Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
America signed a declaration stating that the Sound's temperate rainforests 'remain
highly vulnerable to continued development'. In 2009 a Vancouver-based mining
company sought and won the consent from First Nation chiefs to undertake test
drilling for copper and gold on their hereditary lands. Logging continues and in the
first decade of the new century the volume of timber extracted has steadily increased:
in 2000, 25,000 cubic metres; in 2005, 94,000 cubic metres; and in 2008, 158,000
cubic metres (Mychajlowycz, 2010).
Perspectives and world views
Public debates, discussions and discourses on globalization, anti-globalization,
sustainability and the environment reveal a wide range of perspectives and worldviews.
Clapp and Dauvergne (2005) offer a fourfold categorization albeit recognizing their
categories are
ideal types
and that many organizations, groups and individuals share
elements drawn from two or more. Complexity and interconnectedness frequently
characterize both our world and our attempts to make sense of it. The four categories
and associated beliefs include the following:
Market liberals
•
The main causes of global environmental problems are poverty and poor economic
growth brought on by market failures and bad government polices that lead to
market distortions - e.g. subsidies, unclear property rights.
•
Globalization is largely positive because it fosters economic growth and, combined
with the application of modern science and technology and human ingenuity,
will in the long run improve the environment and people's material well-being.
Institutionalists
•
The primary cause of global environmental problems are weak institutions and
inadequate global co-operation, which has failed to correct environmental failures,
promote development or counteract the self-interested nature of some states'
actions.
•
The main opportunity of globalization is to enhance opportunities for co-
operation, capacity building and innovative eco-efficient technologies, which
will generally enhance human well-being. The
precautionary principle
should
inform the evaluation of new developments.
Bio-environmentalists
•
The main causes of the environmental crisis are excessive economic growth,
overpopulation, over-consumption and rampant materialism.
•
Globalization is driving unsustainable growth, trade, investment and debt while
accelerating the depletion of natural resources and filling waste sinks. The way
forward is to create a new global economy operating within the Earth's ecological
limits.
