Ron Arnold on Environmentalism and the
Wise Use (Anti-environmental) Movement
Dominant Western Worldview |
Environmental Movement Challenges Dominant Western World View |
Anti-Environmental Movement Accepts Dominant Western World View |
1. Unlimited economic growth is possible and beneficial |
--Growth not= Betterment --Unlimited growth not sustainable |
--Traditional growth is good and sustainable
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2. Most serious problems can be solved by technology |
--Are environmentalists Luddites or technophobes? --Technological pessimists?
--Environmentalism advocates appropriate technology Can technology solve
the problems of poverty, starvation, discrimination, crime, species
extinction, loss of wilderness, global warming? |
--Technological optimists --Techno-fix mentality? --Dump iron particles into the sea, stimulate algal growth, which take out more atmospheric CO2/ -- Inject sulphur particles into the stratosphere in order to suppress global warming by simulating volcanic eruptions?
--Solve pollution problems by engineering species that can withstand
pollution (instead of stopping polluting)? |
3. Environmental and social problems can be mitigated by market economy with some state intervention |
--Skeptical of unregulated market’s consequences on environment --Need env. regulations --Worried about "Free Market Environmentalism?" |
--Little government regulation of the market needed
--Environmentalists are eco-socialists or eco-authoritarians |
Environmental Paradigm (according to Arnold) |
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1. Growth must be limited |
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2. Science and technology must be restrained |
--Why restrain science? Do not favor this --Encourage environmental science (e.g., for restoration)
--Only env. harmful technologies need to be limited --Environmentally helpful technologies need to be encouraged |
Let science and technology flourish according to the dictates of the free market and minimally regulated by government |
3. Nature has finite resources |
-Yes; we live on a finite planet with finite resources -We can't keep taking from nature forever; we must learn to conserve and recycle |
--Don’t believe this --A resource (not finite) is a natural object (finite) + work and human ingenuity (not finite) --Human ingenuity & technology can always come up with new ways to use resources -"Our limitless imaginations can break through natural limits to make earthly goods and carrying capacity virtually infinite" |
4. Nature has a delicate balance humans must preserve | Is nature delicate or stable?
There is a debate about the resilience of nature and recent ecology stresses natural instability and disturbance in nature |
--Balance of nature is a fiction --Nature is tough/resilient, not fragile and delicate.
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5. Nature knows best | -Human intervention in nature is bad by definition? -Value of non-cultural? -Agreed; nature not always good on balance |
--Nature is not necessarily good |
6. Humans are a cancer on the earth |
-Unsustainable human activity is unacceptable; unfair to humans and the earth -Should fairly share the earth's resources and use it softly and lovingly |
--Admit that unavoidable env. damage is the price of human survival -"Improve the earth for the massive use of future generations" |
Study Questions Arnold
1. According to Ron Arnold, what are the three basic assumptions of the dominant Western worldview with which the "Wise Use" movement agrees? (Hint: Faith in growth, technology, and unregulated markets.) How does he claim environmentalism challenges this worldview? Do you think this characterization of the environmental debate is fair and accurate? Which side of this dispute do you most agree with and why?
2. Identify and explain Arnold’s criticisms of environmentalism. In what ways, if any do you agree with him? In what ways not? Why?