Final-Environmental Flashcards
Public concern about the environment grew in response to
a number of ecological disasters and growing pollution.
Environmental sociologists called for an approach that
acknowledges limits on available resources and the need to live in balance with the environment.
Human exemptionalist perspective
View that humans are different from other living beings and do not face environmental limits on our economic growth.
Subfield focuses on people in rural areas and their connections to the environment and natural resources.
Rural sociology
Subfield that focuses on the social organization of urban communities and similarities to other organisms.
Human ecology
National Environmental Policy Act(NEPA)
1970 law requiring federal agencies to consider the environmental effects of policies and legislation.
New Environmental Paradigm (or New Ecological Paradigm)–
Perspective that considers potential limits to economic growth and encourages developing a stable economy balanced with nature.
Society affects the natural environment, and environmental change affects the quality and scope of society.
Conjoint constitution
Pessimistic theories see economic growth
as in conflict with environment
Optimistic theories think economic growth
is possible with environmental protection.
argues that the relationship between economic growth and environmental protection changes based on other social characteristics.
anthro-shift
says that the relationship between society and the environment is determined by risk and perceptions of risk.
anthro-shift
is multi directional; it can move toward both more and less environmentally friendly configurations of actors.
anthro-shift
People working individually or collectively through community groups and social movements.
Civil society
Suggests that societies driven by economic expansion are in conflict with nature.
Treadmill of production theory
An area with mature trees that have been relatively undisturbed by human activity.
Old-growth forest
Theory focused on the interchange of matter and energy between human societies and the larger environment as economies grow.
Metabolic rift perspective
Social metabolism
Exchange of resources and material between society and the environment.
Focuses on resource exchanges and ecological interdependencies within the global economy
Ecologically unequal exchange theory
Governments include environmental protection as a basic responsibility.
Environmental state
Ecological modernization the
View that the dynamic nature of capitalism allows economic growth and related technologies to be directed toward environmental reforms
Perspective that global institutional structures bring about environmental protection.
World society theory
View that through development, environmental protection becomes more common.
Reflexive modernization
Anthro-shift
Sees the society-environment relationship as dynamic, determined by how governments, the market, and civil society interact and how much they prioritize environmental issues.
Climate change is a key example of
how societies and the environment affect each other.
To reduce climate change, societies could follow a number of pathways, focuses more on
reducing use of fossil fuels (to limit emissions of carbon) or relying on technologies to remove carbon after it’s released.
