>Sebastian Luque <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
>
>We will probably find that those pathways have absolutely nothing to do
>with wealth per se, at least immediately, but a lot with social struggles
>for power and control of resources. Besides confusing correlation and
>cause-effect, Wirt's argument implies that poor countries have the
>*choice* to either protect or destroy their environment. Given the
>current world distribution of power (which goes hand in hand with wealth),
>it's clear that they didn't choose to destroy the environment because
>they're poor and ignorant.
>
While I agree with Wirt that poverty and lack of education (defined as the
absence of necessary information) are probably significant factors shaping the
particulars of environmental degradation, both within the US and in developing
countries, Sebastian raises the central point. I teach international
development, amongst other things,, and so am acutely aware of the power of the
US dollar to shape resource consumption decisions in developing countries.
Most nations have, literally, no choice but to generate dollars, if they are to
buy anything in the international marketplace. This is a huge skew in decision
making. Pollution and resource degradation are, at least partly, outcomes of
this skew, I would argue.
It is usually the quest for wealth that drives ecological degradation, rather
than poverty per se. (There are plenty of examples of poor people living
ecologically low impact lives, so it can't be poverty, per se, but must be some
particular variant of poverty--perhaps poverty-in-search-of-wealth--that is at
play here.)
If you do get around to seeing Darwin's Nightmare, it will become quickly
apparent that there is a high social cost to local populations of the national
need to generate foreign exchange earnings. Sebastian's point, that "choice"
in developing countries is complexly shaped by exogenous forces, is worth
keeping in mind. Wealth creation is the key process here. Human ingenuity
apart, most of the matter-energy components of wealth creation seem to rest,
under capitalism, on the externalization of costs onto nature. Otherwise known
as pollution and environmental degradation.
Cheers,
-
Ashwani
Vasishth [EMAIL PROTECTED] (818) 677-6137
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban Studies and Planning, ST 206
California State University, Northridge
http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~vasishth
