Ecology & Social Sciences

Anthropocene

• Geological era proposed by scientists define dby humans constraining planetary dynamics

Ernst Haeckel

Coined the term ecology in 1866

Haber-Bosch Process

1909 discovery that allowed for production of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers

Montreal Protocol

• Successful 1987 agreement to phase out products containing ozone depleting CFCs

• successful in reversing the ozone hole

Planetary Boundaries

• proposed by Steffen et al. in 2015

• key domains that put the entire earth system at risk

Doughnut Economics

• K. Rawroth

• safe and just space for human activity between social foundation limits and environmental ceiling

Jared Diamond “Collapse”

• 2005 book

• argues that demographics and ecological trends can explain civilization collapse

Stanley Jevons “The Coal Question”

• 1865

• predicts the depletion of coal resources in 100 years b/c of growth in consumption + rebound effect (Jevon’s Paradox)

Rio Tinto Shooting (1888)

• protest of mineworkers met with shooting from the Spanish civil guard

• shows unrest in industrializing countries because of environmental and health hazards of extractive industries

• mining on behalf of a British mining company

Jean Baptist Lamarck (1817) “New Dictionary of Natural History”

• argued that man was destined to exterminate himself and make the planet uninhabitable

Charles Fourier (1821) “Material Deterioration of the Plant”

• ecological criticism of civilized industry

George Perkins March (1864) “Man and Nature”

• first global analysis of impact of humans on the planet

Rabindranath Tagere

• Indian activist who criticized British imperialism in India

• saw industrialization as a moral and ecological rupture

• shouldn’t imitate the western techno-centric development

• alternative environmentalist: emphasized relation between human and nature grounded in local ecosystems, rural livelihoods, education, and cultural autonomy

Modern Disinhibitions

• idea from J.B. Fressoz

• modern societies chose to ignore consequences of industrial production because of the promise of enrichment

• they do so by externalizing pollution to the working class and to colonial peripheries

Baumol’s Cost Disease

• Sectors with low productivity growth must still see wage increases to match inflation

• will lead to increasing relative price of social services

Silent Spring

• Book published by Rachel Carson in 1962

• warned against DDT in pesticide leading to decline of bird population

• led to their ban

• seen as the birth of the modern environmental movement

Stockholm Conference

• 1972

• first UN world conference on the human environment

The Stern Review

• 2006

• found that damage costs of climat echange will reach 20% of global GDP

• chooses 1.4% discount rate, criticized for being too low and leading to artificially high damages

  • Biden used a 2% discount rate

The Meadows Report

• 1972

• one of the first integrated environment-economy model

• predicted industrial and food production collapse by 2020 due to pollution

Nordhaus “The Economics of Climate Change” (??)

• combined representations of environmental and economic systems

• found that optimal path for global economy corresponds to 3.1C increase in global surface temps, saying it will only lead to a 3% drop in GDP (doesn’t account for MANY significant impacts)

• Uses a high discount rate of 3%

Sterner Review

• Sterner and Persson (2007)

• critique modeling that assumes high substututability between sectors, underestimate the relative price effect, and use aggregate damage function

• climate welfare losses likely grossly underestimated

Dasgupta Review

• argument that there are losses we cannot monetize

• discount rates and internalization of costs cannot account for everything

Kaya Identity

Emmisions = (Pop) x (GDP/Pop) x (Energy/GDP) x (Emissions/Energy)

• no absolute decoupling of GDP growth and fossil energy use

Multiple Streams

• Kingdon

• Framework for policy change

• Problem Stream, Politics Stream, and Policy Stream are constantly shifting, at some point they align and create a policy window where there is a possibility of policy agenda setting and eventual policy change

Diffenbaugh and Burke

• quadratic model of economic impact

Hayek

• believed that paradigm shifts are internalized through business think-tanks, intellectuals, and media

Gramsci

• believed that paradigm shifts are internalized through culture

• argues that the dominant group controls society by controlling ideology and common sense

The Bridgetown Innitative

• an initiative that seeks to create a global financial structure that is compatible with mass climate action

• proposes expanding the lending capacity of banks, lowering financing costs, providing debt relief, creating climate-resilient debt clauses, and mobilizing large-scale concessional finance

Collapsology

• movement of depoliticization of environmental debates

• an “enlightened few” see that the climate is beyond the point of prevent and we need to focus on coping

Weitzman

• 2007

• argues that standard cost benefit models wrongly assume well behaved probability distribution/that extreme outcomes are unlikely

• cost of extreme events likely even higher than projected

Gordon

• argument that recent innovations are less transformative than those of the past

• advanced economies face structurally slower growth

Niche Theory

• paradigm shifts caused by critical mass of anomalies contradicting the dominant paradigm + the development of an alternate theory that better explains the evidence

Hall’s Three Orders of Change

• first order change: adjustment to policy

• second order change: change in policy

• third order change: change in goal of policies

Kyoto Climate Conference

• international climate conference that introduced the idea of “common but differentiated responsibilities” between countries ← certain countries are much more liable for their historical emissions

Treadmill of Production

• Alan Schnaiberg

• contradictory relations between economic expansion and environmental disruption

• need to economic growth leads to stimulation of demand leading to expansion of impact on ecosystem until it exceeds physical limits, politicians react with policy that encourages further expansion

• leads to environmental disorganization

• Longo and York (2020): disruption that prohibits regeneration → complete instability

Multi-Level Perspective

• Frank W. Geels

• model for the socio-technical transition

• niche innovations gradually build up internal momentum

• create pressure on the system/regime

• destabilize the regime and create windows of opportunity for niche-innovation

• diffuse and disrupt the system