Anna Harris
Professor Steacy
Geography 1125: Resources, Society, and the Environment
05 October 2018
Sustainability
Sustainability is the conservation of land and resources with the intention of securing their availability for future generations. It involves some type of institution managing who gets to use which resources, how much of those resources are allowed to be used, and how these resources can be used. What is considered a “sustainable” use of resources depends on a variety of factors. Different viewpoints towards nature conceptualize sustainability differently.
An environmental ethics perspective would argue that humans have a moral obligation to protect the quality and productivity of the environment so that future generations may utilize them as well. Many proponents of environmental ethics probably adopt an ecocentric stance towards the sustainable use of resources. Ecocentrism argues that ecological concerns should be prioritized in decisions about what is right and wrong when dealing with nature over humans concerns. This viewpoint considers humans as a part of nature, rather than humans being granted free reign of nature in any way deemed beneficial. In Aldo Leopold’s, The Land Ethic, he argues that individuals should recognize that they are part of the natural order of processes and that they are entirely dependent on the environment- the plants, animals, land, and healthy functioning of ecosystems. Leopold argues that the use of agricultural land use and the use of resources for human consumption will continue, however, its use should be guided by our knowledge of the workings of ecosystems so as to preserve the health of the environment. For example, factory farming would not be considered ethical for the environment as it can lead to erosion, pollution of water resources from run-off, toxins can build up in the soil from harsh chemicals like pesticides and insecticides, and they tend to mistreat livestock and keep them in cramped conditions. However, a more sustainable alternative might be small farms where they raise animals on a free range and farm organically which causes much less environmental damage.
A market environmentalistic approach, in contrast to a population-caused visions of scarcity, argues that scarcity does not set the limits of human-environment relations, but is the driver of innovation through the work of supply and demand. Scarce resources are made available through the working of supply and demand, which drives innovation. According to the market response model, the economic response to the scarcity of resources is an increase in prices which lowers the demand for that resource or increases the supply, or both. An increase in price leads to new opportunities for discovering new resources or new technologies that can produce, extract, or synthesize goods which will increase the supply of resources and thus lower the price again. Or it may lead to consumers switching to cheaper alternatives, increasing efficiency, or recycling resources which lowers the demand for resources. For example, if the price of water rises to a point where it is too expensive to water a garden, then people may instead reuse water from their sinks or washing machines. Thus a simple response to market forces can cause individuals to conserve resources. The sustainable use of resources, according to this viewpoint, would occur when the forces of supply and demand reach equilibrium.
A political economy standpoint would argue that it is impossible to maintain the sustainable use of the environment in a capitalist society because of the Second Contradiction of Capitalism. Karl Marx argues that capitalist forms of industry exploited the environment so much that it would be impossible to sustain production in the long-term which would lead to crisis. Proponents argue that capitalism eventually undermines the environmental conditions necessary to maintain that type of economic system. Proponents of this viewpoint argue that eventually the workers will not be able to sustain themselves because of the struggle over social reproduction, the ability to procure the basics needed to keep individuals healthy and productive. This will result in laborers organizing a social movement to fight for the basic right to the environment. These movements demand a more environmentally friendly way of producing the necessary commodities. As a result of these movements, capitalist are no longer able to neglect and exploit the environment because they face scrutiny from the public and regulatory agencies which would lead to a more sustainable and transparent economy and society. An example of this would be the public outrage that followed the release of Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle. This book detailed the appalling work conditions found in the meatpacking industry. Following the outrage, the U.S. government created the Food and Drug Administration which regulates the meatpacking industry and improves the quality of the work conditions and the quality of the meat.
From a population and scarcity approach, each human being impacts the environment. A Malthusian viewpoint would argue that human population growth presents the single greatest driver of environmental damage and crisis. Therefore, they would argue that to sustainably use the resources, the best thing to do is to reduce the population growth. Proponents believe that the human population growth is exponential while resource growth is linear, and thus the human population growth is outgrowing resources which will lead to a shortage of resources. Many individuals today note the pattern of population in countries that while they industrialize, have a rapid increase in population growth, but once they are developed, the growth rate levels off. This pattern is modeled by the Demographic Transition Model. This viewpoint would argue that to sustainably use resources, we should attempt to develop each country as once a country is developed, the human pressure on the environment is predicted to cease growing. Others suggest that it is not development that influences the population growth rate, but the increase in women’s education and access to contraception that often accompanies development. Universally, access to women’s education and literacy correlate significantly with lower fertility rates.
All of these viewpoints are similar in that they all believe that the sustainable use of resources is the desired outcome for society; however, they differ in the way that they believe sustainability can be achieved. An environmental ethics approach argues for an overhaul in the way humans they view their relationship and interactions with the environment. A market approach believes that through the forces of demand and supply, the way people react to price changes results in sustainable use of resources. A political economy approach would call for the intervention and regulation of resource use by the government to enforce sustainable use of the environment. A populations approach believes that to achieve sustainable resource use, the human population growth needs to be reduced.