Natural Resources and the Environment

political ecology

approach to environmental issues that unifies ecology with political economy perspective

political ecologists think about

people’s power over others, peoples power over the environment, peoples power over how others think about the environment

resource

things that have use value or functionality, envr becomes resource when humans find utility and transform for human use

History of Hemp in USA

first fiber 8000 BCE, makes hella products, 1937 ban due to pressure from big plastic, anything oil based can be made from hemp, helps WW2, 2018 USDA allows hemp grow <.3%

What can hemp make?

cloth, paper, rope, ink , CBD

Human Environment Dialectic

Human impact the environment, which impacts humans, who impact the environment, and the cycle continues

What do we need to do to make ethical and practical decisions about our environment?

we need to use tools to see, talk about, and understand human-environment relations

Essential Questions

• What is the Environmental objects?

• Where is it happening?

• Who are the actors?

• What do they want?

• How do they try to get it?

• How is a social and environmental solution reached?

• What are the social and environmental outcomes after the conflict has been resolved?

relative location

where is this location in relation to somewhere else

wilderness

most intact, undisturbed natural area left on Earth

Policy: Taylor Grazing Act of 1934

created US graving service, end of dispersal of public lands, boundaries drawn by ranchers in/near the grazing district and state officials, stocking levels set, fee set at 0.05 AUM

BLM- Bureau of Land Management

weak regulatory powers mixed congress support, conserve does not preserve, barbed wire fences, cattle guards, irrigation systems, grazing fees cheaper than private grazing fees

stocking levels

how much cattle can be on public land

1946 Sagebrush Rebellion

attempt by ranchers to privatize federal rangelands, cattle kingdom never owned more than 1 % grazed

grazing fees

• currently $1.35 AUM

• recovery costs $7.64

• 1980-2004 private fees 78% so BLM much more attractive

BLM vs Private Land

environmentalists: grasses overgrazed, soil compaction prevents new growth, weeds proliferate, damage to stream STAY with BLM

livestock owners: livestock ponds are new wetlands that support biodiversity, eyes and ears of BLM land management, private pastures provide forage for wild animals, econ benefit to local community GO PRIVATE

National Wildlife Refuges

created/recreated since 1900s, managed by USFWS

exchange value

when an object has value because it can be exchanged for something else

What is Nature

Essential qualities: it is in the nature of tigers to eat humans

internal: human are animals

external: material world excluding humans

forces: the friction of water wears away rocks over time

Anthropocene

people influence all environments but control and complete understanding of them is elusive

rewilding

practice of conservation where ecological functions thought to have existed before human influence are restored

ex: Netherlands safari park where Heck cattle and other wildlife thrive made by biologists

What did drought trigger?

rapid rise of professional skateboarding in 1970s Southern California

Green Revolution

hybrid crop varieties, industrial fertilizer, pesticide use, double cropping, mechanization, irrigation

Effects of Green Revolution

positives → India is self-sufficient in food, US has new market for chem and equipment

negatives → social: cost of marrying daughter grows tremendously environmental: ground water depletion

Human environment dialectic tells us

it is impossible to separate humans and nature

Social Impacts of green revolution

social: wealth for some in ag, doweries ride, ultrasound tech provides ability for sex selective abortion, obligation to marry kids, high debt of some, unstable prices

Environmental Impacts of green revolution

high yield, hybrid varieties, loss of native seeds, chemical dependency on fertilizers, expand water use, pollution

Types of Resources

perpetual, renewable, non-renewable, potential

Perpetual Resource

Solar energy

Renewable

forests

Non-renewable

fossil fuels

potential

haven’t found use for it yet

ex: methane as cooking fuel

Global Growth Rate

1.05%

26% under 15

9% over 65

Total Fertility Rate

number of children an average woman gives birth to age 15-45

global fertility rate is 2.5 children

Most populous nations

China, India, US, Indonesia, & Pakistan

Current Global Life Expectancy

72

Discourses of overpopulation

are discriminatory against poor and global south, favor the rich and elites peeps/corps, limit on human rights to family size and education

What must be examined before overpopulation can be claimed?

systems of production and consumption

Population Boom Takeaways

overpopulation is not a threat to the environment despite pervasiveness of this discourse

Actual Political, Economic, Social Threats to Environment

• environmental policy

• military spending and emissions

• corporations

• energy (climate lobbying)

• pharmaceuticals (contraceptive sales)

• consumption context

• military spending and emissions

Neo- Malthusians

pop growth outstrips natural resources single greatest driver of environmental crisis

Hans Rosling

poor countries need to consume more which will help solve the public health crisis of child mortality

What is the relationship between population and environment

Complicated one with factors such as technology, affluence, women’s education and autonomy

Thomas Robert Malthus

• economist

• Principles of Population- pop growth will outpace the capacity of Earth to provide for them aka people will overpopulate, and earth will not survive

Malthus assumed

• pop increases exponentially while food production increases linearly

• once pop growth outstripped food production population checks would hold growth in place

Positive checks to Malthus

• famine, disease, and wars

• based on animal world

• affects lower class more

Preventative Checks to Malthus - Reform poor laws

believed welfare laws made poverty worse as poor would have more children depressing wages and make food purchase difficult, thought poor gave into irrational procreation

Two key human nature

food and sex

Preventative Check that solves problem of overpop

Moral restraint - restrain from marriage until you could support children delay gratification of sex for society → obviously this should be on women

Malthus didn’t consider

econ systems, political structures, consumption of wealthy

Institutions

rules and norms governing collective action esp common property management

Prisoners Dilemma

game-theoretical situation in which multiple individuals make decisions to help them but end up creating a collective outcome non-optimal for everyone

Game theory

mathematic used to model people’s behavior in strategic situations where peeps choices are based on knowing behavior of others

tragedy of the commons

pasture open to all causes farmers to put too many cows to sustain grass b/c all of them have the same mentality more cows eating from this field= more to cows to sell

Hardin 1968

current system of morality and ethics fails to deliver commons management b/c they can’t handle complex situation; people are selfish and will always pick themselves over the greater good of the whole

Neo-Malthusian Tragedy of the Commons

fams see immediate gain from having kids which will cause environmental impacted felt by all including those who had fewer children for greater good

What did Hardin think was the solution?

Privatization so depletion was only affecting the owner of the land

Property types

corporate, private, cooperatives, public

commons

resource whose characteristics make it difficult to enclose or partition

Common Property Resource

resource managed collectively by members

Elinor Ostrom

disagreed with Hardin said collective action is the way

Common Property Resource Management CPRM

rules and norms governing collective action esp common property resources

A successful Commons Management System has…

Boundaries, Proportionality, Collective Choice, Monitoring, Sanctions, Conflict Resolution, Autonomy

Boundaries

who participates and which resource is under management

Proportionality

sharing costs to manage resources

Collective Choice

rules for managing the resource are created and modified by resource users

Monitoring

user behavior is monitored by the group to ensure rules are followed

sanctions

imposed on violators in graduated approach to encourage compliance

Conflict resolution

develop means to resolve issues between users without use of courts or cops

autonomy

from higher authority

What does CPRM have to address

different non-human objects have different relationships with humans based on their unique characteristics