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Social Issues in the Contemporary Issues: Environment, Poverty and Food Security

Part I: Environment and Natural Resource Management 

1.1.  Environment 

1.1.1.  Definition

The Mariam Webster Dictionary defines Environment as the complex of physical, chemical, and 

biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological 

community and ultimately determine its form and survival. Ecologists define environment as

anything that affects an organism in its lifetime. The word "environment" is most commonly used

describing "natural" environment and means the sum of all living and non-living things that 

surround an organism, or group of organisms. Environment includes all elements, factors, and

conditions that have some impact on growth and development of certain organism. Environment 

includes both biotic and abiotic factors that have influence on observed organism. Abiotic factors

are non-living things that affect an organism such as light, temperature, water, atmospheric gases,

minerals, elevation above sea level, wind and rain. On the other hand biotic factors are living things

that affect an organism. You are daily affected by several biotic environmental factors like yourclassmates, the foods you eat, the trees you want to shade and the disease organisms are some of 

them. Environment often changes after some time and therefore many organisms have ability to

adapt to these changes. However tolerance range is not the same with all species and exposure to

environmental conditions at the limit of a certain organism's tolerance range represents

environmental stress. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by components:

  Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive human

intervention, including all vegetation, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere and natural

phenomena that occur within their boundaries.

  Universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as

air,  water, and climate, as well as energy,  radiation,  electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity

The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and

components that are strongly influenced by humans.

1.1.2.  Components of Natural Environment 

The Natural Environment is composed of four spheres. These are:-

A.  The Lithosphere: In the earth the lithosphere includes the eart h’s crust (5 – 40 km made

of solid lighter rocks) and the uppermost mantle, which constitute the hard and rigid outerlayer of the Earth. It is Surface of the planet that forms the continents and the ocean floor.

The Lithosphere is made of crust and the upper mantle is 100 km thick. The following figure

depicts the Lithosphere and other parts of the earth’s interior. 

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Figure 1. The Lithosphere and the Earth’s Interior 

B.  The Biosphere:is the global sum of all ecosystems. An ecosystem is a biological

environment  consisting of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all thenonliving (abiotic), physical components of the environment with which the organisms

interact, such as air, soil, water and sunlight. The biosphere can also be called the zone of 

life on Earth, a closed (apart from solar and cosmic radiation) and self-regulating system. It 

is irregularly shaped envelope of the earth's air, water, and land encompassing the heights

and depths at which living things exist. It is sustained by grand-scale cycles of energy and of 

materials—in particular, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, certain minerals, and water. The

fundamental recycling processes are photosynthesis, respiration, and the fixing of nitrogen

by certain bacteria. Disruption of basic ecological activities in the biosphere can result from

pollution. 

Figure 2. The Biosphere and its Components

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C.  The Hydrosphere: the combined mass of water found on, under, and over the surface of a

planet. It includes all the water on Earth (ocean, ice, and water vapor in the atmosphere). It 

includes all liquid and frozen surface waters, groundwater held in soil and rock, and

atmospheric water vapor. Hydrosphere, discontinuous layer of water at or near the Earth’s

surface. The total mass of the Earth's hydrosphere is about 1.4 × 1018tones, which is about 

0.023% of the Earth's total mass. About 20 × 1012 tons of this is in the Earth's atmosphere

(the volume of one tons of water is approximately 1 cubic meter). Approximately 75% of 

the Earth's surface, an area of some 361 million square kilometers (139.5 million square

miles), is covered by ocean. The average salinity of the Earth's oceans is about 35 grams of 

salt per kilogram of sea water (3.5%).Virtually all of these waters are in constant circulation

through the hydrologic cycle. The hydrologic cycle or H2O cycle, also known as the water

cycle, describes the continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the

Earth. Although the components of the hydrosphere are undergoing continuous change of 

state and location, the total water budget remains in balance. The components of the

hydrosphere have been seriously affected by the water-polluting activities of modern

society. The following figure shows the water or hydrologic cycle.

Figure 3. The Hydrological/Water Cycle

D.  The Atmosphere: is a layer of  gases surrounding the planet  Earth that is retained by

Earth's gravity. This mixture of gases is commonly known as Air. The atmosphere protects

life on Earth by absorbing ultravioletsolar radiation, warming the surface through heat 

retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes between day and night 

(the diurnal temperature variation). It reaches near or over 600 kilometers (372 miles)

from the surface of the Earth, so we are only able to see what occurs fairly close to theground. Early attempts at studying the nature of the atmosphere used clues from the

weather, the beautiful multi-colored sunsets and sunrises, and the twinkling of stars. With

the use of sensitive instruments from space, we are able to get a better view of the

functioning of our atmosphere. The envelope of gas surrounding the Earth changes from the

ground up. Four distinct layers have been identified using thermal characteristics

(temperature changes), chemical composition, movement, and density.

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Figure 4. Components of the Atmosphere

a.  Troposphere: starts at the Earth's surface and extends to about 15

kilometers (9 miles) high. This part of the atmosphere is the densest. The

troposphere is where all weather takes place; it is the region of rising and

falling packets of air. As you climb higher in this layer, the temperature drops

from about 17 to -52 degrees Celsius. Almost all weather is in this region. Thetropopause separates the troposphere from the next layer. The tropopause

and the troposphere are known as the lower atmosphere.The air pressure at 

the top of the troposphere is only 10% of that at sea level (0.1 atmospheres).

b.  Stratosphere: starts just above the troposphere and extends to 50

kilometers (31 miles) high. Compared to the troposphere, this part of the

atmosphere is dry and less dense. The temperature in this region increases

gradually to -3 degrees Celsius, due to the absorption of ultraviolet radiation.

The ozone layer, which absorbs and scatters the solar ultraviolet radiation, is

in this layer. The formation of this layer is a delicate matter, since only when

oxygen is produced in the atmosphere can an ozone layer form and prevents

an intense flux of ultraviolet radiation from reaching the surface, where it isquite hazardous to the evolution of life. There is considerable recent concern

that manmade flourocarbon compounds may be depleting the ozone layer,

with dire future consequences for life on the Earth.Ninety-nine percent of 

"air" is located in the troposphere and stratosphere. The stratopause

separates the stratosphere from the next layer.

c.  Mesosphere: starts just above the stratosphere and extends to 85

kilometers (53 miles) high. In this region, the temperatures again fall as low

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as -93 degrees Celsius as you increase in altitude. The chemicals are in an

excited state, as they absorb energy from the Sun. The mesopause separates

the mesosphere from the thermosphere. The regions of the stratosphere and

the mesosphere, along with the stratopause and mesopause, are called the

middle atmosphere by scientists.

d.  Thermosphere or Ionosphere:  The thermosphere starts just above themesosphere and extends to 600 kilometers (372 miles) high. The

temperatures go up as you increase in altitude due to the Sun's energy.

Temperatures in this region can go as high as 1,727 degrees Celsius.

Chemical reactions occur much faster here than on the surface of the Earth.

This layer is known as the upper atmosphere.

Composition of the Atmosphere: The atmosphere is primarily composed of Nitrogen (N2,

78%), Oxygen (O2, 21%), and Argon (Ar, 1%). A myriad of other very influential

components are also present which include the water (H2O, 0 - 7%), "greenhouse" gases orOzone (O, 0 - 0.01%), and Carbon Dioxide (CO2, 0.01-0.1%).

Figure 5. Composition of the Atmosphere

1.1.3.  Sociological View on Environment 1.1.3.1.  Classical Sociological Theorists and the Environment 

One possible source of inspiration for contemporary sociologists seeking to engage with

environmental topics is the canon of classical social theory, notably Durkheim, Weber and

Marx. To a certain extent these pioneer sociologists had something to say about nature and

society although it is more of implied than direct and was embedded in their philosophical

debates of the time in which they were writing. Some contemporary environmental

sociologists like Goldblatt (1996), Jarvikowski (1996) and Buttel (2000) discard the legacy

of these early sociologists to contemporary environmental sociological understanding

claiming it lacks conceptual and theoretical framework to understand the complex

interaction between nature and society. On the other hand, there is a rich and expandingwork more inclined to pick concepts and ideas about the environment from the classic

sociological thinkers and apply them to current environmental crisis. Sunderlin (2003)

defines and conceptualizes three key paradigms -individualist, managerial and class, each

of which is derived from the classical sociological literature of Durkheim, Weber and Marx

respectively.

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 A.  Emile Durkheim

Of the three founding figures Durkheim is probably the least likely to be recognized as

environmental commentator. In large part, this is a reflection of his determination to

elevate  social facts  over ‘facts of lower order’ (i.e. biological and psychological). For

Durkheim, a social fact is ‘any way of acting, whether fixed or not, capable of exerting overthe individual an external constraints’. These constraints are normally manifested in the

forms of law, morality, beliefs, customs and even fashion. Durkheim is quite firm in

asserting that social phenomena cannot be explained through individual lens. According to

him the central rule of sociology is the determining cause of a social  fact  must be

antecedent social facts not in individual consciousness. This vigorous defense of social facts

by Durkheim is a reaction to biological and psychological reductionist of his time that 

reduces the explanation of certain social phenomena to biological and psychological

factors.

Durkheim himself frequently utilized biological concepts and metaphors in presenting his

theory of societal transformation. This theory was inspired by Darwinian evolutionarymodel that was popular at the time. In The Division of Labor in Society   (1893), he

describes the evolution of modern societies from a state of mechanical solidarity  where in

social solidarity is a product of shared cultural values, to one of  organic solidarity , where

the social bond is a function of interdependence, most notably that arising out of an

increasingly complex division of labor.

Catton (2002) proposes that Durkheim’s theory was very much an attempt a solution towhat is essentially an ecological crisis of rising population paired with scarce resources.

As societies became larger and denser, it would have been disastrous if everyone had

continued to engage in agriculture. Increasingly, occupational specialization meant that 

the competition over arable land was lessened, even as that land became more productivethanks to technological innovation.

B.  Max Weber

A second sociological pioneer whose work is said to possess an ecologically relevant 

component is Max Weber. The environmental connection in Weber’s work was identified

by West (1984) and Murphy (1994) in his different works. West (1984) emphasized that 

Weber analyzed concrete examples of the struggles over natural resources, for example

the control of irrigation system. For Murphy the key concept to be extracted from Weber’swork is  formal rationalization. Rationalization is composed of several dynamic

institutional components. Increased scientific and technical knowledge brings with it afresh orientation in which nature exists only to be mastered and manipulated by

humans. An expanding capitalist market economy leaves little room for anything beyond

the calculating, self-interested pursuit of market domination. Industry and government are

controlled by a bureaucratic apparatus, the purpose of which is to attain a high level of 

efficiency. The legal system operates like a technically rational machine. Together, these

components promote a pervasive logic whereby efficiency reigns supreme, on occasion

even superseding a sensible choice of goals or alternatives, what Weber called substantive

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rationality . Formal rationality thus dictates that the most efficient action is to clear-cut an

old grown forest, even if this is in no way substantively rational from ecological point of 

view. Murphy also identified two distinctive concepts highlighted by Weber which have

relevant to contemporary environmental crisis- these are intensification of rationality  

and the magnification of rationality . This means the more we try to run things according

to the principles of disproportionate calculation the more we open the door to a swarmof unwanted negative effects. When this concept is applied to nature, this is called

Ecological irrationality . It is manifested in a wide range of destructive consequences from

sensational technological disasters such as nuclear accidents to routine pollution eventssuch as industrial dumping into rivers.

C.  Karl Marx

From the three pioneers of sociological thought, it is Karl Marx that has provoked the most 

extensive response from present day environmental interpreters. Marx and Engels

although they were marginally concerned with environmental degradation per se but their

analysis of social structure and social change has become the starting point for severalformidable contemporary theories of the environment. Marx and Engels believed that the

social conflict between the two principal classes in society, that is the capitalist and the

proletariat (worker), not only alienates ordinary people from their jobs but also leads to

their estrangement from nature itself.  Nowhere is this evident than in ‘capitalist 

agriculture’ which puts a quick profit from the land ahead of the welfare of both humansand the soil. As the industrial revolution proceeded through the eighteenth and ninetieth

centuries, rural workers were removed from the land and driven into crowded, polluted

cities while the soil itself was drained of its vitality.

According to Foster, Marx in his latter issue employed a concept of metabolism to describe

the complex interaction between society and nature. Metabolism, he observed ‘constitutesthe fundamental basis on which life is sustained and growth and reproduction can be

possible’. By the 1860s, this organic relationship was being seriously undercut  by the

practice of capitalist agriculture. Most notably, land owners were accused of unkindly

robbing the soil of its key nutrients by declining to recycle them. This is exactly what is still

happening, especially where monocultures (a single variety of a single crop grown for

commercial purpose) prevail. For example, large scale mechanized farming. Marx used to

be an advocate of organic farming methods and critical of chemical agriculture. In short, a

single factor, capitalism, was held responsible for a variety of social ills from

overpopulation and resource depletion to alienation of people from the natural world with

which they were once united. Marx and Engels saw the solution as the overthrow of the

dominant system of production, capitalism and the establishment in its place a rational,humane, environmentally unalienated  social order.

Marx and Engels argue for the establishment of a new harmonious relationship between

nature and human. However, in the later works of Marx, this relationship seems to follow

distinctly anthropocentric direction which means humans achieving mastery over nature,

in no small part because of technological innovation and automation. This has been called a

Promethean (pro-technological, anti-ecological) attitude towards nature.

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In contrast Marx’s early work, the concept of  the ‘humanization of nature’ was proposed.

This concept suggests that humans will develop a new understanding of and empathy with

nature, however, he did not clearly put whether this new understanding would be used for

increasing human’s might on nature (for example eliminating species that threaten

human health or to enhance the power and capacities of non-human species (eco-centric

approach). In short Marx’s early works are too complicated and contradictory onecological concerns to be the basis of a full-fledged theory on environment.

Contemporary Marxist theory emphasizes not only the role of capitalists but also that of the

state in fostering ecological destruction since elected politicians and bureaucratic

administrators serve the interests of capitalist investors. Public servants, politicians and

capitalist producers share an ‘ethic’ which accentuates capitalist accumulation and

economic growth as the dual engines which drives progress. This, they argue, applies at all

political level from global system to the local community.

1.1.3.2.  Towards the Emergence of an Environmental Sociology 1970-2005

The field of  Environmental Sociology emerged from the intellectual and social ferment 

generated by movements for social change and reform on the environmental issues .

Although the widely acknowledged founders of Sociology (Karl Marx, Max Weber and

Emile Durkheim) have written something about man and nature it was not definitive. It 

was largely in response to the widespread popular attention to the environmental 

problems that led to the development of environmental sociology in the 1970s. In the

beginning the sociologists’ work emphasized on environmental movements, publicattitudes towards environmental issues, environmental policy making and the

development of environmental quality as a social problem. These works applied

mainstream sociological perspectives on environmental topics, especially analyses of the

importance of claim-making activities in generating social interest in environmentaldegradation. This was labeled as ‘sociology of environmental issues’. However, as

sociologists paid more attention to environmental issues some began to look beyond

societal attention towards environmental problems and start focusing on the underlying

relationship between modern society and their environment . These efforts gradually led

to the establishment of an environmental sociology as a distinctive field on its own right.

Concerns with societal causes of environmental pollution were supplemented by a focus on

social impacts of pollution and resource constraints.

It was in 1971 by Samuel Klausner the concept Environmental Sociology was explicitly

used in his book  On Man in His Environment .  Klausner, a sociologist and a clinical

psychologist, edited the Annals of Academy of Political and Social Sciences on ‘Society and ItsPhysical Environment’. By this time sociological interest in environmental matters had

been re-ignited primarily by the rising popularity of  environmentalism and

environmental movement . The major catalysts being Carson’s bestselling exposure of the

damage of ecosystem due to agricultural pesticide use in a publication entitled Silent 

Spring, apocalyptic predictions contained in The Limits of Growth  by Meadows (1972)

combined with the energy crisis of the 1973-74. Following the energy crisis there was a

considerable sociological interest in analyzing the impact of the energy crisis on people 

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of different  income strata while some attention was given on the social mechanism that 

led to the energy scarcity. The dominant theme was ‘we are entering an era of ecological

limits’ shown in the Social Science Quarterly  (September, 1976) devoted to ‘Scarcity and

Society’ which got contribution from many environmental sociologists. In addition, a

sociologist called Catton emphasized his research interest in the 1970s on the theoretical

concern with overpopulation and declining fossil fuels which come together in hisinfluential book Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Social Change in 1980.

The 1970s ended in high momentum for environmental sociology in terms of membership 

in the Environment and Technology section of the American Sociological Association,

incorporating of the course and the launching of the Masters Program in the field. This

new field of study was at the same time emerged in Europe and later in 1990 in Japan and

Korea. Following the dominant political paradigm of the 1980s in the United States which

give attention to free enterprise, deregulation and small governments, gave way to new

paradigms that criticize the limits of growth. This newly developed paradigm refuted the

argument for energy scarcity by depicting that it can be avoided by restraining government 

intervention in the energy market and the idea of limits of growth lost its currency. Inaddition, arguments like population growth was also gained credence since human

ingenuity is the ultimate resource. These dominant thinkings of the 1980s restrained the

momentum of environmental sociology and resulted in the decline in membership in

Environment and Technology section in ASA, decreased enrollment in environmental

sociology, decline in publication on the field and low job vacancies for environmental

sociologists. However, in the decade due to major environmental hazards that happened,

which includes Three-Mile Island (1979), Bophal, India (1984), Chernobyl (1986) and Love

Canal (which began at the end of 1970s), there was a growing attention towards

sociological investigation of the nature and role of  environmental hazards on the

modern societies. As in the 1970s in 1980s the focus of research was on the impact of the

environment on humans (as mediated by perceptions, collective definitions andcommunity networks) rather than human impacts on the environment as an extension of the limits of growth hypothesis.

By the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s the environmental quality was

widely seen as worsening where by issues like ozone layer depletion, acidic rain, global

warming and rainforest destruction become global agendas. These coupled with the

wide public attention towards worsening of the environmental quality due to the earth

summit and environmental devastations led to the revitalization of an interest in

environmental sociology. Before starting to decline in the mid 1990s. More recently

environmental sociology has shifted attention from identifying key factors of 

environmental degradation and destruction to discovering the most effectivemechanisms of environmental improvement or reform which will help to pave the way

forward to more socially secure and environmentally friendly arrangement. These was

due to the increased scale of environmental problems from localized ones (like air

pollution) to more of  regional ones (acidic rains) and even global ones (ozone

depletion and global warming), the pervasive deterioration of the environment and its

frequent media coverage that brings the attention to the public, increased risk for

environmental problems worldwide and its increased impacts on the welfare and health of 

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people. Although many researches are conducted in the field, its theoretical contribution 

to the discipline Sociology and to the environmental social theories was minimal.

1.1.3.3.  Theoretical Approaches to Environmental Sociology A.  Explanations for Environmental Destruction

In this section we will discuss two major approaches to the environmental destruction and

degradation, i.e. ecological explanation-‘three competing environmental functions’, andpolitical economy explanation of  ‘trreadmill of production’ and ‘societal-environmental

dialectic’. 

I.  Ecological Explanation: Competing Functions of the Environment 

The ecological basis of environmental destruction is best described in Catton and Dunlap’s‘three competing functions of the environment ’ (see figure 6). Their model specifiesthree general functions that the environment serves the human beings: supply depot,

living space and waste repository. Used as supply depot, the environment is a source of renewable and non-renewable natural resources (air, water, forests, and fossil fuels) that 

are essential for living. Overuse of these resources results in shortages or scarcities.

Living space or habitat provides housing, transportation systems and other essentials of 

daily life. Overuse of this function results in overcrowding, congestion and the

destruction of habitats for other species. With the waste repository function, the

environment serves as a ‘sink’ for garbage (rubbish), sewerage, industrial pollution and

other byproducts. Exceeding the ability of the ecosystems to absorb wastes results inhealth problems from toxic wastes and in ecosystem disruption.

Figure 6. Competing Functions of the Environment 

Current Situation

Furthermore, each of these functions competes for space, often impinging upon the other.

For example, placing a garbage landfill in rural location near to a city both makes that site

unsuitable as a living space and destroys the ability of the land to function as a supply

depot for food. Similarly, urban sprawl or expansion of the urban area towards the rural

Global Carrying Capacity 1900

Supply

Depot 

Waste

Repository

Living

Space

Living Space

Supply

Depot  Waste

Repository

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area reduces the amount of arable land that can be put into production while intensive

forest tree logging threatens the living space of native (aboriginal) peoples living in the

forests. In recent years, the overlap, and the conflict among these competing functions of 

the environment has grown considerably.

This model, unlike the mainstream sociology theories like human ecology, extends beyondthe focus on living space to include environmentally relevant functions of supply and

waste disposal. In addition, the model also shows the increasing overlap among the

competing functions of the environment since the year 1900. However, the model failed to

portray the social actions involved in this competition of environmental functions that 

have an implication for the overuse and abuse of environmental resources.

II.  Political Economy Explanation: the ‘Societal-Environmental

Dialectic’ and the ‘Treadmill of Production’ 

Drawing on the strands of both Marxist political economy and Neo-Weberian Sociology,

Schnaiberg outlines the nature and genesis of contradictory relations between economicexpansion and environmental disruption. He labeled the political economy of 

environmental problems and policies of the capitalist society as ‘treadmill of production’.

It refers to the inherent need of the an economic system to continually yield a profit by

creating consumer demand for new products even exceeding the limits of growth of the

ecosystem or the ‘carrying capacity’. The treadmill of production is a complex reinforcing

mechanism whereby politicians respond to environmental crisis created by the capitalist 

mode of production by encouraging yet  further economic expansion. For example,

resource shortages are not handled by reducing consumption or adopting a more modest 

lifestyle rather by opening up new areas to exploitation. Schnaiberg detects dialectical 

tension between ‘use values’; for example the value of preserving existing unique species

of plants and animals, and ‘exchange values’ which characterize the industrial use of natural resources with profit seeking motive. States have the responsibility of balancing the

exploitation of these values because of its facilitating role as capital accumulation and

economic growth and its role of environmental regulator. However, usually governments

are engaged in ‘environmental managerialism’ in which they attempt to legislate a

limited environmental protection laws and policies to avoid criticism but not significant 

enough to limit environmentally degrading growth. Rather governments enact 

environmental policies and procedures that are complex, ambiguous and open to

exploitation by the forces of capital production and accumulation.

The authors of this explanation have portrayed its application to the developing countries

context. Third World Countries, in order to reproduce developed countries ’ industrialization, invest highly in infrastructures like roads, hydroelectric power dams,

airports, and so on, which causes massive ecological damage in the form of flooding

rainforest destruction, soil erosion and pollution. The treadmill of production 

explanation has the advantage of locating present environmental problems in the

inequities of humanly constructed political and economic systems rather than abstract 

conflict of environmental functions. However, this explanation did not get the status of a

paradigm (fundamental model) due to two major reasons. First this explanation is a neo-

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Marxist explanation of environmental destruction; however, Marxist thinking has been

overshadowed by new theoretical flavor, notably postmodernism and cultural sociology.

Second, the treadmill explanation has been somewhat static to the manufacturing

economy of the capitalist era that does not consider the shift of Western countries to

towards information age.

B.  Perspectives on Environmental Improvement 

In this section we will discuss perspectives for environmental reform or improvements i.e.

reflexive modernization thesis and ecological modernization. Both approaches believe share

that environmental protection is a basic responsibility of the modern society.

I. Reflexive Modernization

According to Beck Western nations have moved from an ‘industrial’ or  ‘class’ society in

which the central issue is how socially produced wealth can be distributed in a socially

unequal manner in a way that minimizes negative side effects (like hunger, poverty, etc) tothe paradigm of a ‘risk society’ in which the risks and hazards produced as part of 

modernization, notably pollution. The theory argues that whilst humans have always been

subjected to a level of risk - such as natural disasters - these have usually been perceived

as produced by non-human forces. Modern societies, however, are exposed to risks such

as pollution, newly discovered illnesses, crime, that are the result of the modernization

process itself . Giddens defines these two types of risks as external risks and

manufactured risks.  Manufactured risks are marked by a high level of  humaninvolvement in both producing, and mitigating such risks.

According to Beck risk has become much more distributed than was formerly the case. For

example air pollution affects everyone equally disregardless of their income status. Hefurther argued that contemporary risks are different from past risks since 1) they cannot 

be detected by human sensory rather only by sophisticated scientific instrumentation, 2)

they transcend generations, and 3) they preclude causal attribution and compensation 

for victims. In early development of the industrial societies, risks such as industrial smog

were observable and obvious. However, modern “manufactured” technological risks are

“intangible” and cannot be smelled, heard, tasted or touched. For example nuclear

radiation which cannot be seen. Subsequently, modern risk  judgments are made on the

basis of “expert knowledge”. 

Risks attached to events such as chemical spills and radiation poisonings are the testament 

to the failure of social institutions, notably science. These incidences have led to publicdistrust in industry,  government  and experts. These led to the critique of science and

progress, which consequently resulted in the development of new varieties of  public-

oriented scientific experts (for example in conservation biology) and the changing nature

political monopolies to more bottom-up decision-making as evidenced by the entry of the

’green’ parties to parliament. On the other hand, social concerns have led to the increased

regulation of the nuclear power industry and to the abandonment of some expansion plans,

altering the course of modernization itself. This increased critique of modern industrial

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practices is said to have resulted in a state of  reflexive modernization, illustrated by

concepts such as sustainability and the precautionary principle that focus on preventativemeasures to decrease levels of risk.

This societal response to this shift in concern to large number of technological catastrophe

involves the process of “reflexive modernization” expressed through Beck’sindividualization narrative (Beck 1992). As Beck has written, reflexive modernization

means:

the disintegration of the certainties of industrial society as well as the

compulsion to find and invent new certainties for oneself and others

without them. But it also means new interdependencies, even global 

ones. Individualization and globalization are in fact two sides of the

same process of reflexive modernization (Beck 1996:14).

Modernization gave greater role for individuals, as it reaches a certain level individual

agents will be less constrained by social structures. Hence in order to actively shape the

modernization process individual agents must free themselves from structuralconstraints. Reflexive modernization leads to a greater individualization. According to

Beck, individuals are free to break free from the scientific constraints (the construction of 

risks) and choose their own lifestyles, subcultures and social ties. Each of us, Beck believes,

is obliged to reflect upon our personal experience and make our own decision how we

wish to live.

“Choice and calculation” become more viable for people in the modern world as the

restructuring of social conflict along risk cleavages coincides with the reorganization of 

social forms to include new sub-political groups. As Beck has written:

sub-politics, then means shaping society from below. Viewed from

above, this results in the loss of implementation power, the shrinkageand minimization of politics... Politicization thus implies a decrease in

the central rule approach.  As such “the authoritarian decision and 

action state gives way to the negotiation state, which arranges stages

and conversations and directs the show (Beck 1996:39). 

This social transformation to risk society involves the “unbinding of science” through abroader sub-political critique by “citizen science.” Nongovernment organizations (NGOS)

and civil societies proliferate, responding to the inability of industrial society’s institutions

to insure and compensate victims of modern risks. Increasingly, modern institutions (such

as states and research institutes) appear organized by the narrative of  “irresponsibility” and must engage in a discourse over society’s capacity to deal with the “side effects” of 

modern technology, especially toxic pollution and ionizing radiation.

However, the theory was criticized for its self-contradiction-it argues that the planet is in

increasing peril due to an escalation of objectively verifiable global risks on the one hand

and insisting that risks are socially constructed and do not exist beyond our perception

on the other. In addition, the theory is criticized for its extreme optimism in the civil

societies while there are undemocratic interests, values or modes of action in these

organizations.

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II.  Ecological Modernization

By ecological modernization, Spaargaren and Mol mean an ecological switch of the

industrialization process in a direction that takes into account the maintenance of the

existing sustenance base. It ‘indicates the possibility of overcoming the environmental

crisis without leaving the modernization path’. According to Huber, an industrial societydevelops in three phases: 1) the industrialization breakthrough; 2) the construction of 

industrial society; and 3) the ecological switcher of the industrial system through the

process of  ‘super-industrialization’, which is made possible due to new technological

innovation and diffusion. The ecological modernization is in favor of large-scale

restructuring of production-consumption cycles to be accomplished through the use of 

new, sophisticated and clean technologies. The theory ignores Third World Countries

and focuses on the economies of Western European nations which are to be ‘ecologised’ 

through substitution of micro-electronics, gene technology and other clean production 

processes for the older, ‘end of pipe’ technologies associated with chemical andmanufacturing industries.

The ecological modernization theory contains three main strategic elements. These are a

far reaching conversion of the economy to harmonize it with ecological principles, a

reorientation of environmental policy to the ‘prevention principle’ (seeking a better

balance between stopping pollution before it happens and cleaning it up later on) and

ecological reorientation of environmental policy, especially by substituting statistical

probability for ‘prove-beyond-a-doubt’ causality in legal suits against polluters. Ecological

modernization is a reasoned position against the extreme environmentalist  who

preaches de-industrialization and capital apologists who prefer business-as-usual-

approach. However, the chip revolution and the nuclear power that they assumed would

bring ecological harmony were not environmentally friendly as it was assumed. Currently

the advocates of the theory claim that capitalism has evolved in a greener direction or‘responsible capitalism’. For example, a research in Dutch chemical industry, which was a

notorious polluter in the past, responding to consumer pressure has adopted large number

of green measures- introduction of new technologies, annual environmental reports,environmental audits and environmental certification systems.

The theory of ecological modernization was criticized by treadmill theorists for its

sampling of industries which are applying cutting edge technologies for production and

assume its diffusion widely. However, according to the critics, these industries apply such

green measures in response to state regulation and social movement action through

misreporting and false assessment . With all these criticisms the ecological

modernization theory has become an important  lens through which economy-ecologyrelationships of industrial societies can be viewed.

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1.1.3.4. 1.1.4.  Climate Change

1.1.4.1.  Climate and Weather

C.  Weather

There are really a lot of components to weather. Weather includes sunshine, rain, cloudcover, winds, hail, snow, sleet, freezing rain, flooding, blizzards, ice storms, thunderstorms,

steady rains from a cold front or warm front, excessive heat, heat waves and more.Weather

is basically the way the atmosphere is behaving, mainly with respect to its effects upon life

and human activities. The difference between weather and climate is that weather consists

of the short-term (minutes to months) changes in the atmosphere. In most places, weathercan change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season.

D.  Climate

Climate encompasses the statistics of temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind,

rainfall, atmospheric particle count and other meteorological elemental measurements in agiven region over long periods. Climate can be contrasted to weather, which is the present 

condition of these elements and their variations over shorter periods. Climate, however, is

the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to remember the difference is

that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a

hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.

A region's climate is generated by the climate system, which has five components:

Atmosphere, hydrosphere, land surface, and biosphere.It is typically characterized in terms

of suitable averages of the climate system over periods of a month or more, taking into

consideration the variability in time of these averaged quantities. The climate of a location

is affected by its latitude, terrain, and altitude, as well as nearby water bodies and theircurrents. Climates can be classified according to the average and the typical ranges of 

different variables, most commonly temperature and precipitation. An example climatic

classification is the Bergeron and Spatial Synoptic Classification systems that focus on theorigin of air masses that define the climate of a region.

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  Climate Change