Week 23 Lecture 2 PowerPoint (environment)

Question 1

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY?

Answer 1

• Has roots in New Ecological Paradigm (NEP)
• Calls for balance between human economic activities and the needs of ecosystems, arguing that human social systems must reduce their demands and impacts on non-human nature
• Sometimes referred to as ‘Human Ecology’ – the area of study concerned with interrelationships between people and their environment
• Focus on inequality
  Often violent and tense relationships between humans and non humans and ecosystems

Question 2

PERSPECTIVES ON THE ENVIRONMENT: POLITICAL ECONOMY

Answer 2

Investigates the effects of capitalism and modernity on socio- ecological well-being

Often Marxist – struggles over means of production tend to favour capitalist classes and also produce greater ecological damage and mass social suffering for those without capital

*Not just economy, its about how capital class impacts environment

*Wealthy tend to better be able to insolate themselves from bad consequences of climate change

Question 3

P E R S P E C T I V E S O N T H E
E N V I R O N ME N T:
W O R L D S Y S T E M S T H E O RY

Answer 3

• Explains how historical economic develop of core (wealthier) nations occurred at the cost of ecological degradation, social upheavals, and economic underdevelopment of nations within the global periphery
  *WEALTHY NATIONS GET THERE AT THE EXPENSE OF LOW INCOME NATIONS
  *Use cheap materials to produce higher value products
• Not only are core states dumping toxic waste and exporting the most hazardous production facilities to periphery nations, but they are also extracting energy and other forms of ecological wealth from these nations and paying less than market value for them
• Can contribute to perception that core nations are “greening” their industrial policies
  *In reality, offloading environmental burden onto low income countries.

Question 4

P E R S P E C T I V E S O N T H E
E N V I R O N M E N T:
E N V I R O N M E N TA L J U S T I C E

Answer 4

• the recognition that the material impact of social inequality is reflected in the highly uneven distribution of environmental harm and privileges in societies across the globe
• Developed during the 1970s to 1980s as scholars realized that environmental hazards disproportionately affect poor communities, communities of colour, and other marginalized populations
• Highlights the need to study problems of environmental racism and associated inequalities

Question 5

WHAT IS ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM?

Answer 5

Environmental Racism refers to a form of racism where communities of colour face a disproportionate risk of exposure to pollution and related health conditions.

State and local governments and private corporations routinely make decisions about pollution that disproportionately harm low-income communities of colour.

Examples:

• Enbridge Line 9 Pipeline
  https://line9communities.com/local-m
  aps/
• indigenous peoples at risk & othe racialized groups
• nausia, headaches - due to oil smell leaks
• Environmental racism in Nova Scotia
• African vs mic moc communities
• land fill locations
• cancer and respitory illness
• Flint Michigan
• water crisis
• change in water to flint river, corroted pipes to save money
• high levels od led
• black or african american

Question 6

CONSUMERISM & PRODUCTION I

Answer 6

Environmental Issues & Social Solutions:

• Utilizing sociological perspectives in an attempt to better understand environmental problems (King & McCarthy 2005).
• Environmental problems are not out of our control as often depicted in the media (King & McCarthy 2005).

Individual vs. Government Framing:

What does an environmentally conscious consumer look like or do?
- organic food
- not buy one use plastic
- buy electric car

Who decides what an environmentally conscious consumer is?
- social construct
- macro approach

Conflict between individual responsibility and government responsibility

Question 7

The Ecological Crisis: Plastic as a Social
Problem:

Answer 7

• Companies with roots in the manufacturing and selling of plastics are fueling the ecological crisis through contributing to the unlimited growth of plastics (Mah 2022).
• Plastic should not be assessed on an individual scale only, but rather connected to other global issues such as heating, toxic pollution, and global inequality (Mah 2022).

Question 8

Consumer Culture in Relation to the
Environment:

Answer 8

• Consumer culture can be understood as a multifaceted concept containing variations of theories that aim to explain its origination and rapid growth (Lury 2011)
• identity
• lifestyle
• Consumption practices and the availability of finite resources contribute to waste and pollution

Question 9

The Wellness Industry:

Answer 9

• Wellness is a never-ending and unattainable standard
• My MRP: Consumerism, optimization, and the commodification of wellness