GEOG 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Sulfur Dioxide, Glocalization, Non-State Actor
18 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 19 – March 19th
Geographical Futures
Take home points from last time:
• Massive changes to national economies due to globalization (in this case: services)
• Changes in health, social, financial impacts for employees
o How to balance them?
• Global-local identities
o Cross cultural
o Fake-real
o public-private
• Impacts at the very local, of the global
How would a theorist approach this case?
• Hyperglobalisers- Skeptics- Transformationalists… or more like glocalization?
o Indian state encouraged these companies- tax breaks & incentives. State has
a role
o Massive changes to large segment of population & urban scene
(consumption/infrastructure etc.)
o Workers are caught between local-global identities 2
Two common future narratives: Utopian vs. Dystopian
• Happy and peaceful vs. death and destruction
Utopian visions
• Technological advancement
• Power of markets to allocate scarce resources
• Adaptability/ingenuity of communities
o Ex. Sulphur Dioxide in the US
US Market for SO2 Allowances
• Coal burning emission (sulfur dioxide) is a primary product of coal burning power
plants
• So2 pollution lowers the PH scale of rainfall, leading to acid rain
o Lakes, rivers: increased acidity
o Forests: slower growth, injury or death
o Visibility: impaired, smoggy
• SO2 can impair respiratory function and is linked to a variety of respiratory
ailments
The process of setting up a market for pollution emissions involved three steps:
• 1. est. an overall cap on pollution
o To reduce SO2 emissions by 50%, this rate considered to be safer
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• 2. Allocate permits (Allowances) to polluters
• 3. Facilitate trading between polluters
o In the US, So2 market trading is unrestricted
o Stiff penalties to those who exceeded their allowances
• Outcome: Sulphur dioxide reduced because of regulatory scheme (human ingenuity
+ technological improvements= tech solutions are possible!)
Dystopian Visions
• CO2 is increasing
• Large scale natural disasters are happening
• Ex. oil spills, land grabs
Where are we really headed?
• Have our discussions supported or challenged the optimistic or pessimistic vision?
• Our aim was to challenge either of these as a complete vision of the future:
o Unevenness of development
o Localization of global phenomenon
o Political influence on the shape of institutions
Saskia Sassen: Global Cities as Today’s Frontiers
• Frontiers- two people from different worlds encounter each other, no established
rules for their encounter, according to her, they are now at the heart of the system,
in global cities
• Cities- spaces with some anarchy
• Clean, familiar, routinized, doesn’t mean a city
• Densely built up terrain, not cities
• Today’s frontiers are not at the edges of the known world, but at the heart of
global cities
• Frontier zones are in the middle! Not at the sides
One way to think about the future: Scenarios
• Scenarios: several different versions of what the future might be
• Middle ground between certainty and complexity
• See graph on slides
• Between prediction and speculation
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
