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Chapter 13

Environmental Problems

Mooney/Knox/Schacht, Understanding Social Problems, 10th Edition. © 2017 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter 13: Environmental Problems

If grief can be a doorway to love, then let us all weep for the world we are breaking apart so we can love it back to wholeness again.”

—Robin Wall Kimmerer

Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

Give an example of an environmental problem that crosses international borders, explain why environmental migrants are an international concern, and discuss how transnational corporations and free trade agreements contribute to environmental problems.

Give examples of how structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interactionism can be applied to our understanding of environmental problems.

Identify the sources of the world’s energy and briefly describe the following environmental problems: depletion of natural resources; air, land, and water pollution, global warming and climate change; threats to biodiversity; light pollution; and environmental illness.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

Explain how population growth, industrialization and economic development, individualism, consumerism, and militarism contribute to environmental problems.

Describe various strategies and efforts to restore and protect the environment.

Summarize the causes of environmental problems, and identify the challenges that must be overcome in order to restore and protect the environment.

Chapter Outline

The Global Context: Globalization and the Environment

Sociological Theories of Environmental Problems

Environmental Problems: An Overview

Social Causes of Environmental Problems

Strategies for Action: Responding to Environmental Problems

Understanding Environmental Problems

The Global Context: Globalization and the Environment

In looking at environmental problems from a global perspective, we see that many environmental problems have causes and consequences that cross international borders.

Bioinvasion

Environmental problems such as climate change and destruction of the ozone layer extend far beyond their source to affect the entire planet.

For example, toxic chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls [P C B s]) from the Southern Hemisphere have been found in the Arctic.

Another environmental problem involving permeability of borders is bioinvasion; the intentional or accidental introduction of organisms in regions where they are not native.

Environmental Migrants

Environmental migrants—people who flee from their home region due to environmental problems that threaten their survival or livelihood—are also referred to as “environmental refugees,” “climate refugees,” “environmentally displaced persons,” and “climate migrants.”

Environmental problems that cause people to migrate include floods, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters which displaced an average of 27 million people each year between 2008 and 2013.

The Growth of Transnational Corporations and Free Trade Agreements

The World Trade Organization (W T O) and free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (N A F T A) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (F T A A) allow transnational corporations to pursue profits, expand markets, use natural resources, and exploit cheap labor in developing countries while weakening the ability of governments to protect natural resources or to implement environmental legislation.

Transnational corporations have influenced the world’s most powerful nations to institutionalize an international system of governance that values commercialism, corporate rights, and “free” trade over the environment, human rights, worker rights, and human health.

Sociological Theories of Environmental Problems

Structural-Functionalist Perspective (1 of 2)

Structural functionalism focuses on how changes in one aspect of the social system affect other aspects of society.

Likewise, humans are part of a larger ecosystem—which consists of all the organisms living in a particular area, as well as all the nonliving, physical components of the environment, like air, water, soil, and sunlight, that interact to keep the whole ecosystem functioning.

Structural-Functionalist Perspective (2 of 2)

The structural-functionalist perspective raises our awareness of latent dysfunctions; negative consequences of social actions that are unintended and not widely recognized.

For example, the expanding production of biofuels made from corn reduces reliance on fossil fuels, but also has the unintended consequence of raising food prices.

Conflict Perspective (1 of 3)

The conflict perspective focuses on how wealth, power, and the pursuit of profit underlie many environmental problems.

To maximize sales, manufacturers design products intended to become obsolete. As a result of this planned obsolescence, consumers continually throw away used products and purchase replacements. Industry profits at the expense of the environment, which must sustain the constant production and absorb ever-increasing amounts of waste.

Conflict Perspective (2 of 3)

Perceived obsolescence—the perception that a product is obsolete—is a marketing tool used to convince consumers to replace certain items even though the items are still functional.

Industries also use their power and wealth to influence politicians’ environmental and energy policies as well as the public’s beliefs about environmental issues.

For example, some utility companies, whose profits are being threatened by the growing solar energy industry, are lobbying to reduce or eliminate solar energy tax incentives and are waging publicity campaigns that criticize solar energy companies for spending “hard-earned tax dollars to subsidize their wealthy customers”.

Conflict Perspective (3 of 3)

The conflict perspective is also concerned with environmental injustice (also known as environmental racism)—the tendency for marginalized populations and communities to disproportionately experience adversity due to environmental problems.

The recycling of “e-waste”—waste from discarded items such as computers, cell phones, and televisions—is done in developing countries under conditions that expose recycling workers and local residents to toxic metals from burning the waste.

What Do You Think? 1

Do you think that members of Congress, who make and vote on energy policies, should be allowed to own stocks in oil or gas companies? Would you feel the same way about members of Congress who invested in renewable energy industries, such as solar and wind power?

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective (1 of 3)

Focuses on how meanings, labels, and definitions learned through interaction and through the media affect environmental problems.

Large corporations and industries commonly use marketing and public relations strategies to construct favorable meanings of their corporation or industry.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective (2 of 3)

Greenwashing: Refers to the way environmentally and socially damaging companies portray their corporate image and products as being “environmentally friendly” or socially responsible.

Although greenwashing involves manipulation of public perception to maximize profits, many corporations make genuine and legitimate efforts to improve their operations, packaging, or overall sense of corporate responsibility toward the environment.

Symbolic Interactionist Perspective (3 of 3)

Pinkwashing: the practice of using the color pink and pink ribbons and other marketing strategies that suggest a company is helping to fight breast cancer, even when the company may be using chemicals linked to cancer.

What Do You Think? 2

A wide range of companies has adopted the pink ribbon marketing strategy, including Clorox, Dansko, Evian, Ford, K F C, and American Airlines. Does the presence of a pink ribbon on a product or service influence your purchasing behavior? Why or why not? Think Before You Pink, a project of the national organization Breast Cancer Action, encourages consumers to ask critical questions before they buy products with the pink ribbon symbol (see Table 13.1).

Environmental Problems: An Overview

Ecosystems are the complex and dynamic relationships between forms of life and the environments they inhabit

Over the past 50 years, humans have altered ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any other comparable period of time in history.

Energy Use Worldwide (1 of 2)

Until we experience a prolonged power outage, most of us take the availability of electricity for granted, and don’t think about how dependent we are on energy.

Most of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels, which include petroleum (or oil), coal, and natural gas.

For example, the proposed Keystone X L pipeline would carry 900,000 barrels a day of tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf, crossing Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Tar sands are large, naturally occurring deposits of sand, clay, water, and a dense form of petroleum that looks like tar.

Tar sands oil has been referred to as the world’s dirtiest oil.

Energy Use Worldwide (2 of 2)

Figure 13.1 World Energy Supply by Source, 2012

SOURCE: International Energy Agency 2014.

Depletion of Natural Resources

The demands that humanity makes on the earth’s natural resources are known as the environmental footprint.

Every year the Global Footprint Network identifies Earth Overshoot Day—the approximate date on which humanity’s annual demand on the planet’s resources exceeds what our planet can renew in a year.

The demand for new land, fuel, and raw materials resulted in deforestation, the conversion of forest land to nonforest land.

Desertification is the degradation of semiarid land, which results in the expansion of desert land that is unusable for agriculture.

Air Pollution (1 of 5)

Transportation vehicles, fuel combustion, industrial processes (such as burning coal and processing minerals from mining), and solid waste disposal have contributed to the growing levels of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, arsenic, nitrogen dioxide, mercury, dioxins, and lead.

Air pollution, which is linked to heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and asthma, kills about 7 million people a year.

Air Pollution (2 of 5)

Indoor Air Pollution

Exposure to this indoor smoke increases risk of pneumonia, chronic respiratory disease, asthma, cataracts, tuberculosis, and lung cancer, and is responsible for up to 2 million deaths a year (World Health Organization 2011).

Exposure is particularly high among women and children, who spend the most time near the domestic hearth or stove.

Air Pollution (3 of 5)

Air pollution is linked to a number of health problems, including respiratory problems such as emphysema, and contributes to one in eight deaths worldwide.

Air Pollution (4 of 5)

Destruction of the Ozone Layer

The ozone layer of the earth’s atmosphere protects life on earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays.

Yet the ozone layer has been weakened by the use of certain chemicals, particularly chlorofluorocarbons (C F C s), used in refrigerators, air conditioners, spray cans, and other applications.

The depletion of the ozone layer allows hazardous levels of ultraviolet rays to reach the earth’s surface and is linked to a variety of problems.

Air Pollution (5 of 5)

Acid Rain

Air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, mix with precipitation to form acid rain. Polluted rain, snow, and fog contaminate crops, forests, lakes, and rivers.

For example: As a result of the effects of acid rain, all the fish have died in a third of the lakes in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

Global Warming and Climate Change (1 of 4)

Global warming refers to the increasing average global air temperature, caused mainly by the accumulation of various gases (greenhouse gases) that collect in the atmosphere.

Causes of Global Warming: The prevailing scientific view is that Greenhouse Gases, primarily carbon dioxide (C O2), methane, and nitrous oxide, accumulate in the atmosphere and act like the glass in a greenhouse, holding heat from the sun close to the earth.

Global Warming and Climate Change (2 of 4)

Global warming refers to the increasing average global temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, water, and land.

The world’s average global temperature in 2014 was the highest on record, marking the 38th consecutive year that the average global temperature was above the 20th-century average

Global Warming and Climate Change (3 of 4)

The effects of global warming and climate change also include the following:

Melting ice and rising sea levels

Flooding and spread of disease

Threat of species extinction

Extreme weather conditions

Forest fires

Global Warming and Climate Change (4 of 4)

Disappearing sea ice makes finding food difficult for polar bears, which are under threat of extinction if greenhouse gases continue at their current rate throughout the 21st century.

Land Pollution (1 of 3)

About 30 percent of the world’s surface is land, which provides soil to grow the food we eat.

Increasingly, humans are polluting the land with nuclear waste, solid waste, and pesticides.

In 2015, 1,321 hazardous waste sites (also called Superfund sites) were on the National Priority List.

Land Pollution (2 of 3)

Nuclear Waste: Nuclear waste, resulting from both nuclear weapons production and nuclear reactors or power plants, contains radioactive plutonium, a substance linked to cancer and genetic defects.

Radioactive plutonium has a half-life of 24,000 years, meaning that it takes 24,000 years for the radioactivity to be reduced by half.

Land Pollution (3 of 3)

Solid Waste: In 19 60, each U.S. citizen generated 2.7 pounds of garbage on average every day.

This figure increased to 3.7 pounds in 19 80, and to 4.4 pounds in 2013.

This figure does not include mining, agricultural, and industrial waste; demolition and construction wastes; junked autos; or obsolete equipment wastes.

Just over half of this waste is dumped in landfills; the rest is recycled or composted.

E-waste: Discarded electrical appliances and electronic equipment.

What Do You Think? 3

Most plastic shopping bags, commonly used in grocery and retail stores, are made from petroleum and require a lot of fossil fuel energy to produce. They also contain toxic chemicals and end up in landfills, where it takes 1,000 years for them to degrade, or in oceans, where marine life can choke or starve after swallowing them. Dozens of countries, including the European Union, South Africa, China, and India, have either bans or taxes on plastic shopping bags. In 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to ban plastic bags from supermarkets and chain pharmacies. Since then, a number of plastic bag bans or taxes have been implemented across the country. In 2014, California became the first state to ban plastic shopping bags, followed by Hawaii in 2015 (exceptions include for medical and sanitary purposes). Would you support a ban or a tax on plastic bags in your community or state?

Water Pollution (1 of 2)

Our water is being polluted by a number of harmful substances, including pesticides, vehicle exhaust, acid rain, oil spills, sewage, and industrial, military, and agricultural waste.

In the United States, one indicator of water pollution is the thousands of fish advisories issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (E P A) that warn against the consumption of certain fish caught in local waters because of contamination with pollutants such as mercury and dioxin waste.

Water Pollution (2 of 2)

Water pollution also affects the health and survival of fish and other marine life. In the Gulf of Mexico, as well as in the Chesapeake Bay and Lake Erie, there are areas known as “dead zones” that—due to pollution runoff from agricultural uses of fertilizer—have oxygen levels so low they cannot support life.

In recent years, there has been increasing public concern about the effects of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”—a process used in natural gas production that involves injecting at high pressure a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals into deep underground wells to break apart shale rock and release gas.

Problems Associated with Fracking

Poses environmental and health problems

Chemicals, Carcinogens, and Health Problems (1 of 3)

About 3 million tons of toxic chemicals are released into the environment each year.

Chemicals in the environment enter our bodies via the food and water we consume, the air we breathe, and the substances with which we come in contact.

Chemicals, Carcinogens, and Health Problems (2 of 3)

This mother puts sunscreen on her child to protect against sunburn. But sunscreen, like other personal care products, may contain harmful chemicals. Learn what chemicals are in the personal care products you use at the Environmental Working Group’s website Skin Deep at www.ewg.org/skindeep.

What Do You Think? 4

Some businesses, universities, hospitals, and local governments are voluntarily limiting fragrances to accommodate employees and consumers who experience ill effects from them. What do you think about banning fragrances in the workplace or other public places? If your college or university were considering instituting a ban on fragrances on campus, would you support the ban? Why or why not?

Chemicals, Carcinogens, and Health Problems (3 of 3)

Multiple chemical sensitivity (M C S), also known as environmental illness, is a condition whereby individuals experience adverse reactions when exposed to low levels of chemicals found in everyday substances (vehicle exhaust, fresh paint, housecleaning products, perfume and other fragrances, synthetic building materials, and numerous other petrochemical-based products).

Light Pollution

Light pollution refers to artificial lighting that is annoying, unnecessary, and/or harmful to life forms on earth.

The United States, like much of the rest of the world, has become increasingly “lit up” with artificial light.

Almost all people in developed societies use artificial light, reducing the natural period of darkness at night.

Social Causes of Environmental Problems

Population Growth

The world’s population is growing, exceeding 7 billion in 2013 and projected to grow to more than 9 billion in 2050.

Population growth places increased demands on natural resources and results in increased waste.

Industrialization and Economic Development

Many of the environmental problems confronting the world are associated with industrialization and economic development.

Industrialized countries, for example, consume more energy and natural resources and contribute more pollution to the environment than poor countries.

The relationship between level of economic development and environmental pollution is curvilinear rather than linear.

Cultural Values and Attitudes

Cultural values and attitudes that contribute to environmental problems include

Individualism

Consumerism

Militarism

Strategies for Action: Responding to Environmental Problems

Environmental Activism (1 of 5)

With millions of members joining thousands of national and local environmental organizations, the U.S. environmental movement may be the largest single social movement in the United States.

Environmental organizations exert pressure on government and private industry to initiate or intensify actions related to environmental protection.

Environmental Activism (2 of 5)

Religious Environmentalism: From a religious perspective, environmental degradation can be viewed as sacrilegious, sinful, and an offense against God.

Radical Environmentalism: The radical environmental movement is a grassroots movement of individuals and groups that employs unconventional and often illegal means of protecting wildlife or the environment.

Radical environmentalists believe in what is known as deep ecology: the view that maintaining the earth’s natural systems should take precedence over human needs, that nature has a value independent of human existence, and that humans have no right to dominate the earth and its living inhabitants.

Environmental Activism (3 of 5)

In September 2014, more than 400,000 people participated in the People’s Climate March in New York City.

Environmental Activism (4 of 5)

Ecoterrorism is defined as “the use or threatened use of illegal force by groups or individuals, in order to protect environmental and/or animal rights.”

Many environmentalists question whether “terrorist” is an appropriate label and argue that the real terrorists are corporations that plunder the earth.

What Do You Think? 5

Should motives be considered in imposing penalties on individuals who are convicted of acts of ecoterrorism? For example, should a person who sets fire to a business to protest that business’s environmentally destructive activities receive the same penalty as a person who sets fire to a business in order to collect insurance money?

Environmental Activism (5 of 5)

The Role of Corporations in the Environmental Movement:

Corporations are major contributors to environmental problems and often fight against environmental efforts that threaten their profits.

Rather than hope that industry voluntarily engages in eco-friendly practices, corporate attorney Robert Hinkley suggested that corporate law be changed to mandate socially responsible behavior.

Environmental Education

One goal of environmental organizations and activists is to educate the public about environmental issues and the seriousness of environmental problems.

Being informed about environmental issues is important because people who have higher levels of environmental knowledge tend to engage in higher levels of pro-environment behavior.

Green Energy and Energy Efficiency (1 of 3)

Increasing the use of green energy; energy that is renewable and nonpolluting—can help alleviate environmental problems associated with fossil fuels. Also known as clean energy, green energy sources include solar power, wind power, biofuel, and hydrogen.

Green Energy and Energy Efficiency (2 of 3)

To encourage the use of hydrogen fuel-cell powered cars, California has more than 50 hydrogen fueling stations.

What Do You Think? 6

The World Bank (2014) defines “clean energy” as energy that does not produce carbon dioxide when generated. Under this definition, nuclear energy is considered “clean energy.” Should nuclear power be labeled as “clean energy”? Why or why not?

Green Energy and Energy Efficiency (3 of 3)

Solar and Wind Energy: Solar power involves converting sunlight to electricity through the use of photovoltaic cells.

The United States is the world’s leading generator of wind energy

Biofuel: Biofuels are fuels derived from agricultural crops. Two types of biofuels are ethanol and biodiesel.

Strategies for Action: Responding to Environmental Problems

Modifications in Consumer Products and Behavior

Slow Population Growth

Sustainable Economic and Human Development

The Role of Institutions of Higher Education

Understanding Environmental Problems

Environmental problems are linked to corporate globalization, rapid and dramatic population growth, expanding world industrialization, patterns of excessive consumption, and reliance on fossil fuels for energy.

Many Americans believe in a “technological fix” for the environment—that science and technology will solve environmental problems.

Quick Quiz 1

The relationship between economic development and environmental pollution is:

A. not a very close one since many advanced societies differ greatly in their willingness to apply appropriate pollution controls.

B. probably a curvilinear relationship with the highest levels of pollution found in societies that are beginning to industrialize.

C. clearly linear with least pollution found in regions with the least economic development, and the most in more economically advanced ones.

Answer for Quick Quiz 1: B

The relationship between economic development and environmental pollution is probably a curvilinear relationship with the highest levels of pollution found in societies that are beginning to industrialize.

Quick Quiz 2

Bill owns a large chemical corporation that has received media attention for the illegal dumping of toxic waste. Bill recently hired a public relations firm to design an advertising campaign that would project an "environmentally friendly" image of his corporation. What activity is Bill engaging in?

A. greenwashing

B. dramaturgy

C. ecomedia

D. environmentalism

Answer for Quick Quiz 2: A

Quick Quiz 3

What is the primary cause of species decline?

A. global warming

B. pollution

C. over-harvesting

D. human-induced habitat destruction

Answer for Quick Quiz 3: D

The primary cause of species decline is human-induced habitat destruction.

Quick Quiz 4

What are the immediate dangers associated with global warming?

A. Melting glaciers and permafrost resulting in elevated sea levels.

B. Changing patterns of rainfall, new flood plains and dry regions.

C. Increases in waterborne diseases and diseases transmitted by insects.

D. All of these choices.

Answer for Quick Quiz 4: D

Immediate dangers associated with global warming include:

Melting glaciers and permafrost resulting in elevated sea levels.

Changing patterns of rainfall, new flood plains and dry regions.

Increases in waterborne diseases and diseases transmitted by insects.