Ethics

 1. What are external costs
External costs are incurred as a result of external effects of production processes on any third party. These costs, which are negative externalities, are over and above the ones that are taken into account during the development stage.
2. Why are external costs considered to be market defects
The effect that the external costs have on the market is that they, by being added costs, force the markets to look for solutions to problems without actually deriving any benefit from it which is the reason for it being termed as market defects. Consider for example, a person who gets drunk at a bar and meets with an accident which also results in injuries to others as well.
3. How are greenhouse gases external costs
Greenhouse gases are by-products of various different production processes like the ones that take place in farm factories, power plants and so on. The processes at these locations release gases, which then gradually start forming into thick layers over the atmosphere. This blanket of gases prevents the heat that has to be released from the earth to be retained within the atmosphere. The retention of heat leads to natural disasters like floods, draughts, melting of polar ice caps and so on.  Hurricanes and tsunamis are also results as the retention causes a rise in ocean temperatures. Greenhouse gases have a direct bearing on these incidents and thus they become external costs.
4. How does greenhouse gas pollution violate rights, diminish utility and violate distributive justice
A direct effect of greenhouse gases is on our health. Gases like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides are trapped in our atmosphere. Hundreds of new viruses have started springing up and diseases, new and old, have started affecting us. Greenhouse gases also end up causing natural disasters like hurricane Katrina and Tsunamis, affecting the lives of thousands who lose their shelters and end up on streets, dying of hunger, other than the many thousands who lost their lives in the disasters. It is a clear violation of the rights of any individual to live according to the rights accorded to him by nature. People who live in areas that are prone to these disasters do not get the same right as others. Greenhouse gases thus end up violating rights and distributive justice and diminishing utility.