Green crime

Importance of green crime

• Planet = single ecosystem

  • Therefore threats are more global

    • E.g. one country’s atmospheric pollution → another’s acid rain

Beck (1992) — global risk society

• Late modern society means can provide resources for all

  • HOWEVER rise in productivity and technology → creation of manufactures risks, like those to the environment

Example of global risk society — 🇲🇿 (Mozambique)

• Global heating → hottest heatwave in a century → wildfires

• 🇷🇺 grain belt destroyed → 🇷🇺 banned exportation of grain → global grain prices increased

• 🇲🇿 v. dependent on food imports → own grain harvest was hit by drought → price of bread increased by 30% → rioting and looting in shops → 12+ people dead

Patel (2010)

• International spectators gamble on hunger in the financial markets

Traditional criminology thoughts on green crime

• No real concern because if no law has been broken, there’s no issue with criminal law

Sita and Emmons (2000) — definition of environmental crime

• Unauthorised act/omission that violates the law

2 CRITICISMS of Sita and Emmons (2000)

1. Only focuses on patterns and causes of law-breaking

2. Accepts official definitions that are shaped by those in power to serve their own interests

Green criminology

• Notion of harm > criminal law

White (2008) — subject of criminology

• Any action that harms the physical environment and/or humans/animals within it even if no law is broken

2 issues with use of traditional criminology for green crime

1. Different laws in different countries

2. Worst environmental crimes ≠ illegal

Zemiology

• Study of harm

  • Focus on global perspective of crime over legal definitions

White (2008) — 2 views of harm

1. Anthropocentric

2. Ecocentric

Anthropocentric

• Human-centered

  • I.e. we have the right to dominate nature for our own ends

• Economic growth > environment

Ecocentric (adopted by green criminology)

• Humans and environment are interdependent

  • Both are liable to exploitation from global capitalism

• Harm to one hurts the other

South (2020) — 2 types of green crime

1. Primary

2. Secondary

Primary green crime

• Undeniable act-environment link

  • Act directly results in destruction of the Earth

4 examples of primary green crime

1. Air pollution

2. Deforestation

3. Species decline and animal abuse

4. Water pollution

Number of tonnes of carbon added to atmosphere/year by burning fossil fuels

6bn

% increase in carbon emissions /year

2%

3 groups/people responsible for air pollution

1. Gov’ts

2. Businesses

3. Consumers

Walters (2013) — -x more deaths from air pollution-induced breathing problems than 20 years ago

2x

1960-1990 % of global tropical rainforest destroyed + important factor

• 20%

• Illegal logging

2 examples of deforestation

1. Amazon rainforest cleared for rear beef cattle for export

2. Pesticide used in Andes to kill drug plants but killed food crops, contaminated water and caused illness

2 groups/individuals that commit deforestation

1. States

2. Those who profit from it

Number of species that go extinct/day

50

% of mammal species at risk

46%

% of bird species at risk

11%

% of species that live in rainforests and thus are under severe threat

70-95%

2 examples of species decline and animal abuse

1. Animal (parts) trafficking

2. More dog fights and badger baiting

Number of people that lack access to potable water

0.5bn

Number of deaths/year caused by water

25m

% of world’s oceans threatened by marine pollution

58%

% of world’s fish threatened by marine pollution

34%

1 example of water pollution

• Deepwater Horizon oil spill

2 people that commit water pollution

1. Businesses

2. Gov’ts

Secondary green crime

• Has a knock on effect

  • Has broken a rule/regulation and gone on to cause harm

3 types of secondary green crime

1. State violence against oppositional groups

2. Hazardous waste and organised crime

3. Environmental discrimination

Example of state violence against oppositional groups

• Condemns terrorism yet resorts to illegal methods

  • e.g. 🇫🇷 blew up Greenpeace ship in 🇳🇿 in 1985, which killed 1 crew member

    • Was there to prevent green crime of 🇫🇷 nuke testing in the pacific, which is a green crime

Day (1991)

• In every case where a gov’t has committed itself to nuclear weapons/power, all those who oppose the policy are treated in some degree as enemies of the state

Disposal of toxic waste

• Very profitable!

  • High costs therefore → illegal dumping

Hazardous waste and organised crime 🇮🇹

• Ecomafia profit from illegal dumping of waste, most of it at sea

Walters (2007)

• Ocean floor has been radioactive rubbish dump for decades

  • 28,500 rusting barrels of radioactive waste lies on the sea bed of the Channel Islands after it was dumped there in 1950s

Bridgland (2006)

• 2004 Tsunami → illegally dumped radioactive waste ending up on 🇻🇳 shores

Rosoff et al (1998) — cost of legit disposal of toxic waste in 🇺🇸

$2,500/tonne

Rosoff et al (1998) — cost of legit disposal of toxic waste in LICs

$3/tonne

Rosoff et al (1998) — impact

• W. businesses ship their waste to low-cost, low-safety LICs

Rosoff et al (1998)

• TNCs offload products onto LICs if they get banned in W. countries

  • Shows issues re law enforcement and globalisation

Bhopal

• Safety laws in 🇺🇸 made it too expensive to produce pesticide in 🇺🇸 so it was produced in 🇮🇳, which led to Bhopal disaster

South (2020) — environmental discrimination

• LICs and W/C are more affected by pollution

  • Black communities in 🇺🇸 live next to garbage dumps or polluting industries

CRITICISM of green criminology

• Difficult to define objective boundaires

  • Need to make moral/political decisions re right and wrong

River Wye

• Has been granted rights (its full catchment) by the councils that it flows through