SOC100 - Lecture 6 Environmental problems

Why discuss environmental problems?

* they have the greatest potential for catastrophic results
* our entire economic system is set up in a way that resists environmental protection
* global problem that requires a global solution but the world is set up as competing nations

what is an example of ecosystem and food chain effect?

* coral bleaching by increased micro-plastics in the ocean and rising water temperatures
* the effect of pesticides on the bee population

what environmental issues are we facing?

* high levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
* increase in global temperature
* increase in wildfires
* increase in arctic fires
* increase in droughts
* stronger and more frequent storms
* increase in natural disasters

What was the paris agreement’s goal to solve climate change?

* reducing emissions by half by 2030
* requires 29 trillion USD

Drawdown

* point in time when atmospheric green house gases begin to decline on a year-to-year basis

What went wrong that led to environmental problems?

* a growing human population creating greater strain on the environment
* greater scientific developments allowing us to exploit resources and change the environment more than ever
* a human society that has never had to prioritize the environment over the economy is our greatest problems

externality

* business term when the act of producing something has a cost or benefit that the producer themselves doesn’t incur or have to deal with

How is pollution an example of externality

* if you own a company that creates a product and your company uses toxic chemical that end up in the air and water
* its an externality because you are not charged for polluting the air and water so you don't have to charge your customer for it

How is earth an externality?

* it doesn’t charge us when we pollute, extract resources or harm it in any way
* there is a cost but it is not direct to the business or individual

How have we solved the earth as an externality problem?

* imposing a carbon tax
* placing a cost to actions like pollution directly costs the individual removing the externality

why is the carbon tax not viewed as a good solution?

* leads to higher prices and economic recessions
* we benefit economically by not imposing it which is more important to society than the environment

path dependency

* it is almost always easier to continue on the current trajectory than it is to switch trajectories or start a new one
* even if the other is preferable

How is our reliance on fossil fuels an example of path dependency?

* we are used to them even though their use is harming the environment
* despite that we continue to use them
* it would cost us a lot to stop using them

Moral foundation theory

* helps us understand the difference between liberals and conservatives

what are the 5 types of moral foudations?

* harm/care
* fairness/reciprocity
* in group loyalty
* authority/respect
* purity/sanctity

What moral foundations are grouped in the individualizing cluster?

* care
* fairness

What moral foundations are grouped in the bonding cluster?

* loyalty
* authority
* purity

Harm/Care

* Bonding with others, caring about others, feeling compassion for others and especially the weak and vulnerable
* we differ in how much we learn to empathize and how we justify the suffering of others

Fairness/Reciprocity

* A society free from discrimination, having society built on mutually beneficial exchanges or, in other words, justice
* we differ it what we view as fair

In group loyalty

* humans MUST work together. We are a weak species otherwise
* we differ in who we consider our in-group and levels of loyalty
* nationalism vs cosmopolitanism

nationalism

* identifying with one’s own nation

cosmopolitanism

* believing that all of humanity belongs to a single community versus separate national communities

authority/respect

* Authority not based on power and brutality but voluntary deference. Typically, this refers to respecting the authority of tradition and legitimate authorities
* we differ in who we consider valid authority figures and will weigh other aspects like Justice against Respect for Authority

Purity/Sanctity

* Disgust for things that you feel violate purity or the way things should be done
* We differ in what we find violates purity and the areas we think need to be kept pure

what is a common moral foundation that liberals and conservatives value the most?

* harm

what do liberals value more than conservatives?

* fairness

what do conservatives value more than liberals?

* authority
* ingroup loyalty
* purity

immediacy bias

our brains tend to prefer instant gratification or reward over something potentially of more value in the future

* in politics, we focus on issues most presently affecting us versus things that may affect us more in the long term

affinity/in group bias

* our natural gravitation towards those who are like us in beliefs and/or backgrounds, means that people can always find arguments, information, and others who believe what they do

echochambers

* an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced, and alternative ideas are not considered

misinformation

* increase in ability to share misinformation because of increasing engagement with the internet
* many people still do not believe the climate is a major threat or that its even changing

what is the point of the alien analogy?

to understand cooperations

* buying private property to consume resources
* influence of foreign governments in poor countries
* influencing wealthy democratic governments
* horrific dealings with citizens in poorer countries
* stopping citizen resistance in wealthy democratic countries

Competition as 'external coercive law’

By Karl Marx

* capitalism is a competition
* profitable companies survive and those that are not profitable die

Bureaucracy

Max Weber

* turns humans into machines
* it creates a structure of positions with duties and obligations, each position in the structure ensures the other positions do their job so that no individual can upset the structure.

main takeaways

* competition a a coercive force ensures profit remains the goal
* bureaucracy ensures corporations meet that goal because the structure protects it

How do we have control over corporations?

* they are limited by profit (supply and demand)
* if people don’t buy from them they wont make money
* if we don’t buy because of bad environmental practices they’ll have to adapt so they can please their clientele and profit again

Conflict theory

Our entire economic system is set-up in a way that has resisted and will continue to resist environmental protection

Structural functionalism

They have the greatest potential for catastrophic results

Symbolic interactionism

It’s a global problem that requires a global solution and we are still set-up as competing nations

social construcionism

* objective reality is often less important that the way it is constructed through social relationships
* when viewing a social problem, like environmentalism, we must look at how it is constructed to someone
* subjective reality is more important

tragedy of commons

* when someone does not own something, and everyone has access to it people will abuse and exploit it
* a key rationale for why laws around private property were developed

how do we stop tragedy of commons?

* The only way to stop the tragedy of the commons is a social contract. An official agreement to do something. We all live in a social contract. Laws are social contracts. Police are the violent enforcement of those contracts