Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet PDF

# Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet ## Introduction Since the middle of the twentieth century, the scale of the human enterprise has rapidly escalated. With it, the exploitation of the natural world as a source of raw materials and a sink for the disposal of waste has also escala...

# Collision Course: Endless Growth on a Finite Planet ## Introduction Since the middle of the twentieth century, the scale of the human enterprise has rapidly escalated. With it, the exploitation of the natural world as a source of raw materials and a sink for the disposal of waste has also escalated. Though the roots of this explosion lie in the history of the last five hundred years at least (in the rise of capitalism, European colonialism, Enlightenment science, and the Industrial Revolution), the associated disruption of the global biosphere has become evident only over the last half century. This book is about the story of this growth, its astonishing acceleration since World War II, and its equally astonishing impact on the natural world. Above all, it's about the way the notion of ever-expanding economic growth has gained virtually ubiquitous popularity, both with policymakers and in public discourse. The idea put forward by physical scientists that we live on a finite planet that cannot sustain infinite economic expansion has been treated as an opinion of the lunatic "doom-saying" fringe. Even as concepts such as sustainability and "going green" have, in recent times, paid lip service to the need to act, the commitment to growth without end has not wavered. From the 1960s on, a succession of books pointed to the perils of pollution, untrammeled population growth, and ignoring ecology in the economic calculus. *The Limits to Growth* was written by MIT researchers in 1972 and commissioned by the Club of Rome, an international think tank promoting "identification and analysis of the crucial problems facing humanity and the communication of such problems to the most important public and private decision makers as well as to the general public." The Limits authors, with expertise across many disciplines, including biophysics, system dynamics, and management, found that unmodified economic growth was likely to collide with the realities of a finite planet within a century. They saw grave problems emerging from five major tendencies: * accelerating industrialization * rapid population growth * extensive malnutrition * the depletion of nonrenewable resources * environmental decline Their modeling of these trends showed that, if we continued along the same growth trajectory, we would be likely to precipitate ecological and social collapse in the second half of the twenty-first century. I happened upon *Limits* in the year it was published. Its logic was persuasive to me from the outset, and I expected its message to have a significant impact on the subsequent conduct of human affairs. But as the years rolled by, it seemed there was little effect-and then, even less. True, scientists continued to voice alarm, while the evidence began to mount that life on earth was experiencing a sixth extinction pulse and that the planet was warming. United Nations conferences proliferated, drawing attention to a plethora of environmental problems at every imaginable scale and attempting various treaties, protocols, and programs to address them. But outside the scientific community, in governments, bureaucracies, and public debate, an intensifying promotion of economic growth rendered it ever more securely entrenched as the natural objective of collective human effort. Growth became the "commonsense" solution to virtually all social problems-including, paradoxically, the environmental degradation it was causing. This quickening intent was not confined to the developed world but was increasingly emulated by almost all types of state, including communist China. It was this contradiction between the warnings of scientists and the popularity of growth economics, witnessed over the course of my adult life, that triggered the curiosity that led to this book. How could the advice of the scientific establishment, venerated to a fault during my early life, have been so comprehensively ignored and emphatically discarded a decade or two later by governments and policymakers worldwide? What were the decisive influences that neutralized that counsel of caution? How was such a compelling alert from a hitherto trusted source discounted so successfully? How did the opposite view, that growth was the most essential purpose of human societies, become the accepted wisdom? How had economists eclipsed scientists as preeminent authorities and indispensable voices in the policy sphere? ## Rachel Carson’s *Silent Spring* As World War II broke out in 1939, scientists were synthesizing an increasing and dramatic amount of chemicals for use on farms and in industrial processes. The purpose was to increase food production by eliminating pests; however, the residue of such actions was leaking untold amounts of chemicals into soil, plants and animals, affecting humans who suffered disease and additional maladies. From 1947 to 1960, the use of pesticides increased from 1.24 to 6.37 million pounds, growing fivefold in a thirteen year span. Meanwhile Rachel Carson was working as editor-in-chief for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and had been publishing several environmental books of rising popularity, including *Under the Sea-Wind* (1941), *The Edge of the Sea* (1955) and *The Sea around Us* (1951). Of the three, this last publication was successful enough to allow Carson’s temporary retirement and full dedication to writing and research. Recognizing the rampant use of pesticides and their possible consequences, Carson embarked upon her newest book project in 1952. It was only in June 1962, after a decade of rejection, that *Silent Spring* was originally published in *The New Yorker*. Immediately upon its publication, there was overwhelming backlash towards the book and Carson personally. Yet, all this criticism only made *Silent Spring* more popular; the book has sold more than 500,000 hard copies since first published, was listed on the New York Times bestseller list for thirty-one weeks, and was published in twenty-four countries. Despite the onslaught of criticism, Carson stated that in her research for *Silent Spring*, "what I discovered was that everything which meant most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important." Today, she is often credited with being one of the environmental heroes of the twentieth century. ## What is Environmental Sociology? Environmental sociology is typically defined as the sociological study of societal-environmental interactions, although this definition immediately presents the problem of integrating human cultures with the rest of the environment. Although the focus of the field is the relationship between society and environment in general, environmental sociologists typically place special emphasis on studying the social factors that cause environmental problems, the societal impacts of those problems, and efforts to solve the problems. In addition, considerable attention is paid to the social processes by which certain environmental conditions become socially defined as problems. **History** Modern thought surrounding human-environment relations can be traced back to Charles Darwin. Darwin's concept of natural selection suggested that certain social characteristics played a key role in the survivability of groups in the natural environment. Although typically taken at the micro-level, evolutionary principles, particularly adaptability, serve as a microcosm of human ecology. Work by Craig Humphrey and Frederick Buttel (2002) traces the linkages between Darwin's work on natural selection, human ecological sociology, and environmental sociology. Sociology developed as a scholarly discipline in the mid- and late-19th and early 20th centuries in response to the massive societal upheaval of the Industrial Revolution. In its foundational years, classical sociology saw social and cultural factors as the dominant, if not exclusive, cause of social and cultural conditions. This lens downplayed interactive factors in the relationship between humans and their natural environments. Environmental sociology emerged as a subfield of inquiry after the environmental movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. The works of William R. Catton, Jr. and Riley Dunlap, among others, challenged the limitations of classical sociology. In the late 1970s, they called for a new holistic, or systems perspective. Since the 1970s, general sociology has noticeably transformed to include environmental forces in social explanations. Environmental sociology has now solidified as a respected, interdisciplinary field of study in academia. **What Would an Environmental Sociologist Do?** An environmental sociologist is a sociologist who studies society-environment interactions such as the environmental movement, how people in societies perceive environmental problems, the relationships between population, health, and the environment, globalization, and the mechanisms behind environmental injustice. Environmental sociologists study such issues using standard sociological research methods. For example, they develop valid data collection instruments such as surveys and interviews. They use them to collect data about the environmental attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in groups. Alternatively, they may collect data based on observation and reviewing existing documents. They may plan and conduct research to test their theories about issues such as the valuation of nature, attitudes toward environmentalism, and belief in human-induced climate change. They then analyze the data to make conclusions about environmental behaviors, and potentially suggest ways to address problems. Sociologists generally share the results of their research by writing and publishing academic papers and submitting reports to their organizations. Many are faculty members at colleges and universities who teach sociology, in addition to conducting research. Some specific topics may include the following: * **Analyze social processes that cause humans to label an environmental condition as a problem** * **Study social factors that cause environmental problems** * **Study how environmental problems impact society** * **Study human created environmental degradation** * **Evaluate and research topics related to population control and the environment** * **Consider how people with different wealth impact the environment** * **Examine how gender, race, political and economic factors influence environmental action** * **Evaluate how culture views environmental justice issues** * **Consider the social aspect of an environmental event or disaster** * **Create, test and research hypotheses about populations, communities, and environment** * **Conduct field, lab, and theoretical research** * **Study human and environmental characteristics over time** * **Use modeling techniques to assess the potential impact of ecosystem changes** * **Publish the results of studies and research within the workgroup and throughout the field** * **Manage research projects with multiple timelines** ## Perspectives/Paradigms (five explanations that explain environmental degradation) **Malthusian Perspective (Thomas Malthus).** Modern day Malthusians are referred to as Neo-Malthusians. Population growth is humanity’s greatest challenge. Primarily, agricultural production will not be able to keep pace with population growth. The result would be mass starvation and societal collapse. **Human Exemptionalism Perspective (HEP).** This perspective claims that human-environmental relationships were unimportant because we as humans are 'exempt' from environmental forces. In this view, human intelligence could overcome environmental problems. Culture also has the capacity to innovate, making it capable of solving all natural problems. Conclusion? We as humans are not governed by natural conditions; we have complete control over our own destiny. **New Environmental Perspective (NEP).** In the 1970s, sociological scholars Riley Dunlap and William R. Catton, Jr. began recognizing the limits of the Human Exemptionalism Perspective. They created a new perspective that took environmental limits into account. They coined a new theoretical outlook for Sociology, the New Ecological Paradigm. The NEP recognizes the innovative capacity of humans, but says that humans are still ecologically grounded. The NEP notes the power of social and cultural forces but recognizes Earth has a finite level of natural resources and waste repositories. Thus, the natural environment can impose constraints on human activity. This perspective directly challenges Malthusian and HEP proponents. **Eco-Marxist Perspective.** In 1975, sociologist Allan Schnaiberg transfigured environmental sociology. He proposed an approach that focused on the destructive elements of economic systems (capitalism in particular). He argued: * **First, the economic interest that favors economic expansion will prevail over ecological concerns. Government policy will inevitably maximize immediate economic growth at the expense of the natural environment.** * **Secondly, governments will attempt to control only the most dire of environmental problems to prevent health and economic disasters. This will give the appearance that governments act more environmentally consciously than they really are.** * **Third, he believed that eventually, environmental degradation would become so severe that political forces would respond with environmentally sustainable policies. Unfortunately, tremendous damage to the natural environment will have already occurred. The capitalist economic engine would then be based on economic sustainability.** **Ecological Modernization Perspective (EMP).** Eco-Marxism spawned a perspective that supported the maintenance and continuation of capitalism along with "industrial ecology," large-scale organic agriculture, agroecology and certain strands of sustainable development-all implying that economic growth is possible if that growth is well organized with the environment in mind.