Lecture 3 - Modernity and the Environment

Modernity (3)

• Modernity as problem + solution to econ crisis

• Modernity - (onset -17th century)

• 2 views on modernity

Modernity as problem + solution to econ crisis (3)

1. Progress has destroyed much of planet taking a toll on physical environment 

2. Solutions have to be greened + made sustainable - modernity can be improved through this 

3. Environmental crisis is an imp catalyst of modernity progress 

Modernity - (onset -17th century) (5)

1. market society and capitalism

2. nation-state

3.  liberal democracy

4. belief in progress through human agency + reason

5. environmental degradation

2 views on modernity

1. Ecomodernism: green modernity by making industry more sustainable via tech

2. Green Keynesianism: green modernity by making capitalism more sustainable via state

Ecomodernism - What is it? (4)

1. Environmental harm is integral to modernity cuz of industrialization

2. Env problems cannot be dealt w in isolation to modernity as they come w it - modernity is double-edged (good + bad to env) 

3. SO calls for a switch/change to industrialization process to try maintain sustainability - tries to  achieve sustainability w/o taking modernization away 

4. Decoupling (switch of industrialization process) can be advanced through tech changes + demographic/social change

SO calls for a switch/change to industrialization process to try maintain sustainability (2)

1. Green modernity by greening industry (i.e., ecological switchover powered by tech innovation that supports sustainable production + consumption or “decouples” econ growth from environmental impact)

2. Green "super-industrialization" seen as a new and higher phase of human development

Ecomodernism - Emergence + progress (3)

1. 1970s: advent of env pol; grassroots env mvts; creation env ministries that take a legislative-bureaucratic approach to addressing env harm - (X amount for air/water/land - so sets quality caps per sectors)

2. 1980s: rise of ecological modernization - recognizes interconnectedness of env harm 

3. Onward: ecological modernization a prominent, even dominant, env framework

1980s: rise of ecological modernization - recognizes interconnectedness of env harm (3)

1. Env degradation calculable (e.g., cost-benefit analysis of pollution) - by sector - monetary + scientific descriptors - efficient resource use 

2. Env repair compatible w ongoing econ growth

   1. Proves that pollution restrictions + sustainability leads econ growth

Ecomodernism - Why an imp approach (3)

1. Frames env crisis as a win-win business opportunity + avoids pitting gov regulators against econ producers 

2. Avoids addressing potential social contradictions + doesn’t posit a need for structural change - argues there is a techno-inst solution to env repair that can be addressed through actual inst 

3. Neutralizes more radical environmentalisms (i.e., by making env repair status-quo friendly + compatible w modernity) - it provides a pol strategy that is effective as it goes hand in hand w modernity 

Green Keynesianism - What is it (4)

1. Similar to ecomodernism: modernity is problem + solution to env harm

2. Env harm is integral to modernity bcs of capitalism (VS industrialization for ecomodernism) 

3. Capitalism can be made more sustainable via state intervention

4. Left to its own devices, capitalism directs econ activity in ways that harm both env + society - (Green new deal in readings + A new planet to win in readings)

Green Keynesianism - Role of State (5)

1. State can help repair by a) directing investment and b) coord production for c) social + env public good -> this transition helps environment + also ppl

2. States have historically used Keynesian econ to successfully address crises (e.g., “New Deal” response to mili-econ crisis implemented by Roosevelt) + should do so again today (i.e., to address env-econ crisis)

   1. Keynes: econ driven by consumptive + investment demand which may need to be stimulated during crises through

      1. fiscal policy (gov spending + taxation)

      2. monetary policy (adjusting interest rates + money supply)

Green Keynesianism - Strands (4)

1. Aronoff et al vs. "faux Green New Deal boosters” (investment through modest subsidies + carbon taxes) 

   1. Criticize faux as don't go far enough + not prioritize democratization as would need demo buying for its implementation

2. Both strands frame env degradation as a collective action problem (i.e., a prob in everyone's interest to fix but about which no 1 actor has a sufficiently self-interested incentive to act)

3. Both strands contend that state must step in to resolve this prob, but propose diff degrees + forms of state intervention

Both strands contend that state must step in to resolve this prob, but propose diff degrees + forms of state intervention (2)

1. State intervenes directly in econ (position Aronoff et al. endorse - Radical Green New Deal)

2. State intervenes indirectly in econ (position Aronoff et al. reject as “faux Green New Deal”)

State intervenes directly in econ (position Aronoff et al. endorse - Radical Green New Deal) (2)

1. manages resource use toward societal + env long-term interest

2. via exercising “levers of public spending, coordination, + regulation”

State intervenes indirectly in econ (position Aronoff et al. reject as “faux Green New Deal”) (4)

1. Natural resources are privatize + commodified 

2. Use taxes + subsidies to lead to sustainability in econ 

3. creates markets + financial incentives to promote env repair

4. via e.g., pricing natural resources, offering subsidies, levying taxes

Green Keynesianism - Why an imp approach (3)

1. Green Keynesianism frames repairing env degradation as an econ opportunity - alike ecomodernism

2. Green Keynesianism constitutes a relatively big tent accommodating of pol econ diversity

3. Insofar as capitalism is here to stay, making it greener may register as one of few available paths forward

Green Keynesian Challenge One (6)

1. Mann + Wainwright - Climate Leviathan

2. Keynesianism functions through nation-state’s ability to direct movement of capital

3. But states can no longer do this as effectively as they once could

   1. neoliberalism + globalization have curtailed their econ autonomy

   2. rise of int finance has decoupled capital accumulation from domestic pol

4. A global sovereign would be needed to pull Keynesian levers of a now global econ, but this is politically challenging prospect

Green Keynesian Challenge Two (2)

1. Keynesianism, incl green Keynesianism, aims to stimulate production + consumption SO this may still be materially taxing + harmful to environment

2. In response, some green Keynesians argue that an inc service + experience-based econ may allow production + consumption to be less materially taxing (i.e., in as much as these goods are less resource-intensive)

Challenges to Ecomodernism (3)

1. Efficiency gains achieved by greener tech may be funneled into inc production + consumption, so erasing env gains

2. Where what’s econ profitable + env beneficial are in tension, the first is more likely to be prioritized

3. Tech improvements, even when help env, may have socially regressive impacts

A shared challenge: Modern Ethos + Ethics (3)

1. Modern ethos + ethics promote a self-conceited view of human beings + a derogatory view of non-human nature

2. Modern beliefs ab human mastery, supremacy, + autonomy lead ppl to relate to non-human environment instrumentally (i.e., as a means to human ends, rather than as end in itself)

3. From this perspective, trying to green modernity misses, + risks reinforcing, a root cause of env degradation (i.e., ethos + ethics of human self-conceit)

Modernity and Humanity’s Elevation (6)

1. Prior to modernity, social + pol order were thought to be dictated by forces beyond human control (e.g., nature, divine)

   1. But polity + society become objects of human design + agency in modern era (e.g., social contract)

2. Prior to modernity, knowledge was thought to be fixed inheritance

   1. But knowledge becomes open-ended + amenable to boundless human accumulation in modernity (e.g., via observation-based experimental science)

3. Prior to modernity, time was thought to unfold according to circular sequences beyond human command (e.g., natural cycles, wheel of fortune)

   1. But history comes to be seen as linear, progressive + human-made in modern period (i.e., consequent to our ever-inc knowledge of + control over material world)

Modernity and Environmental Harm (2)

1. Many env ethicists argue that modern elevation of humanity + denigration of nonhuman, has generated env destruction

2. From this perspective, adequate env repair would require normative transformation of way humans think about + relate to non-human others