2. Global Environment Flashcards
What is Sustainable Development?
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)
(World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987)
“development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”
What is Environmental degradation?
“a process through which the natural environment is compromised in some way, reducing biological diversity and the general health of the environment”
How can Environmental degradation happen?
Can be entirely natural in origin
Can be accelerated or caused by human activities.
Environmental degradation as one of the major threats facing the planet,
Since humans have only been given one Earth to work with
-if the environment becomes irreparably compromised-
it could mean the end of human existence
Climate Change Denial
Donald Trump
Commitment to Environmental Challenge (Climate and Pollution) has been very weak
Kyoto Protocol
US non-ratification
Canadian withdrawal
China no binding targets
Addressing the Environmental Challenge
Marrakech COP22 3-year process of how to achieve real progress
Bonn COP23 characterised by the existence of two US delegations
Financing climate mitigation and adaptation (lessening impact) difficult to agree on
How to support developing nations in combating climate change, and how to strike a balance with their long-term economic development
Bonn COP23 meeting
Characterised by the existence of two US delegations
- US President Trump’s position
- “we are still in” delegation
Marrakech COP22
Meeting commenced, amidst climate change sceptic Trump’s election, a supposed 3-year process of detailing how to achieve real progress.
Sayer (2009: 351)
”The poor are invariably greener than the rich and yet far more vulnerable to environmental hazards”.
(DiMuzio, 2015) Carbon capitalism
Global capitalism is a ”carbon capitalism”, profoundly dependent on the exploitation of carbon (DiMuzio, 2015).
Given dependence upon low-cost energy
“major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions (GHGEs) without reductions in growth and hence capital accumulation” is hard to imagine. Sayer 2009
Major reductions would spell economic crises.
Expectation of continued increases in affluence, or insatiable acquisitiveness, is not compatible with reductions in GHGEs
Mitigation therefore requires a levelling down of incomes of the well-off, and with that changes in lifestyles
Sayer (2009: 351): ”The World Cannot Afford the Rich”
Not even the current lifestyles of middle classes.
”The World Cannot Afford the Rich”
Sayer (2009)
Conflict between Climate Change and Capital
Substantial decline in consumer demand from middle classes would be a major blow to global capital accumulation.
What is Entropy in the Production Process?
Materials used in production are transformed:
Enter in a state of low entropy (are useful)
Leave in a state of high entropy (are now useless)
No recycling processes can ever be 100% efficient
Residual waste and environmental damage are thus inevitable
What is the greenhouse effect?
Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 (IPCC 2007)
Global increases in carbon dioxide are due primarily to
Fossil fuel use and land use change
Methane and nitrous oxide increase primarily due to
Agriculture
Dicken 2011
Uneven population growth
Unevenness of Damage
The double exposure problem: poverty/inequality + pollution
Air pollution in world cities
Pollution from Maritime Transport
Pollution from Maritime Transport
Shipping-related emissions contribute approximately 60.000 deaths annually at a global scale (Corbett et al 2007)
Premature Deaths Annually
Highest in China nearly 600,000
India 460,000
Established market economies 20,000
Global Production Networks and the Environment
“production not as value creation but as a process of materials transformation in which environmental change and the organisation/disorganisation of matter and energy are integral rather than incidental to economic activity” (Bridge,2008, p. 77)
Wasteful GPNs and GPNs of Waste
- Hazardous waste
- Radioactivity
- Mineral Extraction
- E-Waste
Recreating Value from Waste…
- Shifting Waste globally, but unevenly
- It is those who are the least able to recycle who take on the task of doing so…
- “Pollution Havens”
- Uneven Environmental Regulation
Brand and Görg (2000) on competition states in relation to biodiversity:
Capital interests are a driving force in the use of genetic resources and hence the depletion of biodiversity
E-Waste
Computers, mobile phones, etc. exported, but importing countries are unable to effectively recycle the material.
Environmental damage is uneven
It affects those least able to protect themselves, but typically making the smallest contribution to this damage, the most
The current path of development is unsustainable,
Not only from the perspective of the poorest, but from a global perspective.
