Week 11 Module Environmental Sociology Chapter 20 Sociology

Week 11 Module: Environmental Sociology, Chapter 20

Sociology of Arts & Humanities Topic: Our Impact on Our Environment • Name of Artistic Work or Event: Burning Man • Type of Artistic Work or Event: Festival Event • Sociological Theory: Social Phenomenology • Theorist: Alfred Schultz • How it reflects or inspires change in society: The Burning Man event appears to both reflect change and attempt to inspire change in society. The festival focuses on and is influenced by ten main principles: "radical" inclusion, self-reliance, self-expression, community cooperation, civic responsibility, gifting, decommodification, participation, immediacy and leaving no trace. It is the last principle of "leaving no trace" that marks the event's focus on the environment. According to theory Social Phenomenology, our awareness of social issues such as the environment affects our inclination toward social action. Alfred Schultz served as a bridge between the founder of this theory, mathematician Edmund Husserl and Max Weber's Interpretive Sociology. Schultz might have viewed Burning Man as a catalyst for social action to protect the environment. Please take a look at the website, and you decide: https: //burningman. org/

A polar bear clings to a tiny ice floe in an environment where ice used to exist as far as the eye can see. What role does an image like this play in stopping the destruction of the environment?

Climate Change • The human population has profoundly impacted Earth’s climate

Global Energy Balance

The Greenhouse Effect

Causes of Climate Change © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

Effects on Energy Flow

Recent Warming

Variations in Warming

Human Activities

Feedback Loops

Climate Models

Impacts of Climate Change © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

Impacts on Humans © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

Adapting to Change © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (1 of 4) 20. 1: How does social life relate to the natural environment? Learning Objectives: 20. 1. 1: Explain how a society’s environment contributes to the cultural and religious traditions it develops. 20. 1. 2: Discuss the ways in which modern societies gained more control over their environment and developed stratified social structures. 20. 1. 3: Explain determinism and social constructivism and the ways in which environment both guides and constrains social life.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (2 of 4) 20. 2: How has human activity harmed the environment? Learning Objectives: 20. 2. 1: Identify the variety of environmental transformations caused by climate change. 20. 2. 2: Discuss how the rapid depletion of major natural resources—oil, coal, forests, living species, and water—affects all forms of life. 20. 2. 3: Discuss how attitudes toward waste and modes of waste removal threaten our health and environment. 20. 2. 4: Discuss the impact human consumption has on air and water supplies.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (3 of 4) 20. 3: How do environmental factors impact inequality? Learning Objectives: 20. 3. 1: Identify early preservationist figures and movements that have contributed to environmental awareness. 20. 3. 2: Discuss environmental racism and what progress is being made to ensure equal protection for all people. 20. 3. 3: Explain the reasons some groups are more adversely affected by natural disasters than other groups. 20. 3. 4: Identify the connection between global environmental responsibility and global environmental equality.

The Big Questions: Learning Objectives (4 of 4) 20. 4: How can we create more sustainable societies? Learning Objectives: 20. 4. 1: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of self-regulation and political regulation of environmental resources. 20. 4. 2: Explain how economic systems focused on competition and expansion can contribute to serious environmental issues. 20. 4. 3: Discuss ways in which technology, politics, and lifestyle changes can contribute to environmental protection and sustainability.

Big Question 20. 1 How Does Social Life Relate to the Natural Environment?

Understanding Environment–Society Relations • Many social transformations have accompanied the transition of societies from traditional to modern forms. • As societies went through these changes, their relationship to the physical environment transformed. • Many social theorists have concluded that transition of societies was driven by development of technology that enabled the greater exploitation of natural resources. • Environmental sociologists see the relationship between environment and society as dynamic and interdependent. – They seek to understand how this relationship varies over time and across social contexts.

Traditional Societies (1 of 3) 20. 1. 1: Explain how a society’s environment contributes to the cultural and religious traditions it develops. • The term primitive might be used to think about preindustrial societies in which people: – Live close to the land – Build simple homes out of natural materials – Rely on their feet for transportation – Hunt and gather – Make only superficial changes to the environment – Consider nature to be sacred

Traditional Societies (2 of 3) • Anthropology: Born more than a century ago out of study of preindustrial societies – Anthropologists lived among pre-modern groups in order to understand their cultures and lifestyles. – Environment–society relations structured their cultural and religious systems. • Bronislaw Malinowski (1948) – Observed native culture in the Trobriand Islands of the Western Pacific – Found that people’s magic rituals where shaped by the natural world – Explained relative lack of magic in societies where nature is controlled by science

Traditional Societies (3 of 3) • Emile Durkheim (1915) noted societies often attributed spiritual significance to nature. – Studied religion among Aboriginal tribes in Australia – Tribes were organized into clans based on spiritual rather than blood kinship – Clans considered their totem plants or animals to be sacred and so killing and consuming them was generally taboo – Clans practiced totemism: They inscribed ceremonial objects with the emblem of their totem, which made objects sacred as well • Durkheim did not think that the Aborigines were as different from modern societies as they first appeared. – Every society has its sacred objects and rituals that help bring together its members as a community.

Modern Societies (1 of 3) 20. 1. 2: Discuss the ways in which modern societies gained more control over their environment and developed stratified social structures. • Accumulation of scientific knowledge made the environment safer, more useful, and more urban – Began during an agricultural revolution that led to animal and plant domestication, permanent settlements, and intensified trade – Humans increasingly focused on control of nature • Industrial Revolution: Next great technological leap

Modern Societies (2 of 3) • Humans have used technology to alter environment in seemingly miraculous ways – Capacity to alter nature to enhance Industrial Revolution hastened urbanization • Marx and Engels (1932) – Structure of a society dependent on extent to which its members could harness technology to transform natural resources into social goods – Lack of productive technology of early hunter-gatherer societies kept social structure of these groups very simple – As societies gained technological control over nature, they changed structure – Division of labor emerged an elite class came into existence as a result of modern capitalism

Modern Societies (3 of 3) • Jared Diamond (1997) – Argues that variations in the speed of development may be linked to the availability of food sources in different geographic areas – Studied the Maori and the Moriori • Modern societies primarily view environment as source of natural resources – Success at taming and exploiting environment has led to idea of anthropocentrism – Anthropocentrism: Belief that humans are separate from and superior to nature

The Environment–Society Dialogue (1 of 3) 20. 1. 3: Explain determinism and social constructivism and the ways in which environment both guides and constrains social life. • Determinists’ theories imply that a society’s environment, or the technology that it has developed to exploit its environment, determines everything else. – Marx, Engels, and Diamond are examples of determinists – Most scholars reject the idea that environment is the most important aspect of a social system

The Environment–Society Dialogue (2 of 3) • 1900 s: University of Chicago sociologists turned to ecology to explain physical and social organization of modern cities – Ecology: Branch of science that studies the relationship between organisms and their environment • Beliefs, values, and ideas play important role in guiding environment–society relations – Example: European settlers viewed American wilderness as God-forsaken and tried to reproduce their home landscapes • Value a person places on the environment depends on his or her position in society

The Environment–Society Dialogue (3 of 3) • Rik Scarce (2005) – Documented conflict over reintroduction of the gray wolf into Yellowstone National Park – Interested in social construction of environment, the process by which the natural world was interpreted and made meaningful by people living near the park – Identified class and cultural differences between local farmers and their wealthy neighbors

Big Question 20. 2 How Has Human Activity Harmed the Environment?

Contemporary Environmental Problems • In pursuit of material comfort and profit, individuals and corporations have irreparably damaged the oceans and surface of the Earth and destabilized its natural equilibrium. – End of the last ice age more than 10, 000 years ago ushered in an era of natural global warming known as the Holocene – Last 200 years: Humans have sped up process of global warming and altered Earth’s topography and chemistry so dramatically that we seem to have pushed Earth into a new geologic era – Geologists propose to call this era Anthropocene – Has led to social problems of interest to sociologists

Global Warming (1 of 4) 20. 2. 1: Identify the variety of environmental transformations caused by climate change. • 1958: Chemist Charles David Keeling began monitoring levels of carbon dioxide (CO 2) in the atmosphere – Each year evidenced a greater concentration of CO 2 than the last – Escalation corresponded with global increases in the burning of fossil fuels – Fossil fuels: Energy sources such as coal, oil, and natural gas that are made of fossils that decomposed over millions of years under high pressure – Concentration of atmospheric CO 2 held steady for thousands of years; over the last 50 years, has increased by 20 percent

Global Warming (2 of 4) • CO 2 emissions can linger in the atmosphere for a century – Produce what is called the greenhouse effect by allowing sun’s heat to pass through to Earth’s surface while stopping it from spreading back into space – Causes global warming: Earth’s average temperature continues to rise – Wide agreement in mainstream scientific community that human activity is primary culprit • Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates: – Earth’s global surface temperature increased about 1. 5°F over the twentieth century – An increase of 7. 2°F this century – Long-term warming trend is unmistakable

Figure 20. 1: Rising Rates of Atmospheric CO 2 and Global Temperatures

Global Warming (3 of 4) • Impacts of global warming – Deforestation, caused by carbon emissions; fewer trees cripples the Earth’s natural ability to absorbing CO 2 – Rising sea level due to warming ocean temperatures and melting ice caps ▪ Sea level predicted to rise anywhere from several inches to several feet this century ▪ New Orleans and Miami, as well as the entire nation of the Maldives, may have to be abandoned – As many as 20 to 50 percent of all animal species may become extinct over the next 100 years because of rising temperatures – Extreme weather events will become more common

Global Warming (4 of 4) • Many scientists prefer the term climate change over global warming – Climate change better captures diverse ways in which natural environment is changing in response to human behavior • Changes that corporations and consumers are producing in our environment through carbon emissions pose the single greatest hazard to both our ecosystems and humanity

Natural Resource Depletion (1 of 4) 20. 2. 2: Discuss how the rapid depletion of major natural resources—oil, coal, forests, living species, and water—affects all forms of life. • United States is the world’s leading consumer of oil, burning through almost 19 million barrels every day – 72 percent is used to power automobile-centered transportation system • Experts predict that oil reserves will be depleted in a few generations – Wealthy countries have been slow to move away from dependency on oil – Most have sought to increase domestic oil production and invest in new techniques of oil extraction

Natural Resource Depletion (2 of 4) • Since Industrial Revolution, humanity’s energy requirements have escalated exponentially – Oil, coal, and natural gas produce 85 percent of the world’s energy – All are nonrenewable—there is a limited supply that cannot be replaced • Coal combustion generates a third of the electricity consumed by Americans – Coal is unsafe to mine and environmental destructive – Processing coal produces toxic waste – Coal combustion is a leading source of air pollution and global warming

Table 20. 1: Global Energy Sources (Quadrillion BTU) Total World 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 Liquids (gasoline, diesel, and kerosene) 170. 8 173. 2 187. 2 195. 8 207 216. 6 225. 2 105 116. 7 127. 3 138 149. 4 162. 3 174. 7 122. 3 149. 4 157. 3 164. 6 179. 7 194. 7 209. 1 27. 5 27. 6 33. 2 38. 9 43. 7 47. 4 51. 2 55. 2 68. 5 82. 2 91. 7 100. 6 109. 5 522. 1 573. 5 619. 5 671. 5 721. 6 769. 7 Natural Gas Coal Nuclear Other (including renewables like solar and wind) 45. 4 Total 471

Natural Resource Depletion (3 of 4) • Deforestation: Most environmentally harmful form of resource depletion – Tropical rain forests ▪ Provide natural habitat for two-thirds of all species on planet ▪ Play a crucial role in capturing CO 2 and converting it to oxygen – Most deforestation is a result of farming • Meat production a major factor in deforestation – Greenpeace report: 80 percent of deforestation in Brazilian Amazon due to cattle ranching – United Nations estimates that, through the slashing and burning of CO 2 absorbing trees, meat production contributes more to global warming than either cars or industry

Figure 20. 2: Total Cattle Herd Size and Deforestation in Amazon

Natural Resource Depletion (4 of 4) • Animal and plant species face extinction because humans consume them faster than they can reproduce – Example: Overfishing of cod led to collapse of industry • Demand for clean water will soon outpace supply – Around the world, the amount of water held in aquifers—naturally occurring underground wells—is declining. – Water is used for both individual needs and for food production – Expanding populations and global development are leading to conflict between cities, states, and nations – Groups seek to secure rights to access, divert, and dam bodies of water to secure their own livelihood

Solid and Chemical Waste (1 of 3) 20. 2. 3: Discuss how attitudes toward waste and modes of waste removal threaten our health and environment. • Wealthy countries like the United States create such an excess of garbage that they have been labeled “throwaway societies. ” – Between 1960 and 2013: Trash that each American produces in a day nearly doubled (from about 2. 5 pounds to almost 4. 5 pounds)—totaling 250 million tons of solid waste per year – Add nearly 8 billion tons of industrial waste generated by American businesses annually

Figure 20. 3: What Our Garbage Says About Us

Solid and Chemical Waste (2 of 3) • Americans produce more trash than ever due to: – Increasingly elaborate packaging – A flat fee for garbage removal – Increase in planned obsolescence: Many products designed to provide limited amount of use before needing to be replaced – Technological innovations such as the production of plastic • Where does trash go? – Most waste simply dumped in massive holes and covered – Landfills keep filling up and no one wants to live near one ▪ New York City ran out of landfill space in the early 2000 s; paid hundreds of millions of dollars per year to ship trash to cash-strapped regions of Pennsylvania and Virginia

Solid and Chemical Waste (3 of 3) • Landfills are toxic stews where industrial hazards leach into surrounding earth and groundwater. – Love Canal ▪ Toxic waste dump that was converted to a neighborhood ▪ Number of area miscarriages, birth defects, and cancer cases skyrocketed after toxic waste emerged during heavy rains

Air and Water Pollution (1 of 3) 20. 2. 4: Discuss the impact human consumption has on air and water supplies • Urban air pollution often leads to smog, a smoky haze that comes from tailpipe emissions that react chemically with sunlight and can aggravate respiratory conditions. • Toxic air pollution often the result of emissions from coalbased power plants – Nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide react with water in the air to cause what is called acid rain, which kills plant and marine life. – Industrial pollutants have depleted Earth’s ozone layer, which shield’s Earth’s surface from sun’s ultraviolent radiation, which has been linked to cancer. – Most responsible for ozone depletion: Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)

Air and Water Pollution (2 of 3) • Air pollution impacts human health as well – 50, 000 Americans die each year from cardiopulmonary diseases linked to breathing in toxic particles – Air quality worsening in developing countries, which rely on cheaper, dirtier methods to produce energy • Half world’s rural population lacks access to clean water – Many forced to rely on polluted water for cooking, bathing, drinking – Exposes them to dysentery and cholera; thousands of deaths annually • United States – Acid rain, contamination of water sources common – E. coli from agricultural runoff and toxic chemicals from coal and natural gas are common in drinking water

Air and Water Pollution (3 of 3) • Pollution is cheap – Producers look for ways to cut costs and provide inexpensive goods and energy consumers want – Need firm, enforceable limits on air and water pollutants – Need incentives for businesses to adopt “green” practices

Big Question 20. 3 How Do Environmental Factors Impact Inequality?

The Environmental Movement and Social Inequality • Past 50 years, environmental movement has emerged as powerful social movement • Wealthiest people tend to reap most of the benefits and suffer few of the costs of environmental problems • Sociologists have paid more attention to the environment, and especially the way damage to the environment exacerbates inequality

The Environmental Movement (1 of 4) 20. 3. 1: Identify early preservationist figures and movements that have contributed to environmental awareness. • Since 1800 s, preservationists have argued that nature has intrinsic value and should be maintained in pristine state – Leading figures ▪ Henry David Thoreau: Wrote Walden ▪ John Muir: Founder of Sierra Club; petitioned President Theodore Roosevelt to set aside Yosemite as national park in 1906 – Muir rejected conservationists’ view of managing natural resources so they are available for commercial use of future generations

The Environmental Movement (2 of 4) • Second half of twentieth century: Environmental problems began to be seen as dire threats to humanity – Rachel Carson’s best-selling 1962 book Silent Spring ▪ Referred to an imagined future where songbirds could no longer be heard because they had all been killed by pesticides like DDT ▪ Carson blamed the government for allowing toxins without knowing longterm consequences – Silent Spring directly led to ban on the use of DDT in the United States – Book led Americans to question their faith in better living through chemistry – Grassroots movements began to spring up across the country, advocating for stronger government regulation of the chemical industry

The Environmental Movement (3 of 4) • Environmental events led to the rise of the environmental protection movement – 1969: Massive oil spill off coast of California killed thousands of marine animals and blackened shoreline of Santa Barbara – Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire because the surface of its toxic water was covered in oil – Events sparked public outrage ▪ Resulted in the first Earth Day in 1970 and a string of significant political victories for environmental movement ▪ Nixon administration created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and signed the Clean Water Act into law

The Environmental Movement (4 of 4) • Efforts to enact environmentally friendly policies are routinely thwarted by political alliances between private businesses and conservative lawmakers – Many lawmakers voice skepticism about scientific claims of environmental problems – President George W. Bush refused to sign the Kyoto Protocol, international pledge to cut carbon emissions because pact would result in loss of jobs – Companies engaged in fracking (process by which oil and natural gas are extracted from shale rock by injection of millions of gallons of water and sand laced with toxic chemicals into the ground): ▪ Have been able to avoid submitting to more stringent environmental regulations ▪ Have avoided disclosing contents of what they pump into the ground ▪ Have maintained close ties with business-friendly governors of the states where they drill

Environmental Justice (1 of 3) 20. 3. 2: Discuss environmental racism and what progress is being made to ensure equal protection for all people. • Recent environmental disasters have brought differential cost of environmental harms to the attention of the public. – Examples: illegal dumping of oil in Warren County, North Carolina; water contamination in Flint, Michigan

Environmental Justice (2 of 3) • Minorities and people of color thought that environmental movement did not address problems that affected them. – Thought that disproportionate number of waste facilities and higher rates of asthma were in their communities – 1987 report by United Church of Christ found, based on a comparison of zip codes across the United States, found race was most significant predictor of living close to a hazardous waste facility – Houston’s 25 garbage dumps and incinerators were located in black neighborhoods even though blacks constituted only 25 percent of the city’s population (Bullard 1983) • Sociologists call this environmental racism – Poor communities are most likely to be affected by polluting facilities – Often the case that polluting industries place facilities on cheaper land in areas where residents are not politically organized

Figure 20. 4: Household Proximity to Hazardous Waste Sites by Race

Environmental Justice (3 of 3) • Has led to rise of an environmental justice movement – Led by grassroots organizations – Seek equal protection from environmental hazards for all people, regardless of race, gender, or class. • Sociologists Robert Brulle and David Pellow identify two major strands of environmental justice movement that emerged in the 1980 s: – Antitoxics movement, based primarily in white working-class communities – Movement led by people of color who saw local environmental problems as a violation of their civil rights • Movement has achieved some notable gains

The Social Dimension of Natural Disasters (1 of 2) 20. 3. 3: Explain the reasons some groups are more adversely affected by natural disasters than other groups. • Sociologists analyze the ways outcomes of natural disasters are shaped by inequality • Example: Research on consequences of Hurricane Katrina – Sharkey (2007) ▪ Found that blacks, along with the elderly, were much more likely to die than would be expected given their presence in the population ▪ Deaths were concentrated in New Orleans’s black communities

The Social Dimension of Natural Disasters (2 of 2) • Hurricane Katrina – Social Science Research Council (SSRC, 2006) ▪ Showed that many of the people who stayed behind lacked the necessary means to evacuate ▪ The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) failed to coordinate evacuation plans with local officials ▪ FEMA neglected to give the go-ahead to the U. S. military to begin airdrops of food and water rations • Socially patterned differences in vulnerability more pronounced on a global scale – Example: Earthquake in Haiti, 2010

Global Environmental Inequality (1 of 2) 20. 3. 4: Identify the connection between global environmental responsibility and global environmental equality. • Sociologists document environmental suffering that the developing world endures to prop up Western lifestyles – 1984: 40 tons of highly toxic gas escaped from a pesticide plant owned by the Union Carbide Company in Bhopal, India, killing nearly 10, 000 people who lived in a nearby slum – Shell Oil in Argentina refines crude oil, causing severe health problems in the nearby town of 5, 000 people

Global Environmental Inequality (2 of 2) • Climate change may be greatest source of environmental inequality – While rich nations have contributed the most to climate change, poor countries disproportionately suffer from its effects. – A report issued by Columbia University researchers concluded that climate change is already forcing as many as 50 million people to migrate to new areas to secure a livelihood.

Big Question 20. 4 How Can We Create More Sustainable Societies?

Consumption, Production, and Sustainability (1 of 2) • Some experts believe global population is growing so rapidly that in several generations Earth may not be able to support everyone. – Wealthiest humans and nations are using more and more resources. ▪ Americans constitute 5 percent of world’s population but consume 25 percent of world’s energy. – Innovations in food production are predicted to lag behind population increases in many parts of the world. – Rising levels of air and water pollution damage our habitat’s ability to sustain

Consumption, Production, and Sustainability (2 of 2) • Environmental predictions have led to a call for a greater focus on sustainability – Sustainability: Level of development and consumption that meets present needs without jeopardizing those of future generations – Achieving long-term sustainability in face of surging global production of waste and carbon dioxide emissions is most pressing social problem of future

The Tragedy of the Commons (1 of 2) 20. 4. 1: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of self-regulation and political regulation of environmental resources. • “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin (1968) – If each individual follows his or her self-interests, common resources will be depleted, as no one has any interest in looking out for the long term. – Hardin’s analogy of the commons highlights the tension between short-term and long-term rewards and between individual and collective interest.

The Tragedy of the Commons (2 of 2) • Debate about the nature of economic and environmental practices – Economists point out that businesses will adopt more sustainable practices if and when there is a market for them. – Ecologists, pointing to societies that collapsed in the past, argue that preventing future environmental calamity requires making sacrifices today. • To promote environmentally friendly behavior, we need to: – Restrict amount of a particular resource that a single entity can use – Enact economic sanctions that punish polluters – Create economic incentives that reward sustainable practices • Idea is to replace self-regulation with political regulation

The Treadmill of Production (1 of 2) 20. 4. 2: Explain how economic systems focused on competition and expansion can contribute to serious environmental issues. • Allan Schnaiberg (1980) – “Treadmill of production”: Idea that uncontrolled destruction of the environment is essential feature of economic growth in capitalism – Principle of ecology is balance and tendency toward equilibrium; pursuit of profit tends toward disequilibrium – Basis of capitalism is continued economic expansion, but economic expansion entails consumption of more energy and production of more pollution. – Thus: economic expansion increases wealth at the expense of the environment.

The Treadmill of Production (2 of 2) • Economic growth is driven by competition. – Competition among producers leads to technological innovation and lower prices but discourages sustainable business practices – Governmental restriction encourages businesses to move to less restrictive areas, which results in a race to the bottom • Implication of treadmill-of-production idea is that achieving environmental sustainability likely requires major restructuring of the economy away from a materials -intensive growth model

Toward Sustainability (1 of 6) 20. 4. 3: Discuss ways in which technology, politics, and lifestyle changes can contribute to environmental protection and sustainability. • Reining in pollution on the scale and timetable needed to head off an ecological crisis requires: – Technological innovation – Government taking an active role in regulating pollution and steering the economy away from the treadmill of production – Civic engagement and changes in contemporary lifestyles

Toward Sustainability (2 of 6) • Technology will have a major role in making societies more sustainable. – Technology will require transition to renewal energy resources as nonrenewables become depleted – Renewable energy sources are capable of being created by natural ecological cycles, such as wind, sunlight, and water – Nuclear energy seen as a possible but risky contributor to future energy production – Development of cars that do not rely on oil is essential; electric vehicles are promising

Toward Sustainability (3 of 6) • Environmentalists are pushing governments to assume larger role in moving societies toward sustainability – American government offers tax rebates to businesses that adopt green technology – Federal regulations on carbon emissions have been limited, but state and local governments are creating climate action plans – New York City and northeastern U. S. states are examples

Toward Sustainability (4 of 6) • Cap-and-trade program: Another method for achieving carbon reduction – Governments set a limit on the total amount of carbon emissions that are allowable (the cap) and then sell permits to businesses that entitle them to a designated amount of emissions – If firms need to emit more than their permit allows, they must purchase pollution credits from other firms that are emitting less than their permit entitles them to • To prevent a race to the bottom, global agreements between nations are essential – Only if countries work together to reduce the global carbon footprint can overall level of emissions around the world be cut

Toward Sustainability (5 of 6) • Global environmental agreements are essential to the future of the planet • Montreal Protocol – Helped address ozone damage – 196 countries eventually signed agreement to phase out the production of ozonedamaging pollutants by 2000 • Kyoto Protocol – Industrialized nations committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012 – Laid the foundation for an international cap-and-trade agreement – United States, the world’s largest polluter, refused to ratify the agreement because it would hamper economic growth

Toward Sustainability (6 of 6) • Paris Accord: Pledges countries to adopt policies to reduce their emissions – Overall goal of limiting the increase in global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius – Agreement lacks binding enforcement mechanism to ensure that countries live up to their commitments • Environmentalists stress that small changes to one’s lifestyle can have a major impact – Use of reusable rather than disposable shopping bags – Don’t drink bottled water: Large amount of waste, 1. 5 million tons annually – Demand green alternatives such as organic produce – Transportation choices: Biking, walking, or carpooling

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