CHAPTER 4
I.
A.
Introduction: Basic Terms
Ecology
Ecology is the study of how living organisms interact with the natural environment.
B.
Biosphere
Eitzen (2003:80) describes the biosphere as the surface layer of the earth's
atmosphere. The biosphere provides the land air water and energy necessary to sustain
life.
C.
Ecosystems
Eitzen (2003:81) defines ecosystems as plants, animals, and microorganisms interaction
with each other and their physical environment. He contends that the energy that flows
through the ecosystems and the air (oxygen, etc) that ecosystems recycle are the
essence of the life-support systems within which people exist.
II.
Worldwide Environmental Problems
Global environmental problems include the overuse resources that are not renewable
such as metals and fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. Uranium is another nonrenewable resource. The consumption of such resources has rapidly increased during
the past 30 - 40 years. As Eitzen (2000:79) points out:
Total mineral production during the last thirty years was greater than that from the
beginning of the bronze age until world war two. The United States Bureau of Mines
estimates that the world consumption of aluminum will be twice today's level in nine
years, the use of iron will double in a decade and a half, and that demand for zinc will
double in seventeen years.
III.
A.
Degradation of the Land
1.
Deforestation
Pollution: Types and Impact
Deforestation refers to the process where tree cover is reduced worldwide. Deforestation is drastically changing the climate of the planet. World Watch (1987)
points out that from 1973 to 1981 16 percent of India's forest cover was lost. In Africa 29
trees are cut for everyone that is planted. Destroying the forest threatens to change
rainfall patterns on a global scale. There is evidence that patterns of rain fall have
changed substantially in Brazil as a result of clear cutting the Amazon rain forest.
Multinational corporations, lumber and mining companies, and local governments team
up to encourage the process of deforestation (Eitzen, 2003: 94).
2.
Desertification
Desertification is the process through which once usable land is turned into a desert. It
occurs because of overgrazing, harmful agricultural practices, or deforestation.
B.
Environmental Pollution and Degradation
1.
Chemical Pollution
Eitzen (2000:80-83) notes that the production of synthetic chemicals amounts to over 1
billion pounds per day that are eventually released into the environment. These
chemicals take the form of fertilizers, detergents, pesticides, plastics, insulation, clothing
and almost everything else. Consumers are hurt by such chemicals, but employees of
chemical processing plants are even more seriously affected.
A problem that is intimately associated with the production of chemicals is disposal.
Eitzen (1986:96) notes that each year about 77 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are
buried.
Lo
"In one infamous instance, the Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation over a number of years, dumped
chemicals dumped were 200 tons of trichorophenol, which contained an estimated 130 pounds of one of the
million people. As a result of exposure to the various chemicals dumped at Love Canal, nearby residents ha
born with defects" (Eitzen, 2006:86).
Love Canal is only one of 50,000 dump sites found nation-wide. Of these dumps, over 2000 are viewed by t
2.
Solid Waste Pollution
As a result of waste dumped in the Atlantic Ocean, "Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean (on
the North-East coast of the U.S.) is like swimming in an unflushed toilet" (CNN report, 730-88). Also See (Eitzen, 2000:83-84) for more on the subject of solid waste pollution.
The average American throws away 3 to 5 pounds of garbage daily. This adds up to 3 tons per year for th
Indust
ry
adds
160
million
tons
of
solid
waste
to the
enviro
nment
each
year.
Agricu
lture
and
minin
g add
2 to 3
billion
tons
of
waste.
The
U.S.
import
s 91
perce
nt of
its
alumi
num
annua
lly and
then
throw
s
away
1
million
tons
of it
annua
lly
Ameri
can's
pay 9
perce
nt of
their
grocer
y bill
for
packa
ging
that is
imme
diately
throw
n out
Ameri
can's
spend
$4
billion
annua
lly just
to
collect
and
dispos
e of
garba
ge
3. Water Pollution
The major sources of water pollution are:
• industries (which pour a variety of nasty substances into lakes, streams and the
ocean)
• farmers (whose pesticides, fertilizers, and animal wastes drain into streams, lakes, etc.
• Cities dispose of their waste in rivers (that often serves as drinking water).
• There are also oil and other chemical spills.
The Mis
When it comes to water pollution, the destruction of the Mississippi River stands as a dramatic example. The
Magazine in 1863 referred to the basin of the Mississippi River as the body of the nation. T. S. Elliot called th
the Mississippi) that if a man "drunk Mississippi water (he) could grow corn in his stomach if he wanted to." T
Geographically, the Mississippi River is as grand as it is in cultural Americana. It is 2500 miles long and stre
United States. It has over 100,000 tributaries and passes 400 billion gallons of water per day at its mouth (R
Despite the river's past glories, people today have coined new buzz words to refer to T. S. Elliot's "strong bro
Today, citizens cynically refer to the river as "Cancer Corridor" or "Chemical Alley." The area near the mouth
of waste to the sea. Waste accrues from a variety of sources such as municipal dumping, industrial waste, a
Russell (1988:14) calls attention to a wide range of pollution along the Mississippi River. There are hundreds
590 plus industries that discharge their waste directly into the river. There are more than 620 municipal wast
countless other sources of pollution.
Pollution
In order to maintain high yield crops, chemical fertilizers are often employed. Unfortunately, many negative c
destroyed, and farmers become "hooked on nitrates like a junkie is hooked on heroin": both generate a need
the end of the century. Fertilizer pollution threatens to become an irreversible problem in terms of water pollu
and then die. The process of bacterial decay consumes oxygen; so fish die. Lakes become incapable of sup
Example: The Delta Crud
4.
Radiation Pollution: The WIPP Site
Generally, one thinks in terms of a nuclear war when considering pollution that involves
radiation. There are many other sources of radiation pollution. New Mexican's in 1988,
for example, have been expressing concern over the WIPP Site that will be used to
store low-level nuclear waste. Radioactive waste is especially troublesome because
some of it has to be secured for up to 250,000 years. This period of time represents
about one fourth of the entire time that humans have been considered as a separate
species Eitzen (1986:99).
Radioactive waste includes:
• used nuclear cores
• uranium tailings
• waste generated by hospitals, universities, and industrial plants.
Much radioactive waste is dumped into the ocean. From 1946 to 1970 the U.S. dumped
11,000 tons of radioactive waste into the ocean. The Farallon Islands, located just west
of San Francisco, have 50,000 barrels of radioactive waste located in their vicinity. Near
the Farallon site radioactive levels are 2000 times greater than would be normally
expected. Even more dramatic are the levels of contamination found off the New Jersey
shore. The New Jersey site has levels of radiation that are 260,000 times the normal
level expected. Fish caught near the New Jersey site were found to contain levels of
Plutonium 5000 times the expected level.
5.
Air Pollution
In the United States more than 200 million tons of air pollutants are added to the
atmosphere each year which adds up to about 1760 pounds of pollutants per person
(Eitzen, 1986:94).
1.
Acid Rain
Acid rain is a major problem related to air pollution. Coal burning emits two pollutant into
the air such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. These pollutants fall to earth attached
to rain or snow as nitric and sulfuric acid.
Acid rain damages lakes, streams, vegetation, and wild life.
Acid rain also destroys metal and concrete. Since acid rain is carried in the atmosphere
it is of international concern.
The United States exports ingredients of acid precipitation to Canada; England sends
them across the North Sea to Scandinavian; and acid haze over Alaska may come from
as far away as Japan. If the present rate of American generated acid falls on Canada
over the next 20 years, some 48,000 Canadian lakes will be rendered lifeless, according
to Canadian officials (Eitzen, 1986:94).
2.
Green House Effect: Global Warming
The green house effect refers to the warming of the earth's atmosphere. Carbon dioxide
levels are increasing in the earth's atmosphere which is in turn causes the temperature
of the planet to rise (See Eitzen, 2000:90-91). Carbon Dioxide levels have risen 30
percent since 1860. Comparing temperatures over the past 134 years, World Watch
notes that 1980, 1981, and 1983 had the highest average temperatures. The arctic
tundra in Alaska has warmed 4 to 7 degrees over the last century. What kind of social
impact would ensue if the polar ice caps were to melt? The disappearing forest cover,
along with heavy use of fossil fuels, combines to produce the greenhouse effect.
With reference to the latter, the burning of fossil fuels adds more carbon dioxide to the
earth's atmosphere that nature can absorb. Carbon Dioxide is an insulator which allows
heat from the sun to reach the surface of the earth, but it prevents this heat from
escaping, hence the name greenhouse becomes an appropriate description. Some
researchers feel that the earth's temperature will rise about five degrees over the next
100 years.
Refrigerants are also a problem. They are used as propellants in aerosol cans and are
found in air conditioners of cars. They are responsible for the depletion of the ozone
layer of earth's atmosphere, which is necessary to protect the earth from ultraviolet
radiation. Without the protective ozone layer, humans can expect increases in skin
cancer as well as a variety of unpredictable changes in the plant and animal life.
The destruction of the tropical rain forests is a third feature that adds to the Green House
Effect. Plants take CO2 out of the atmosphere. With the wholesale destruction of
forests, there are fewer plans to serve this purpose.
IV.
Cultural Sources of America's Environmental Problems
Culture refers to shared ideas, values, beliefs, and understandings that act to shape the
behavior, perceptions, and interpretations of the members of society (Eitzen, 2000:92).
A.
The Cornucopia View of Nature
According to this perspective, American's tend to view nature as a vast store house of
resources waiting for people to use. Nature is viewed as something that exists to serve
people. Resources are viewed as free and inexhaustible. Perhaps the cornucopia view
of resources in grounded in our past. Historically, the U.S. has had vast areas to expand
into when social problems became acute. Note that Daniel Boone had only to move
when he needed more "elbow room." (Eitzen, 2000:92)
B.
Faith in Technology
Most Americans feel they are masters over nature. The environment is seen as
something to be conquered. When problems arise, such as an oil shortage, there is a
tendency to thinks in terms of waiting for "science to save us" (Eitzen, 2000:9293). Those who believe in the "faith in technology" plan to reduce environment problems
might argue that:
• Technological answers to environmental problems can and will be developed.
• Technology is not the source of environmental problems, but rather the solution.
• The judgment on technology's role in environmental problems is still premature.
C. The Growth Ethic
This point may be summarized by the statement: "More is Better." This notion is often
taken to absurd extremes.
Example:
The competition between two college students over the wattage of stereo amplifiers
where one has 85 watts per channel and the other has 100 watts per channel. Although
the difference is minor, the student with the lower wattage feels a need to "keep up."
D.
Materialism
In capitalist society there appears to be a belief that progress somehow translates into
consumption of material things as evidence of success (Eitzen, 2000:93).
Thorstein Veblen and
Veblen's idea of conspicuous consumption suggests that people who are wealthy want others to know that t
and show them off.
1.
Planned Obsolescence
Planned obsolescence refers to the creating of demand where no actual need
exists. Planned obsolescence occurs when existing products are given superficial
changes and marketed as new, making the previous product obsolete. Eitzen (2000:93)
argues that economic growth is required by the U.S. economy and economic growth
depends on demand for the products created in the economy. If the population is stable,
then the economy requires that the current population increase its consumption.
Advertising exists, in part, to encourage people to buy what they might not otherwise buy.
Consumption is also increased when products have to be thrown away (plastic bottles)
or if they don’t last very long. Companies "plan" for their product to be short lived so that
it has to be replaced.
Examples of planned obsolescence can be found in the computer industry. The
technology related to mini computers is progressing very rapidly. Many times, however,
the new technology is provided to consumers in a piece meal fashion necessitating the
consumer to buy a "new and improved" computer every year or so. Microsoft also
engages in this practice with their variations on their Windows platform (e.g., Windows
95, 98, 2000, ME, XP, and now Vista).
E.
The Belief in Individualism
Americans place great stress on the idea of personal achievement and success. The
proof of personal success is often interpreted by way of the acquisition and possession
of material goods. The collection and consumption of material goods, however, help
generate some of the problems associated with environmental decay.
Three aspects of over consumption prove unhealthy for our environment.
The desire on the part of corporations to make profit regardless of the cost to "the
greater whole." With respect to the later concept, there is a tendency to take care of
one's self before considering the whole. This philosophy is maintained regardless of the
fact that what benefits the whole may eventually benefit the individual. Short term
advantage is presently the goal.
Embedded in the above critique is the expectation that Americans in specific and
Westerners in general are going to have to take a more holistic view of themselves in
relation to the world environment or disaster will surely follow.
V.
Structural Sources of Environmental Problems
Social structures are patterns that society is organized around. Institutions are part of
social structure. There are educational, judicial, religious, and family structures. People
organize their lives around social structure.
Example:
From the ages of 5 to 18 children go to school. This social pattern is so dominant that no
other options are available. Young people have the choice to NOT got to school, but
note that they still define their life around school. Young people who chose to not go to
school are called "school drop outs."
Social structure can be very specifically defined (the legal system) or they may be less
well defined. People have to work, but where and how they work is open to
choice. People are, theoretically, even free to not work at all, but in reality, this is the
freedom to sleep under bridges (see Przeworski, 1986).
There are some structures that are hidden well below the surface (like the economy).
A.
The Capitalist Economy and the Last Contradiction for Capitalism
There is an international emphasis on industrial development and its related
characteristics of reliance on modern technology and consumption.
Our economic systems depends on profits and the appetite for profit is never satisfied
regardless of how much wealth one manages to accumulate. Part of the quest for
profits involves minimizing costs. Adding pollution control equipment and purifying
waste water adds to the cost of production. Another part of making profits is the art of
encouraging over-consumption.
1.
Over-Consumption
Over-consumption refers to the creation of a demand for products where no actual need
exists. Several processes are involved in encouraging over-consumption.
1. Advertisers create a state of over consumption by encouraging people to buy what
they do not need.
2. Innovative packaging
3. Product differentiation where existing products are given cosmetic changes. "New and
improved" are popular buzz words in the modern American vocabulary. Product
differentiation may also take the form of items being produced that do not
"match" similar products made by competitors. Such practices force consumers
to buy entire systems.
Example: high mileage cars
Technology has been available for years that allows automobiles to achieve up to 100
miles per gallon of gas. This technology has never been provided to consumers. Once
again, in piece meal fashion, these cars are coming into the market-place.
All of the above encourages increased consumption where none was needed. A side
effect of this unneeded production is more pollution, a greater depletion of resources,
and more garbage.
B.
The Polity
Pollution is ultimately encouraged rather than discouraged as a result of the
"government's cozy relationship with large polluters." This position is supported when
one investigates current laws that have only minimal effect on stopping pollution. When
an offense is detected, usually only a slap on the wrist results. Part of the explanation for
the lack of intervention is that the government finds it difficult to oppose activities that are
profit-generating. Making profit is an important cultural goal. Ultimately, it is the public
which has to bear the costs of cleaning up the environment.
The following are some examples of how large scale polluters are ignored while
individuals are harassed in terms of environment issues.
1. A person who throws a banana peel out a window at Yosemite will be fined $25 while
the oil companies involved in the large Santa Barbara oil spill paid nothing in
fines, for clean up, or for restoration of the beaches after the oil spill.
2. It's a crime for people to relieve themselves in Puget Sound but its legal for
corporations to do it 24 hours per day.
C. Demographic Patterns
1.
Rapid Urbanization
a. The concentration of people in cities is another source of environmental problems.
Due to extreme concentration of people, the ecology cannot absorb waste
products. Whenever people become concentrated in small areas, pollution and
waste will also be concentrated. The tendency toward urbanization is a structural
condition that breeds pollution.
b. Furthermore, the location of cities causes problems. Abundant water is necessary for
production and waste disposal.
c. A further structural problem is related to the growth of suburbs which necessitate a
great deal of driving and automobiles represent a significant source of pollution.
2. Population Growth
There has been a dramatic increase in the total population of the world during the past
150 years. Population growth increases increase competition (and therefore conflict) for
food, energy, and other resources. The population is expected to double over the next
30 years thus compounding competition for valued resources.
D.
Environmental Classism & Environmental Racism
Eitzen (2000:98) uses environmental racism and environmental classism to describe the
greater likelihood that the poor and racial and ethnic minorities will encounter various
kinds of pollution. They are more susceptible than are the nonpoor to excessive noise,
foul air, or toxic chemicals such as lead poisoning.
VI.
Disillusionment With the Ecological Agenda
In the early 1970s a group of ecologically-minded social scientists at MIT formed the
"Club of Rome" and produced a document called The Limits to Growth (Meadows, 1974).
The Club of Rome offered a very pessimistic view of the future that predicted that society,
as we know it, would come to an end as a result of the depletion of resources and the
destruction of the environment. They over-stated the problem in dramatic fashion.
The Club of Rome based their prediction of dooms-day on statistics that covered only a
few years. Based on trends during the late 1960s that addressed the consumption of
resources and population growth, the world should have run out of resources, such as oil,
by now. The Club of Rome succumbed to the fallacy of assuming the presence of linear
trajectories based on data collected over to short a time period. Apparently they did not
anticipate that as resources became scarce, the price of those resources would rise,
thus creating conditions favorable for more expensive exploration and the development
of new resources (solar power).
The effects of environmental destruction have effects that balance themselves, in an
unhealthy sort of way. The green house effect, for example, is a serious problem caused
by air pollution. The impact of global warming, however, is partially negated because
other polluting entities create tons of dust, which blocks out sun light which promotes
atmospheric cooling.
When dooms-day failed to arrive, people quickly lost interest in the ecological agenda.
The relationship between people and the environment, however, is still an issue,
regardless of whether people publicly discuss it or not. Over-use of the physical
environment is beginning to cause dramatic social change. Destruction of the natural
environment reduces the ability to produce food and it hinders progress in the realm of
economic development (World Watch, 1987). As competition increases for food and
scarce resources, a predictable side effect will be much more conflict.
Human society has a relationship with the physical environment, but economic policies
oriented toward rapid growth are a threat to several sectors of the natural environment.
Alterations in the physical environment mean profound changes in the social
environment. The possibility exists that the human race has already set in motion
changes in the physical environment that will radically alter not only the physical
environment, but the social environment as well.
VII.
Solutions To Ecological Problems
Eitzen (1986:111) points to a variety of possible approaches that may be employed to
address environment problems.
A.
The Pro-Business Voluntaristic Approach
Another name for the pro-business voluntaristic approach is the market-place approach.
This approach addresses resource depletion and follows theory of supply and demand.
The market place, when left alone, will solve our environmental problems. Via this
philosophy, as resources become scarce, the price will rise. Rising prices will encourage
the search for new sources as well as the conservation of remaining natural resources
(Eitzen, 2000:99).
The pro-business approach will in all likelihood encourage the production of and
exploration for oil and gas in environmentally fragile area. It will encourage greater use
of coal ... a resource the United States and abundant sullies of. It will also encourage
the use of nuclear power plants.
B.
The Egalitarian/Authoritarian Plan
The basic problem with the pro-business approach is that it lacks a plan for the overall
protection of society. The egalitarian/authoritarian plan considers pollution a crime
against society which will not be tolerated. It calls for the imposition of severe penalties
to be levied against polluters and calls for a rigorous inspection program of corporations
that engage in activities that can cause pollution. In short, the government must not
tolerate pollution or polluters.
This plan also stipulates that the fines will not be passed on to the consumers [how do
you stop that?].
Eitzen plan:
• It advocates maintaining the 55 mile-per-hour speed limits and the instillation of
governors on cars and trucks.
• It advocates high mileage cars
• It would also attack energy waste by forbidding the use of neon signs.
• It would call for minimal use of outdoor lighting.
• It would end the current policy of providing reduced energy rates for large customers.
• Another part of Eitzen's plans calls for mandatory rationing of resources. Rationing
would curtail energy consumption in an equitable fashion.
• Reducing waste in another important aspect of this plan. Eitzen (2000:100) argues
that fully two thirds of the energy that Americans consume does no work. Half of
that waste could be avoided.
C. More Structural Changes
Included here are alterations in the economy and changes in life style.
Changes in the economy are addressed first. In the present context, corporations seek
profitable routes to doing business, not conservation oriented routes. In the past, private
enterprise has employed more environmentally sound means in production. Barry
Commoner (in Eitzen, 2000:101) describes changes that have taken place in the
economy and he offers an explanation concerning why changes have taken place.
The basic reason is one that every business man well understands. It paid. Soap
companies significantly increased their profit per pound of cleanser sold when they
switched from soap to detergents; truck lines are more profitable than railroads;
synthetic plastics and fabrics are more profitable than leather, cotton, wool, or wood;
nitrogen fertilizer is the corn farmer's most profit yielding input; power companies claim
that capital intensive nuclear plants improve their rate of return; and as Henry Ford II has
said, "mini-cars make mini-profits."
In each of the scenarios mentioned by Commoner, it is important to note that in each
case people chose to pursue short term gain without considering long term
consequences. This is one of the characteristics of capitalists.
How do you change economic systems? Eitzen (2000:101) provides 5 suggestions:
1.
There must be central planning
2.
Pollution must be controlled and such control tightly enforced.
3.
The monopoly structure of the energy industry must be broken up.
4.
There must be mandatory conservation measures enacted.
5. The government must subsidize viable alternative energy sources and the resulting
structures should be publicly owned, no privately owned in order to ensure that the profit
motive in missing. Comment:
6. Finally, and most importantly, polluters' cozy relationships with the federal
government must be curtailed.
D.
Life Style Changes
People in the West consume more than their share of resources. The U.S. makes up
about 5% of the world's population, but consumes about 33% of the world's resources
and controls about 50% of the world's income. Eitzen suggests changes in life style may,
in part, be forced on First-World countries. Maintaining the current high rates of resource
consumption may encourage the formation of cartels in the Third-World, increased
nationalization of foreign interests, and finally could prompt poor nations to consider
nuclear blackmail.
What is not addressed is how international agreement will be obtained. My concern is
that we in the United States may, in fact, decide to enact strict environment protecting
measures while the rest of the industrial world does not. That would put the U.S. at a
significant disadvantage in terms of competition with other industrial countries.
"Just because the cow is a pacifist,
it doesn't automatically make the tiger a
vegetarian."
Significant roll backs of behavior related to the profit motive have to be addressed on an
international level. One country cannot do it. With respect to simple issues, like
WHALING BANDS, some countries refuse to take part (Japan and Iceland) so whale
depletion is continuing.
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