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7/27/2019 4. Alf Gunvald Nilsen - Capitalism, Nature and Climate Change
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The Global Dynamics ofEnvironmental Change 1:
Capitalism, Nature andClimate Change
Alf Gunvald NilsenSOS110/Spring 2013
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CARBON TRADING IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON
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How did an American company end
up owning the carbon in trees? It allstarted in 1991, when conservation
groups identified this area, known asGuaraquecaba, as one of the most
threatened eco-hot spots in the world.
The American group The NatureConservancy tried for years to raise
funds to protect this land, but the bigmoney didn't start pouring into the
region until fears began to rise about
climate change. And it was a newreason to save the trees -- for their
carbon -- that brought in three largeAmerican companies.
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/carbonwatch/2010/05/the-
carbon-hunters.html
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Emissions trading hasbecome the centralstrategy for countering thesingle most importantglobal environmental
challenge facing the worldtoday climate change
Carbon trading isorganized through multiple
institutions the EU-ETS/CDM/REDD+/WB/UN: in2009 carbon markets werepredicted to reach $3tn,but in 2010 the international
carbon market collapsedto $1.5bn
IETS is significant because itrepresents a consensus centredon market-based approaches to
climate change
Carbon emissions are converted
into commodities that can bebought and sold on financial
markets Climate Capitalism
"We can't treat this problem like it
is a business, a commercialrelationship between countries.
To talk about dealing with thisissue just from the perspective of
carbon credits is to skirt the
responsibility we have to dealwith the dangers our planet is
facing.
Marina Silva
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THE METABOLIC RIFT AND THECOMMODIFICATION OF NATURE
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Understanding the Environment from a Sociological Perspective
Nature is commonly thought of as a realm of non-human objects andprocesses existing outside or beyond society it is an external entity which
is dominated, and that domination is either celebrated or lamented
In environmental sociology nature is understood in social terms Socialrelations shape the practices and institutions that structure human
interaction with the natural environment, and therefore nature itself, whichin turn feeds back and sustains those social relations
What is required is the recognition that each form
of social/economic life has its own specific modeand dynamic of interrelation with its own specificcontextual conditions, resource materials, energy
sources and naturally mediated unintendedconsequences The ecological problems of any
form of social and economic life have to betheorized as the outcome of this specific structure
of natural/social articulation
Ted Benton
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JBFosterMarxsTheoryofMetabolicRift
Within the parameters of a capitalist mode of production, nature-societyrelations are structured according to the basic social relations and
economic dynamics of generalized commodity production
And this nature-society relation is characterized by a particular form ofenvironmental degradation that Marx designated as an irreparable rift in
the interdependent process of the social metabolism a metabolic rift
predicated on a new division of labour between town and country
Products of the countryside flowed into the cities The waste products were not returned to the point of production
Nutrients were pumped out of one eco-system and transferred to another Countryside = Disruption of the nutrition cycle and depletion of the soil; City
= Waste products generated by consumption accumulate as pollution
Capitalist production collects the population together in great centres
(This) disturbs the metabolic interaction between man and the earth, i.e. itprevents the return to the soil of its constituent elements consumed by man
in the form of food and clothing; hence it hinders the operation of the eternalnatural condition for the lasting fertility of the soil
Karl Marx
Metabolic rift = The interruption of a natural system
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The dynamic of expanded
reproduction M-C-M hasdriven capitalism outwards ingeographical space in aprocess of extensiveexpansion
A new and internationaldivision of labour springs up,one suited to therequirements of the mainindustrial countries, and it
converts one part of theglobe into a chieflyagricultural field ofproduction for supplying theother part, which remains apre-eminently industrial field
Karl Marx
This leads to a globalcommodification of nature
With the rise of capitalism, localecologies were not only transformed
by human labour power butbrought into sustained dialogue with
each other. The interaction of multiplelocal and regional ecologies began to
create a new relational universe forecosystems no less than social actors
the rise of a capitalist world-economy and the rise of a capitalist
world-ecology were two moments ofthe same world-historical process
The global commodification of nature= Globalization of the metabolic rift
The globalization of the metabolic riftyielded the possibility of global
environmental contradictions andcrises for the first time in human history
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CARBON TRADING AND THE MARKETIZATIONOF GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE
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Climate Change and/as Metabolic Rift
Climate change can be interpreted as the outcome of a metabolic
rift in the carbon cycle as a result of capitalist accumulation
Life created the atmosphere as we know it Interrelations betweenliving/non-living materials within the biosphere produces a cycling of
chemical elementsThe composition of gases in the atmosphere is the product of biological
processes on Earth Since time that oxygen-breathing organisms evolvedthe principal gases that envelop the atmosphere have been relativelystable at the current level: Nitrogen = 78%/Oxygen = 21%/Trace gases,
including greenhouse gases like CO2 = the remaining 1%
Greenhouse gases regulate Earth temperature to life-supporting levels
The carbon cycle The whole biosphere carbon moves through air, rocks,soil, water and all living things in a cyclical process
Over the past 400,000 years the carbon cycle and climate systems haveoperated in a relatively constrained manner to sustain Earth temperature andmaintain the balance of gases in the atmosphere Carbon is absorbed and
contained in carbon sinks like oceans, mountains, forestsB. Clark/R. York: Carbon Metabolism
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Industrial capitalism has resulted in a vast increase of anthropogenicCO2 emissions as a result of a rapid expansion of the burning of coal
and petroleum in a process that exploits the stock of energy stored inthe earth and releases it back into the atmosphere
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere hasincreased to such an extent that natural sinks are nolonger capable of absorbing the excess carbon
Climate change
The historic accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphereinvolves the rupture of the carbon cycle
Brett/York: Carbon Metabolism
The quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased31 times since the preindustrial era and half of this
increase has taken place since 1965
It is insufficient to attribute this situation to industrialism per se Thisignores the way in which industrialism is embedded in a capitalist
political economy and how its environmental impact derives from the
intrinsically expansive dynamic of this political economy
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Expanded reproduction = M C M
Within industrial capitalism, this dynamic is manifest in constantscientific and technological development Through this process of
development, capitalism has been freed from the limitations ofindividual workers labour power as the motive force of production
has been transferred from humans to machines
This developmental trajectory requires increases in the quantity ofmatter-energy for through-put in production In contrast to
earlier modes of production that were confined to the solar-income constraint capitalist production mines the earth to
remove stored energy and thus produces atmospheric waste onan ever-expanding scale
With more than 23 billion metric tons of CO2 being released into theatmosphere per year, capitalist production is creating waste
emissions at a rate that natural systems cannot absorb
The carbon cycle is disrupted and the outcome is climate change
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The Marketization of Global Environmental Governance
an ensemble of strategies of market governance including practicesof privatisation and commodification of natural resources which derive
from a common belief in the ability of markets to provide the public goodof environmental protection in an efficient way Taking the strategies
together we can observe the myriad ways in which the possibilities ofenvironmental politics are being defined according to their ability to
serve the broader end of global market expansion
Peter Newell The Marketization of Global Environmental Governance
NB! The marketization of enviromental governance is closely linked toecological modernization An approach based on the assumption that
the ongoing modernization/rationalization of productive systems andpublic/private institutions, will enable society to develop in an
environmentally sustainable way Green capitalism
EM seeks to find ways in which environmental problems come to beframed as issues that are politically, economically, and technologically
solvable within the context of existing institutions, extant power structures,
and continued economic growth
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Strategies for Marketizing Global Environmental Governance
1) Market solutions:
The exchange of pollutionrights through the market
Ecological taxation Enviromental labelling
2) Private regulation
There is a privileging of private forms of regulation/self-regulation bybusiness/industry A clear policy preference for voluntary, flexible and
market-based forms of regulation such as environmental codes ofconduct and private standard setting
This also entail the emergence of hybrid and multi-scalar forms ofgovernance where both state and private actors are involved Thisraises issues of (a) accountability and (b) efficiency
3) Property rights:
Use of private property rights toincentivize environmental action
Natural resources worthless unless they
have economic value, and to havevalue they must be allocated in terms
of private property
This is occurring in a context where environmental policy instruments are
increasingly questioned in terms of their impact on global trade regimes
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Driving forces in the marketization of environmental governance
Market discipline and
business lobbying
Ideology of the powerless
state Significance oftransnational institutions
Significance of economists/
economic models in environmentaldecision-making
a potent combination of material, institutional, and
discursive forces combine to advance the marketizationof environmental policy
the causes of environmental degradation emanatingfrom global economic processes are increasingly
protected from policy interference
Peter Newell
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Is Climate Capitalism a Solution?
strategies and actions to tackle climate change have to gain tractionwith social forces and actors that wield significant power within
contemporary forms of capitalism
Newell/Paterson
Carbon markets can play a co-ordinating role in shaping theglobal economy towardsdecarbonization particularly
by providing system-wideincentives for business groups
There is a need to construct a coalition of forces that can overcomeresistance from climate change skeptics which entails negotiation
with powerful sectors of the economy
Resistance to carbon-markets hasto proceed from within the system
in order to bring about betterfunctioning markets and
commitment from industry/business
A political project centred on the projection and reinforcement of commonsense ideas about the efficiency of markets as vehicles for reducing
emissions and the creation of a constituency of business actors with aninterest in low carbon development and functioning carbon markets
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