Environment and Society

Question 1

What is Gentrification?

Answer 1

Process of upper/middle class people moving to impoverished or minority neighbourhoods & ‘restoring’ them

Question 2

What is environmental sociology?

Answer 2

• How ecosystems & social systems interact with each other

- How social systems affect the environment

Question 3

What are the 5 perspectives of environmental sociology?

Answer 3

• Neo-Malthusianism
• Ecological Modernization
• Social Construction of Nature
• New Ecological Paradigm (NEP)
• Neo-Marxism

Question 4

What is Human-Exceptionalism Paradigm (HEP)?

Answer 4

• Humans see themselves as most important species
• Their desires & points of view privileged.
• Other species don’t count.
• Physical limits don’t count.

Question 5

What are the tenets of New Ecological Paradigm (NEP)?

Answer 5

1. Humans are only one species
2. We can’t anticipate the effects of our actions
3. There are finite resources & biological limits

Question 6

What is consumption?

Answer 6

“General use of natural resources”

Question 7

What is overconsumption?

Answer 7

“Use of resources at a rate that exceeds sustainability”

Question 8

What is sustainability?

Answer 8

“Use of natural resources at a rate that’s on par with natural replenishment”

Question 9

What is the main measure of sustainability?

Answer 9

ecological footprint

Question 10

Neo-marxists say the problem isn’t just HEP perspective. It’s the _____________. why?

Answer 10

capitalist economy. because there is tension between economic system that are limitless & an environment that’s limited

Question 11

Tension creates problems through ______ (resources extracted) & _____ (wastes added)

Answer 11

subtractions,additions

Question 12

What are the 5 steps in the Treadmill of Production?

Answer 12

Extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal.

Question 13

Environmental inequalities ‘goods’ & ‘bads’ are unevenly distributed. goods=? Bads=?

Answer 13

• Goods = income-generating and/or community-enriching

- Bads = Income-depleting and/or community-threatening

Question 14

Number of “green” products has _____ since 2007.

Answer 14

tripled

Question 15

What is ‘Green Production’?

Answer 15

Companies make products that are sustainable & support environmental and social goods

Question 16

What is ‘Green Consumption’?

Answer 16

Consumers purchase products that support socially- & environmentally-oriented cause

Question 17

What is ‘Greenwashing’?

Answer 17

Promoting the idea that a company’s products, services or policies are environmentally friendly

Question 18

What are the 5 acts of greenwashing?

Answer 18

1. Narrow Benefit
Using narrow attributes to define green (e.g. ‘sustainably harvested’ paper)
2. No Proof
Independent substantiation prevented
3. Vagueness
“All natural” – Claim doesn't mean much
4. Irrelevance
Taking credit for changes that are required by law (e.g. CFC-free on detergent) 
5. LYING!