Prometheans, Denialism and the Green Backlash Flashcards
Why was the enviro movement doing so well in the late 70s?
• Economy growing
• Unemployment low
When there is slow growth/ tough times people don’t want to think about the enviro and making sacrifices
What happened that enabled the Green Backlash to establish itself?
After a period of considerable economic growth, there was a decline in the late 70. Businesses chose this opportunity to act and attacked regulation/ welfare programs/ progressive taxes
What was the real reason for the economic slump of the late 70s?
Slowing down of manufacturing in US
Why were businesses successful in their anti-green campaign?
- More funds/ resources
- Think tanks
- Campaigns
- PR
Why did workers easily get on board with the anti-green campaign?
- Economic decline
* Obsession with Asian comp
What was the outcome of neolibs getting into power?
- Started with Thatcher, then Reagan
- Anti-reg, anti-union, anti-welfare policies implemented
- Spreads across western world from US
Who are the Prometheans?
Neoclassical economists from US unis
Who are Barnett and Morse?
- Prometheans
- Price as measure of scarcity
- Price of resources falling, availability going up and this is good
Who is Wilfred Beckerman?
- Promethean
- Small is stupid
- Prices falling because every time a resource gets scarce it becomes profitable to find more or created a substitute
- i.e. wood shortage -> developed coal and found more wood
- Survivalists were completely wrong
Who is Julian Simon?
- Promethean
- Human mind as ultimate resource- therefore the more people the better
- We will always solve our problems
What is the Breakthrough Institute?
- Promethean
- Say survivalists have misunderstood everything, we are exceptional and our destiny is different to other species
- We need to keep creating and moving forward
What is the difference between Prometheans and survivalists?
“[Survivalists] say: ‘From now on we should limit ourselves.’ [Prometheans] exclaim: ‘From now on, we should stop berating ourselves & take up explicitly & seriously what we’ve been doing all along at a greater scale… namely, intervening, acting, wanting.” Schellenberger & Nordhaus
What are solutions to climate change according to Prometheans?
o Geo-engineering- Deliberate, large scale human intervention into the Earth’s natural climate change
o Human engineering- making humans smaller, giving them cat eyes, genetic meat intolerance
o Resurrection biology- bringing back extinct species
o Terraforming- living on other planets
What are examples of geo-engineering technologies?
1. Solar radiation • Offset symptoms of green house by deflecting sun’s energy away from the earth • space-based sunshade • Fresnel lens • Reflective balloons 2. Green house gas removal • Removing CO2 from atmosphere • Ocean fertilisation • Artificial trees
What are limitations to Promethean theory?
- It ignores displacement- polluting industries move from one country to another, State A gets cleaner, State B gets dirtier
- It ignores timescale- hasn’t been a problem for 100 years so will never be a problem
- It ignores the tragedies of the commons- don’t address over grazing/fishing, deforestation etc- because they reject any forms of regulations
- Ignore the pace of degradation- saying equilibrium will naturally be restored- species always go instinct, yes but not at the current rates
