Politics Unit 4 Flashcards
How is sustainable development being met?
The UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) otherwise known as the Earth Summit in 1992 called for the concept to be implemented.
And as mentioned early the UN commission from 1983 also first gave credence to the idea.
There have been calls to modify the traditional GNP growth rate to measure sustainability - it is essentially a measure of economic throughput and it has severe limitations with respect to considerations of environmental and natural resources. Currently, the measure of GNP does not take into account any depletion of natural resources or adverse effects of economic activity on the environment feeds back costs on such as things as health and welfare and it does not take into account the degradation of a forest for example as that would just count for an increase in GNP.
The need for environmental parameters is now recognised. Some believe that a ‘green GNP could effectively show this change.
There have also been calls to concentrate on growth as usual but at a slower rate and to define sustainable development as development without growth in ‘throughout beyond environmental capacity’ this idea of controlling the flow of environmental matter and energy through the socio-economic system.
Why is sustainable development a contested concept?
There is widespread disagreement about its implications.
Firstly what is a need? Something that is considered a need by one person may not by someone else. Needs may also vary through the time, as the ability of people to meet their needs changes. The meaning of development can be interpreted in many different ways.
The meaning of sustain is also contested. When we sustain women thing it might be a desired state but it could also be an undesirable state.
The term ‘Sustainable’ has been used in a number of different contexts such as ecological sustainability is that human interaction with the natural world should not impair the functioning natural biological processes. Hence concepts such as maximum sustainable yield have been developed to identify the quantity of a renewable resource that can be extracted from nature without impairing nature ability to produce a similar yield at a later date.
Economic sustainability tends to give a lower priority to ecosystem functions and resource depletion.
Another key issue is about the role of economic growth. (The development of societies and economies) In the WCEDs first report it suggested that sustainability could only be achieved if economic growth increased by 5 or 10 fold in the next 50 years, as the growth was necessary to meet the needs of the larger future global population.
The WCED has however played down the importance of growth and this makes sense because many believe that it has been the pursuit of economic growth that has created most of the environmental problems in the first place.
It is regarded as costly idea and it could hinder the growth of the poorest.
The strengths of the concept sustainable development…
It draws together environmental, economic and social concerns and most agree on a number of common guided principles;
1. Continued support for human life
2. Continued maintenance of environmental quality and the long term stock of biological resources
3. The right of future generations to use resources that are of equal worth to those used today.
It means that growth should be achieved by better use of resources and improved environmental management rather than the traditional method of measuring economic ‘throughput’.
Who supports what?
The left wing, anti-capitalists and environmentalists support the concept. Support from those who see the current growth patterns as unsustainable as the a Earth reaches its ‘carrying capacity’
Could costs big business and governments a lot of money.
Weak sustainability - accepts that economic growth is desirable but suggests that it should not incur ecological costs which will prevent longevity in the development. It basically means getting rich slower.
Supporters of the view argue that human capital can be substituted for natural capital e.g a new airport should compensate for the loss of land the net capital should be equal.
Strong sustainability - favoured by radical ecologists redirects the pro-growth ideas from above. It focuses on the need to preserve and sustain natural capital seeing human capital as little more than a blight on nature. It links to the egalitarian implications of a ecological footprint.
What is sustainable development?
It includes three priorities that should be incorporated into any development programme
1. Maintain ecological processes
2. Promote sustainable use of resources
3. Maintain biodiversity
It gained credit thanks to the World Commission on Environment and Development which was formed by the UN in 1983 and it then reported four years later.
It highlighted the need for integration of economic and ecological systems is crucial for sustainable development to be achieved. They defined it as that that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Much of the work surrounding sustainable development has been focuses on the workings and capacities of the environment to better integrate its operations within the environment, to use natural resources more efficiently and to reduce the flows of waste and pollution.
The full cost of a product from raw material extraction to eventual waste disposal should be reflected in its market price although for some materials such as the minerals this ‘cradle to the grave’ approach may not work.
What is the conventional political thought prescribed to humankind and the natural world?
It is often called anthropocentrism. Therefore moral priority has therefore been given to human needs and ends.
John Locke said that human beings are “the masters and possessors of nature”.
Environmental thought by contrast is is based upon the principle of ecology and, which stresses a network of relationships that sustain all forms of life including human life.
What is reformist/shallow ecology?
It seeks to reconcile the principle of ecology with the central features of capitalist modernity which is why it is sometimes called ‘modernist’ ecology.
One of its key features is that it recognises that there are limits to growth e.g. Pollution or non-renewable resources that will ultimately threaten prosperity and economic performance.
It links closely with the idea of sustainable development and ‘weak sustainability’.
Damage to the environment is seen as an externality (a cost of an economic activity that has wider impact but does not feature on the balance sheet of a business or form part of the GDP of the country)
By taking into account such costs modern ecologists attempt to develop a balance between modernisation and sustainability.
The chief ideological influence on reformist ecology is utilitarianism (based on classical liberal thinking and it equates good with pleasure and happiness and evil with pain and unhappiness it aims to achieve the ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’. We must conserve resources because it maximises the happiness of the people currently living and the people who are yet to born.
They Say that not using or plane or buying a car would not be a sacrifice because they would be more in touch with nature.
It advocates three main solutions to the current problem;
1. Market ecologism or green capitalism - it attempts to adjust markets to take account of the damage done to the environment, making externalities internal to the businesses that made them e.g. Green taxes.
2. Human ingenuity and the development of green technologies - such as drought resistant or energy efficient means of transport. We did it for industrialisation so it can be done now.
3. International Regimes and systems of transnational regulation - global governance offers the opportunity for this to happen.
What is deep/social/radical ecology?
It is more far reaching and in some cases revolutionary. Radical ecologists view capitalist modernity and its values as the root cause of environmental degradation. Therefore to fit these principles there needs to be radical social change. There are three different ways to classify this total change.
1. eco-socialism - biast stems from private property and the tendency towards ‘commodification’. This reduces nature to a mere commodity. Th believe I th construction of a socialist society.
2. Eco-anarchism - implies hierarchy and authority they want domination of the people because this domination implies power over nature. The balance between humankind and nature can only be restored through the abolition of the state and the establishment of decentralised, self- managing communities (Bookchin 1982)
3. Ecofeminism - they believe that domination over women Leads to domination over nature as men are the enemy of nature because of their reliance on instrumental reason and the inclination to control or subjugate, respect for nature requires the creation of a post-patriarchal society.
Deep ecology goes even further and emphasises the need for paradigm change, a change in our core-thinking. It means embracing eco centrism (a theoretical orientation that gives priority to the maintenance of ecological balance rather than the achievement of the human needs.) It specifies that human beings are no more special than nature. They strongly support the idea of bio centric equality in which all beings in the ecosphere are of all equal moral worth and they are all part of an interrelated whole. It is thought that we are gifts from nature and we should not abuse those gifts.
They also suggests that the population should be controlled and limited to 100m cut down from 7bn.
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When were the two ideas first suggested?
In 1972 Arne Naess pressed a paper which first distinguished between shallow and deep ecology.
He supports the deep ecology and when camping in Death Valley Naess conceived the 8 principles of deep ecology.
What is the Gaia Hypothesis?
James lovelock first invented the idea. It advances the idea that the earth is best understood as a living entity that acts to maintain its own existence. He named the plant Gaia after the Greek goddess. The Gaia has maintained the ‘homeostasis’ a state of dynamic balance, despite major changes that have taken place in the solar system.
The most startlingly evidence of this is that the Earths temperature has risen by 25% but the composition of the Earth and its atmosphere has remained virtually unchanged.
The idea has no become an ideology that conveys the message that the human beings must respect the health of the planet and they act to conserve its beauty and resources.
However, it has been condemned as a ‘misanthropic’ ecology as it suggested that the health of the planet matters more than that of any individual on the planet and it suggests that any species that poses a threat to the delicate balance of Gaia is likely to be extinguished e.g. Humans.
