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I - The Environment and Sociology
Reading notes
Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems
Peter M. Vitousek, et al. (1997)
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1/3 – ½ of Earths surface has been transformed by human action.
Earth’s ecosystem can not be understood without accounting for the strong influence
of humanity
Land Transformation – most substantial change in the earth’s ecosystem
• Affects how the ecosystem interacts with the atmosphere and aquatic systems.
• Uses civilian satellites to detect changes from deforestation on continental and global
scale. (This is very noticeable on Google Earth)
• Understanding land transformations requires integrating social, economical and
cultural causes to have any hope of affecting the consequences. (This is what the
IPAT and POET models try to do)
Oceans – 60% of the earth’s population lives within 100 miles of the coast.
• Some marine fisheries are unsustainable – consequences are not restricted to their
targeted organism
• Algal blooms prove that humanity has also affected the base of the marine food
change – these cause extensive fish killings
Biogeochemical Cycles
• Mining, burning fossil fuels, deforestation add CO2 to the atmosphere – past levels of
C02 are known by measuring the levels of CO2 in air pockets in Antarctic Ice.
• Increased CO2 represents the most important human enhancement to the greenhouse
effect.
• Change in CO2 is likely to change composition of all terrestrial ecosystems
• 70% of water use is in agriculture
• Diversions of rivers have resulted in the demise of native fisheries In the Aral Sea and
Lake Chad.
• The adequate supply of clean water will be the most important environmental security
issue. (It already is in some countries)
• Human activity puts as least as much fixed N into the air as do natural sources –
increase in the concentration of Nitrous Oxide (greenhouse gas) and contribute to acid
rain
• Where added N has increased productivity of ecosystems, it has decreased biological
diversity. (This may be due to farms that use nitrogen rich fertilizers and only grow
one crop)
Biotic Changes
• Land transformation is the single most important cause of extinction.
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Human activity has accelerated the rate of extinction and biological invasion.
The authors suggest that we:
- Reduce the rate at which we change the ecosystem by slowing down population
growth and using resources effectively.
- Increase our understanding of how the earth’s ecosystem works and how we affect it.
– has to include social, economic, cultural and other drivers of human actions.
Environment Energy and Society
Humphrey, Lewes and Buttel (2003)
• Environmental sociology was derived from human ecology
Human Ecology: developed by Robert Park and Ernest Burgess at the University of
Chicago in the 1920’s
• POET model of revisionist human ecology – developed to help study the
interrelationships b/w Population growth, social Organization, Environment and
Technology. – Change in one part of the complex leads to change in another part.
• The E is defined in an anthropocentric manner – the percentage of the central city that
is not-white, the population density of each central city, and the percentage of the
central city jobs held by non-central city residents. (early definition of E in the POET
model, meant only in reference to developed urban areas.)
The rise and then Revitalization of the Environmental Movement
• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and Paul Ehrlich’s Population Bomb were two works
that brought environmental problems to the attention of the public and thus started
environmental Sociology.
- Ehrlich says that the two ways to control population growth, ‘birth rate solution’
and ‘death rage solution’ which are exactly what they sound like.
- Used current environmental problems to appeal to the publics sympathy for the
environment.
• There was an increased concern for the environment which led to conservatism.
- Decreased government involvement in environmental issues, the funding for the
EPA was cut all in an effort boost the economy. (Often the environment is pinned
against the economy. Since the environment is viewed as a resource in the
economy, it will inherently suffer when that resource is protected or limited.)
• Environmental Non-government agencies stepped up in the place of the governmental
agencies.
The Development of the Human Exemptionalist and New Environmental Paradigms
-William Catton and Riley Dunlap
HEP:
1. Humans are not like other species
2. Social and cultural factors are the major determinants of human affairs. (does not
include environmental impact)
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-33. Social and Cultural environments are the crucial context for human affairs.
(again, it does not include the environment)
4. Technological and social progress can continue indefinitely making social
problem solvable. (based on the assumption that the environment will always be
there to support the technological and social progress)
NEP – which is Catton and Dunlap believe in
1. Humans are merely a part of the ecosystem, but display exceptional
characteristics.
2. Human affairs are influenced by society, culture, and nature.
3. Humans are dependent on nature for survival
4. Ecological laws apply to humans no mater how distant they seem.
The Influence of Rural Sociology
Rural Sociology already had links b/w the environment and society so it was
natural that they would contribute to the development of environmental sociology.
Class notes
01/11/08
Documentary: Endangered Planet
• We live in a period of advancing technology and unbridled economic growth. (This
would apply to the major global powers only, like Japan and United States)
• 1950 – a chemical company was dumping mercury into the bay which was killing fish,
paralyzing anybody who ate the fish.
• Minimata Disease: caused when humans ate fish with mercury or drank water with
mercury in it.
- the company knew about the dangers and chose to do nothing,
• Silent Spring- Rachel Carson’s book- pesticides cause damage
- It launched a debate of man vs. nature.
- Denied by some experts.
- Radiation – birds started laying eggs with thin shells b/c of DDT on an island far
from shore,
- DDT entered the food chain and poisoned the birds
01/14/08
Environment, Energy and Society
• Describes the origins of environmental sociology – came from human ecology
Documentary: Endangered Planet (continued)
• Grassroots movement persuaded Nixon to create the EPA
• Chipkow movement brought the environmental movement to India (a chemical factory
released toxic chemicals which poisoned thousands of people)
• Environmental Non-Government Organization –(ENGO) – direct action, buy out,
lobbying government.
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II – The Environmental Movement and Environmental Justice
Reading Notes
The Environmental Movement in the United States
Mertig, Dunlap and Morrison (2002)
• One of the more successful social movements
• Roots come from the Conservational Movement of the late Nineteenth Century
• John Munar – led early preservationists interests – represented by the Sierra Club (1892)
and National Audubon Society (1905).
• The authors list other groups that contributed to Conservation movement.
• The world wars hurt the conversationalist movements b/c the public’s attention was
elsewhere.
• The environmental movement was modest in its goals and tactics compared to other
social movements of that time.
• Television and other media played an important part in educating the public about
environmental problems.
• Ecology is the most broad of the Environmental movements – focusing on the ultimate
sustainability of life on Earth. – also the most radical employing direct action such as
boycotts and taking hostages.
• Environmental movement began to decline b/c the economic costs were beginning to
weigh in. (factor workers who lost their jobs b/c the factory was polluting too much, they
couldn’t find work so groups were established to represent them) – loggers, hunters,
miners, and farmers unions → Wise Use movement
• Environmental conservation Organization and Abundant Wildlife Society of America are
a few Wise use organizations that took on environmentally friendly names.
• VESMO’s use professional staff to acquire resources and funds
• IESMO’s institutionalized environmental social movement organization. (EPA)
• Monkey wrenching – direct action tactics – also geared towards attracting media attention
• Deep ecology – more of a radical perspective, social equity, protect the environment for
its sake, not just ours.
• 1980’s saw a decline of the environmental movement b/c of
- Globalization and shifting values toward economic growth
- Regan administration politics
- Environmental Justice
** opened the door for Environmental Non-Governmental organizations.
Living and Dying in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’
Beverly Wright,
Bullard Ch. 4
• Environmental racism is a product of a history of slavery and the Jim Crow Laws.
• “Environmental racism is merely on vestige of the overall pattern of practice of racism in
the Untied States.” (It is no longer an environmental issue as much as it is a social issue)
• Governments take advantage of people who are politically and environmentally
powerless. This practice emerged “from the region’s earlier marriage to slavery and the
plantation system”
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The Mississippi river chemical corridor is known as the ‘cancer alley’ where 135
petrochemical plants line the eighty-five mile stretch of the Mississippi river b/w New
Orleans and Baton Rouge. These factories drive the states economy.
The state government has chosen to support and protect the oil chemical industry as its
main source of economic activity. They do this by giving more then $350 million
annually in tax breaks to the biggest polluters in the state. (Businesses support candidates
who will give them tax breaks once they get elected.)
Louisiana is last in the country in environmental quality.
The top ten polluting parishes in Louisiana release 80-85 percent of the total chemicals
that are released according to the Toxic Release Inventory. (most of the pollution is
concentrated in one area, along the Mississippi river
80% of the African American community in the 10 parishes lives within three miles of a
polluting facility.
Toxic Neighbors
• Norco, Louisiana.
- Known as the Diamond community. Predominantly African American.
- Located next to Shell Oil Refinery which is the 2nd largest emitter of toxic
chemicals, 200 billion lbs. of toxic waste emitted into the air
- Residents sued Shell citing exposure to toxic chemicals and eventually were given
the option of a buy out or to remain in the community with a no interest loan of
25K which was forgiven.
- Most decided to move out and all that remains today is a cemetery.
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Agriculture Street Landfill
- Originally a city dump that was supposed to included solid object and hurricane
waist.
- Federal government created a housing project on top of the land fill in 1969
- In 1983 heavy metals were found in the ground
- The government founded a $20 million clean up while a buy out would have only
cost $14 million.
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Convent, Louisiana
- 82 percent of the population was African American.
- Located near a proposed plant, Shintech, that would emit toxic chemicals.
- The residents sued, and eventually a smaller plant was build farther upstream
.
Casualties of chemical Pollution
Historically African American Communities that have been destroyed
- Morrisonville – Dow Chemical company bought out the houses
- Reveilletown - harmful chemicals were founding the blood of children
- Sunrise – In another buyout, only the homes of the white residents were
originally bought out.
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-6Environmental Inequity in Metropolitan Los Angeles
Pastor, Sadd and Morello
Bullard Ch. 5
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Environmental hazards are disproportionably located in the communities of color and are
more closely related to that community’s political power then to market dynamics.
(Based more on political power then the cost of houses in the neighborhood.)
Christopher Forman suggested that environmental justice was “intended to contribute to
the building of a new political movement more than to the development of good science
and environmental policy.” (I would agree with that somewhat, b/c in the cases in
Louisiana where a petrochemical company bought our neighborhoods, they didn’t help
the environment at all, It just made good to the people who lived near enough to the plant
to be directly affected by the pollution)
Data Judo in the Research World
- There are some studies that suggest that polluting plants are built in neighborhoods that
have the cheapest land value, not necessarily colored neighborhoods. The authors argues
that these studies are improperly carried out and don’t account for all of the factors
involved
- The authors then cite a study which looks at more variables and concludes that pollution
areas are correlated with minority neighborhoods.
Building a Regional Collaborative for Environmental Health and Justice
Existing organizations have had some success battling unjust practices
Toxic Racism on a New Jersey Waterfront
Olga Pomar
Bullard Ch. 6
Camden and the Waterfront South Neighborhood
Several superfund sites are located in the town of 80,000 African American and Latino
residents
- General Gas Mantle Corporation
o Operated from 1915 to 1940 and left behind radioactive thorium.
o The building was converted to a warehouse where workers were exposed to
radiation and had a 1.8% increase in chance of developing cancer.
- Martin Aaron Incorporated
o Washed and buried around 500 hazardous waste containers containing volatile
organic compound, Polychlorinated biphenyls, Arsenic and other chemicals.
- 11 other sites that are know polluters.
- A grant from the EPA helped to fund several projects to clean up the area.
- Years of pollution has left 61% of the residents with repertory symptoms and ¼ of
children with asthma.
Creating a Voice for the community
- Citizens formed the South Camden Citizens in Actions (SCCIA) in 1997
- Urged local politicians to improve environmental conditions
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-7The Fight Against St. Lawrence Cement
- The cement company proposed a plant in south New Jersey that would add to the
already overwhelming pollution while only providing 15 jobs.
- Had the backing of the local government
- They were allowed to construct the facility without the permit being issued.
- Department of Environmental Protection and the EPA ignored complaints about
environmental discrimination. The citizens cited title IV under the civil rites act of
1964
- Supreme court ruled that citizens do not have the right to do such a thing, so now the
cement company is operational and further polluting the Waterfront South.
Winning Beyond the Courts
- An important time in South New Jersey b/c people who seemed to have no political
power proved they can stand up and fight against large corporations by:
o Held interviews with the press, local and national
o Formed the Camden Environmental Justice Coalition
o Continue to fight bravely.
Anatomy of the Urban Parks Movement
Robert Garcia and Erica S. Flores
Bullard Ch. 7
Why Parks Matter: The Values at Stake
• “If current trends in obesity, inactivity and disease continue, today’s youth will be the
first generation in this nation’s history to face a life expectancy shorter then that of their
parents.”
• The districts with the highest percentage of overweight children also have the highest
concentration of people of color.
Race, Ethnicity, and Unequal Access to Parks
• 69% of LA is made up of people of color
• It has fewer acres of park per resident then any other major city in the United States
• This stems from a history and pattern of discriminatory land use planning, racially
restrictive housing covenants, and discriminatory founding formulas and other practices.
o Poorer communities in the inner city have been historically shortchanged by city
funding formulas for parks and recreation programs.
• Quimby Act – Developers have to set aside money to create parks near their now
projects. – does not help the poor neighborhoods b/c no new development is occurring
• The Inner city has .3 acres per thousand residents while the white wealthy parts of LA
have 1.7 acres per thousand citizens. About 6 times more, while fields for organized sport
play are even rarer.
• White neighborhoods have swimming pools, basketball hoops over the driveway, access
to country clubs and private beaches and vacation resorts. (the author himself admitted
that most colored people couldn’t afford to pay fees for parks that require them)
Olmsted’s Vision Yesterday and Today
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-8Frederick Law Olmsted proposed a huge park for LA in 1930. (May not have passed due
to the great depression at that time, but it could have been one of the great public works
projects that the federal gov. funded to help kick start the economy.)
The Battle for the Cornfield
• The cornfield used to be a farm and it is now a defunct rail yard north of
Chinatown and is surrounded by communities of color.
• China town had no parks, the middle and high schools still don’t have playgrounds or
green fields and the only elementary school does not have an grass. (This does not sound
like any town in America that I have every herd of before.)
• Majestic proposed to build a warehouse on the yard which was opposed by community
leaders who wanted to build a park
• After a long period of debate, Majestic and the community came to a compromise that if
the city would buy the yard for the purposes of building a park, then Majestic would
abandon their plan of building the warehouse.
Baldwin Hills
• It is an area surrounded by mostly colored neighborhoods where a park is to be built.
• Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation that would build parks in affluent white
neighborhoods instead of the 2 sq. mile park in Baldwin Hills. The authors suggest that
funding be divided equally among all neighborhoods, while the situation remains
unresolved.
Resource Wars against Native Peoples
Al Gedicks
Bullard Ch. 8
The Philippines: Mining Codes Versus Native Land Rights
• The Philippines have copper and gold deposits in their rock and soil, they are among
the world leaders in exports of these two metals.
• In 1995 the gov. signed a new law which allowed foreign companies to cone to the
Philippines and mine more land then the local companies were allowed to mine.
• Most companies used open pit mining which completely destroys the environment
and uses dangerous chemicals to separate the metals from the rock and soil.
• After mine tailings were spilled into local rivers, grassroots movements started up to
protect the environment and eventually some companies left without cleaning up the
mess they made.
Colombia: Oil and Violence
• Oil companies in Cuba drill on indigenous territory, which harms the environment
and forces the people to move
• An LA based oil company wanted to start drilling for oil in the territory of the U’wa,
so the U’wa looked for help from the national and international governments to fight
this proposal.
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Some natives have taken direct action methods to protect themselves by participating
in gorilla warfare. So now the governments enlists its army just to protect the oil
fields and companies
Oxy pulled out of Cuba and gave the land back to the gov. who then started drilling
on the land. (This is clearly a situation where the government does not have the
people’s best interests at hart.)
Wisconsin, USA: Native Resistance to Multinational Mining Corporations
• In 1975 Exxon discovered Crandon zinc – copper sulfide deposits and made
proposals to start mining in 1993.j
• Natural rice beds are located downstream on the Mole Lake Ojibwe Reservation.
• The mining would lower water levels and release chemicals that would destroy the
wild rice fields
• The Indians were granted independent authority to regulate water quality on their
reservations by the EPA.
• 1998 – Exxon finally left
Tierra y Vida: Chicano Environmental Justice Struggles in the Southwest
Devon G. Pena
Bullard Ch. 9
Farmworkers and Industrial Workers
• Of the 4 million farm workers in the US, 2/3 are immigrants of which 80% are from
Mexico.
• They suffer from “inadequate housing, malnutrition, and lack of access to medical
care.” They also live in overcrowded labor cams without heat, running water or a
bathroom.
• Laws to protect these workers are not enforced or have minor punishments. This leads
to disproportionate workplace deaths and a life expectancy of 49 years.
• Formed the Farm Workers Network for Economic and Environmental Justice
organization to fight for workers rights.
• Factories which hire colored workers have higher rates of injuries and death
• Worker unions and environmental justice groups are working together to fight for
workers rights.
Land Grant Communities
• Vellecitos Federal Sustained Yield Unit – A land grant in New Mexico that held a
forest used for its Timber. Local communities wanted control over the timber
business b/c they believed that what the big timber company was doing was
unsustainable.
• Granados del Valle and Tierra Wools – Local livestock owners complained of lack of
grazing lands in the Tierra Amarilla land grant.
• Sangre de Cristo - a purchase of 80,000 acres of the land grant was made by the
Taylor family. The local residents attempted to buy back some of the land, but their
offer was rejected. There was a large logging operation on the land for ’95 to 2000.
Acequia Farmers
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Farmers that use primitive irrigation techniques that utilize snow runoff from nearby
mountains.
Quest, NM – miners contaminated water with chemicals
Colorado Acequa Association and Taos Valley Acequia Association – two
organizations who actively protect water writes for acequia farmers.
Political Ecology of the Barrio
• Southwest Organizing Project: a movement started by Mexican Americans living in
urban environments where there exists discrimination and police brutality. There is a
lack of clean and uncrowned housing, lack of parks and open space. Their
communities are surrounded by toxic polluting industries.
• El Pueblo para el aire y Agua Limpia: (people for clean air and water) – organization
that
Rural Colonias
Rural or semi rural slums inhabited mostly by Mexican origin Immigrants and
Mexican Americans. (squatters)
Located along the Texas and Mexico Border
Don’t have access to water or a sanitations system
They are organizing a movement to demand access to running water and a sewage
system.
Environmental Reparations
Robin Morris Collin and Robert Collin
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Bullard Ch. 10
The environmental Justice movement gives a voice to the people who are affected by the
pollution. The Environmental movement by it’s self tends to focus on wilderness and
nature that does not include urban centers which have minorities and underprivileged
people living in them.
Urban environments tend to be the most polluted neighborhoods b/c the residents don’t
have a powerful political voice.
The political boundaries that separate polluted and non polluted neighborhoods, i.e. white
and demographically diverse neighborhoods are an obstacle to environmentalism b/c
those who live outside that area not affected by pollution don’t see it as their problem
when sometimes they are the cause of that pollution.
Cumulative Risk: A Baseline for Justice and Sustainability
• Minorities are at greater risk from chemical pollution then whites.
• Most chemicals released are not documented or their effects on humans and the
environment has not been studied
• Minority community members want to be involved in the decisions that affect their
environment
The Case for Environmental Sustainability and Justice Reparations
• African Americans are owed equal health care, education, justice, and government
support
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Sustainability includes doing things that are just.
We should monitor the release and cleanup of toxins, make polluting plants cleaner. The
authors suggest including the local community in projects where appropriate.
Make a historic registry which will affect how Environmental Impact Statements come
out.
Vieques: The Land, the People, the Struggle, the Future
Deborah Berman Santana
Bullard Ch. 11
The Land and the People
• Vieques is an island next to in Puerto Rico that has been used by the navy as a military
base and weapons testing ground since the 1930’s.
• “Racism and colonialism have been used to justify sacrificing people and lands for the
national security of others.”
• There were plenty of delicate life systems on the island including coral reefs, sea grasses
and mangroves.
• Military troops were used to break up the peaceful protests by the local people.
The Struggle
• 21,000 of the islands 33,000 acres were taken by the navy and used to carry out
ammunitions testing and as a base for Camp Garcia.
• Non-conventional weapons including biological, chemical, and nuclear were used during
the testing. Napalm and Agent Orange have also been used.
• The navy proposed to remove the entire population of the island several times. (seeing
what they did with people on the island only makes me wonder what they would have
done if nobody lived on the island.)
• The navy opposed attempts of the natives to develop their economy through
manufacturing and tourism in order to limit traffic around Vieques.
• The use of the weapons has exposed the local plant and animal life to heavy metals which
cause cancer and diseases of the heart, kidney, reproductive organs, and skin. (this is a
big problem for the locals who support themselves through farming b/c they can’t do
anything with food that has heavy metals in it.)
• Several resolutions have been passed in which the navy would leave the island, but none
were acted on.
• David Sanes – civilian employee was killed by one of the bombs. This sparked protests
on the island and on the US mainland.
• The most powerful protest have been through militant, nonviolent civil disobedience.
The Future
• There was a vote held which gave the people 2 choices
- Bombing to resume 90 days per year
- $40 million for continued bombing until 2003 with the option to add $50 million
for permanent bombing.
• ^ fell through so a new bill was introduced that included the immediate end to navy
training.
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The navy left the island in May 2003.
The land that the navy left behind can not be used for anything b/c it has been bombed so
bad.
Class Notes
01/18/09
Human Ecology – Viewed the environment as a factor
Rural Sociology – focuses on recreational land use and Natural resource use
- continues to focus on society-environment interaction
POET – Population, Organization of society, Environment, Technology
HEP vs. NEP (Riley Dunlap and William Catton)
Catton- Overshoot, concerned with population growth, points out the limit of growth and
notes the carrying capacity
01/23/08
Abbey, Edward. Monkey Wrench Gang
- A book about direct action and grass roots movement.
Anthropocentricism – human centered environment
Environmental Justice
• 1970 – 1990
o MLK raised the issue in 1966
o 1982- warren county NC,
§ A company was dumping waste on the side of highways
§ Led to the US General Accounting Office, which found a link b/w
race and pollution
• 1990 – 2000
o 1992 -Earth Summit in Reo
o 1994 – Executive order 12898 sighed by Clinton
Environmental racism – “any policy, practice, or disincentive that differentially affects or
disadvantages individually, groups, or communities.
01/25/08
Group Presentations
Bullard Ch 4 Living and Dying in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”
Do companies offer to buyout these families because they know they cannot afford to turn down
the money?
The land is worth more to the company without residents on it (nobody will sue), then it
is to the residents who live there so they offer to but out the land.
Why do companies choose these locations to build their destructive plants?
I think that these locations are chosen for economic benefits. For example the
petrochemical plants build near the Mississippi river because there is easy access to
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- 13 shipping and chemical disposal. Also the residents who live there are less likely to
“mount a strong opposition.” The fact that these reasons are immoral, unethical, and
sometimes illegal doesn’t seem to make much of a difference to the decision makers.
Why doesn’t the government see the problems with these companies before people get sick and
begin to complain?
Governments welcome these companies knowing that they are big polluters because of
the economic benefit that they bring. (not necessarily to everybody) It could also happen
that the company is polluting illegally and without the governments knowledge in witch
case it is up to the EPA or other organizations to correct that by bringing it to the
governments attention.
01/28/08
Group 3: Racism on the New Jersey Waterfront
Camden and Waterfront communities → home to 80,000 African Americans and
Latinos
- High infant mortality rates
- 1997 – South Camden Citizens in Action → mostly low income African
American women.
What is the significance of the Supreme Court’s ruling for Environmental Justice
cases and do you think they are accurate?
It is significant that they ruled that citizens do not have the power to enforce
certain parts of the Civil rights act passed in 1964. I believe that they made the
right decision. This should be left up to the courts or a judge to decide. Although
it is a blow to minorities trying to protect themselves from corporate polluters,
this situation in New Jersey showed that there are other ways to fight back no
matter how many resources you have or don’t have at your disposal.
Are the DEP (Department Environmental Protection) agencies in the US doing
enough to prevent the public of Environmental hazards?
No, they could always do better. But this is hard to achieve because of the
political and economic influence that big corporations have. If you ask people
who have lost their jobs, then the DEP has done too much, and if you ask those
affected by the pollution the most, the DEP is not doing nearly enough.
Group 4: Anatomy of the Urban Parks Movement
- There are trends in obesity, inactivity and disease
- Unfit children face greater risk of disease
There is a lack of parks in communities of color
Baldwin Hills: a proposed 2 square mile park. In LA
01/30/08
Group 5: Resource Wars against Native Peoples
Is paying off a country’s debt worth the pain and suffering of its people?
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- 14 A country’s debt is the people’s debt. Whenever a debt is being paid off, it
is only natural that the burden of some of that cost is bared by the people.
But for the case if the Philippines, where foreign companies were brought
in to strip-mine for gold and copper, they had no regard for the native
peoples or environment. They were paying too high a cost for the debt of
its government.
The U.S. government proposed to spend $147 million to help protect Oxy
pipelines. Whose responsibility is it to protect the pipeline, the government or
Oxy?
Since the pipeline is in Cuba, the responsibility falls on Oxy and perhaps
the Cuban government.
Group 6: Tierra y Vida
Some people in the Barrios and Rural Colonias may not speak English, be
citizens, or pay taxes. Do you think that companies/industries target these areas
because of this, and are they ignored by social service agencies because if it?
It would definitely be easy to take advantage of these people so I do think
that they are targeted. However they should be given the same rights as
any other citizens as long as they are citizens themselves.
Many worker unions are joining forces with environmental justice groups. Will
the worker union goals diminish in significance in favor of environmental justice
goals or vice versa? Can their goals be reconciled?
The goals that the worker unions set are often the same goals that an
environmental justice organization would set; to give the workers a save
and clean working environment. So by working together they can be a
more powerful force in achieving those goals.
02/01/08
Group 7: Environmental Reparations
How can we increase the sense of responsibility felt by policymakers and polluters on
others?
Since policymakers are commonly the local politicians who are elected by the
people living through pollution, it should be their duty to want to enact
environmentally just policies and practices to make the lives of those who elected
them easier.
How can we increase the organization and influence of city dwellers to make their voice
heard?
Those who want to be heard can join local organizations that support their ideas.
This is how city dwellers have influenced the outcome of laws that govern their
neighborhood.
Group 8: Vieques: The Land, the People, the Struggle, the Future
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- 15 Who do you think is responsible for the cleanup of the island.
I think that the navy bares complete responsibility for cleaning up the mess that
they left. The native people could not clean up the land even if they wanted to b/c
they are not trained to handle live ammunition of the chemicals and toxins that
have been left behind.
02/04/08
Group 10: Environmental Racism and Neoliberal Disorder in South Africa
• Governmental accountability: it is the governments job to make sure that the environment
is protected.
• In South Africa, there exists neoliberalism, class divides, fiscal restraint, cost recovery,
privatization, liberalization.
• Uneven spending on white and black communities, and b/w poor and rich neighborhoods
• Privatization: transferring services from public sector to private sector. – bad for the
environment and community b/c of profit maximization
• ^ resulted in job loss for local black workers, while cutting corners puts the remaining
workers at risk.
• 50% of whites own 80% of the land.
• 40% of the available water is used to maintain suburban gardens.
Environmental Justice
- addressing/eliminating poverty
- Neoliberalism – changing infrastructure from the public sector to the private
sector
o Accountability disappears b/c companies are in charge and not the gov.
o Traditionally government run services have been privatized
o Is a result of globalization
o Free trade – no taxation means gov. doesn’t make money from the
business so they cant support their own infrastructure\
- Most political economists say that it is a bad thing. Dependency (authors in
Bullard’s book.) However, strictly economically speaking, globalization is a good
thing.
Outside Reading
Global Warming is Color-Blind
Jennifer Oladipo
- Community involvement projects and newsletters are not marketed to communities of
color
- We are not going to have a cultural revolution so long as minorities are ignored by the
discussion on environmentalism (A complete cultural shift toward environmentally
friendly practices has to involve minorities b/c they are a significant part of the
population.)
- The author was not contacted by environmental organizations to join; she had to
search for them herself.
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“If environmentalism continues to appear mostly white and well-off, it will continue
to be mostly white and well-off” (a source of environmental problems in minority
neighborhoods could come from the lack of involvement in environmental
organizations, which do not seek out minority members)
Environmentalist have to be racially diverse.
Environmental Justice for All
Leyla Kokmen
March – April 2008
- Bus routs ran through environmentally blighted neighborhoods where railways, truck
traffic, and refineries converge. People live 200 feet from the freeway. (My first home
after moving to America was in an apartment complex of mostly immigrants form
Africa, Mexico, Yugoslavia, and India. The building where I lived was less then 200
feet from I-40 without even a fence separating the two, but there is one now)
III – The Human Ecology Perspective: Convergence of Malthusian and Durkheim Traditions
Environment, Energy and Society.
Humphrey et al. (b)
Social Theory and the Environment:
Compares the sward and a kept lawn; Sward is “part of the natural world” and the lawn is
a “social construction”
Illustrates the clash between the natural laws governing ecosystems and a socially
constructed cultural tradition prescribing the human normative standards for
lawns.
• The sward is naturally sustainable while the lawn is not.
“No single sociological paradigm is ‘a complete and true one’ in the sense that it can be
an adequate source of concepts and hypothesis to explain any phenomenon” (I agree with
this statement b/c the effect that society has on the environment depends on ones views of
how society should be organized.)
Thomas Robert Malthus:
His statement about linearly increasing food supplies would still apply today even with
the increase in farming technology. Even with the added pesticides, fertilizers and
equipment, there is a limit to how much food an acre of land can produce.
It is weird that he considers homosexuality a check on population. They may not be able
to reproduce, but can adopt and raise children if inclined to do so.
The road to human perfectibility is through moral restraint and celibacy.
Emile Durkheim:
• Differential awards for particular kinds of work are necessary incentives to maintain a
smoothly functioning division of labor.
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“As the social division of labor increases in complexity, driven in part by population
growth, the differentiation of society into groups with an unequal distribution of
economic resources becomes the basis for representation in the political sphere” (This
seems to go against the environmental justice movement which hopes to spread problems
equally among all classes. That is if a cleaner environment is viewed as a resource which
in this case it should be b/c the prices of homes are affected by how clean the
surrounding air/water is.)
The Durkheim Conservative Legacy:
The Dominant Western Worldview (DWW)
1. People are fundamentally different from all other creatures on earth, over which
they have dominion.
2. People are the master of their own destiny; they can choose their goals and learn
to do whatever is necessary to achieve them. (If the goal is to have
environmentally sustainable societies, then that goal is possible. Why is it that
today’s society does not seem to be environmentally sustainable while that
philosophy has been preached for a while )
3. The world is vast, and thus provides unlimited opportunities for humans. (I
disagree with this statement b/c opportunities are limited if they are dependent on
resources that are limited as well.)
4. The history of humanity is one of progress: for every problem there is a solution,
and thus progress need never cease.
Max Webber:
He views culture as legitimating ideologies and myths. He also believes that the basic
casual force in society is power, which is in the hands of a “stratum of elites”
Says that sometimes the source of power comes from the culture of a society; the
example about building highways.
The Weberian Managerial Legacy:
Managerial paradigm – emphasizes the need for substantial structural change in society to
address environmental problems, but bring change from within.
- Gives various examples how environmental problems have been lessened through the
passing of laws. It goes on to say that large firms have specialized lawyers that can
minimize the fine of breaking such laws.
- This is a perfect example of how one paradigm is not ‘a complete and true one’ b/c it
shows that laws can be passed but may not always be effective, so something else is
needed.
Karl Marx:
Government and law, in a capitalist society, are the agents of the dominant class.
- Saw Malthus as a “shameless sycophant of the ruling classes” and thought he was
guilty of blaming the victims
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- 18 From Social System to Ecosystem
Otis Dudley Duncan (1961)
Problems can best be illuminated if they are treated as ecological problems.
Levels and Systems
- It is difficult to accept new scientific ideas b/c scientists are so used to working with
the old ones
Levels – organization of data by separating them into groups based on characteristics.
Systems – More complex then levels, it cuts across levels.
The Ecosystem
- “a system in which the exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts
follows circular paths”
Rethinking the Environmental impact of Population, Affluence and
Technology
Suggests and adaptation of the widely known IPAT model.
The Lydians suffered through an 18 year long famine after their population outpaced the
growth of production (happened centuries before Malthus noted the growth rates of
population and food supplies.)
The connection b/w population and pollution was made by Seneca the Younger during
the early years of the Roman Empire.
Darwin was inspired by Malthus when he wrote The Origin of Species. When population
outpaces supplies, there is competition and only the fittest survive, according to Darwin.
Important b/c social and biological sciences came together on one issue.
The IPAT formula combines the efforts of population biologists, ecologists, and
environmental scientists to model the effect of several factors on environmental impact.
Does not provide the adequate framework for disentangling the various driving forces of
anthropogenic environmental change.
POET – Population, technology, social organization and environment.
Does population growth and concentration lead to economic growth, or the other way
around? (If economic growth comes first, then it is more important then population when
looking at the IPAT formula.)
Simon argues that increased population leads to an increase in technology b/c when
supplies get low, people are forced to find a more efficient way to produce and consume
the resources. (this would be an argument for the side that population comes first, b/c
with new technology and increased efficiency of society, the economy can grow)
There are several arguments that suggest that technology and institutional arrangements
have more of an effect on the population then the size of the population it’s self. (This
says nothing about the environmental impact of the technology and improved
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- 19 institutional arrangements. I would argue that since and increased population causes a
need for these things
Radical Ecology
Carolyn Merchant
Arne Naess – “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology movement”
environmentalism should deal with fundamental changes in human relations with the
nonhuman nature.
Principles of Deep Ecology
• Humans are equal to all other living things
• Psychology of self has to change. Instead of thinking about ones power over the earth,
think about how one is a part of the earth.
• Take from the land only what can naturally be replenished
• Ecocentric versus home-centric philosophy.
• Use science and technology only if it agrees with the environment.
• HEP vs. NEP. Although human are a unique characteristics and a species, they are
still subject to the same ecological laws and restraints as other organisms Dependent
upon finite natural resources.
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Scientific roots of deep ecology
• No sharp distinction b/w life and not-life
• Evolution and the unwinding clock theories contradict each other b/c evolution
exchanges energy with the environment while mechanical systems are considerd
isolated or closed.
• Lorenz proposed that environmental and biological systems may be governed by
nonlinear chaotic relationships.
• Suggest that an 1% increase in oxygen levels of the atmosphere will destroy all life.
(It must not be good that that the CO2 levels have so dramatically increased)
• The metaphor of the earth as Gaia where the earth is a living organism. Supported by
the interaction of the biological cycles, like the nitrogen cycle.
Eastern Philosophy
• The ideals of Deep Ecology are similar to those of earlier eastern philosophy like
Taoism, Buddhism, and others.
Class Notes
01/06/08
Social Theory And the Environment
Population checking
1. Positive checks – extreme events like poverty, famine, and wars
2. Preventative checks – Contraceptives and abortions
3. Moral restraint – celibacy and exclusive post-marital sex.
Conservative → Primary focus is on culture
(Human ecology) – change in consciousness
Managerial → Political power (structure)
- culture results from the political power structure
Radical → Economics → Politics
→ Culture
02/08/08
(Absent)
02/11/08
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- 21 The Principles of Population – Thomas Malthus
- the power of population is infinitely greater then the power of the earth to produce
sustenance for man
- People don’t marry until they are able to support a family.
- Happiness depends on the increase of food. (
- Vices : Envy, Malice, Revenge
Should people stop having children if they can’t provide for them.
In some rural cultures like in India and China, families have more children just so
they will have more farm workers who can help provide for the family. But in any
other situation, having a child that you can not provide for puts the whole family
at strain b/c everyone has to give up some of their resources for the child.
Therefore the whole family would be better of to have fewer kids.
2/13/08
Haeckl – student of Darwin who studied Ecology later described as ecosystems.
Human Ecology: (1920’s) Robert Park and Ernest Burgess
- Sometimes referred to as the Chicago school of classical Human Ecology.
- May treat the environment as an empty box, saying nothing about the environmental
factors in the space.
Revisionist Human Ecology: (1950’s) Hawley Duncan
- Focuses on the actual environment; conceptualizes human problems with relation to
the environment
- Society is not in the ecosystem, it is a part of it
New Human Ecology: (1970’s) Dunlap and Catton
- Culture and environment
POET – Population, Organization, Environment, Technology
For the diamond mining industry
P – Division of Labor, Mining community, downstream communities
O – Corporations that mine, government, miners, interests, marketing, demand.
E – Depends on the type of mining
T – Drills and Jewelry
The organization part of the equations seems to be driving and affecting everything else.
02/15/08
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