LEC.114 Environmental geography Flashcards
(47 cards)
1
Q
Roughly when did geoscientists start proposing the end the Holocene and the new geological epoch the Anthropocene?
A
Early 2000s, Paul Crutzen
2
Q
What is needed for the acceptance of a new geological epoch?
A
Global Boundary Stereotype Section and Point (GSSP)
3
Q
The term Anthropocene was rejected, however what does it still act as?
A
Descriptor of human impact on Earth system.
4
Q
Use of fire as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
Local events don’t provide GSSP
5
Q
Megafauna extinction as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
50,000-10,000yrs ago, hunting and overkill, but also climatic factors
6
Q
Development of farming as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
- increased extinction rte of species (monoculture, selective breeding)
- global event with multiple individual origins
- increasing presence of fossil pollen from domesticated plats
- anthropogenically formed soils from intensive farming
- could be a GSSP, but local events and varying in age
7
Q
Colonialism as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
Colombian exchange, genocide of the peoples of America, forced migration, radical reorganisation of life on Earth, homogenisation of biota.
Pollen may provide a GSSP marker, more so global drop in CO2 in 1610.
8
Q
European industrial revolution as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
- late C18-19
- begins in Europe then spread global
- ruled out because not globally done
- industrial pollution already occurred e.g. Romans
9
Q
The Great Acceleration as the beginning of the Anthropocene?
A
- 1950s+
- novel materials, POPs, inorganic, nuclear
- population growth, economic growth, globalisation
10
Q
How does hyper-separation underpin the multiple environmental crises we live in?
A
- destructive
informed by ongoing violent structures of Western Imperialism - patriarchy
- capitalism
- settler-colonialism
- ignores relational approaches
11
Q
Capitalism and the othering of nature?
A
Capitalism mobilises the othering of nature. The dynamics of the capitalist system are causing environmental changes and affects the political world and policies. Loss of what nature intrinsically is.
12
Q
Capitalocene - e.g. private property ?
A
- land grabs by land lords (enclosure of commons)
- transformed how people relate to land
- movement away from common land accompanied by rights and responsibilities, forced to sell labour to survive
13
Q
Capitalocene - e.g. proletarianisation
A
transformation of human activities into something to be exchanged -> the labour market
14
Q
Capitalocene - e.g. global conquest ?
A
colonialism (British), abundance of cheap nature, land for growing monoculture, enslaved people to work the land. The land is only valued if it has purpose and is productive
15
Q
Relative decoupling?
A
- goods and services more efficient
- encourage buying of more efficient goods
- recycling of materials
16
Q
Absolute decoupling?
A
- requires sufficiency orientated strategies
- strict enforcement of absolute reduction targets
- requires much more political will and consideration
17
Q
Northern Nigeria famines in the 1990s?
A
- not drought related
- social economic political issue
- colonial government imposed taxes
- forced to sell crops instead of eat or save for when droughts did occur
18
Q
Northern Carolina, Warren County, environmental racism?
A
- 1982
- predominantly black community
- proposed dumping of contaminated soil
- protests
- toxic waste dump happened anyway
19
Q
Eco-fascism?
A
- emphasises importance of community, nature and pre-industrial ways of life
- Engage in beach cleans, organic gardening
- But also authoritarian, violent and imagine that: white communities as under threat, white people as the only ones to care for the environment. Colonial thoughts on how land should be managed, ignores Indigenous environmental knowledge. Whats the history underlying the actions.
- Ultimately seeks to enhance present power inequalities and exclusion
20
Q
Genocide - moving indigenous people away from their homelands
A
- forcibly removed from a space
- disconnects them from their way of life
- affects way of being
- sostalgia, the distress caused by environmental degradation
21
Q
5 pathways to reconnection with nature?
A
Contact
Beauty
Meaning
Emotion
Compassion
22
Q
What is planetary health dependent on?
A
Human capacity to understand interconnectedness as a basic and fundamental reality.
23
Q
How does environmental geography provide a middle ground between human and physical?
A
thinking about humans geological agents, think about our impact outside of typical structures.
24
Q
Divide relationality - how is the human/nature viewed/suggested to be and what is it actually about?
A
- masquerading as a universal human condition
- connected to ongoing violent structures of Western imperialism
25
Yolŋu relational ontologies of responsibility?
Response-ability
response - seek to respond as part of ongoing relationships in situated ethical ways
ability - pay close attention as part of more-than-human worlds
26
Yolŋu on Country and nature?
Country - homeland
nature - agency, vitality, knowledge, humans part of web, responsibilities to care.
Country is co-becoming via shaping kin and being shaped by kin.
26
Indigenous knowledges views on nature and culture?
Humans and nature are one, composed of the same elements. Other-than and more-than- human nature viewed as kin.
27
How did Roman colonisation lead to separating governance from land?
Environment altered, created uniform and universalist forms of governance, forms that did not require knowing the environment.
28
Colonialism, age of exploration, columbian exchange?
1492. Mixing of previously separate biotas. Columbian exchange, indigenous people exposed to European diseases, war, famine, enslavement, 90% population reduction.
29
European enlightenment?
Humans and separate from nature because we think. People are subjects other-than-humans are objects. The othering of nature leads to environmental destruction.
30
Removal of cultural elements from nature?
- 'nature is pristine' e.g. Indigenous people not seen as part of the environment in places like the Amazon
- people don't belong in national parks
- urban nature is not real
31
As well as environmental destruction what does the othering of nature do?
Others non-western cultures.
32
Environmental determinism?
- diff envi determined by the characteristics of the people who lived there and their social structures
- inequalities between Europe and colonies perceived as natural
- others can be 'objects' of knowledge and subject to practices of domination.
33
Social construction of nature - shaped by human imagination?
- human attributes - sense-making, naming, modification
- cultural representation e.g. lake districts
34
More-than-human nature?
- All entities emerge from the same matter - non-hierarchical, all on one plane
- The world is not characterised by discrete classes, but ongoing differentiation and individuation
- Agency resides in the relationships between actants
- Knowledge of the world is produced through embodied practices involving more-than-human networks
35
Colonialism - Malayan tigers?
British colonial plantations on The Malay peninsula employed thousands of Indians to provide cheap rubber during the industrial revolution.
- Exploitative colonial policies limited the work available for poor Malays, Indians and Chinese, who were forced to clear cut vast swathes of rainforest for a living at the expense of local ecosystems.
- The over-exploitation of local resources through extensive logging and palm oil plantations continues.
- Once numerous, Malayan tigers are now critically endangered.
- Neo-colonialism, the minority world will still keep exploiting the majority world. Colonial legacy.
36
Neocolonialism fuelled by capitalism developing at the same time as colonialism? AMAZON RAINFOREST ?
Vast areas are being cleared for the logging industry and cattle breeding. The majority of the wood and meat ends up in the Minority World
37
Neocolonialism fuelled by capitalism developing at the same time as colonialism? AFRICA ?
Contains 30% of the world’s mineral resources and attracting foreign investment, which typically exports the minerals in their raw states. Many are used in ‘green technologies’. Sustainable development? Weak sustainability strategy because it still puts places at risk?
38
Earth day, 22 April 1970?
- informed by Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969
- 20mil across USA protesting
- envi movement created
39
when was the EPA created by congress?
December, 1970
40
(Carson, 1962) Silent spring?
- Highlighted the detrimental effects of pesticides on the environment, specifically birds.
- Raised public awareness:
- Pesticides travel not only through the environment, but through food chains
- Kills not only insects but also birds (and mammals)
- Accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation.
- Critiqued public officials for accepting industry claims uncritically.
- Facilitated the ban of DDT in 1972 in USA.
- Highlighted that humans are interconnected and interdependent on nature.
41
(Malthus, 1798) An Essay on the Principle of Population?
- Proposed that an increase in a food production improved peoples’ wellbeing, but that it also led to population growth
- Naturalises poverty:
- People are poor because they lack self-discipline
- Not due to structurally unequal position within global capitalism
- Provides a ‘Perfect storm’ metaphor for food security challenges. Often mobilized to support arguments for:
- Further market expansion
- Land and genetic enclosures
- Rationalisation of production
42
(Ehrilich, 1968) The population bomb?
- Argued that rapid population growth, especially in the Majority world would lead to: widespread famine, environmental degradation, societal collapse
- Ehrlich draws upon the Malthusian principle which suggests that population growth will inevitably outstrip food prouduction
- Emphasised that overpopulation would exacerbate: pollution, deforestation, resource depletion = environmental destruction
- Advocated for immediate action on population control through government interventions
- However, the real issue is the distribution of resources rather than overpopulation
- Racist(?) - a focus on overpopulation occurring in the Majority world, and not the overconsumption in the Minority world
43
(Meadows, et al., 1972) Limits of growth
- Increasing population puts pressure on resources, infrastructure, and ecosystems.
- Challenged the idea of exponential growth and called for a balanced relationship between humans and nature.
- Called for changes in economic policies and societal values to ensure long-term sustainability.
- However, was an over focus on population growth, while who gets what and by how much was underplayed.
44
Sustainable development oxymoron?
Posited further economic growth as the solution to the environmental crisis. Population as an outcome, rather than a cause, of poverty. If poverty is the problem, growth is the solution to both socio-economic and environmental problems.
45
Earth Summit 1992?
Optimism through signing of the ‘Earth Pledge’ promising collective action. Rise to several prominent actions.
However, an anthropocentric vision of sustainability – ecological factors not given equal weight to the economy. Neoliberal approaches were favoured:
- More efficient goods and services
- ‘Greening’ of values and attitudes
Keep up mass consumerism with an ecological consciousness, produce lots of options including an ‘ecofriendly’ one, and leave it up to the consumer to choose. Minority World and Indigenous voices over-ridden by Majority World leaders.
46
Degrowth
Overconsumption underpins environmental issues and social inequalities. The development of society where economic growth and development are not central metrics. Emphasises a shared, collective and fair quality of life for all. Reducing consumption does not require a decrease in wellbeing, maximise happiness and wellbeing through non-consumptive means.
‘Eco-capitalism’ = ‘Eco-colonisation’ - resources from Majority World fuel global markets to provide more efficient goods and services. Proposes an economic strategy which responds to the limits-to-growth dilemma. Downscaling of production and consumption. A movement towards sufficiency, rewires multiplea social, political, and economic engagement and actions.
