Exam 1 Flashcards
(134 cards)
1
Q
Environment vs Society
A
a. Environment – objects and the systems and processes
that link and change them
b. Society – humans and their systems of culture,
politics, and economic exchange
2
Q
Isle Royale
A
544 Kilometer Island in Lake Superior. Which had a large wolf and moose population which was decimated by humans bringing domestic dogs onto the island. Shows how complex the relationship between humans and nature is.
3
Q
Ecological Novelty
A
new ecological conditions replace the old. Old ecological systems occurred in the past has been swept away by new conditions.
4
Q
“rewilding”
A
Completely changing the habitat
5
Q
Why is it impossible to separate environment and society?
A
- Humans depend on and change the environment
- The environment is social
6
Q
Political Ecology (all authors share the same view)
A
nature and society produced together in a particular social, political, and economic context.
7
Q
Contradictory Proposition
A
dramatically changing the environment in ways that might preserve the environment. (longstanding relationship to the nonhuman world).
8
Q
Reconciliation Ecology
A
Science of imagining, creating, and sustaining habitats, productive environments clean air and water, and biodiversity where humans have been. (Even though we caused global warming we are the only ones alive to fix it)
9
Q
The Yali Falls Dam
A
The Yali Falls Dam is the second largest dam in Vietnam, located in Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces on the Krong Poko, a tributary of the Sesan River, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, about 70 kilometres (43 mi) upstream of the Cambodian border. They only considered 6 km of downstream impacts.
10
Q
What was the impact of the Yali Falls Dam?
A
55,000 people in 90 villages across Cambodia. Toxic blue-green algae in the reservoir. Impacted black-believed tern habitat (bird). Impact on terrestrial resources from people moving.
11
Q
What was the lesson learned from Yali Falls Dam?
A
Vietnam and Cambodia had uneven power, resources, and knowledge which gave them an uneven amount of negotiating power.
12
Q
How did Malthus think population growth progressed?
A
In a linear fashion
13
Q
Julian Simon (Cornucopian)
A
Population growth brings new thinkers who can innovate and solve environmental problems. (Bet that the prices of the 5 metals would decrease over 10 years because people would innovate).
14
Q
Who won the bet? (between Simon and Erlich)
A
The prices of the 5 metals went down, so Simon won
15
Q
Paul Erlich (neo-malthusian)
A
Thought Population growth creates
scarcity and environmental
problems. (Bet that the prices of 5
metals would increase over
10 years because of scarcity)
16
Q
What did Malthus’s arguments do?
A
These arguments, therefore, remove blame
from political and economic systems, the
wealthy, and men
17
Q
What were Malthus’s 3 findings?
A
- Wars, famine, and disease are natural limits to the growth and balance of the population.
- Policies promoting the poor were a waste
- Self-restraint; In that population crashes were inevitable.
(remove blame from political and economic systems, favoring the wealthy and men)
18
Q
Critiques of I=PAT: the role of
development
A
a. Development initially has a dgreat impact on the environment
b. Once a threshold of affluence is reached, economic transition and regulations lead to a decrease in environmental impacts
19
Q
(IPAT) = I = PAT
A
I = environmental impact, P = population, A = affluence, T = technology
20
Q
What is affluence?
A
Level of consumption and per capita gross domestic product
21
Q
Who created IPAT?
A
Ehrlich and Holdren
22
Q
Kuznets Curve
A
Income inequality will increase during economic development and decrease after reaching a state of affluence.
23
Q
What do neo-Malthusians argue?
A
(defined as a fear that a large population size could lead to a humanitarian and ecological disaster) and that combating so-called overpopulation is thus an urgent problem
—has real-world consequences. The belief has often resulted in support for coercive policies
24
Q
What is Induced Intensification?
A
Intensification usually entails increases in labor, and thus the farmer does not intensify production unless induced to do so by changes in the responsibilities to those to be nurtured (population change) and/or in the conditions in which these responsibilities must be met (land pressure change).
a. Demands for food lead to technological innovations leading to increased food production.
25
What is the Demographic Transition Model?
The decline in birth and death rates is associated with the modernization of society.
26
What were the two main points that Julian Simon came to?
1. More means more good ideas
2. More demand for things which produces an incentive to find make and maintain the world.
(Conservation is not driven by altruism or green sensibilities, but the response to market forces)
27
What is the Market Response Model?
The model that predicts economic responses to scarcity of a resource will lead to increases in prices resulting in decreased demand.
28
What is the Coase Theorem?
The Coase Theorem is a legal and economic theory developed by economist Ronald Coase regarding property rights, which states that where there are complete competitive markets with no transaction costs and an efficient set of inputs and outputs, an optimal decision will be selected.
(Most efficient outcomes will occur through bargaining)
29
What are the three types of market failures?
(Mismatch between market model and the real world)
1. Transactions are not free
2. Contracts + property rights have to be clearly defined and enforced
3. Not all parties have perfect information
30
What is the difference between a monopoly and a monopsony?
Monopoly: one seller for many buyers
Monopsony: one buyer for many seller
31
What is Green Taxes?
Firms participate in "greener" behavior by avoiding "brown" alternatives.
32
What is Cap and Trade?
A government regulatory system designed to give companies an incentive to reduce their carbon emissions. Where the amount of pollutant is limited and tradeable.
33
What is Green Consumption?
Consumers choose goods or services based on environmental impacts.
34
What is greenwashing?
False marketing of a producst or service as environmentally friendly.
35
Why may a market system may not be the best?
A market system may not be the best because it gives power to those most able to pay.
36
What is the difference between Arithmetic Density and Physiological Density?
- Arithmetic Density: ASIC calculation of the total number of people living in a particular geographical area of land. Also known as real density. (does not apply with globalization)
- Physiological Density: calculation of the total number of people in a particular geographical area of arable land.
37
What are the different stages of the Demographic Transition?
a. Stage 1: high birth, the high death rate (low birth rate, are industrialized)
b. Stage 2: high birth, the low death rate (rapid birth rate, some countries in Asia)
c. Stage 3: low birth, the low death rate (Moderate to low birth rate; Most Western countries such as the US)
d. Stage 4: lower birth rate, low death (stable to low population growth, Italy/Japan)
38
What are the critiques of DTM?
1. Assumes that there is a linear trajectory of development based on context.
2. Does not account for noneconomic factors factors
39
What is the cheapest solution to a declining population?
Immigration
40
"rewilding"
Completely changing the habitat
41
Why can't you put too much attention on women's rights if a nation is facing population decline or vice versa?
You cannot put too much attention on women's rights because education for women does not mean the country will economically prosper so it's important to consider that before putting too much emphasis on it. Targeting the poor and women diverts attention
away from systemic causes of degradation
42
What did Malthus's arguments do?
These arguments, therefore, remove blame
from political and economic systems, the
wealthy, and men
43
Critiques of Cornucopian Thinking:
The Costs of the Green Revolution
a. Ignores the scale of processes such as food
production (different impacts on communities compared to larger markets)
b. Some innovations increased agricultural food
supply but damaged other ecosystems
(especially aquatic ones)
c. More food may be produced than is needed,
but it is not distributed evenly
44
What densely populated areas have people per square mile?
Densely populated areas are considered to have 60
people per square mile (half the world’s land has less
than 2.6 people per square mile).
45
What was the "Jevons Paradox"?
Technological progress increases the efficiency with which that resource is used which tends to increase the consumption of that product. innovation may accelerate resource degradation!
46
What is Market environmentalism?
Environmental problems can be solved by the
(free) market economy. Externalities and market failures. (Examples Coase theorem, green taxes, trading, and banking)
47
What are externalities?
the spillover of a cost or benefit that must be paid by someone else (Pollution from industry is not counted in the cost of a product)
48
What are transaction costs?
the cost associated with
making an exchange, such as negotiating a deal,
preparing a contract, traveling to meet, etc. (lawyers, police, courthouses)
49
What are beyond markets?
Gaps Between Nature and Economy. Non-market values – not taken into account by the market-response model
50
Problems with Shrimp Aquaculture
Certification
Not enough attention is paid to equity and social issues – more technical. Certification is beneficial but nothing without education on why it exists.
51
What is the prisoner's Delima?
A theoretical game in which a particular action
would benefit all, but individuals behaving selfishly
will create a situation that is not optimal for
everyone.
52
What is the strategy of commons and who came up with it?
Garrett Hardin theorized the tragedy of the
commons as a particular type of prisoner’s
dilemma
53
What are the two solutions Hardin theorizes?
- Coercion and enforcement of regulations
–Privatization
54
What are the two forms of communal property?
- Res nullius – not owned, open to anyone
–Res communes – common property owned
collectively, only the group has access
55
The Evidence and Logic of Collective Action
Individuals have incentives to participate in
collective ownership if they have the ability to
negotiate the rules.
56
What did Peter Kropotkin argue?
Political ecologist Peter Kropotkin argued that
cooperation is as important for evolution as
competition. Used observations of collective action in nature and in human societies to reject social Darwinism.
57
The Montreal Protocol
designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the production of numerous substances that are responsible for ozone depletion
58
What are the two main beliefs about nature in western philosophy?
1. Humans are separate and superior to nature
2. Nature only for humans' benefit
59
What is the Dominion thesis?
humans should control nature
and use it how they wish
60
Based on the theory of John Locke
Nature only has value if it is useful to humans. Inspires a utilitarian view of nature in which
anything that is left unused has no value and is
wasted
61
Gifford Pinchot (Ulitarian/conservationist)
resources can be used as long as they are used sustainably (benefit to humans)
62
John Muir (preservationist)
Believed that nature should be left alone. Nature is essential whether to humans or not.
63
Aldo Leopold and “The Land Ethic”
argues that something is
right if it promotes healthy ecosystem
functioning, and wrong when it doesn’t
64
Moral extensionism
the expansion of ethics
beyond humans to land, plants, animals, etc.
65
ecocentric ethic
ecological concerns should
come before human concerns
66
Shallow ecology vs Deep Ecology
a. Shallow ecology focuses on specific
environmental issues and seeks to eliminate
the symptoms rather than the causes
b. Deep ecology focuses on the interactions
between humans and the environment
67
What is holism?
prioritizes the entire ecosystem at the
expense of individual entities
68
What is a naturalistic fallacy?
assumes that because
an ecosystem functions in a certain way, it
should
69
What is Social ecology?
Argues that social hierarchies
are the root of environmental problems. Exploitation of the environment results from exploitation of humans by other humans
70
What is the difference between a hazard and a risk?
a. Hazard = a thing, a condition, or a process
that threatens individuals and society in terms
of production (making a living) or
reproduction (being alive)
b. Risk = the known (or estimated) probability
that a hazard-related decision will have a
negative consequence
71
Gilbert F. White
Critiqued the use of the “tech fix” (engineering
solutions) as the only management approach to
flooding along the Mississippi River
72
3 conditions of knowledge:
- Know what you know (known knowns)
–Know what you don’t know (known unknowns)
–Don’t know what you don’t know (unknown
unknowns) (COVID-19)
73
What is Risk perception?
the tendency of people to
evaluate the hazardousness of a situation or
decision based on biases, culture, or human
nature
74
Estimation of Risks
- Underestimate: voluntary source controlled, Observable
-Overestimate: Involuntary, Non-trusted source
controlled, Immediate effects
75
Douglas and Wildavsky (1982) and Cultural Theory
The way people think about risk is related to
how society is organized.
76
Externalities
costs to those who do not make
the decisions
77
What does a political economy approach argue?
A political economy approach argues that it is
the structure of the economy and power
relations within it that create environmental
problems and our perception of them.
78
Karl Marx
Labor, Accumulation, and Crisis. describe how capitalist economic systems
produce environmental problems
79
Labor and Commodities
Nature + labor = commodity
–commodity = a thing that can be bought or sold
80
Means of production
things required to make commodities (factories, machinery)
81
Conditions of production
raw materials needed to produced commodities (wood, oil, iron)
82
Primitive accumulation
the enclosure and privatization of previously communal resources (People lost access to the conditions of production
and had to start selling their labor to capitalists to
survive)
83
What two things does capitalists need?
Capitalists are those who control both the
means and conditions of production
84
First contradiction of capitalism
Overaccumulation – wealth is concentrated in the
hands of a few, so many cannot afford to buy
commodities and keep the system expanding (need more wealth)
85
The second contradiction of capitalism
capitalism undermines itself by undervaluing
the environmental conditions necessary for its
own propagation through. harms the
conditions of production and worker health
86
Two contradictory arguments that support
environmental exploitation:
-Nature is external to society, so humans can use,
commodify, and exploit nature.
–Humans are part of nature and subject to natural
laws, so human society and economic processes
are natural and inevitable
87
The production of nature thesis argues that:
-Nature is always altered by human activities
–We must be critical of attempts to use markets to
solve environmental problems
–We must be critical of activities that treat the
environment as external to politics and the
economy because the underlying causes of
degradation will be ignored
88
spatial fix
moving the processes of production or consumption to a new location. (Moving a factory to a location with cheaper labor or less strict environmental standards)
89
Global Capitalism and the Ecology of
Uneven Development
The spatial fix allows capitalism to continue
functioning, but contributes to increasing
inequality between places and people
90
Problems with the political economy
perspective:
- Anthropocentric – does not help us approach
problems with non-human entities
–Focuses on capitalism and economy at the
the expense of other social and ecological
relationships
–Defers environmental activism until after
economic problems are solved
91
Nature socially constructed?
No matter how remote a place appears to be,
all nature is socially constructed.
92
What is a constructivist?
A constructivist examines how concepts,
beliefs, and practices shape not only how we
understand the world, but also the world itself
93
What is social context?
The social context determines which concepts
are conceived, which ones take hold, and
which ones are dismissed
94
The social construction of “New
World” natures
Europeans constructed the image of the New
World as pristine and undeveloped, and used
this concept to justify violently displacing its
inhabitants
95
Discourse
spoken and written language that
not only represents the world, but may
materially change it. Includes:
96
Narrative
a story with a beginning and an end
97
Concept
a single idea
98
Ideology
belief about how the world is and how
it ought to be
99
Signifying practices
modes and methods of
representation
100
What is social constructivism?
wants to destabilize the
accepted discourses by discovering the origins of the
elements, the relations of power in which they were
created, and the institutions that benefit
101
power/knowledge
Michel Foucault, a
French philosopher, uses this concept to
remind us that power and knowledge are
inextricable
–Power is used to create and sustain particular
ways of knowing
–Power is not a thing to be had, given, or taken,
but to be exercised by one entity over another
–Even marginalized entities use power to
destabilize dominant discourses
102
William Cronon
perspective on wilderness and that it was western powers that created this notion since we ripped indgingous people off their lands. It places the focus on places assumed to be
wilderness and takes the focus away from other
valuable natural areas or conditions.
103
What about science?
But social constructivists have shown that the
practices and findings of science are socially
constructed
104
Relativism
the theory that all beliefs, truths,
and facts are socially constructed in a
particular social context
105
co-production
a theory that argues that humans and non-
humans produce and change one another
through interactions
106
Gender and the Environment
women have often been excluded from
environmental policy-making and leadership roles in
environmental organizations
107
Ecofeminism
A philosophy and the environmental movement that argues that nature and women are similarly exploited by masculinist values and patriarchy. Françoise
d’Eaubonne used
ecofeminism (ecoféminisme) in 1974 to call attention to women’s potential to bring about an ecological revolution, basing her argument for the notion that women and men relate to the environment in
different ways.
107
Masculinist
A way of knowing and
interacting with the world (in this case nature)
that is associated with domination,
possession, quantification, and claims of
universal knowledge
108
Ecofeminists also criticized patriarchy.
Patriarchy – A social and political system that
creates and enforces gender difference and
maintains male domination in both public and
private spheres. More generally, a description
of the (unjust) relations of power between
men and women in many/most contemporary
societies.
109
Ecofeminists also criticized patriarchy.
Patriarchy – A social and political system that
creates and enforces gender differences and
maintains male domination in both public and
private spheres. More generally, a description
of the (unjust) relations of power between
men and women in many/most contemporary
societies.
110
Ecofeminists also criticized patriarchy.
Patriarchy – A social and political system that
creates and enforces gender differences and
maintains male domination in both public and
private spheres. More generally, a description
of the (unjust) relations of power between
men and women in many/most contemporary
societies.
111
Essentialist
A claim about the nature of a
thing, based on what are considered inherent
qualities.
112
Intersectionality
The difference and
overlapping
impacts of multiple
social categories
may have on an
individual or a
group, including
gender, class, race,
caste, sexuality,
disability, and
others.
113
Diane Rocheleau
codified the
idea of “Feminist Political Ecology”, which
“analyzes the insights, findings, and questions
generated by a diverse range of feminist
scholars and activists, from those engaged in
women and development, gender and
agriculture, gender and development, and
gender and environment, as well as
ecofeminism”.
114
Diverse Economies
Those existing and aspirational
systems of economic relations, exchange, and
ownership that fall outside formal capitalist
relations, including alternative markets, non-money
remuneration for labor, resource sharing, and
enterprises that do not seek accumulation as their
goal.
115
Gibson-Graham
They argued that there is a tendency in political
economy approaches to overemphasize the ubiquity,
power, and environmental force of “capitalism”,
which they suggest is a discourse that keeps us from
imagining alternatives.
* They suggest that most the global economy and
social life resides out of view and beyond the control
of markets. They advocated for a new approach.
116
Situated knowledges
Donna Haraway’s
concept that
emphasizes that all
knowledge is
produced by
embodied persons
operating within their
necessarily limited,
partial perspectives.
117
Standpoint theory
Sandra Harding’s
concept describes the
the fact that knowledge is
always produced from a
a particular point of view
and is always partial.
118
Standpoint theory
Sandra Harding’s
concept describes the
fact that knowledge is
always produced from a
particular point of view
and is always partial.
119
“god-trick”
men doing work from their own perspective,
while simultaneously denying that they had only
partial knowledge, produced from their position as
men.
120
Harding - “Studying up”
seeking to understand the
world from the perspective of marginalized groups
121
Feminist Glaciology
Men have and do dominate the study of
glaciers and have engaged in masculinist
practices in their research (e.g. jumping out of
helicopters onto glaciers).
122
Flint Michigan water
The area redlined for Black people overlapped
almost perfectly with the contaminated water
impacted area, where lead pipes had not been
replaced as in other areas.
123
Environmental Justice
A principle, as well as a
body of thought and research, stressing the need for
equitable distribution of environmental goods
(parks, clean air, beautiful working conditions) and
environmental bads (pollution, hazards, waste)
between people, no matter their race, ethnicity or
gender.
124
environmental injustice
describes a condition where unhealthful or
dangerous conditions are disproportionately
proximate to minority communities.
125
Environmental Justice
Minorities and low-income people are
more likely to live near hazardous materials
because they have less power to protest.
126
Environmental Racism
The notion that race, more than any other
factor, accounts for the disproportionate
exposure of minority populations to
environmental and public health dangers
associated with pollution of all kinds, including
toxic disposal sites and industrial effluents.
127
Robert Bullard is
considered to be
the “father of
environmental
justice”.
Racial disparities in the distribution of
hazardous wastes are greater than previously
reported. In fact, people of color make up the
majority of those living in host neighborhoods
within 1.8 miles of the nation’s hazardous
waste facilities. Racial and ethnic disparities
are prevalent throughout the country.
128
Conclusions of Report
Although the current assessment
used newer methods that better match where
people and hazardous waste facilities are
located, the conclusions were very much the
same as they were in 1987.
129
Settler Colonialism
A system of power and ideology typical in
places where non-Indigenous settlers
historically displaced, or sought to displace,
Indigenous peoples through exclusionary
treaties, violence, ethnic cleansing, and
genocide. As a contemporary system of both
law and culture, it normalizes the erasure of
Indigenous histories, and expands the use and
exploitation of lands historically under the
stewardship of Indigenous peoples.
130
Infrastructural Poverty
Infrastructure neglect and direct exclusion
from environmental services is linked to the
logic of settler colonialism.
131
Asserting Indigenous
Environmental Sovereignty
Reservations are supposed to be sovereign but the
Federal government still exerts a lot of control over
these lands and resources
132
Carolyn Finney (2014) in
her book Black Faces,
White Spaces
shows
that dominant culture
assumes/signs the
environment as “white”
* Collective impact of
slavery and Jim Crow
era policies
underpinned racialized
exclusions from the
“great outdoors”
133
Urban Farming
Monica White has
documented that African
Americans have a deep
history of environmental
experience
* This is often linked to
agricultural activities
* Increasing interest in
urban gardening in
deteriorating urban
centers
