SOCI 1002H Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Michel Foucault, Anthony Downs
14 Jun 2018
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From Textbook Chapter 15: How do we Help the Environment?
Introduction
• In 1991 Howard Newby said environmental change is as much a social as a natural
science issue
• Karl Marx argued different environments lead to different divisions of labour in society
• Natural environment is often seen as asocial
What is an Environmental Issue?
• Claims-making: involves stakeholders (people who have a stake in a particular thing)
who turn an object or event into an issue
• Climate change: a set of events (change in average temperature among other
things) that becomes an environmental issue because stakeholders have turned
this set of events into an issue
• Why do some issues fade from public concern?
• Environmental issues are complex and often involve many stakeholders who feel
differently
• Environmental issues involve material things
• Many environmental issues are routinized within society
• Most people do not suffer from most environmental issues
• Environmental issues may not get media traction to sustain interest
• Anthony Downs says things tend to go in a cycle (in Up and Down with Ecology)
1. Pre-problem stage: actual material thing may be at its worst but public has not
yet become aware there is an issue
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm: public is aware of the issue, and
strong claims are made that something can and should be done to solve the
issue
3. Realization of the cost of significant progress: democratization of privilege (what
the privileged portion of society deems to be environmental deterioration, the rest
of society sees as improved living standards)
4. Gradual decline of intense public interest
5. Post-problem stage: new issues replaces old issue
Whose Knowledge Gets to Define Environmental Issues?
• Modern science values objectivity, reliability, validity, accuracy, and testability
• Scientific controversies: disagreements about the validity and reliability of a scientific
claim
• Non-scientists consistently influence modern science
How are Environmental Issues Governed?
• Main ways in which environmental issues are governed in Canada are through concepts
of risk and individual responsibility
• Canadian government now calls for more open exploration of traditional ecological
knowledge about the environment
• Michael Foucault argued particular form of governmentality operates in modern societies
by targeting populations and their security
Is Sustainability Good for the Environment?
• Sustainability: development that meets the needs of the present without compromising
the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
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