Worldviews & Environmental Values

Front 1

Define:
Steady State Economy

Back 1

An economy that does not grow but continues to develop culturally.

Minimum of materials and energy spent, and minimum of pollutants expelled.

Front 2

Define:
Natural Capitalism

Back 2

Economy must comprise of four forms of capital:
Human (physical & intellectual)
Financial (cash & investments)
Manufactured (factories, etc.)
NATURAL (ecosystem services, living systems & natural resources)

Front 3

Define:
Globalization

Back 3

The expansion of corporate capitalism across national boundaries.

Breakdown of trade barriers and abolition of trade tariffs in order to promote trade among nations.

Expansion of multinational capitalism to provide corporations with greater power & profits than ever before.

Front 4

What is the root of globalization?

Back 4

Historical expansion of capitalism and colonialism.

Implicit needs for profit in capitalistic societies.

Front 5

Population as a problem...
What are the 4 major idealogies?

Back 5

Paul & Ann Ehrlich:
Worldwide environmental issues are the cause of extreme population size.

Malthus:
Population must be controlled by focusing on individual self-interest.

Joel Cohen:
More people means more cultural interactions, and the resulting frictions are always evident.

Karl Marx:
Not Malthusian population problem, but a poverty and exploitation problem.

Front 6

What 3 concepts guide the discussion of population as a problem?

Back 6

Ecology
Reproduction <------------------^-----> Economic Production

Front 7

Define:
Organic Worldview

Back 7

Viewpoint that the Earth and cosmos are complex and living entities. Our world is a receptive, benevolent, and nurturing mother.

Front 8

Explain the relation between capitalism and experimental science...

Back 8

Capitalism, which began its spread in the 1500s, aimed at the exploitation of natural resources for personal gain and the creation of a market economy.

Experimental science came about as a means to better the system by understanding Earth processes and by improving human efficiencies.

"The world is a machine with easily replaceable parts"

Front 9

Explain:
"The Machine"

Back 9

Scientists (namely Newton) emphasized the mechanistic workings of the world and boiled the total Earth system to matter (materials) and force (efficient causes)

Front 10

Explain:
"Death of Nature"

Back 10

Nature appeared alive to later generations of mechanistic visionaries, so they had trouble explaining living entities in a non-living world.

Front 11

Merchant's views on
Biotechnology...

Back 11

Merchant views "the mechanistic worldview's latest child" as a reckless and complicated science that will result in unknown ecological side-effects.

Like other presuppositions of mechanistic science, Merchant views the developments in genetics based upon oversimplified and exploitative desires.

Front 12

Main points of the Precautionary Principle (4)

Back 12

1) Preventative action in the face of uncertainty

2) Shifting burdens onto proponents of potentially harmful activities (BLAME THOSE WHO CAUSED IT)

3) Exploring wide range of alternatives to possibly harmful actions (HEALTHY ALTERNATIVES)

4) Increasing public participation in decision making.

Front 13

Explain the 4 major worldviews

Back 13

Egocentric:
focus on self-interest, "what is good for the individual is good for society"
(Mechanism)

Homocentric:
social justice, "greatest good for the greatest number"
(Mechanism & Organism)

Ecocentric:
balance of nature, duty to the environment
(Organism/Holism)

Multicultural & Partnership Ethics:
complexity of nature & culture, cultural and biological diversity.
(Chaos & Complexity Theories)

Front 14

Explain:
Reconstructive Science

Back 14

A reconstructed view of the world with inquiry focused on the bettering of life, the changes and processes of nature, and the complex/contextual qualities of ecosystems.

Emphasis on interconnectedness of humanity and nature.

Front 15

What are the 4 points of the new paradigm supported by deep ecologists?

Back 15

1) Humans are exceptional, however they are only one species in a global ecosystem

2) Humans are influenced by social/cultural factors and intricate cause/effect relations with nature. That way we're permanently connected to nature.

3) Humans are dependent on a finite biophysical environment that imposes strong restraints on human affairs.

4) Though inventive and unrelenting, humans cannot overcome the limits of carrying capacity set by ecological law.

Front 16

Define:
Spiritual Ecology

Back 16

Transformation of values that in turn leads to action to heal the planet.

Front 17

Are mainstream religions useful in spreading environmental values?

Back 17

YES -- many religions have found their own place in the environmental reform by reinterpreting their scriptures.

Front 18

Define:
Anarchist Social Ecology

Back 18

Rooted in balance of nature, process, diversity, spontaneity, freedom, and wholeness.

Reclaim fundamental organic non-hierarchical relationships, and move beyond capitalism to value human reason & human freedom.

Front 19

Define:
Socialist Ecology

Back 19

Offers and eco-economic analysis of the interactions between capital and nature and the transition to a post-capitalist society.

Front 20

Criticism of state socialism...

Back 20

Abuse and depletion of nature to fulfill societal commitments!

Front 21

What is the "second contradiction of capitalism"?

Back 21

The conditions of laborers are typically unimportant to those profiting in capitalist systems

Front 22

What is the function of minorities in major environmentalist groups?

Back 22

Though minorities are often the most affected by environmental issues, few environmentalist groups have many minority members (especially at upper levels)

Front 23

What is the main issue with the Big Ten?

Back 23

The Big Ten are supported by various large corporations. When they protest various environmental issues it is unclear if they are biased in any direction.

Front 24

What are the 10 priorities of the Greens?

Back 24

1) Grassroots democracy
2) Social justice
3) Ecological wisdom
4) Non-violence
5) Decentralization
6) Community-based economics & economic justice
7) Feminism & gender equality
8) Respect for diversity
9) Personal & global responsibility
10) Future focus & sustainability

Front 25

Explain:
Civil disobedience and Direct action

Back 25

Inspired by Gandhian philosphies.

Methods of drawing public attention to political issues

Front 26

What are the 4 major types of ecofeminism?

Back 26

1) Liberal: egocentrism, capitalism, mechanistic.

2) Cultural: response to association/devaluation with/of nature, sexual personality promotes social status.

3) Social: no domination, human nature freed, abolition of market society and socioeconomic hierarchies.

4) Socialist/Marxist: assumes non-human nature as the basis of life, "nature...not to be dominated, and we must have good relations with it."

Front 27

Difference between Sustainable Ag. and Industrialized Ag.?

Back 27

Sustainable promotes:
- biodiversity
- long-term ecological benefits
- soil fertility & nutrient pool
- limit use of GMOs, fertilizers, and herb/pesticides

Industrialized: DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT

Front 28

Summarize the story of Chaco Canyon...

Back 28

Uncontrolled growth led to uncontrolled system with unreal expectations and eventual demise from drought.

Careful, sustainable practices allow smaller communities to succeed without excess focus on profits.

Front 29

Summarize "Queer Ecology"...

Back 29

What is natural??? Open conversations to others' opinions and consider them before acting selfishly.

Front 30

Top-down economic globalization...

Back 30

The top of the pyramid (major corporations) focus on their own profits and business growth across the world.

Front 31

Three major time frames according to Paul Hawken...

Back 31

1) Commercial: fastest, quick profits are necessary to survive

2) Culture: slower development based on mass need and social changes

3) Earth/Nature: slowest cycles based on ancient evolutionary changes

Front 32

The "Skeleton Woman"....

Back 32

The visual representation of consequence. While dreaming of the largest possible fish, fishermen pull her up and see the folly of their greed.

Know all things (positive and negative) before wanting all things.

Front 33

Summary of "Who constructs the rainforest"?

Back 33

A natural resource is seen many different ways by many different people. We must be responsible and forfeit our desires if they're seen as harsh or punishing to others.

Front 34

John Fosters problems and solutions...

Back 34

Green technologies and recycling are just surface treatments...

Real solutions:
- major reconstruction/reformation
- "moral revelation"
- public regulation vs. privatized property

Front 35

Aldo Leopold's summary quote...

Back 35

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Front 36

Why did Leopold visualize a pyramid?

Back 36

The world is a strong base that can exist without humans (which exist near the top), but the same cannot be said of humans without the world.

Front 37

What is the "trouble with wilderness"?

Back 37

We separate ourselves from nature

Wilderness is everywhere and we must respect that rather than set ourselves apart...true "wild" exists where we cannot.

Front 38

5 Logics of Othering

Back 38

1) Radical exclusion
2) Homogenisation and stereotyping
3) Backgrounding and denial
4) Incorporation
5) Instrumentalism

Front 39

Marchak reading...
Definitions of "capital mobility" and "externalities".
Suggestions?

Back 39

Capital mobility: corporations invest, profit, then reinvest elsewhere.

Externalities: the effects of private/personal activities on others are not the financial responsibility of the causal party.

Suggestions:
- conservation (not profits) is priority
- no externalities
- co-management

Front 40

"Nature as Community"...

How can minorities and environmental justice support environmentalist groups?

Back 40

It's the community's responsibility to protect their surroundings from those with ill intent.

EJ movement circles around the mistreatment of various minorities on an environmental level.

Since many environmental issues felt at home are EJ concerns, mainstream environmentalists need these EJ activists to see the true effects of environmental concerns.

Front 41

What are the assumptions behind "development"?

Back 41

Western-style progress for all

Capital accumulation

Reduced form of colonialism

Front 42

What are the 4 types of insecurities as stated by Vandana Shiva?

Back 42

1) Ecological
2) Economic
3) Cultural
4) Political

All of these result in violence!

Front 43

Define:
Scarcity
(as Shiva does)

Back 43

A mismatch between a culture and the naturally occurring resources available to them.

Front 44

What are the four aspects of failing salmon management?

Back 44

1) Hydroelectric
2) Hatcheries
3) Habitat
4) Harvest

Front 45

Contrast Frontier and Acadian worldviews

Back 45

Frontier:
nature has instrumental value for doing and making (THEN = infinite, NOW = exhaustible)

Acadian:
nature has intrinsic AND instrumental value

Front 46

The Frontier worldview led to the development of what environmental concept?

Back 46

Progressive Conservatism!