Nature as commodity Flashcards
(27 cards)
What did Cloke (2005) say about Marxism and the production of nature
Marxist theories focus on the organisation of capitalist society and the social and environmental injustices which can be traced to it
What is a way of thinking about how we value nature?
Look at how nature is being transformed through capitalist social relations
- For example, bottled water, which turns a natural resource into a luxury commodity for the worlds wealthiest
What did David Harvey (2000) say about Marxism and the production of nature?
Capitalism shapes social relations between different class groups, but also our relationships with non human others
When did the phrase “the production of nature” come from?
Neil Smith in his book Uneven Development (1984)
What did Neil Smith argue about the production of nature?
- Humans didn’t just interact with or alter the natural world
- But rather they produced it a new
- Nature is produced by human subjects
What did Marx say about the production of nature?
Marx stressed that this was a historical process shaping our relations with the environment
Practises such as commercial agriculture and land ownership have shaped practises of cultivation and domestication
Define commodification
a) The conversion of a thing, idea or person into a commodity
b) a wider social process whereby an ever increasing number of things, human relationships, ideas and people turned into commodities
Explain the production of inequality
- The exploitation of natural resources ties into Marx’s concern of inequality between social classes
- Especially between landowners and labourers
What are the 4 main characterises of the process of Marx’s model of production
1) Profit is the primary objective
2) Based on competition between producers
3) Growth and competition provide powerful incentives for capitalists to maximise their return in whatever way
4) The surplus value which becomes profit arises as a result of labour power
Why has agriculture been problematic for capitalist entrepreneurs?
Example: once you’ve sold a farmer one lot of seeds, the next year he can collect his own seeds and the capitalist has no further opportunities to sell product and recoup the initial investment
- Agriculture nature and capitalism are seen as separate
How did capitalist resolve the problem of agriculture being separate?
- The introduction of genetically modified seed varieties
- Farmers decide between old seeds or new commercially developed seeds
- Bred to have higher yields and resistance to diseases
Describe the new relationship between nature and society
- Capitalism has found ways to materially produce nature
- ## This is done through adding value to and asserting property rights over nature
What are the implications of turning seeds into commodities?
1) Farmers are now dependent on seeds and related products they purchase from seed companies
2) Mono-culture leading to a loss of biodiversity and an increased vulnerability of crops and farmers to pests and diseases
3) Leads to increasing need for further intensive and environmentally damaging interventions - pesticides
What is the green revolution?
- Introduced in 60/70s
- Package of improved seeds, farms tech, irrigation and chemical fertilisers
- Successful at meeting its primary objective of increasing crop yields
- Especially in Asia, food production increased substantially
What are the implications of the green revolution?
- Despite increased food supply, not benefited rural communities through improved food security or economic opportunities or well being
- Men benefit more than women through the displacement of women’s wage-earning opportunities through mechanisation
What are the long term effects of the green revolution?
- Seeds/crops better suited to certain areas - unequal
- Monoculture led to loss of biodiversity
- Soil erosion
- Ground water contamination
- Loss of traditional farming
How does capitalism create new barriers for its own future?
- Expanding the need and growth leads to exhaustion of resources and labours
- Social consequences include disease, poverty and ill health
Example of the green revolution in India
- Bt cotton - genetically engineered to be resistant to pest bollworm
- Substantially reduced pest damage and increased yields
Describe the Cremate Monsanto Campaign
- Karataka’s Farmer’s Organisation - against MNCs
- Set fire to free seeds
- Resisted due to chance of debt
- Capitalism would disrupt social relations
Impact of Bt cottons in India
- Government intervention allowed full scale cultivation
- Farmers lost autonomy and forced into debt relations
- Led to mass suicide of farmers
- GM crops added to poverty of areas
Outline the suicide crisis in India
- In 1988, over 500 farmers committed suicide
- Monsanto argue suicide are from damage to crops from bollworm which bt cotton would solve
- Anti GM campaigners argued that GM crops increased poverty and indebtedness
What are geographies of consumption?
- Geographers suggest that consumption is more powerful than production in shaping relationships with our world and environment
Define commodity fetishism
The process whereby the material origins of commodities are obscured and they are presented ‘innocent’ of the social and geographical relations of production that produced them
How is commodity fetishism being challenged
- Campaigners try and reconnect people with the sources of natural commodities
- This encourages us to question and take responsibility of the environmental and ethical impacts
