Sociology 1027A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Nuclear Meltdown, Ozone Depletion, Risk Society
9 Apr 2016
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How social institutions and processes affect individual lives: How we organize social life is linked to the environment. Canada: resource extraction (fishing, oil, gas, etc. ) The car: over-reliance on individual car ownership and use. Environmental health and decline affects us individually and socially. Work and prosperity: can we be environmentally responsible and have a prosperous (post) industrial economy with high employment. Nobody really owns them but we all use them. Building things changes natural order of things. The problems are created by few, but the consequences affect many. E. g. one company plant pollutes, and everyone in town has to breathe the air and drink the water. The true cost of the abuse of the commons are not paid by the abuser. Not concerned with environmental damage up to this point, high levels of unfiltered pollution. Greater awareness of harmful effects of excessive growth. Sustainability concerns dominate today: global warming, species extinction, climate change, renewable energy, etc.
