Inequality and environment

Question 1

When was work on planetary boundaries published?

Answer 1

2009

Question 2

What are the 2 problems with the planetary boundaries hypothesis?

Answer 2

1. Assumes that a socially-homogenous human species is the cause of environmental pressures
2. Boundaries are relatively arbitrary locally, and global population is not evenly distributed either
   (Nordhaus, et al., 2012)

Question 3

In what ways does space have a role in deconstructing the overpopulation arguments?

Answer 3

Not all environmental problems emerge in the same place as dense human populations, such as fertilisers and deforestation (Nordhaus, et al., 2012)

A v good counter argument that is geographical

Question 4

Who has pointed out that material standards of living have improved but environment has got worse? What is the issue with this?

Answer 4

Steffen et al 2015

Not everyone has seen the same increase in material standards of living. Overlooks inequalities

Question 5

When did Paul Ehrlich publish the population bomb?

Answer 5

1968

Question 6

What is an underlying criticism of Ehrlich’s work on population growth (and neo-Malthusians in general)?

Answer 6

Often displays knowledge of social structures and material standards of living, yet still says that all humans are the cause (Ehrlich, 1971)

Question 7

What two things do neo-Malthusians overlook?

Answer 7

1) Technology (for any mode of production)

2) Social metabolism of capitalism (extra energy and resources put into making commodities) (Marx)

Question 8

What interesting argument does Robert Tressell make about overpopulation?

Answer 8

Population of Ireland plummeted, yet it didn’t stop people being poor. (i.e. even if population was cut, same exploitation of people and nature)

Question 9

What are the 2 problems with the solutions proposed in Ehrlich 1971?

Answer 9

1) No political critique, only tech-based

2) Lands responsibility with individuals to have fewer children and to use less resources (i.e. not stopping the system)

Question 10

What is a paper that nicely links material wealth to consumption and population growth

Answer 10

Vira 2015: More econ growth = more material consumption

Hence development is strangely methodologically impractical (although beneficial for wellbeing)

Question 11

When is global population growth predicted to stabilise?

Answer 11

By 2100 at about 9 or 10 billion, depending on fertility rates (Vira, 2015)

Question 12

When are ecological footprints genuinely useful?

Answer 12

When taken as an aggregate for the planet (Vira, 2015)

But need to remember its not just humans… also capitalism

Question 13

What is a good source linking economic growth with consuption?

Answer 13

Veblen, 1899 Theory of the Leisure Class

Question 14

Why is it important to study the impact of people in localised places?

Answer 14

“Growth is not just an overall aggregate property of the earth-economic system, but is differentially experienced, by different people and in different ways.”

“The devil lies in the detail of consumption and production”

Vira, 2015

Question 15

How does poverty interact with the environment and vice-versa?

Answer 15

Poverty seen as the cause of environmental degradation and vice-versa. Supposedly eliminating poverty will help…

What about capitalism, though?

(c.f. Vira, 2015)

Question 16

What is a simple statistic that nicely summarises how it is not overpopulation that is causing environmental degradation?

Answer 16

Nearly 2 billion people cannot access electricity (Malm and Hornborg 2014)

Question 17

Who has shown that there is enough food in the world to feed everyone?

Answer 17

DeFries, et al, 2012

Question 18

What is a good quote focussing on capital accumulation and reinvestment?

Answer 18

“The uneven accumulation of technomass visible on satellite photos of night-time lights proceeds by means of a simple algorithm: the more fossil fuels and other resources capital has dissipated today, the more it will afford to dissipate tomorrow”

(Malm and Hornborg, 2014)

Question 19

What evidence is there of a “second social” phenomenon?

Answer 19

Population growth being the primary cause of environmental destruction. Humans reified as the cause, an abstraction away from the true cause…

(c.f. Fletcher, et al., 2014 - “SECOND SOCIAL” MY OWN TERM much like second nature)

Question 20

What is troubling about Barbier (2010)’s article on poverty and environmental issues?

Answer 20

Assumes rural poor live in “fragile, or less favourable, environmental areas” - what about urban areas?

Very environmental deterministic and very little emphasis placed on production through capitalist markets. Blames the poor

Barbier, 2010

Question 21

What was the slogan behind the world bank development conference in 2003?

Answer 21

“Fight against poverty” (WB 2003)

Question 22

Why is it that the poor consume unsustainably?

Answer 22

IF we are to assume this is the case (what about the rich directly and indirectly?)…

Poor unable to invest in assets to save long-term use of environment (i.e. can’t buy a Tesla) because of structural issues - Wages forced down etc (Marxist critique)

Gray and Moseley 2005

Question 23

What do Malthusians say causes poverty?

Answer 23

More people living in a place, reducing the availability of resources and capital per-person

(Nicely explained in Gray and Molesley, 2005)

Question 24

What is a good case study for population growth and environmental pressures?

Answer 24

Falkenmark, 1997 on water depletion in the global south. Overpopulation and poverty seen as the causes

Question 25

What source focusses on “lifestyle choices” as the causes of environmental degradation?

Answer 25

Sulston et al 2012

A matter of “lifestyle CHOICE”

Question 26

What did Marx (1867) point of re pop growth?

Answer 26

“Actual limits of population” are independent of the role capital accumulation plays in creating a surplus army of workers to be exploited

Marx (1867)

Question 27

What perspective has Ellis (2013) given on population growth?

Answer 27

A technological solution can be used because humans are not the same as many other species

Ellis 2013

He highlights that humans are social, but not economic. A Cornucopian

Question 28

Who sees population as a scapegoat for capitalism?

Answer 28

Fletcher and colleagues 2014

Question 29

Why did Malthus’ ideas re-emerge?

Answer 29

Geosecurity (Fletcher et al 2014). Its quite a sinister history

Question 30

What does a political ecological approach do?

Answer 30

Unites the political economic and social with the environmental (Gray and Moseley, 2005)

Question 31

How can a focus on a scapegoat overpopulation be linked to wider political economic themes?

Answer 31

A rationale for neoliberalism (Fletcher, et al., 2014)

Question 32

What did Marx attribute to over population?

Answer 32

Capitalism creating a pool of reserve workers (Marx 1867; Lee, 1980)

How true is this??

Question 33

What is a good point made by Lee (1980)?

Answer 33

Every mode of production has limits tied to population growth. It is just that capitalism sets limits far higher than the size of the population would suggest alone

Lee 1980

Capitalism is basically inefficient when it comes to the environment

Question 34

What is are two good papers on biophysical feedbacks?

Answer 34

1) Nordhaus, et al., 2012

2) Frontier capitalism socio-ecological feedback (Staal, et al., 2020)

Question 35

What did the Dasgupta review (2021) highlight?

Answer 35

The present prosperity globally undermines future prosperity (Dasgupta, et al., 2021)

Good links to Polanyi and tragedy of the commons