Page 517 - Essencials of Sociology

490 CHAPTER 15 Social Change and the Environment

In Sum: As technology wraps itself around us, transforming society, culture, and our
everyday lives, we confront four primary issues: What type of future will technology
lead us to? Will technology liberate us or make us slaves of Big Brother? Will the new
technology perpetuate or alleviate social inequalities on both national and global levels?
Finally, and perhaps most ominously, will the technology that is transforming the face of
war and now being used “over there” come back to haunt us in our own land?

The Growth Machine versus the Earth
Explain how industrialization
15.4
is related to environmental problems;
contrast the environmental movement After a frustrating struggle of twenty years, Russian environmentalists finally won
and environmental sociology; discuss a court order to stop Baikalsk Paper Mill from dumping its wastes into Lake Baikal.
the goal of harmony. When the mill filed for bankruptcy, Vladimir Putin, the prime minister of Russia,
boarded a minisub and said, “I’ll see if the lake has been damaged.” At the bottom
of Lake Baikal, Putin said, “It’s clean. I can see the bottom.” He then told Oleg
Deripaska, the major owner of the paper mill, “You can dump your wastes in the
lake.” (Boudreaux 2010)
sustainable environment a
world system that takes into Politicians are usually more subtle than this, but, befitting his power and position, Putin
account the limits of the environ- doesn’t have to be. He can crown himself an environmental expert and give personal
ment, produces enough material permission to pollute. Although the specifics differ, in country after country, similar
goods for everyone’s needs, and battles are being waged. While environmentalists struggle for a clean Earth, politicians
leaves a heritage of a sound envi- fight for jobs and votes—and while doing so, some line the pockets of their friends, and
ronment for the next generation
their own as well.
The Globalization of Capitalism and the Race for Economic Growth. Like drivers
and cars spinning around a NASCAR racetrack, we are in the midst of a global economic
race that threatens to destroy the Earth. The racetrack is
the Earth, and the cars and drivers are the Earth’s nations.
At the head of the pack are the Most Industrialized
Nations. To maintain their lead—and cheered on by their
sponsors, the multinational corporations—they continue to
push for economic growth. Without an annual increase in
production, the economic engines of the Most Industrial-
ized Nations falter, sputtering into recession or depression.
Behind them, furiously trying to catch up, are the Indus-
trializing Nations. To develop their economies, China and
the others strive for even larger percentage growth. Mean-
while, the Least Industrialized Nations, lagging farther
behind and envious of the others, do their best to rev up
Sumatran Tiger Texas Ocelot
Fewer than 400, Indonesia Fewer than 250, southern United their economic engines.
States, northern Mexico
A Sustainable Environment. Many people are con-
vinced that the Earth cannot withstand such an onslaught.
Global economic production creates global pollution;
faster-paced production, which feeds the globalization of
capitalism, means faster-paced destruction of our environ-
ment. In this relentless pursuit of economic development,
many animal species have been destroyed. Others, hanging
by a claw or a wounded wing, are on the verge of extinc-
tion. If the goal is a sustainable environment, a world
system in which we use our physical environment to meet
our needs without destroying humanity’s future, we cannot
continue to trash the Earth. In short, the ecological mes-
Mountain Bongo Gaur sage is incompatible with an economic message that implies
About 50, Kenya About 36,000, Southeast Asia
it is okay to rape the Earth if it makes someone rich.