Ron Arnold on Environmentalism and the
Wise Use (Anti-environmental) Movement
Environmental Movement Challenges Dominant Western World View |
Dominant Western
Worldview |
Anti-Environmental Movement Accepts Dominant Western World View |
Growth not= Betterment Unlimited growth not sustainable |
Unlimited economic growth is possible and beneficial |
Traditional growth is good and sustainable |
Luddites? Technological Pessimists? Appropriate Technology (Meadows et al. very much infavor of environmentally friendly technolgies) Can technology solve
the problems of poverty, starvation, discrimination, crime, species
extinction, loss of wilderness, global warming? |
Most serious problems can be solved by technology |
Technological optimists Techno-fix mentality? |
More skeptical of unregulated market’s consequences Env. regulations are needed Free Market Environmentalism? |
Environmental and social problems can be mitigated by market economy with some state intervention |
Little government regulation of the market |
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Environmental
Paradigm |
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Yes; aim instead for betterment |
Growth must be limited |
No |
Why restrain science? Encourage environmental science (e.g., for restoration).
Only env. harmful technologies need to be limited Environmentally helpful technologies need to be encouraged |
Science and technology must be restrained |
Don’t believe this |
Yes |
Nature has finite resources |
Don’t believe this: A resource (not finite) is a natural object (finite) + work (not finite) |
Nature knows best? Human intervention in nature is bad by definition? |
Nature has a delicate balance that humans should observe |
Balance of nature is a fiction Nature is not necessarily good |