Lesson 9: Environment and Capitalism Flashcards
(23 cards)
Climate Change
-In 2012, the World Bank stated that exceeding 2 degrees Celsius would trigger non-linear tipping points e.g. disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet, large-scale Amazon dieback.
- ‘2 degrees now looks like a utopian dream’ (Klein, 2015 p.13).
- We’re on track for 4-6 degrees by the end of the century – this would drown islands such as [Maldives]
- Major cities in jeopardy include London, Boston, New York and Shanghai.
- Thousands of deaths due to heat and crops will suffer dramatic yield losses.
Maldives and Tuvalu
- M & T could be under water / sea-rising lvl could become submerged very soon / action is urged to be taken
TUVALU:
- Tuvalu: can’t plant their gardens at this point because of the rising sea level which is threatening (threatens a lot of the land and could push them under water)/ Land disappears:
- They have been forced to become a Digital nation since its land is being lost 10,000+ population being forced to move because it’s just dangerous to stay there.
Will become the first nations to be under water and only exist in the metaverse
- They have been forced to become a Digital nation since its land is being lost 10,000+ population being forced to move because it’s just dangerous to stay there.
- Tuvalu: can’t plant their gardens at this point because of the rising sea level which is threatening (threatens a lot of the land and could push them under water)/ Land disappears:
Climate Change and Government
- Not a number on priority for many countries/ and their government
- Not a single country sees climate change as a number 1 issue | usually 5/6th position of priority/ or a crucial issue ‘What is the immediacy of the issue’ (political issues are always up there such as ukraine/ russia \ palestine / israel- switches up our ideas of priority politically’
- Oil crises have transgressed these problems EVENTHOUGH Global Warming is said to have accelerated in the past 15 years ( becoming 40 higher than in the 70’s)
The Anthropocene
- Proposed geological epoch coined by Paul Crutzen:
This relates to or denotes the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
The sociology of climate change
- Not just an issue for the domain of science but has a wider cultural, social and political implication
- Mobilising force in politics, business, trade, religion, ethics, celebrity, art, sport.
- The causes of climate changes can be studied sociologically, as can its consequences.
- ‘How sad to think that nature speaks, and mankind doesn’t listen’ (Hugo, 1840).
Enlightenment Ideals: 1685- 1815
The Enlightenment Era lasted from 1685-1815. During this time, people began to think about governments differently than before. Enlightenment thinkers began to apply reason to the human and natural worlds. Many believed that humans had rights and freedoms that came to them naturally.
- Human domination over nature- control of nature. Anthropocentric worldview.
- Faith in reason and science – evidence based approach at the expense of mysticism
- Emphasis on progress and human well-being – technological and scientific advances (without due consideration for environmental sustainability).
- Individual rights and responsibility – focus on liberation of individuals (as opposed to the collective)
This ideology has developed a lot of the ideas that have developed over Europe
Globalisation and consumerism
World has become more interconnected (due to late modernity)
Increasing movement of people and goods which involves transport - in trains, boats, cars and planes.
- Advancements and greater dependence on technology which enhances capacities and experiences.
- Consumerist society: we expect to see these products in store whether they are in szn or not
Digitalisation and demand
- How about the digitalisation though? Has that helped to make it less demanding since you can find what you’re looking for online without any expectation to see anything else like you would in store \ Flip side of that: the super computers that are behind the system and the way everything is just in your face whether you’ve been thinking about it or not for example, shein has everything (very unethical but the low prices and several trending products can add into this lifestyle? ): so it has made society worse with the consumerist society
Capitalism
- Several scholars have claimed that the constant drive for accumulation has led to climate change.
- Move from water to coal in the cotton industry, from natural fertilisers to chemical fertilisers
- Fossil fuels allowed for greater productivity at the expense of workers and the environment
- Deforestation, fishery decline.
- ‘The metabolic rift’ people’s relationship with the land is being broken (Marx, 1844/Bellamy Foster, 2000)
Capitalist Ideology of Growth
- Surface value and Capitalism:
- ‘ £20 for an hour a lecture, the employer must be making more than that because there would be no growth / accumulation thats the surface value of the capitalist system ‘
- For Baudrillard (1970) we live in a growth society which produces both wealth and poverty.
- Wealth and shortage inherent part of the system.
- In primitive societies, nature is seen as the original and specific presence which stands in contrast to culture.
- In the modern world, nature is reduced to something groomed, managed, policed and tailored to the needs of humans.
Neo liberalisation
- Privatisation of the public sphere, deregulation of the corporate sector, lower corporation taxation (paid for with cuts to public spending).
- Ideological battle between state control and free market liberalism.
- In Klein’s (and others) view, it is impossible to address the climate crisis with unregulated capitalism.
- Only in times of economic crises have we seen a reduction in carbon emissions e.g. financial crisis, Covid-19.
- ‘Our economy is at war with many forms of life on earth, including human life’ (Klein, p.21)
Disparities in emissions Companies and Environment
- Worlds richest multinational companies have caused 71% of greenhouse has emissions
- ‘The rich and powerful create problems for all of us, then tell us we’re all to blame.’ (Moore, 2017:595)
- Everyday person is rather complicit in relation to this / fair argument to have : you become dependant on that company even though you KNOW that that company is very problematic for the world/ social mobility also has impact (but switching from a more comfortable cheaper company to better ethical company (maybe you can’t afford it etc etc) lots of factors (link to the Shein comments)
- If we continue to go the way we’re going there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean
- Greater meat consumption (bad for the environment esp from Cows): mass killing animals and then transport to a great distance (transporting of goods signals danger for the environment)-
World’s poorest half are responsible for 7% of total emissions 1990-2015
The impact of excess: Disaster of Capitalism
- Historically, the elites have exploited crises that have enriched them at the expense of the majority e.g. through cutting social spending, lifting regulations
- Klein predicts that climate change will be used to make more profits for the wealthy:
- ‘Carbon credits’ i.e. subsidies for companies that use less carbon (but carbon credits then sold off!)
- ‘Weather futures’ i.e. predicting climate change patterns
- ‘Climate change insurance’ i.e. insuring against impact of climate change.
- Weapons giant Raytheon ‘expanded business opportunities are likely to arise as consumer behaviour and needs change in response to climate change
Sacrifice Zones
- Sacrifice zones are areas in the world that are ravaged e.g. the Alberta Tar Sands and exploited for extraction – large swathes of natural landscape depleted for resources to feed the industrial society.
- and/or highly polluted areas e.g. ‘Cancer Alley’ – usually low income families and minority groups living in proximity to polluting industries or military bases that expose them to dangerous chemicals.
- Environmental Racism: In areas where minorities live thats where the most are exploited (south not many factories are built but rather in the north/ midlands)
Human Sacrifice
- Annual of 21.5 million climate migrants (2022)
- This kind of recklessness would not have been possible without institutional racism (Klein, 2016).
- Ranking of relative value of humans – are what allow entire writing of entire nations and ancient cultures.
- Differing modes of witnessing of human suffering (Boltanski, 1991; Kyriakidou, 2015)
- Climate Migrants are in Asia (struggle to grow crops in that region and have to migrate: this could have been due to flooding because of climate change and have to flee their homes (ex: Bangladesh)
Political Resistance
- Budgets not an issue in the face of terrorist threats, Covid-19, 2008 financial crisis etc.
- Politicians have not given climate change (despite lip service) the ‘crisis treatment’ (Klein, 2014 p.6).
Klein also says that addressing climate change requires radical solutions/ small increments is no longer an option - Cut-throat competition between nations have hampered attempts for a collective trans-national policy on climate change
- Why should poorer countries give up their industrial growth?
- Existential threat to the country / world
Party politics, government, climate change
- Before the 2024 election, Labour scaled back their £28 billion commitment to a ‘Green Transition.’
- Labour launched Great British Energy
- Opposition from the right
- Meanwhile across the pond…
- Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement (again)
- Declares a ‘national energy emergency’ in his inauguration speech and says the US will ‘drill, baby, drill’
- NET ZERO
‘ Climate-change is just for hippies and academics’ : Right wingers shunning this : very ironic because academics who have intelligence are being seen as wrong
Fetish of Centrism / radicalism’s effect
Th fetish of centrism : reasonableness, serioussness and splitting the difference and generally not getting over excited
KLEIN: ‘ Slavery wasn’t a crisis for British and American elites until abolitionism turned it into one. Racial discrimination wasn’t a crisis until the civil rights movement turned it into one. Sex discrimination wasn’t a crisis until feminism turned it into one. Apartheid wasn’t a crisis until the anti-apartheid movement turned it into one’ (p.6).
Only radical groups have really made any change to society and solutions in society: challenges the centre group in politics since their position is neutral
Climate Change Denialists
- Climate change is a stalking horse for Social Nationalism : Harrison Schmitt US Senator
- ‘Environmentalists are like Aztec priests, sacrificing countless people to appease the gods and change the weather’ – Marc Morano – editor of of the denialists ClimateDepot.com)
- Climate change ‘has little to do with the state of the environment and much to do with shackling capitalism and transforming the American way of life in the interests of global wealth redistribution’ – Larry Bell, author of Climate of Corruption
Bipartisan issue- 72 % of climate change denial books originated from right-wing think tanks (Dunlap and Jacques, 2013).
Climate Change Activism
- Green Peace Movement founded in 1971
- In the mid 1970s, Climate Change becomes a political point of concern (1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment)
- Die Grunen formed in 1980 (UK Greens in 1990)
- Al Gore ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ released in 2006
- Extinction Rebellion formed in 2018
- Just Stop Oil formed in 2022
Biggest attention given to environmental concerns were in 2014 with the winter storms and flooding
and 2019 with the extinction rebellion protests in London
Back of the Mind Issue
- In Politics of Climate Change (2009) Giddens argues that environmental degradation are not obvious and only act when things are obvious (then it is too late).
- ‘Future discounting’ people take steps to address immediate problems (e.g. Covid-19) but ignore threats in the future.
Many of us deny (without being ‘climate change denialists’) – turning it into a joke ‘more signs of the apocalypse’ – momentary glance at social media.
Hyper-rational – ‘pound for pound more efficient to focus on economic development to combat climate change’
Too distant, too abstract, too busy to care.
Looking for confirmations of bias
- Used smoking as an analogy of young people taking risks now unable to imagine consequences (or not caring) about health implications in the future: but probably vaping is a better example (normalisation of smoking earlier)
Delay and Obfuscation
Big oil companies lobby governments to avoid regulation
Instead of financing environmental causes, large corporations seek to protect themselves
Large fossil fuel companies increasingly financing sustainability conferences for influence. In the process significantly weakening agreements (non-binding, market-based solutions)
This also aligns with news highlighting different issues in society (not giving precedence to something which acc affects the people of this world/ lives) whilst things like this go on: Through clever marketing and lobbying government oil companies like BP – claimed to be transitioning ‘beyond petroleum’, at the same time expanding their oil portfolio.
