This week’s readings demonstrates a historical timeline from when homo sapiens first emerged to development into modern human species to contemporary human beings – us in the 21st century. Collectively, they not only analyze the evolution from an anthropological point of view, but also discuss reasons why we are more advanced than other species, how we became the top of the food chain, how did our latent behaviors seeking for economic prosperity exhaust resources on Earth, and what are some current solutions we implemented to avoid environmental crisis.
According to Charles Mann’s article, the most distinctive characteristic of homo sapiens is behavioral plasticity, the change in an organism’s behavior as a result of its response to stimuli, which means, homo sapiens were able to react to the changes in the surrounding quickly and adjust own habit accordingly. Some examples of this are the invention of clothing, the formation of social system like caste, and even slavery. However, a quote from the reading indicates greediness in our human nature: “To have the imagination to see our potential end, but do not have the imagination to avoid it.” This explains the current situation of industrialization harming the Earth, but a majority of us refuse to act on it, which leads into the other readings about four main perspectives on global environmental issues, and some specific environmental goals we are aiming to achieve through policies.
Based on Jennifer Clapp and Peter Davergne’s article, the four main perspectives on global environmental are market liberals, institutionalists, bioenvironmentalists, and social greens, each of them holds a different belief of primary driver of environmental degradation and a distinctive way of approach each believe as the most efficient. For example, market liberals believe the main driver is a lack of economic growth, which they see to create higher incomes, and therefore generate the funds and political will to improve environmental conditions. Social greens, on the other hand, oppose economic globalization, they think that inequality and domination exacerbated by it can potentially lead to unequal access to resources as well as unequal exposure to environmental harms, therefore they advocate a return to local community autonomy to rejuvenate social relations and restore the natural environment.
Darren McCauley and Raphael Heffron’s article “Just in Transition” suggests a solution tackling environmental crisis that aims to promote green jobs as a necessary component of the transition away from fossil fuels. They ask for a greater state-intervention to ensure green jobs or present a labour-based incentive for speeding up decarbonization policies, as well as implying the potential for uniting climate, energy and environmental justice to provide a more comprehensive framework for analysing and ultimately promoting fairness and equity throughout the transition away from fossil fuels.
Sylvia, I enjoyed reading you examined how humans have had an increasing impact on the environment over time. In your opinion, do you think that there is a connection between the four environmental perspectives that you discussed and the economic benefits of having green jobs?
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