Conservation, ecological justice and harm to nature - Environmental Harm: An Eco-justice Perspective - page 75

• disposal problems - waste generated in production, distribution and
consumption processes, pollution associated with transformations of
nature, burning of fossil fuels and using up of consumables
• industrialisation of nature - genetic changes in food crops, use of
plantation forestry that diminishes bio-diversity, preference for
large-scale, technology-dependent and high-yield agricultural and
aquaculture methods that degrade land and oceans and affect species'
development and wellbeing
• species decline - destruction of habitats, privileging of certain
species of grains and vegetables over others for market purposes,
super-exploitation of specific plants and animals, due to presumed
consumer taste and mass markets.
These transformative processes, however, are not treated as the key
problem from the point of view of hegemonic states (such as the
United States and China) and the dominant transnational corporations
(such as mining companies, pharmaceutical companies, water and
waste treatment companies, and agribusiness). Profit is made, precisely
through this exploitation of humans and nature. Profit, furthermore,
is enhanced through scarcity, not plenty.
These transformations not only capitalistically transform nature,
but they simultaneously transform human relationships and the
habitats of human and nonhuman alike. Consider for example the
fact that agriculture in the United States has not only become heavily
corporatised (resulting in a smaller number of farms, but larger in size),
but heavily subsidised over the years. To take one of the top crops, for
example, it is notable that 'between 2000 and 2004 an average of $4.5
billion a year in federal subsidies went to support corn production'
(Baur, 2008: 87). This corn production was, in turn, mainly directed at
producing feed for animal farms, another huge growth area in terms
of agribusiness and production outcomes (see Chapter Four). The
ecological impact of large scale food animal production is enormous,
as indicated by water use under such regimes.
We are draining or diverting rivers and aquifers by raising
animals and growing crops where we shouldn't be to meet
the industry's seemingly relentless demand for resources.
Large slaughterhouses that kill cattle use between 250,000
and 500,000 gallons of water each day. Poultry plants use
even more, about 1.5 million gallons per day (about 6 gallons
per bird). (Baur, 2008: 88)