ENVR POL 336 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Economic History, Kuznets Curve, Karl Polanyi

• School: Northwestern University
• Department: Environmental Policy & Culture
• Course: ENVR POL 336
• Professor: Thistle Susan

Document Summary

James (cid:862)gus(cid:863) speth the bridge at the end of the world chapter 2 (modern capitalism: out of control) Summary: the world has a growth problem; obsession with profits and maximizing capitalism is increasing environmental destruction with no end at an exponential rate. Pro(cid:373)oti(cid:374)g gro(cid:449)th is the (cid:373)ost (cid:449)idel(cid:455) shared/ro(cid:271)ust (cid:272)ause i(cid:374) the (cid:449)orld (cid:894)(cid:862)se(cid:272)ular religio(cid:374) of ad(cid:448)a(cid:374)(cid:272)i(cid:374)g i(cid:374)dustrial so(cid:272)ieties(cid:863)(cid:895); the most effective argument to kill a governmental policy is to attack it as economically destructive. Macroeconomic goals: reduce instability of the market economy. I(cid:374)(cid:272)rease the (cid:374)atio(cid:374)"s rate of gro(cid:449)th of output/(cid:272)o(cid:374)su(cid:373)ptio(cid:374) M(cid:272)neill (cid:894)(cid:862) o(cid:373)ethi(cid:374)g u(cid:374)der the u(cid:374)(cid:863)(cid:895): our (cid:862)gro(cid:449)th fetish(cid:863) has (cid:271)e(cid:272)o(cid:373)e the (cid:373)ost i(cid:373)porta(cid:374)t idea of the 20th century. Subsidies for agriculture leads to cropland overloading, erosion, top soil compaction, pollution from fertilizers/pesticides, soil denitrification, and increased greenhouse gasses. Nuclear power subsidies create and increase the amount of exceptionally toxic waste. Fishing subsidies lead to overharvesting of already depleted fish stocks. No evidence of absolute reduction in resource throughput.