Review of Environmental Problems

Summary

1. Environmental sociology is the sociological study of the environment. One major emphasis of environmental sociology is that environmental problems are largely the result of human activity and human decision making. A second major emphasis is that environmental problems disproportionately affect low-income people, people of color. and women. 
2. Climate change is a broad term referring to significant changes in the environment or weather, and global warming refers specifically to the rise in the earth's temperature. 
3. Climate change is a social problem because the activities of humans are the major contributor to creating the climate crisis. We also know that climate disasters and environmental challenges impact groups unequally based on their social location, which characterizes them as a social problem.
4. All human groups are not responsible equally for climate change. One of the causes of the climate crisis is emissions from fossil fuels. In general, people from industrialized countries use more fossil fuels and produce more CO2. However, less industrialized countries have fewer resources to guard against the effects of climate change, so people in those countries are harmed more despite contributing less to the crisis. 
5. Structural functionalism argues that environmental problems are necessary but can be dysfunctional. Conflict theory blames multinational corporations for environmental problems, and feminist theorists focus on patriarchy and capitalism. Symbolic interactionism emphasizes people’s activities and perceptions in regard to the environment. Indigenous perspectives examine colonialism and capitalism in producing environmental problems.
6. The consequences of climate change are vast, including displacement, the loss of home and culture, health complications, and more. Environmental problems also include air, water, and ground pollution (including hazardous waste), and consequences of nuclear power. They also focus on inequality, with environmental injustice or environmental racism.
7. The impacts of environmental problems disproportionately impact people in marginalized groups and from low-income nations. For example, poor women in Nigeria can’t farm like they used to, and their families are sick because of gas flaring. People who were poor and Black couldn’t evacuate New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina because they didn’t have cars. Low-income people and people of color are more likely than others to have hazardous waste dumped into their communities.
8. Colonization as a social and economic system extracts resources from the people and lands of colonized areas to contribute to the wealth and power of the colonizers. This extractive form of economics prioritizes making profits over sustainable care for people and land.
9. Indigenous worldviews value communities and relationships. The land is sacred and must be cared for. Because Indigenous cultures choose practices that nourish the land for generations, they offer solutions for healing our earth.
10. Strong policies or laws, changing our practices, and both individual agency and collective action are critical to ending the climate crisis. We need worldwide agreements like the Paris Agreement to set standards and targets for changing our collective behavior. We need the social movements of feminists, youth, and Indigenous people to remind us how important this is, to mobilize the public, and fight for environmental justice. Environmental justice is social justice.

  

Questions

1. What's one thing that you did recently that was bad for the environment, and how might you avoid that behavior in the future?
2. Which one of the environmental problems discussed in the text concerns you the most, and why?
3. Which of the three classical theoretical perspectives seems to have the best approach in how it understands environmental problems, and how so?
4. How do Indigenous perspectives differ from and complement the classical sociological perspectives? 
5. How do cultural worldviews contribute to causing climate change and to ending it?
6. How much of environmental injustice do you think is intentional, and how much does intent matter given the consequences?
7. What does it mean to say “Those who contribute the least, suffer the most” when we talk about environmental justice?
8. What do you feel are the most important strategies to address environmental problems right now, and why?

  

Action Steps

1. Use your sociological imagination: When someone tries to claim that global warming or climate change aren't the products of human activity, help them see the big picture of how humans have in fact caused or accelerated these problems. 
2. Support nonprofits and similar organizations: Volunteer at or donate to a community-based, local, or national environmental organization.
3. Use your individual agency: Organize a speaker series on your campus that will highlight various environmental problems or start a recycling or compost program on your campus. 
4. Engage in collective action: Research local, national, or international groups that are engaged in organized action around environmental problems, select one, and figure out how to get involved in their efforts.