Discussion 10

Week of Monday, November 1

Assignments (Discussion #10 due by Tuesday , 11:59pm, this week)

Part One

· Review: “The story of stuff” (video, 21 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

· Review: “The litter myth” (audio, 33 minutes)

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/757539617/the-litter-myth

· Review: “The great recycling con”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/09/opinion/recycling-myths.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Part Two

· “They want to pay Mother Nature for all her hard work”

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/climate/dasgupta-report-biodiversity-climate.html?action=click&module=News&pgtype=Homepage

· “Externalities”

https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Market_failures/Externalities.html (read the first two paragraphs)

https://www.economicsonline.co.uk/Market_failures/Positive_externalities.html (read the first two paragraphs)

· “Karl Polanyi’s Paradox” (not Michael Polanyi’s Paradox): GPCC (pages 127-132)

Recommended: “Karl Polanyi”

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Karl-Polanyi#ref38019

Part Three

· “Alternative economic indicators” (Genuine Progress Indicator and others)

http://www.consultmcgregor.com/documents/resources/GDP_and_GPI.pdf

Part Four

· Review: “Stop blaming population growth for climate change. The real culprit is wealth inequality”

https://scroll.in/article/952350/stop-blaming-population-growth-for-climate-change-the-real-culprit-is-wealth-inequality?fbclid=IwAR35FRd2yg8Ta7_n9Z7dqZAIzI_JWFuUFgSY7iH8I1MsCaXL1lqqdrCycUE

· “’Bees, not refugees’: The environmentalist roots of anti-immigrant bigotry”

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/15/anti

· “Your Cyber Monday shopping is polluting this small town”

https://www.curbed.com/2018/11/20/18104847/cyber-monday-warehouse-real-estate-pollution-amazon

· “Paris to Amazon: No free delivery for you”

https://www.citylab.com/environment/2019/11/amazon-delivery-online-shopping-environmental-impact-paris/602674/?utm_campaign=citylab-daily-newsletter&utm_medium=email&silverid=%25%25RECIPIENT_ID%25%25&utm_source=newsletter

Part Five

· “Population, sustainability, and Malthus: Crash course in world history 215” (video, 12:50 minutes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAkW_i0bDpQ

· “The bomb that didn’t explode: Why our fears about population growth didn’t come true” (audio, 36 minutes)

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/09/813801640/the-bomb-that-didnt-explode-why-our-fears-about-population-growth-didn-t-come-tr

· “’They’re trying to wipe us off the map.’ Small American farmers are nearing extinction”

https://time.com/5736789/small-american-farmers-debt-crisis-extinction/

· “Too many Africans?”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2019/07/11/too-many-africans/

Part Five

· GPCC, Part two, “The global impact of the culture of capitalism: Introduction” (including “A Primer on Market Externalities: [Karl] Polanyi’s Paradox”); and chapter 5, “The problem of population growth”

Questions to answer:

· What are “market externalities,” including “positive externalities” and “negative externalities? Give two examples of positive externalities and two of negative externalities.

· Discuss negative externalities in view of “The story of stuff" and "They want to start paying Mother Nature ..."

· Define “Karl Polanyi’s Paradox” (as described in GPCC, not his brother “Michael Polanyi’s Paradox”). Give five examples.

· What is the “Malthusian” theory of population, and what is its underlying ideology? What are the general arguments against Malthusian theory?

· What is the concept of "the carrying capacity of the Earth"? What is problematic about this concept?

· What is the “demographic transition” theory and the “wealth flows” theory of population? How do they specifically argue against the Malthusian theory?

· How does the article “Too many Africans?” critique mainstream ideas about overpopulation (especially Malthusian and neo-Malthusian ideas) and coincide with wealth flows theory? How does the critique also coincide with the documentary video “King Leopold’s Ghost”?

· In summary, does the textbook author regard overpopulation as a principal cause of global poverty, environmental degradation, and social/political conflict? Why or why not?

250 word minimum; no maximum word count. Display the word count at the end of your post. -

Note: Zero points for the entire post if you cite Michael Polanyi’s Paradox instead of Karl Polanyi’s Paradox.