Lecture 8 The Politics of Green Technology Part 1 I Revisiting Population and Technology MAIN ISSUE Humanities ability to sustain excessive population growth 1 What competing groups say we should do about population growth resource 2 The role technology plays in sustaining population 3 How interest groups are using the threat of population size growth usage A The Malthusian Perspective Malthus was the first social thinker to question the effect population growth had on a nation s well being According to enlightenment thinkers Scientific and technological progress had no limits Population growth was a sign of a nation s economic prosperity Principle of Population The growth rate of food production due to technological advancements will always be slower than rate at which humans can reproduce The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man Population when unchecked increases in a geometrical ratio Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio A slight acquaintance with numbers will show the immensity of the first power in comparison with the second TRM 1798 Finite amount of resources zero sum game Malthus principle leads one to conclude that population growth is responsible for most of a nation s social ills mainly poverty because excessive population places strains on economic systems due to the lack of subsistence Population growth and human s activities used to sustain that growth are destroying the planet and must be stopped B Boomsters and Doomsters 1 Population has a direct impact on water supply energy land availability animal Pessimistic outlook of population growth now includes human s damage to the People population growth is the problem not the solution to the world s The world s population will grow too fast and use too many resources and will eventually destroy civilization as we know it Doomsters life and climate environment problems Boomsters Population growth can be beneficial as a source of economic growth Continued technological development and its diffusion has improved the lives of the poor around the world Populations growth generally does not exceed resource supply We should not place any unnecessary constraints on population growth or economic development because it will end up doing more harm than good Do not want to stop the person that invents the next big thing before they are even born Boomsters are typically associated with the following policies Free markets trade Technological Optimism Individualism Economic expansion and unrestrained energy use 2 Optimistic about population growth humans are a resource Doomsters are typically associated with the following policies Highly regulated controlled markets Technological Pessimism People are the problem green tech better but never enough Zero growth rationing of resources especially energy Zero Population Growth Collectivism and or environmentalism The Politics of Green Technology Part 2 I Sustainable Development There are several important questions about technology and population that are at the heart of the debate between Doomsters and Boomsters 1 Can we rely on technology to sustain unchecked unconstrained population 2 Can we rely on technology to minimize the negative effect the world s population 3 4 is having on the planet i e the environment use of resources Is green technology the key to sustainable development Is restricting economic growth in developed nations necessary to stop damage to our planet 5 Should we restrict rapid population growth even by force in the less developed growth nations 6 Will technology allow us to maintain or increase our standard of living in the face of rapid population growth and environmental degradation A What is Sustainable Development 3 Doomsters and environmentalists believe that all nations should adopt strict regulatory policies now to avoid disaster later Advocate a zero growth policy in terms of BOTH population and economic growth Sustainable Development Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs UN B The Dilemma Do we act under the assumption that continued world wide population growth is indeed unsustainable and make sweeping policy changes that will harm economic prosperity and which threatens individual freedom Or do we look to the past and assume growth and progress can be sustained through technological advancements and natural checks and risk threatening irreversible damage to our environment II Breakthrough Nordhaus and Shellenberger Modern doomsters A The Problem with the Environmentalist Movement Image Isn t Everything Relies too much on shocking imagery to build support Environmental leaders and activists today overwhelmingly believe that these images are the lifeblood of their movement responsible for motivating the public and policymakers to take action And so they return again and again to the same idea if they can just show Americans what is happening to nature the people will rise up and demand action 24 4 Two Reasons Images are Problematic 1 Some environmental issues cannot be shown with photographs ex climate change 2 Images sent contradictory messages ex Humans against nature Turns the movement to the idea that humanity must be destroyed to save the biophysical environment Images do not create the political will the social and economic conditions do Environmentalism requires a prosperous society People must have their basic material needs met and postmaterial needs before the environment becomes a concern Must have a developed nation where people have enough time and stuff to worry about the environment The connection between affluence and the birth of environmentalism goes a long way toward explaining why environmentalism in the United States emerged in the 1960s and not the 1930s It also explains why ecological concern remains far weaker in Brazil India and China than in the United States Japan and Europe 29 Movement relies too much on the left s nihilistic view of the world especially of humans use of technology to achieve prosperity Nihilistic 2 a A doctrine of belief that conditions in the social organization are so bad as to make destruction desirable for its own sake independent of any constructive program or possibility Things must be destroyed or get worse before things can get better The truth is that those environmentalists who take antimaterialist positions on everything from global