rendering everything predetermined. This theory is 100 verifiable. Hoefer:

Carl Hoefer ICREA Research Professor, Barcelona, SEP entry on causal determinism, 2010.

In 1952 David ... and references therein.

Bohm even solves the single biggest QM problem – Schrödinger’s Cat. Goldstein: 

Sheldon Goldstein Professor of Mathematics, Rutgers University, SEP entry on Bohmian mechanics, 2006.

The most commonly ... pointers always point.

But even if QM is random, determinism still stands. Honderich: 

 Honderich, Ted Grote Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Mind and Logic, University College London. Freedom and Determinism, ed. Campbell et al., 2004 p. 308.

About the truth ... spoons and so on.

Analytic stuff

Parametrics -- Aff gets to defend Tanzania
a) ground
b) depth
c) stable advocacy

Thus, I contend that Tanzania has environmental protection right now. 

Tanzania is prioritizing the environment over resource extraction. Yussuf 

Tanzania: Zanzibar Forms Task Force to Protect Environment BY ISSA YUSSUF, 6 NOVEMBER 2013

ZANZIBAR has launched ... trees and landscape.

more analytics

Underview

Presume aff

Default reasonability

I get RVI's 

U/V 2

Skep affirms

Tournament: Golden Desert | Round: 1 | Opponent: X | Judge: X
Text: All African Elephant Range Countries, mainly the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Kenya,  will institute a ban on the domestic harvesting, sale, and export of all Ivory and Ivory products, and adopt non-extractive use policies toward local elephant populations. Enforcement will be carried out as necessary. I reserve the right to clarify the advocacy in CX.

Same Util FW as the Uranium Plan

Tournament: Stanford | Round: 5 | Opponent: Andrew Bower | Judge: Alex Martel
FW

I value morality. Epistemology precludes other justifications for ethics because it justifies how we know things about morality so ignore util dumps unless they’re specifically responsive to our epistemic capacity to experience things. Presume aff because its better to treat the environment well than poorly in the face of moral uncertainty. Aff gets RVI’s because its key to reciprocity – a drop the debater voter absent an RVI makes theory a no risk issue for the neg mandating that we have RVI’s to make it a drop the debater issue for both of us. Reciprocity controls the strongest internal link into fairness because equitable burdens form the brightline between what is fair and unfair.
Knowledge is only based on the phenomena we experience since perceptual cognition is omnipresent. UTI

UTI 7 (Unification of Thought Institute, “The Essentials of Unification of Thought” UTI, 2007, pp 179-180, online)

According to materialist dialectic, the spirit (consciousness) is a product or function of the brain, and cognition takes place as objective reality is reflected (copied) onto consciousness. This theory is called the "theory of reflection" or "copy theory" (leoriya oirazhenia). Of this, Engels said, "we comprehended the concepts in our leads once more materialistically-as images Abbilder of real things." Lenin stated that, "From Engels' point of view, the only immutability is the reflection by the human mind (when there is a human mind) of an external world existing and developing independently of the mind." 13 In Marxist epistemology, what Kant called sensory content is not the only reflection of the objective world upon consciousness. The form of thinking is also a reflection of the objective world; it is a reflection of the forms of existence.  b) Sensory Cognition, Rational Cognition, and Practice.--  Cognition is not merely a reflection of the objective world, but it has to be verified through practice, according to Marxist epistemology. Lenin explains this process as follows: "From living perception to abstract thought, and from this to practice -- such is the dialectical path of the cognition of truth, of the cognition of objective reality."  14 Mao Tse-tung explained the process of materialist dialectical cognition more concretely. He said the following:  This dialectical-materialist theory of the process of development of knowledge, basing itself on practice and proceeding from the shallow to the deeper. ...Marxism-Leninism holds that each of the two stages in the process of cognition has its own characteristics, with knowledge manifesting itself as perceptual at the lower stage and logical at the higher stage, but that both are stages in an integrated process of cognition. The perceptual and the rational are qualitatively different, but are not divorced from each other; they are unified on the basis of practice. The first step in the process of cognition is contact with the objects of the external world; this belongs to the stage of is perception the stage of sensory cognition. The second step is to synthesize the date of perception by arranging and reconstructing them; this belongs to the stage of conception, judgment, and inference is the stage of rational cognition. 16  In this way, cognition proceeds from sensory cognition to rational cognition (or logical cognition), and from rational cognition to practice. Now, cognition and practice are not something that takes place only once. "Practice, knowledge, again practice, and again knowledge. This form repeats itself in endless cycles, and with each cycle the content of practice and knowledge rises to a higher level."  Kant said that cognition takes place insofar as the subject synthesizes the object, and that it is impossible to cognize the "things-in-themselves" behind the phenomena, advocating agnosticism. In contrast, Marxism asserted that the essence of things can be known only through phenomena, and that things can be known fully through practice, negating the existence of the "things-in-themselves" separate from the phenomena. About Kant, Engels said the following:  In Kant's time, our knowledge of natural objects was indeed so fragmentary that he might well suspect, behind the little we knew about each of them, a mysterious "thing-in-itself." But one after another these ungraspable things have been grasped, analyzed, and, what is more, reproduced by the giant progress of science; and what we can produce we certainly cannot consider as unknowable.  18 Now, in the process of cognition and practice, practice is held to be more important. Mao Tse-tung said, "The dialectical-materialist theory of knowledge places practice in the primary position, holding that human knowledge can in no way be separated from practice. Practice usually refers to human action on nature and social activities, but in Marxism, revolution is held to be the supreme form of practice among all kinds of practice. Therefore, it can be said that the ultimate purpose of cognition is revolution. In fact, Mao Tse-tung said, The active function of knowledge manifests itself not only in the active leap from perceptional to rational knowledge, but-and this is more important-it must manifest itself in the leap from rational knowledge to revolutionary practice." 20  Next I will deal with the forms of thought in logical cognition (rational cognition). Logical cognition refers to thinking such as Judgment and inference mediated by concepts, in which the forms of thought play an important role. Marxism, which advocates copy theory, regards the forms of thought as reflections of the processes in the objective world upon consciousness, that is, as reflections of existing forms. 

The goodness of pleasure and badness of pain are qualities all humans experience that relate back to our objective considerations. Nagel

Nagel 86 (Thomas Nagel NYU Philo Prof “The View from Nowhere” Oxford Press, 1986, pp 156-168, MG)

I shall defend the unsurprising claim that sensory pleasure is good and pain bad, no matter whose they are. The point of the exercise is to see how the pressures of objectification operate in a simple case. Physical pleasure and pain do not usually depend on activities or desires which themselves raise questions of justification and value. They are just sensory experiences in relation to which we are fairly passive, but toward which we feel involuntary desire or aversion. Almost everyone takes the avoidance of his own pain and the promotion of his own pleasure as subjective reasons for action in a fairly simple way; they are not back up by any further reasons. On the other hand if someone pursues pain or avoids pleasure, either it as a means to some end or it is backed up by dark reasons like guilt or sexual masochism. What sort of general value, if any, ought to be assigned to pleasure and pain when we consider these facts from an objective standpoint? What kind of judgment can we reasonably make about these things when we view them in abstraction from who we are? We can begin by asking why there is no plausibility in the zero position, that pleasure and pain have no value of any kind that can be objectively recognized. That would mean that I have no reason to take aspirin for a severe headache, however I may in fact be motivated; and that looking at it from outside, you couldn't even say that someone had a reason not to put his hand on a hot stove, just because of the pain. Try looking at it from the outside and see whether you can manage to withhold that judgment. If the idea of objective practical reason makes any sense at all, so that there is some judgment to withhold, it does not seem possible. If the general arguments against the reality of objective reasons are no good, then it is at least possible that I have a reason, and not just an inclination, to refrain from putting my hand on a hot stove. But given the possibility, it seems meaningless to deny that this is so. Oddly enough, however, we can think of a story that would go with such a denial. It might be suggested that the aversion to pain is a useful phobia—having nothing to do with the intrinsic undesirability of pain itself—which helps us avoid or escape the injuries that are signaled by pain. (The same type of purely instrumental value might be ascribed to sensory pleasure: the pleasures of food, drink, and sex might be regarded as having no value in themselves, though our natural attraction to them assists survival and reproduction.) There would then be nothing wrong with pain in itself, and someone who was never motivated deliberately to do anything just because he knew it would reduce or avoid pain would have nothing the matter with him. He would still have involuntary avoidance reactions, otherwise it would be hard to say that he felt pain at all. And he would be motivated to reduce pain for other reasons—because it was an effective way to avoid the danger being signaled, or because interfered with some physical or mental activity that was important to him. Imagine someone He just wouldn't regard the pain as itself something he had any reason to avoid, even though he hated it the feeling just as much as the rest of us. (And of course he wouldn't be able to justify the avoidance of pain in the way that we customarily justify avoiding what we hate without reason—that is, on the ground that even an irrational hatred makes its object very unpleasant!) There is nothing self-contradictory in this proposal, but it seems nevertheless insane. Without some positive reason to think there is nothing in itself good or bad about having an experience you intensely like or dislike, we can't seriously regard the common impression to the contrary as a collective illusion. Such things are at least good or bad for us, if anything is. What seems to be going on here is that we cannot from an objective standpoint withhold a certain kind of endorsement of the most direct and immediate subjective value judgments we make concerning the contents of our own consciousness. We regard ourselves as too close to those things to be mistaken in our immediate, nonideological evaluative impressions. No objective view we can attain could possibly overrule our subjective authority in such cases. There can be no reason to reject the appearances here.
We sense other people’s pain through intersensory perceptions. Botvinik and Cohen

Botvinik and Cohen 98 (Matthew Psychiartry Prof at Pittsburgh and Jonathan Psychology Prof at Carnegie Mellon “Rubber Hands ‘Feel’ Touch that Eyes See” MacMillan Publishers, 1998, MG)

This illusion belongs to a class of perceptual effects involving intersensory bias1–4. In closely related work, Ramachandran et al. got phantom limb patients to view their intact arm in a mirror, so that their amputated arm appeared to have been resurrected. Several subjects viewing the reflection as the intact arm was touched reported feeling the touch in the amputated (phantom) limb5 . Also relevant is the finding of cells in the premotor cortex of monkeys which respond both to tactile stimulation of a particular body region and to visual perception of an object approaching that area6 . The connectionist network referred to above features a layer of units with analogous response properties, units that appear to be necessary for the relevant cross-modal interactions to occur. It has been proposed that the body is distinguished from other objects as belonging to the self by its participation in specific forms of intermodal perceptual correlation7,8. Subjects in our first experiment who referred their tactile sensations to the rubber hand also consistently reported, in both sections of the questionnaire, experiencing the rubber hand as belonging to themselves. Indeed, eight of ten subjects spontaneously employed terms of ownership in their free-report descriptions, for example: “I found myself looking at the dummy hand thinking it was actually my own.”
If each person values their own happiness they have to value everybody’s. Sayre-McCord 

Sayre-McCord 1 (Geoffrey, Graduate degree at University of Pittsburg “Mill's "Proof" of the Principle of Utility: A More than Half-Hearted Defense,” UNC Press, 2001, pp 21-22, MG)

According to the second argument, the evaluative starting point is again each person thinking "my own happiness is valuable," but this fact about each person is taken as evidence, with respect to each bit of happiness that is valued, that that bit is valuable. Each person is seen as hasving reason to think that the happiness she enjoys is valuable, and reason to think of others -- given that they are in a parallel situation with respect to the happiness they enjoy -- that each person's happiness is such that there is the same evidence available to each for the value of the happiness that another person enjoys as there is for the value of one's own happiness. If happiness is such that every piece of it is desired by someone, then it seems as if, in taking ourselves to have reason to see the bit we value as valuable, we are committed to acknowledging the value of all the rest. Analogously, again with suitable adjustments, the argument in Kant's hands would take as an evaluative starting point each having reason to think of her own rational nature as an end, and reason to think of other's -- given that they are in a parallel situation with respect to their own rational nature -- that each person's rational nature is such that there is the same evidence available to each for the value of another person's rational nature as there is for the value of one's own. If every rational being is such that her rational nature is thought of by her as an end, then it seems as if, in taking ourselves to have reason to see our own rational nature as an end, we are committed to acknowledging that other people's rational natures are likewise to be seen as ends. Unlike the first argument, this one does, if successful, move to an appropriate utilitarian conclusion. Of course, its success depends on each person having reason to think of her own happiness, or rational nature, as valuable, as an end.

That’s especially true for governments, who because of their epistemic choices must be utilitarian. Woller,

Woller”, A Forum on the Role of Environmental Ethics, June 1997, pg. 10

Appeals to a priori moral principles, such as environmental preservation, also often fail to acknowledge that public policies inevitably entail trade-offs among competing values. Thus since policymakers cannot justify inherent value conflicts to the public in any philosophical sense, and since public policies inherently imply winners and losers, the policymakers' duty is to the public interest requires them to demonstrate that the redistributive effects and value trade-offs implied by their polices are somehow to the overall advantage of society. At the same time, deontologically based ethical systems have severe practical limitations as a basis for public policy. At best, a priori moral principles provide only general guidance to ethical dilemmas in public affairs and do not themselves suggest appropriate public policies, and at worst, they create a regimen of regulatory unreasonableness while failing to adequately address the problem or actually making it worse. For example, a moral obligation to preserve the environment by no means implies the best way, or any way for that matter, to do so, just as there is no a priori reason to believe that any policy that claims to preserve the environment will actually do so. Any number of policies might work, and others, although seemingly consistent with the moral principle, will fail utterly. That deontological principles are an inadequate basis for environmental policy is evident in the rather significant irony that most forms of deontologically based environmental laws and regulations tend to be are implemented in a very utilitarian manner by street-level enforcement officials. Moreover, ignoring the relevant costs and benefits of environmental policy and their attendant incentive structures can, as alluded to above, actually work at cross purposes to environmental preservation. (There exists an extensive literature on this aspect of regulatory enforcement and the often perverse outcomes of regulatory policy. See, for example, Ackerman, 1981; Bartrip and Fenn, 1983; Hawkins, 1983, 1984; Hawkins and Thomas, 1984.) Even the most die-hard preservationist/deontologist would, I believe, be troubled by this outcome. The above points are perhaps best expressed by Richard Flathman, The number of values typically involved in public policy decisions, the broad categories which must be employed and above all, the scope and complexity of the consequences to be anticipated militate against reasoning so conclusively that they generate an imperative to institute a specific policy. It is seldom the case that only one policy will meet the criteria of the public interest (1958, p. 12). It therefore follows that in a democracy, policymakers have an ethical duty to establish a plausible link between policy alternatives and the problems they address, and the public must be reasonably assured that a policy will actually do something about an existing problem; this requires the means-end language and methodology of utilitarian ethics. Good intentions, lofty rhetoric, and moral piety are an insufficient.

The role of the ballot is to vote for the debater advocating for the better policy option through a policy-making lens. Keller,

Keller, Whittaker, and Burke 01 Thomas E., Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago, James K., professor of Social Work, and Tracy K., doctoral student School of Social Work, “Student debates in policy courses: promoting policy practice skills and knowledge through active learning,” Journal of Social Work Education, Spr/Summer

Policy practice encompasses social workers' "efforts to influence the development, enactment, implementation, or assessment of social policies" (Jansson, 1994, p. 8). Effective policy practice involves analytic activities, such as defining issues, gathering data, conducting research, identifying and prioritizing policy options, and creating policy proposals (Jansson, 1994). It also involves persuasive activities intended to influence opinions and outcomes, such as discussing and debating issues, organizing coalitions and task forces, and providing testimony. According to Jansson (1984, pp. 57-58), social workers rely upon five fundamental skills when pursuing policy practice activities:* value-clarification skills for identifying and assessing the underlying values inherent in policy positions;? * conceptual skills for identifying and evaluating the relative merits of different policy options;?    * interactional skills for interpreting the values and positions of others and conveying one's own point of view in a convincing manner;?    * political skills for developing coalitions and developing effective strategies; and?    * position-taking skills for recommending, advocating, and defending a particular policy. These policy practice skills reflect the hallmarks of critical thinking (see Brookfield, 1987; Gambrill, 1997). The central activities of critical thinking are identifying and challenging underlying assumptions, exploring alternative ways of thinking and acting, and arriving at commitments after a period of questioning, analysis, and reflection (Brookfield, 1987). Significant parallels exist with the policy-making process--identifying the values underlying policy choices, recognizing and evaluating multiple alternatives, and taking a position and advocating for its adoption. Developing policy practice skills seems to share much in common with developing capacities for critical thinking.

The standard is maximizing protection of life  

Neg must defend only one unconditional policy option in which they defend a specific type of resource extraction and proactively prove why it should be prioritized over environmental protection.  Conditionality is bad because it makes the neg a moving target which kills 1AR strategy. He’ll kick it if I cover it and extend it if I undercover it, meaning I have no strategic options. Also, it’s unreciprocal because I can’t kick the AC. That's key to fairness since preserving strategies allows equal access to the ballot. Not specifying exacerbates the abuse since can shift what they defend in the 2N mooting the AC/AR, making it impossible for me to win. This kills education by providing no status point from which to debate. Second, real world applicability - policy-makers don’t just advocate for a general plan of action. For example there’s different types of resource extraction depending on the country. Real world education is key because it impacts us outside of this round. A policy option can either defend the status quo or be a counterplan. Key to reciprocity to ensure a 1 to 1 ratio of offense otherwise the neg has access to an infinite amount of disads, advantage counterplans, and k alts to win the round which constrains kritiks as the only way to ensure the AC has an equal chance of winning the kritiks or else they could simply layer other arguments to ensure I undercover the K. Also key to clash to ensure I can substantively engage the neg or else they could infinitively find new permutations of the resolution to negate meaning I would never be able to engage it substantively no matter how much research I did - also controls the internal link to every kritik.  This also means the alt of the kritik has to advocate only resource extraction in the status quo and not an additional option Vote on fairness since debates a competition, which mandates equal chances to win. Vote on education since it's the only lasting impact of debate. 

Plan Text

Thus the plan text: Resolved: The governments of Mexico and Cuba will stop all deep water drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico in recognition of the environmental costs. Enforcement, implementation, and funding will be carried out through normal means. Martinez 11 contextualizes the plan

Guillermo L. Martinez, Obama inconsistent to OK offshore drilling off Brazil, but not off U.S. coast, March 31, 2011, Sun Sentinel
For the sake of this argument, ignore whether President Barack Obama had anything to do with the Export Import Bank of United States' decision to loan $2 billion to help Brazilian oil giant Petrobras in its efforts to drill for oil deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Accept the premise that this loan will help create jobs in the United States, because the equipment that the Brazilian oil company buys will come from American companies. Let it be a given, too, that the loan will help bring the governments of two large economies closer together. Even then, there are still some very disturbing questions about an agency of the U.S. government guaranteeing a loan for offshore drilling in deep Atlantic waters for a foreign-owned company. Do we not live in one world, where the damage to the ecology in one part of the world harms the rest of the planet? Is that not one of the offered by those who preach that we must take care of our environment because of "climate change?" If I understand the argument arguments correctly, we should not drill in the waters in the Gulf of Mexico, or the waters off Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean, not only because of the damage it does to the environment in the United States, but ultimately for the damage it does to the environment across the whole planet. If that is the case, why does the United States, or an agency of the United States, guarantee a loan for deep-water, offshore drilling off the coast of Brazil? Wouldn't a spill there be a threat to the environment of the planet everywhere?
The plan is topical; the text defends countries choosing not to drill for environmental concerns. And, Cuba and Mexico are developing countries. ISI 

The International Statistical Institute, http://www.isi-web.org/component/content/article/5-root/root/81-developing, Developing Countries, List based off World Bank definition for 2013-2014

The list of developing countries shown below is adhered to by the ISI, effective from  1 January till 31 December 2014.  Developing countries are defined according to their Gross National Income (GNI) per capita per year. Countries with a GNI of US$ 11,905 and less are defined as developing (specified by the World Bank, 2012). You can find the list that was used for 2013 here. Afghanistan Guatemala Panam Albania Guinea Papua New Guinea Algeria Guinea-BissauParaguay American Samoa Guyana Peru Angola Haiti Philippines Argentina Honduras Romania ArmeniaIndiaRussian Federation Azerbaijan Indonesia Rwanda Bangladesh Iran, Islamic Rep. of Samoa BelarusIraq Sao Tome and Principe Belize JamaicSenegal Benin Jordan Serbia Bhutan Kazakhstan Seychelles Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Kenya Sierra LeoneBosnia and Herzegovina Kiribati Solomon IslandsBotswanaKorea, Democ. P. Rep. of SomaliaBrazil Kosovo South AfricaBulgaria Kyrgyz RepublicSouth SudanBurkina Faso Lao People's Democ. Rep. Sri LankaBurundiLebanonSt. LuciaCambodiaLesothoSt. Vincent and the GrenadinesCameroon Liberi SudanCape Verde Libya SurinameCentral African Republic Macedonia, the F.Y.R. ofSwazilandChadMadagascar Syrian Arab RepublicChina  MalawiTajikistanColombia Malaysia Tanzania, United Republic of ComorosMaldivesThailandCongo, Democ. Republic of theMaliTimor-LesteCongo, Rep.Marshall IslandsTogoCosta RicaMauritania TongaCôte d'IvoireMauritiuTunisiaincluding Cuba and Mexico TurkeyDjibouti Micronesia, Fed. States of TurkmenistanDominicaMoldovaTuvalu Dominican Republic Mongolia Uganda Ecuador Montenegr Ukraine Egypt, Arab Rep. Morocco Uzbekistan El SalvadorMozambiqueVanuatu EritreaMyanmar Venezuela, (Bolivarian Republic of) Ethiopia Namibi Vietnam Fiji Nepal West Bank and Gaza*)  Gabon NicaraguaYemen Gambia, The Niger Zambia Georgia Nigeria Zimbabwe Ghana Pakistan   Grenada Palau
And, Mexican lawmakers just granted companies access to the Gulf – the brink is now. Williams and Martin 13

Adam Williams and Eric Martin, 12/4/13, Big Oil to get Brazil-Like Terms in Mexico Energy Plan, Bloomberg News article on the new terms in Mexico

Global oil majors from Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) to Chevron Corp. (CVX) are about to get the clearest indication yet of how far Mexican lawmakers will go to lure them into the largest unexplored crude area after the Arctic Circle. Senate committees will likely begin debating a bill to end a seven-decade state oil monopoly tomorrow, said David Penchyna, senator for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. On the agenda is a proposal by members of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s PRI and the National Action Party, or PAN, to extend a profit-sharing model unveiled in August by also allowing production sharing or a license model used in Brazil, said two people with knowledge of the talks. The proposal seeks to offer companies more control over riskier fields and attract enough investment to halt a decade-long output slump in Mexico’s $95 billion industry, the largest crude supplier to the U.S. after Canada and Saudi Arabia. Mexico’s estimated 13.9 billion barrels of reserves are the biggest in Latin America after those of Venezuela and Brazil. “If Mexico is going to spend political capital on a constitutional amendment, they should try to get the most bang for their buck,” Jeremy Martin, an oil specialist at the Institute of the Americas in La Jolla, California, said in a telephone interview. Granting concessions or licenses “gives stronger support to the end goal.” Economic Growth Pena Nieto’s government says approval of an energy overhaul would lift economic growth 1 percentage point by 2018 and reverse oil production losses. A more “market-friendly” reform could increase foreign investment by as much as $15 billion annually and boost potential economic growth by half a percentage point, according to a Nov. 28 report from JPMorgan Chase and Co. Mexico’s Senate may pass the energy bill by Sunday and are working to approve the overhaul by the end of ordinary legislative sessions on Dec. 15, Penchyna told reporters today. Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned producer known as Pemex, is headed for a ninth straight year of output declines after production at Cantarell, the world’s third-largest deposit when discovered in 1976, slumped more than 80 percent in the past decade. Crude production at Pemex has fallen to about 2.5 million barrels a day this year from 3.3 million in 2004. The country now imports 34 percent of its oil, according to Chief Executive Officer Emilio Lozoya. 

Normative uncertainty means that existential risks deserve the greatest priority underneath any framework – this is the source of all value, regardless of ethical preference. Bostrom

Bostrom 11 (Nick, Professor of Philosophy, “Existential Risk as the most Important Task for Humanity,” Oxford Press, 2011. Online. MG)

Our present understanding of axiology might well be confused. We may not now know— at least not in concrete detail—what outcomes are moral would count as a big win for humanity; we might not even yet be able to imagine the best ends of our journey. If we are indeed profoundly uncertain about our ultimate aims, then we should recognize that there is a great option value in preserving— and ideally improving—our ability to recognize value and to steer the future in accordingly. Ensuring that there will be a future version of humanity with great powers and a propensity to use them wisely is plausibly the best way available to us to increase the probability that the future will contain a lot of value. To do this, we must prevent any existential catastrophe.

Mexico’s state-owned oil company PEMEX and its Cuban counterpart CUPET has no tech or expertise to drill, increasing the risk for spills. PEMEX refuses pleas to get insurance and doesn’t have the resources to clean one up. Johnson 12
Tim Johnson, Maria Moors Cabot Prize, Winner and Stanford University, Knight Fellow, citing various oil experts, 3-04-12, McClatchy Newspapers, Mexico City, “Mexican plan for Gulf deepwater wells sparks new worries” 

MEXICO CITY — Two years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, Mexico's state oil company is about to test its hand at drilling at extraordinary depths in the Gulf of Mexico. If all goes as planned, Petroleos de Mexico, known as Pemex, will deploy two state-of-the-art drilling platforms in May to an area just south of the maritime boundary with the United States. One rig will sink a well in 9,514 feet of water, while another will drill in 8,316 feet of water, then deeper into the substrata. Pemex has no experience drilling at such depths. Mexico's oil regulator is sounding alarm bells, saying the huge state oil concern is unprepared for a serious deepwater accident or spill. Critics say the company has sharply cut corners on insurance, remiss over potential sky-high liability. Mexico's plans come two years after the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, the worst oil spill in U.S. history. On April 20, 2010, a semi-submersible rig that the British oil firm BP had contracted to drill a well known as Macondo exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers and spewing 4.9 million barrels of oil in the nearly three months it took engineers to stop the spill. BP has said the tab for the spill — including government fines, cleanup costs and compensation — could climb to $42 billion for the company and its contractors. Pemex's plans to sink even deeper offshore wells underscore Mexico's pressing need to maintain sagging oil production — exports pay for one-third of government operating expenses — along with oil companies' desire to leverage technology and drill at ever more challenging depths. Carlos A. Morales, the chief of the Pemex exploration and production arm, which employs 50,000 people, voiced confidence that his company has to the ability to sink wells in ultra-deep water. "Pemex is ready to undertake the challenge and to do it safely," Morales said in an interview in his 41st-floor office at Pemex headquarters in this capital city. "You have to bear one thing in mind," he said. "Pemex is the biggest operator in the Gulf — including everyone — both in production and in the number of rigs we operate. We are operating more than 80 rigs offshore." Sometime in May, Morales said, Pemex will move the Singapore-built West Pegasus semi-submersible oil platform, owned by the Norwegian company Seadrill, over a seabed formation known as the Perdido Fold Belt and drill a well named Supremus. At nearly the same time, a South Korea-built platform known as Bicentenario, owned by the Mexican company Grupo R, will drill the slightly shallower Trion well, a little to the west of Supremus. The area where the two wells are to be sunk is some 30 miles south of the maritime boundary in the Gulf between Mexico and the United States. Morales said the rigs are both "sixth generation, which means they are the most modern. They have all the safety devices that rigs should have." Still, the technological challenges of ultra-deepwater drilling — anything more than 5,000 feet of water — are significant because of the high pressures and complex seabed extraction systems, akin even to launching spaceships into orbit, experts said. The Deepwater Horizon was drilling in about 5,100 feet of water when it exploded. Since Pemex decided in 2004 to expand from shallow offshore wells into deep water, it's drilled 16 wells at increasing depths, with two in ultra-deep waters, Caxa and Kunah, the latter at 6,500 feet. Mexico's nationalist constitution bars Pemex from operating joint ventures with oil companies that already are experienced at very deep water. It can contract only with global oil service companies, ordering them to perform functions. "This requires managerial expertise that Pemex lacks," said Miriam Grunstein Dickter, an oil expert at the Center for Research and Teaching of Economics, a Mexico City institute in the social sciences. "When you contract a service company, they perform the work that you command them to perform. Here, Pemex does not know how to command the service company." "Like rocket science, you can find the people. They are out there to be hired," added Kirk Sherr, the head of North American operations for Regester Larkin Energy, a global consulting company. "But who's going to coordinate?" It's when disaster strikes that the resources — or lack of them — come into stark relief for an oil company or even a nation. After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP, the U.S. Coast Guard, and state and federal officials mustered some 3,000 vessels to help set booms, clean marshes and gather spilled crude. Mexico has nowhere near that fleet of vessels at its disposal. Its navy has 189 ships. Pemex itself contracts around 180 boats. That's one of the concerns of Juan Carlos Zepeda, the head of Mexico's National Hydrocarbons Commission, a regulatory body created in 2009 that's wrestled with Pemex over its practices, demanding that it adopt global standards on safety and preparation for worst-case scenarios. The two sides have been in a power struggle. The 74-year-old state company is used to setting its own rules, not following the impositions of regulators. "Pemex is just not accustomed to being bossed around," Grunstein said. A point of contention has been insurance. Zepeda wants Pemex to have insurance to pay for even catastrophic spills, like BP's Macondo well. But Pemex balks. "They are probably thinking, why are we going to give all this money to the insurance company?" said David Shields, an energy consultant in Mexico City. Morales of Pemex said the company was insured for coverage of $2.5 billion. "I feel comfortable with what Pemex is capable of doing. You can always argue that $2.5 billion is not enough. We can always argue that $10 billion is not enough," he said. But he said that Pemex had uniquely deep pockets. "The owner of this company is the government of Mexico," he said. In the event of a deepwater disaster, whether claimants could ever get Pemex, or the Mexican treasury, to pay is an open question. Major damage claims haven't been tried against a state oil company. Given that Pemex turns over most revenues to the treasury, Mexican taxpayers would have to pay much of the cleanup costs and legal claims. "It's going to be a really big hit on the Mexican economy if there is a catastrophic disaster, and it will be catastrophic for the relationship with the United States," said Shields, the consultant. Some industry experts said Pemex wasn't taking greater risks than private oil companies sometimes took. "It's not inherently reckless," said John Rogers Smith, an offshore drilling expert at Louisiana State University. "They can hire competent contractors. They can buy equipment from reputable vendors. The big question is . . . who have they hired to help them?" Pemex signed a contract last week with Wild Well Control, a Houston company with blowout expertise. Morales said Pemex was negotiating a contract with a second Houston firm, Cameron International, that had sophisticated tools — such as huge underwater capping stacks — that helped BP control its Macondo well below the Deepwater Horizon. In mid-February, the United States and Mexico signed a framework accord on developing trans-border oil fields in the Gulf. The accord includes terms for safety cooperation, including allowing joint inspection teams to ensure rigs' compliance with safety and environmental regulations, key to preventing worst-case spills. "I don't think we should be any more concerned about what they are doing than some of the things we are doing on our side of the Gulf," said Jeremy Martin, the energy program director at the Institute of the Americas, a La Jolla, Calif., nonprofit organization that promotes cooperation and economic development. Still, the Deepwater Horizon disaster haunts like a lingering nightmare. "Macondo was a watershed in deepwater drilling. There is before Macondo and there is after Macondo," said Fabio Barbosa, an economist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who specializes in the oil industry. Barbosa said Pemex was deeply concerned about sustaining oil production and stemming a decline of proven oil reserves, 50 percent of which were in deep water. Pemex's production has fallen from 3.4 million barrels per day in 2004 to about 2.55 million barrels a day now. "They consider it their duty to elevate crude production. They are moving about, driving production in every way they can," Barbosa said. Shields, who edits a Spanish-language industry magazine, Energia a Debate, said it was one factor impelling Pemex but that Mexican leaders had observed rapid development of U.S. offshore wells in the Gulf and wanted to lay claim to nearby undersea areas of their own, even if it stretched their capabilities. "They want to put the flag there," said Shields, who's a nationalized Mexican. "The oil industry is a lot like that. They want to go after bigger and bigger challenges. Once you go up a small mountain, you want to go up a bigger mountain." Shields added: "The risks are massive and the potential benefits are comparatively small."
Scenario 1 is Sponges

Spills threaten gulf sponges key to fight diseases, the BP spill put them on the brink. Downing 10 

Larry, Reuters senior staff ("Medical Cures May Be Destroyed By Oil Spill", 7-9-10, http://www.wftv.com/news/news/medical-cures-may-be-destroyed-by-oil-spill/nJwf4/-http://www.wftv.com/news/news/medical-cures-may-be-destroyed-by-oil-spill/nJwf4/) 

The cure for cancer or malaria could be destroyed because of the oil disaster in the Gulf. Medical researchers from Orange County study the delicate sea sponges and other plant and animal life from the Gulf to create new life-saving drugs, but many of those precious resources are being killed off. An underwater laboratory dives to 3,000 feet in search of cures for cancer, cures that could be hampered by the millions of gallons of oil pumping into the Gulf. UCF Professor Debopam Chakrabarti says the Gulf waters are a precious resource for cancer and malaria-fighting organisms. "They are all sponges, but there are different kinds of sponges which are growing in unique areas," Chakrabarti said. In a partnership with UCF and Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, the Sanford-Burnham Institute in Orlando is making strides in drugs to treat the tough-to-fight pancreatic cancer. "What's happening in the Gulf is literally going to fuel the next ten years of science. We're just figuring out the impact and seeing what has changed on all levels," said Greg Roth, Sanford-Burnham Medical Research. Sixty to 70 percent of all cancer drugs come from natural sources like the sea. That's the reason that researchers at the Sanford-Burnham Institute are so concerned over the impact of the BP oil spill. "We know there will be an impact and it's going to take a little time to figure out the impact is," Roth said. "I'm heartbroken, truly heartbroken," cancer survivor Jill Levin said. For cancer patients like Levin hearing that the Gulf spill will impact the search for those cancer killing organisms under the sea is disheartening. "We don't know what's out there, or what will help us, but we do know we are damaging it," Levin said. It’s not only damaging to sea life, but human life as well.

Sponges solve antibiotic resistance Sanders 9

Laura, Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from UCLA, Neuroscience Writer for Science News ("Sponge’s secret weapon revealed" Science News, 00368423, 3-14-09, v.175, iss.6)

A chemical from an ocean-dwelling sponge can reprogram antibiotic-resistant bacteria to make them vulnerable to medicines again, new evidence suggests. Once-ineffective antibiotics proved lethal for bacteria treated with the compound, chemist Peter Moeller reported February 13. “The potential is outstanding.  This could revolutionize our approach to thinking about  how  infections  are treated,”  comments  Carolyn  Sotka of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s  Oceans  and  Human Health Initiative in Charleston, S.C. Everything living in the ocean survives in a microbial soup, under con-stant  bombardment  ?rom  bacterial assaults. Researchers led by Moeller, of Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, found a sea sponge thriving in the midst of dead marine creatures. This anomalous life amidst death raised an obvious question, said Moeller: “How is this thing surviving when everything else is dead?” Analyses of the sponge’s chemical defenses pointed to a compound called ageliferin. Biofilms, communities of bacteria notoriously resistant to antibiotics, dissolved when treated with fragments of the ageliferin molecule. And new bio-films did not form. So far, the ageliferin offshoot has, in the lab, successfully resensitized bacteria that cause whooping cough, ear infections, septicemia and food poisoning. Thecompound also works on Pseudomonas  aeruginosa, which causes horrible infections in wounded soldiers, and on MRSA, bacteria resistant to multiple drugs and known to wreak havoc in hospitals. The compound  is  also  able  to reprogram  antibiotic-resistant bacteria that don’t form bioflms. After bacteria are treated with the compound, antibiotics that have had no effect are once again lethal. This substance may be the first that can restore bacterial vulnerability, Moeller said. The problem of perpetuating a bacterial-resistance arms race, in which bacteria rapidly develop counter-measures against new antibiotics, may be avoided entirely with the new compound. “Since the substance is nontoxic to the bacterium, it’s not throwing up any red fags,” Moeller said. 

Antibiotic resistance causes extinction. Davies 8

Davies 08 – Julian, Fellow of the Royal Society, British microbiologist, professor emeritus, and Principal Investigator of the Davies Lab, at University of British Columbia ("Resistance redux; Infectious diseases, antibiotic resistance and the future of mankind", EMBO Rep. 2008 July; 9(Suppl 1): S18–S21. doi:  10.1038/embor.2008.69 PMCID: PMC3327549, Science and Society)

For many years, antibiotic-resistant pathogens have been recognized as one of the main threats to human survival, as some experts predict a return to the pre-antibiotic era. So far, national efforts to exert strict control over the use of antibiotics have had limited success and it is not yet possible to achieve worldwide concerted action to reduce the growing threat of multi-resistant pathogens: there are too many parties involved. Furthermore, the problem has not yet really arrived on the radar screen of many physicians and clinicians, as antimicrobials still work most of the time—apart from the occasional news headline that yet another nasty superbug has emerged in the local hospital. Legislating the use of antibiotics for non-therapeutic applications and curtailing general public access to them is conceivable, but legislating the medical profession is an entirely different matter. …microbes are formidable adversaries and, despite our best efforts, continue to exact a toll on the human race In order to meet the growing problem of antibiotic resistance among pathogens, the discovery and development of new antibiotics and alternative treatments for infectious diseases, together with tools for rapid diagnosis that will ensure effective and appropriate use of existing antibiotics, are imperative. How the health services, pharmaceutical industry and academia respond in the coming years will determine the future of treating infectious diseases. This challenge is not to be underestimated: microbes are formidable adversaries and, despite our best efforts, continue to exact a toll on the human race.

Scenario 2 is Wetlands

Southeastern wetlands are key to hydrologic cycle, watershed health, and prevent erosion and they’re on the brink now. EPA 13

EPA 13 – US Environmental Protection Agency (“Protecting Wetlands in Coastal Watersheds”, Last updated on Wednesday, July 03, 2013, http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/cwt.cfm) 

Coastal wetlands include saltwater and freshwater wetlands located within coastal watersheds — specifically USGS 8-digit hydrologic unit watersheds which drain into the Atlantic, Pacific, or Gulf of Mexico. Wetland types found in coastal watersheds include salt marshes, bottomland hardwood swamps, fresh marshes, mangrove swamps, and shrubby depressions known in the southeast United States as "pocosins." Coastal wetlands cover about 40 million acres and make up 38 percent of the total wetland acreage in the conterminous United States. Eighty-one percent of coastal wetlands in the conterminous United States are located in the southeast. The diagram to the right illustrates the range of wetlands which can be found in a coastal watershed. These wetlands can be tidal or non-tidal, and freshwater or saltwater. As seen on the map (left), coastal watersheds can extend many miles inland from the coast. The extent and condition of wetlands within a coastal watershed is both dependent on and influences the health of the surrounding watershed. Wetlands in coastal watersheds are experiencing disproportionate losses compared to wetlands in the rest of the country, making them particularly important areas for protection. More information about wetlands can be found on the EPA Wetlands page. Why are coastal wetlands important? Coastal habitats provide ecosystem services essential to people and the environment. These services are valued at billions of dollars.1 Services provided by coastal wetlands include: Flood Protection: Coastal wetlands protect upland areas, including valuable residential and commercial property, from flooding due to sea level rise and storms.2 Erosion Control: Coastal wetlands can prevent coastline erosion due to their ability to absorb the energy created by ocean currents which would otherwise degrade a shoreline and associated development.3 Wildlife Food and Habitat: Coastal wetlands provide habitat for many federally threatened and endangered species, including Whooping Crane, Louisiana Black Bear, and Florida Panther.4 Two of North America's migratory bird flyways pass over the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, where coastal wetlands provide temporary habitat to waterfowl and shorebirds. Commercial Fisheries: Over 50 percent of commercial fish and shellfish species in the Southeastern United States rely on coastal wetlands.5 Water Quality: Wetlands filter chemicals and sediment out of water before it is discharged into the ocean.3 Recreation: Recreational opportunities in coastal wetlands include canoeing and kayaking, wildlife viewing and photography, and recreational fishing and hunting. Carbon Sequestration: Certain coastal wetland ecosystems (such as salt marshes and mangroves) can sequester and store large amounts of carbon due to their rapid growth rates and slow decomposition rates.6
Gulf oil spills devastate wetlands environments, destroy water quality and increase soil erosion. EarthGauge 10

EarthGauge 10 – a National Environmental Education Foundation Program (“Gulf Oil Spill Series: Impacts on Coastal Wetland Plants”, http://www.earthgauge.net/wp-content/EG_Gulf_WetlandPlants.pdf) 

Impacts on individual plants   Stomata, tiny pores primarily found on the undersides of plant leaves, let carbon dioxide in and oxygen out. Plants use carbon dioxide to make food through photosynthesis. When oil coats plant leaves, it can block stomata, reducing the plant’s ability to make food. If many leaves are coated in oil, the plant may die. In less extreme cases, the plant may begin to recover with new growth after just a few weeks.   Stomata also allow water vapor to escape from leaves, a process called transpiration, which cools the plant much like sweating cools a human. Blocked stomata can cause a plant’s temperature to increase, damaging or killing leaves and impacting internal plant processes.   Whether or not a plant survives exposure to oil depends on what parts of it are damaged. If oil floating on the water’s surface comes in contact with stems and leaves, the exposed parts become coated with oil and may die. In this case, the roots may remain alive and stems and leaves may regenerate the following year. If oil penetrates the soil and the roots die, air stored in the roots is released, causing the soil to sink. Impacts on plant communities   Wetland plant species have varying sensitivities to oil. Tolerant plants are more likely to survive, which can change the makeup of a plant community. For example, observation of various cordgrass species (Spartina) in a brackish marsh after a crude oil spill in South Louisiana showed that some species recovered from exposure to oil more readily than others. Smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora, shown in the photo at right) displayed the best recovery and also the greatest increase in ground cover after the spill, suggesting that this species was more tolerant to oil than other cordgrass species in the same area. ?  Some oil cleanup activities may damage plant communities. Skimming, cutting vegetation and flushing wetland areas with clean water can cause soil erosion and permanent loss of wetland plants. Wetland areas that have been burned after an oil spill can take years to recover. The makeup and distribution of plant species in these wetlands may change significantly post-burn. Oil in wetland soils   Both oxygen and nutrients are required for microbes within soil to biodegrade, or break down, oil. While soils in Gulf Coast marshes are hypoxic or anoxic (having little or no oxygen, respectively), they do not lack nutrients. Biodegradation occurs at a much slower rate than in open water.   When an entire plant community dies from oil exposure, there are no longer roots to hold the soil in place. Soils erode, collapse or sink, leading to higher water levels and excess flooding that may prevent plants from growing back.

Wetlands are key to the hydro-cycle – the impact is extinction. Ramsar Convention 96

Ramsar Convention 96 (“Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Wetlands and Biodiversity, Executive Summary”, http://www.ramsar.org/about/about_biodiversity.htm,
ACC: 12.20.08, p. online)

Wetlands - including (inter alia) rivers, lakes, marshes, estuaries, lagoons, mangroves, seagrass beds, and peatlands - are among the most precious natural resources on Earth. These highly varied ecosystems are natural areas where water accumulates for at least part of the year. Driven by the hydrological cycle, water is continuously being recycled through the land, sea and atmosphere in a process which ensures the maintenance of ecological functions. Wetlands support high levels of biological diversity: they are, after tropical rainforests, amongst the richest ecosystems on this planet, providing essential life support for much of humanity, as well as for other species. Coastal wetlands, which may include estuaries, seagrass beds and mangroves, are among the most productive, while coral reefs contain some of the highest known levels of biodiversity (nearly one-third of all known fish species live on coral reefs). Other wetlands also offer sanctuary to a wide variety of plants, invertebrates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, as well as to millions of both migratory and sedentary waterbirds. Wetlands are not only sites of exceptional biodiversity, they are also of enormous social and economic value, in both traditional and contemporary societies. Since ancient times, people have lived along water courses, benefiting from the wide range of goods and services available from wetlands. The development of many of the great civilisations was largely based on their access to, and management of, wetland resources. Wetlands are an integral part of the hydrological cycle, playing a key role in the provision and maintenance of water quality and quantity as the basis of all life on earth. They are often interconnected with other wetlands, and they frequently constitute rich and diverse transition zones between aquatic ecosystems and terrestrial ecosystems such as forests and grasslands.
Soil erosion threatens all life on the planet. Ikerd 99

Ikerd 99 – Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at University of Missouri  (John E., “Foundational Principles: Soils. Stewardship, and Sustainability,” Sep 22, 

A foundation is "the basis upon which something stands or is supported" (Webster). The basic premises of this discourse on "foundational principles" is that soil is the foundation for all of life, including humanity, that stewardship of soil is the foundation for agricultural sustainability, and that sustainability is the conceptual foundation for wise soil management. All living things require food of one kind or another to keep them alive. Life also requires air and water, but nothing lives from air and water alone. Things that are not directly rooted in the soil -- that live in the sea, on rocks, or on trees, for example -- still require minerals that come from the earth. They must have soil from somewhere. Living things other than plants get their food from plants, or from other living things that feed on plants, and plants feed on the soil. All life may not seem to have roots in the soil, but soil is still at the root of all life. The Making of Soil First, I am not a soil scientist. I took a class in soils as an undergraduate and have learned a good bit about soils from reading and listening to other people over the years. But, I make no claim to being an expert. So I will try to stick to the things that almost anyone might know or at least understand about soil. As I was doing some reading on the subject, I ran across a delightful little book called, "The Great World’s Farm," written by an English author, Selina Gaye, somewhere around the turn of the century. The copyrights apparently had run out, since the book didn’t have a copyright date. Back then people didn’t know so much about everything, so they could get more of what they knew about a lot more things in a little book. The book starts off explaining how soil is formed from rock, proceeds through growth and reproduction of plants and animals, and concludes with cycles of life and the balance of nature. But, it stresses that all life is rooted in the soil. Initially molten lava covered all of the earth’s crust. So, all soil started out as rock. Most plants have to wait until rock is pulverized into small particles before they can feed on the minerals contained in the rock. Chemical reaction with oxygen and carbon dioxide, wearing away by wind and water, expansion and contraction from heating and cooling, and rock slides and glaciers have all played important roles in transforming the earth’s crust from rock into soil. However, living things also help create soil for other living things. Lichens are a unique sort of plant that can grow directly on rock. Their spores settle on rock and begin to grow. They extract their food by secreting acids, which dissolve the minerals contained in the rock. As lichens grow and die, minerals are left in their remains to provide food for other types of plants. Some plants which feed on dead lichens put down roots, which penetrate crevices in rocks previously caused by mechanical weathering. Growth or roots can split and crumble rock further, exposing more surfaces to weathering and accelerating the process of soil making. Specific types of rock contain limited varieties of minerals and will feed limited varieties of plants – even when pulverized into dust. Many plants require more complex combinations of minerals than are available from any single type of rock. So the soils made from various types of rocks had to be mixed with other types before they would support the variety and complexity of plant life that we have come to associate with nature. Sand and dust can be carried from one place to another by wind and water, mixing with sand and dust from other rocks along the way. Glaciers have also been important actors in mixing soil. Some of the richest soils in the world are fertile bottomlands along flooding streams and rivers, loess hills that were blown and dropped by the wind, and soil deposits left behind by retreating glaciers. Quoting from the "Great World’s Farm," "No soil is really fertile, whatever the mineral matter composing it, unless it also contains some amount of organic matter – matter derived from organized, living things, whether animal or vegetable. Organic matter alone is not enough to make a fertile soil; but with less than one-half percent of organic matter, no soil can be cultivated to much purpose." After the mixed soil minerals are bound in place by plants, and successions of plants and animals added organic matter and tilth, the mixtures became what we generally refer to as soils. The first stages of soil formation are distinguished from the latter stages by at least one important characteristic. The dissolving, grinding, and mixing required millions of years, whereas, soil binding and adding organic matter can be accomplished in a matter of decades. Thus, the mineral fraction of soil is a "non-renewable" resource – it cannot be recreated or renewed within any realistic future timeframe. Whereas, the organic fraction is a renewable or regenerative resource that can be recreated or renewed over decades, or at least over a few generations. Misuse can displace, degrade, or destroyed the productivity of both fractions of soils within a matter of years. And, once the mineral fraction of soil is lost, its productivity is lost forever. If there are to be productive soils in the future, we must conserve and make wise use of the soils we have today. The soil that washes down our rivers to the sea is no more renewable than are the fossil fuels that we are mining from ancient deposit within the earth. In spite of our best efforts, some quantity of soil will be lost – at least lost to our use. Thus, our only hope for sustaining soil productivity is to conserve as much soil as we can and to build up soil organic matter and enhance the productivity of the soil that remains. Even today there is a common saying that "we are what we eat." If so, "we actually are the soil from which we eat." The connection between soil and life is no longer so direct or so clear, but it is still there. Most urban dwellers also have lost all sense of personal connection to the farm or the soil. During most of this century many people living in cities either had lived on a farm at one time or knew someone, usually a close relative, who still lived on a farm -- which gave them some tangible connection with the soil. At least they knew that "land" meant something more than just a place to play or space to be filled with some form of "development." But these personal connections have been lost with the aging of urbanization. One of the most common laments among farmers today is that "people no longer know where their food comes from." For most, any real understanding of the direct connection between soil and life has been lost. It ‘s sad but true. What’s even sadder is that many farmers don’t realize the dependence of their own farming operation on the health and natural productivity of their soil. They have been told by the experts that soil is little more than a medium for propping up the plants so they can be fed with commercial fertilizers and protected by commercial pesticides until they produce a bountiful harvest. In the short run, this illusion of production without natural soil fertility appears real. As long as the soil has a residue of minerals and organic matter from times past, annual amendments of a few basic nutrients – nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash, being the most common – crop yields can be maintained. Over time, however, as organic matter becomes depleted, production problems appear and it becomes increasingly expensive to maintain productivity. As additional "trace elements" are depleted, soil management problems become more complex. Eventually, it will become apparent that it would have been far easier and less costly in the long run to have maintained the natural fertility of the soil. But, by then much of the natural productivity will be gone – forever.

Scenario 3 is Biodiversity

Florida Straits ecosystems are on the brink—a spill would crush the coastline and Caribbean coral reefs,  killing species. Hoffman ’12

 (Karen, “Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico Oil Exploration Makes Strange Bedfellows”, Earth Island Journal, 3-15-2012)

Because Florida’s ecosystems are already stressed from the pressures of six million people and their sewage, the effects of a massive oil spill, not to mention the chemical dispersant, would be disastrous, says Matthew Schwartz, executive director of the South Florida Wildlands Association. The region is also home to the only mangroves in the continental United States. A study (pdf) by the USGS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that there is no way of cleaning up an oil spill in mangroves. Since mangroves take in salt water and release it through their leaves, it would suck up the oil and dispersant would and then die of suffocation. “If you kill off the coastal mangroves,” says Schwartz, “you lose the coastline.” The pristine Cuban waters have arguably even more to lose. “I’ve been diving for nearly 40 years and I’ve never seen coral reefs healthy as I’ve seen here,” says Guggenheim, referring to the reefs at Cuba’s “Gardens of the Queen” marine reserve. “Many of them are probably nearly as healthy as they were 500 years ago when Columbus first came. They’re a living laboratory from which we could learn to restore coral reefs elsewhere.” Guggenheim has been working hard to get the US, Cuba and Mexico to collaborate more on marine science and conservation issues.
The Gulf is a key ocean biodiversity hotspot. Brenner 8

Brenner 8 – Jorge Brenner, March 14th, 2008, and#34;Guarding the Gulf of Mexicoand#39;s valuable resourcesand#34; www.scidev.net/en/opinions/guarding-the-gulf-of-mexico-s-valuable-resources.html

Rich in biodiversity and habitats The Gulf of Mexico is rich in biodiversity and unique habitats, and hosts the only known nesting beach of Kemp's Ridley, the world's most endangered sea turtle. The Gulf's circulation pattern gives it biological and socioeconomic importance: water from the Caribbean enters from the south through the Yucatan Channel between Cuba and Mexico and, after warming in the basin, leaves through the northern Florida Strait between the United States and Cuba to form the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic that helps to regulate the climate of western Europe.
Loss of bio diversity means extinction. Craig 3

Craig 3, Associate Prof Law, Indiana U School Law, 2003 (McGeorge Law Review, 34 McGeorge L. Rev. 155 Lexis)

Biodiversity and ecosystem function arguments for conserving marine ecosystems also exist, just as they do for terrestrial ecosystems, but these arguments have thus far rarely been raised in political debates. For example, besides significant tourism values - the most economically valuable ecosystem service coral reefs provide, worldwide - coral reefs protect against storms and dampen other environmental fluctuations, services worth more than ten times the reefs' value for food production. 856 Waste treatment is another significant, non-extractive ecosystem function that intact coral reef ecosystems provide. 857 More generally, "ocean ecosystems play a major role in the global geochemical cycling of all the elements that represent the basic building blocks of living organisms, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, as well as other less abundant but necessary elements." 858 In a very real and direct sense, therefore, human degradation of marine ecosystems impairs the planet's ability to support life. Maintaining biodiversity is often critical to maintaining the functions of marine ecosystems. Current evidence shows that, in general, an ecosystem's ability to keep functioning in the face of disturbance is strongly dependent on its biodiversity, "indicating that more diverse ecosystems are more stable." 859 Coral reef ecosystems are particularly dependent on their biodiversity. *265 Most ecologists agree that the complexity of interactions and degree of interrelatedness among component species is higher on coral reefs than in any other marine environment. This implies that the ecosystem functioning that produces the most highly valued components is also complex and that many otherwise insignificant species have strong effects on sustaining the rest of the reef system. 860 Thus, maintaining and restoring the biodiversity of marine ecosystems is critical to maintaining and restoring the ecosystem services that they provide. Non-use biodiversity values for marine ecosystems have been calculated in the wake of marine disasters, like the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. 861 Similar calculations could derive preservation values for marine wilderness. However, economic value, or economic value equivalents, should not be "the sole or even primary justification for conservation of ocean ecosystems. Ethical arguments also have considerable force and merit." 862 At the forefront of such arguments should be a recognition of how little we know about the sea - and about the actual effect of human activities on marine ecosystems. The United States has traditionally failed to protect marine ecosystems because it was difficult to detect anthropogenic harm to the oceans, but we now know that such harm is occurring - even though we are not completely sure about causation or about how to fix every problem. Ecosystems like the NWHI coral reef ecosystem should inspire lawmakers and policymakers to admit that most of the time we really do not know what we are doing to the sea and hence should be preserving marine wilderness whenever we can - especially when the United States has within its territory relatively pristine marine ecosystems that may be unique in the world. We may not know much about the sea, but we do know this much: if we kill the ocean we kill ourselves, and we will take most of the biosphere with us. The Black Sea is almost dead, 863 its once-complex and productive ecosystem almost entirely replaced by a monoculture of comb jellies, "starving out fish and dolphins, emptying fishermen's nets, and converting the web of life into brainless, wraith-like blobs of jelly." 864 More importantly, the Black Sea is not necessarily unique. 

There’s an invisible threshold – resiliency doesn’t apply. Craig 11

Craig 11 (Robin Kundis Craig, Attorneys’ Title Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Environmental Programs, Florida State University College of Law, Tallahassee, Florida, 12/20/11 “Legal Remedies for Deep Marine Oil Spills and Long-Term Ecological Resilience: A Match Made in Hell” http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1906839)

What would happen instead if we incorporated full resilience theory into our laws? As Brian Walker and David Salt have discussed at length, “Resilience thinking presents an approach to managing natural resources that embraces human and natural systems as complex systems continually adapting through cycles of change.”181 In addition to adopting a systems perspective on ecosystem management, resilience thinking fully incorporates the implications of resilience in the second sense (potential ecological regime shifts)— the recognition that “socio-ecological systems can exist in more than one kind of stable state. If a system changes too much, it crosses a threshold and begins behaving in a different way, with different feedbacks between its component parts and a different structure.”182 Resilience thinking therefore seeks not—as is true under current management paradigms—to tweak the operations of an ecosystem in order to optimize particular products or functions183 (for example, oil production in the Gulf). Rather, it seeks to more humbly recognize that “the complexity of the many linkages and feedbacks that make up a socio-ecological system is such that we can never predict with certainty what the exact response will be to any intervention in the system.”184 In other words, resilience thinking acknowledges what is particularly true with respect to marine ecosystems: most of the time, we have only the most simplistic of understandings of what our actions do to the ecosystems that we both impact and depend upon.185

Scenario 4 is Biotech

Cuban biotech is on the rise, but continued support from the government is required. Global Times 13

Global Times, Cuban Biotech Industry expected to double in five years: officials, 4/25/2013, 

Cuba's biotechnology industry is expected to double over the next five years, bringing in more than five billion US dollars in export revenues, officials said recently. There is increasing international recognition of Cuba's biotech industry and the revenue for the 2013-2017 period is projected to double the 2.5 billion dollars that earned in the last five years, said Jose Luis Fernandez Yero, vice president of the country's biotech firm BioCubaFarma, in a recent TV interview. Products manufactured by the biotech industry are currently sold in more than 50 countries and local authorities are working to expand the market. BioCubaFarma, said Fernandez, was founded in April 2011 after the Sixth Congress of Cuba's Communist Party called for strengthening domestic pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries to boost the economy as the sectors had the greatest export potential. BioCubaFarma is to develop new products for the domestic market and help push Cuba towards a more high-tech economy, Fernandez said. The group manufactures generic drugs, therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines, biomedicine, diagnostic systems and high-tech medical equipment. It also does researches on neuroscience and neurotechnology. According to Fernandez, of the 881 generic drugs used in Cuba, 583 are manufactured in the country, and the World Health Organization (WHO) recently acknowledged Cuba's political and financial support for biotechnology. In the past 20 years, Cuba, even in times of economic hardship, has invested around one billion dollars in research and development, said the UN agency in a feature story on its website. It noted Cuban scientists and researchers have made significant progress in their search for new cancer treatments and tools to improve diagnosis and prevention. "Biotechnology is key to transforming cancer from a deadly disease into a chronic one," said Agustin Lage Davila in the WHO feature story. According to the WHO, cancer claims around 31,000 lives each year in Cuba.

And, Cuba’s oil industry collapses their economy, destroys biotech investment. Orro ‘9,

Orro 9 (Roberto, Board memeber of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE), member of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce, “ Petrolism In Cuba And Implications Of U.S. Investment In The Cuban Oil Sector” 

After a plethora of empirical works addressing the effects of oil on democracy and development, and the record of Cuba over the last fifty years, it is not difficult to image the picture of an oil-rich Cuba. Let us begin with the economic implications: Agriculture will surely receive the biggest negative blow. Imports of foods will rise and the chances to overhaul Cuba’s troubled agriculture will go away. Further concessions to private farmers would look as an improbable scenario. A huge inflow of petrodollars to Cuba will also hurt tourism. As it has happened since 2004, Cuban authorities will lose interest in exploiting the full potential of tourism. They will just focus on resorts and some tourist niches like Varadero, where foreign visitors are isolated from the population. Tourism to big cities, which promotes interaction between foreigners and Cubans and directs some money into the pockets of ordinary citizens, will continue to lose ground. Manufacturing will not go unscathed either. An offshore oil boom could finally kill the sugar industry. It is noteworthy that Cuban officials court U.S. oil companies, but never mention the island’s potential as an ethanol producer. The Cuban leadership does not like cooperation in this sector, as they do not want thousands of Cuban workers and farmers interacting with U.S. firms. The revival of the sugar sector, both agricultural and industrial, demands liberalizing steps that the Cu- ban government refuses to take. Oil and sugar do not really mix. Biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, in which Cuba has made some notable strides, could fall in the doldrums as well. Over the last 50 years, Cuba has shown a long record of replacing rather than adding economic activity. Once the government gives priority to one sector — the one that pro- vides revenues without political risk — they let others stagnate.

Cuban biotech key to solve disease. Gutierrez ’13,

Gutierrez 13 (Aramis Sanchez, “The Convergence of Biotech and Public Health” microbiologist with a master’s degree in infectious diseases MEDICC Review, January 2013, Vol 15, No 1http:medicc.org/mediccreview/articles/mr_286.pdf) KY

In Cuba’s case, resource scarcity itself, coupled with the need to develop a sustainable health care model sufficiently independent of global geopolitical and economic turbulence, has, paradoxically, led to the establishment of a key health system component: a robust domestic biopharmaceutical industry.1 A Global South leader in biotech RandD, Cuba produces innovative vaccines and therapies—many unique in the world—such as Heberprot-P, Nimo- tuzumab, VA-MENGOC-BC, and a synthetic antigen vaccine against Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib). 2 While these products are the headline-makers, diagnostic systems and equipment designed, built and distributed by Havana’s Immunoas- say Center (CIE, the Spanish acro- nym) have quietly but consistently contributed to improving Cuban and global health for over two decades. Background Cuba’s aggressive push to develop a domestic biotech sector dates to the early 1980s when a cluster of scientific research and manufacturing institutions were established to pro- duce interferon, recombinant proteins and other biotech products. These institutions became the building blocks of Cuba’s Scientific Pole, a scientific campus located in western Havana, which today comprises 24 research institutions and 58 manufacturing facilities, employs more than 7000 scientists and engineers3 and collec- tively accounted for US$711 million in export earnings in 2011; this makes it the country’s largest revenue-earning manufacturing industry after nickel.4

Tournament: CPSVBT | Round: 1 | Opponent: idr for CPS, La Jolla RP at VBT | Judge: idr
I value morality since should implies moral obligation (Dictionary.com). The standard is deconstructing oppressive norms that exclude Africans. I defend the developing countries off the West Coast of Africa but I can defend links to other systems based on clarification in CX.  

A) Epistemology: Dominant philosophies are framed by epistemic racism. Scheurich and Young
Scheurich and Young 97 (James Joseph Scheurich, Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development at Texas AandM University; Michelle D. Young, Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration. Executive Director, University Council for Educational Administration) “Coloring Epistemologies: Are Our Research Epistemologies Racially Biased?” Educational Researcher, Vol. 26, No. 4. (May, 1997), pp. 4-16. 

The civilizational level is ... the eyes of Humanity 

B) Ethics. Anti-Blackness scandalizes ethics and sets the stage for all violence. Wilderson
Wilderson, award-winning author of Incognegro: A Memoir of Exile and Apartheid. He is one of two Americans to hold elected office in the African National Congress and is a former insurgent in the ANC’s armed wing, 2003 (Frank B. III “Chapter One: The Ruse of Analogy” Red, White, and Black: Cinema and the Structure of U.S. Antagonisms,) 

Two tensions are at ... the eyes of Humanity 

They have to weigh their fairness impacts against the marginalization of the black body. White Structured institutions limits opportunity for non-whites. Sexton
Sexton 2009 (, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Director of the Program in African American Studies at the University of California, Irvine Jared, “The Ruse of Engagement: Black Masculinity and the Cinema of Policing,” Project Muse, Volume 61, March 2009 pg 39-63)

Taken together, Bait (2000), ... it bends toward whiteness.

C) Ontology. Once a person is excluded from the frame of consideration, they can be perpetually destroyed allowing us to commit the worst possible violence to them. Butler :
Butler, Judith. “Violence, Mourning, Politics” Studies in Gender and Sexuality 4.1 (2003), 20 – 23

Lives are supported ... in the culture. 

Part two is the problem
The problem is that resource extracting companies have taken over land, subjecting residents to depraved conditions. Bullard
Bullard 02 (Robert D Bullard Ph.D, Poverty, Pollution, and Environmental Racism: Strategies for Building Healthy and Sustainable Communities,Environmental Justice Center, Clark Atlanta University, http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/PovpolEj.html)

The United States is ... this new nation.

Oil extraction has made the problem WORSE for the black body, marginalizing low income groups as well. Bullard 2
Bullard 02 (Robert D Bullard Ph.D, Poverty, Pollution, and Environmental Racism: Strategies for Building Healthy and Sustainable Communities,Environmental Justice Center, Clark Atlanta University, http://www.ejrc.cau.edu/PovpolEj.html)

Environmental racism also ... the region's population.

Its empirically verified in the Delta, where oil companies have contributed to the genocide of the Ogoni people – they have demanded and funded brutal oppression of ethnic groups who oppose extraction, and oil pollution will cause the extinction of the Ogoni people. Donovan
Donovan, 2012 - the National Union of Ogoni Students John Http://Royaldutchshellplc.Com/2012/02/27/Shell-Oil-Company-Culpable/ Royal Dutch Shell Plc .Com Rotating Header Image Shell Oil Company Culpable Feb 27th, 2012 Statement Issued By National Union Of Ogoni Students, Usa

The corporate human rights ... it is despicable

The resource curse is SCREWING over developing countries with heavy resource extraction. Shaxson
The resource curse, or the paradox of poverty from plenty NICHOLAS SHAXSON 23 September 2013 

While serving as ... lid on protests. 

Part three is impact
The exclusion warrants limitless anhilation of the black body other. Batur  
Batur 07 Pinar Batur, PhD @ UT-Austin – Prof. of Scociology @ Vassar, ‘7 “The Heart of Violence: Global Racism, War, and Genocide,” in Handbook of the The Soiology of Racial and Ethnic Relations, eds. Vera and Feagin, p. 446-7

Orientalism is based ... genocide, in Darfur. 

The ontological violence ERASES Africans and African Americans. Maher
George Ciccariello-Maher, Jan, 2010, is a Ph.D. candidate in political theory at the University of California, Berkeley, Jumpstarting the Decolonial Engine:

But how can ... hands of another.

It led to the extinction of the Ogoni. Donovan 2:
Donovan, 2012 - the National Union of Ogoni Students John Http://Royaldutchshellplc.Com/2012/02/27/Shell-Oil-Company-Culpable/ Royal Dutch Shell Plc .Com Rotating Header Image Shell Oil Company Culpable Feb 27th, 2012 Statement Issued By National Union Of Ogoni Students, Usa

Beside the issues ... activities in Ogoni.

Part four is solvency

Only environmental protection can reverse the destruction of the Niger Delta and its people. Nigeria must embrace protection. Saliu
Saliu, 2007 – prof at University of Ilorin H.A. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (Volume 9, No.4, 2007) Environmental Degradation, Rising Poverty And Conflict: Towards An Explanation Of The Niger-Delta Crisis JSTOR?

Only environmental protection ... the Niger Delta.

Strict environmental protection is the starting point of sustainable resource management. Ibaba
Environmental Protection Laws and Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta, Ibaba S. Ibaba, PhD, Social Justice, Democracy, and Cultural Renewal URL: https://www.academia.edu/634260/Social_Justice_Democracy_and_Cultural_Renewal_in_Nigeria, 

Despite  these  legislations  ... of natural resources.

AND, sustainable development is the ONLY way to break the resource curse and the racism that it carries. Kelley
Kelley, Jeremy. "China in Africa: Curing the Resource Curse with Infrastructure and Modernization." Sustainable Development Law and Policy 12, no. 3 (2012): 35-41, 57-60. 

In general, three ... fractured power structures.145

Tournament: Golden Desert | Round: 1 | Opponent: X | Judge: X
Pretty much a recut version of the Uranium AC on Harker's wiki, but the FW's different: 

I value morality. Epistemology precludes other justifications for ethics because it justifies how we know things about morality so ignore util dumps unless they’re specifically responsive to our epistemic capacity to experience things. 

Knowledge is only based on the phenomena we experience since perceptual cognition is omnipresent. UTI
UTI 7 (Unification of Thought Institute, “The Essentials of Unification of Thought” UTI, 2007, pp 179-180, online)

According to materialist dialectic, the ... as reflections of existing forms. 

The goodness of pleasure and badness of pain are qualities all humans experience that relate back to our objective considerations. Nagel
Nagel 86 (Thomas Nagel NYU Philo Prof “The View from Nowhere” Oxford Press, 1986, pp 156-168, MG)

I shall defend the unsurprising ... to reject the appearances here.

We sense other people’s pain through intersensory perceptions. Botvinik and Cohen
Botvinik and Cohen 98 (Matthew Psychiartry Prof at Pittsburgh and Jonathan Psychology Prof at Carnegie Mellon “Rubber Hands ‘Feel’ Touch that Eyes See” MacMillan Publishers, 1998, MG)

This illusion belongs to a ... it was actually my own.”

If each person values their own happiness they have to value everybody’s. Sayre-McCord
Sayre-McCord 1 (Geoffrey, Graduate degree at University of Pittsburg “Mill's "Proof" of the Principle of Utility: A More than Half-Hearted Defense,” UNC Press, 2001, pp 21-22, MG)

According to the second argument, ... as valuable, as an end.

That’s especially true for governments, who because of their epistemic choices must be utilitarian. Woller,
Woller”, A Forum on the Role of Environmental Ethics, June 1997, pg. 10

Appeals to a priori moral ... moral piety are insufficient.

The role of the ballot is to vote for the debater advocating for the better policy option through a policy-making lens. Keller,
Keller, Whittaker, and Burke 01 Thomas E., Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago, James K., professor of Social Work, and Tracy K., doctoral student School of Social Work, “Student debates in policy courses: promoting policy practice skills and knowledge through active learning,” Journal of Social Work Education, Spr/Summer

Policy practice encompasses social workers' ... developing capacities for critical thinking.

The standard is maximizing the protection of life. 

Thus the plan: The governments of Iran and Niger should ban all uranium mining facilities in recognition of their environmental costs. I reserve the right to clarify the advocacy in CX and will accept links to other countries with a similar plan of action.

Tournament: UPS | Round: 1 | Opponent: Any | Judge: Any
If you want to know about anything I'm reading at future tournaments, email me at raks.garg@gmail.com or hit me up on Facebook.