Environment: A Pluralistic Approach

Introduction

Our generation is defined by the myriad of different environmental issues that are breathing
down our necks. We are at the verge of existential threats that range from climate change to
rising sea levels and everything in between. Thus, the importance of environment cannot be
underscored.

Post World War II, the now developed countries focused exponentially on their industrial
development and production. This resulted in over exploitation of natural resources like
forests and fossil fuels which will be discussed later in this essay. Further, the discipline of
Economics at the time largely focused on growth rather than sustainability. The analysis was
based on numbers and the models developed successively started to distance itself from the
tangible to the intangible. I find the stock market to be a good example of this and it still
holds true to this date. The gains and loss in the stock market are mostly intangible but most
importantly unsustainable. Judging from the volatility the market has shown in the year of
2020, literally anything can happen. On the same tangent, a rise in the stock price does not
necessarily mean increase in jobs or production. Similarly, the belief that the market will
always grow can be nullified to some extent.

The reason for such an extensive focus on the aforementioned is because, for the market to
keep growing at a rate which is beneficial to the investors the concerned industries need to
exploit the natural resources to maintain their growth trajectory. As a matter of fact, they
have exploited natural resources, have been for the better part of the century and the
repercussions are being felt now. It gets worse as the companies are also exploiting human
labour to extract every last bit of profit they can for marginal pay.

This can be summed up by stating that companies are lobbying for legislation that gives them
better chances at remaining profitable. This always coincides with environmental
exploitation.

Rationale and Objectives

Environment is of immense importance. Therefore, its protection takes top priority.
Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the can for a long time now. Corporate interest and political
ambition have side-lined sustainable modes of production leading to rapid degradation of the
environment. This was mostly because of the neo classical economic policies that does not
account for the environmental consequences of the policies. Hence, a pluralistic
understanding of the situation at hand is need of the hour.

In the book Econocracy, the authors argue that the market fails to value the environment in
two ways; one, the environment provides natural resources for free that have immense
economic benefits. Two, private sectors undervalue the environment by not accounting for
cost of environmental degradation. Most of the time the burden has to be borne by the
underprivileged section of the society. The authors described these costs as spill-over effects
or externalities, pollution being one of the major examples of negative externalities of a
factory functioning.

Climate change is a major problem. It has become a subject of international concern as world
governments try to mitigate the problems climate change has caused and can cause in the
near future. The Paris Accord is a good example of collective global initiative.

Current agricultural sector is also affected in numerous ways due to the rapid change in
climate. Agricultural practices are unsustainable and very polluting. Rising population and
demand for water exhaustive crop like almonds (for almond milk) is making the situation
worse. The farmers cannot fall back to traditional methods of farming because they will be
producing less and hence, earning less. Moreover, the supply will decrease which can lead to
price hikes. Therefore, the agricultural sector is bound to continue with the unsustainable
methods that cause environmental degradation.

Industries and agriculture are just two of the many sectors where the interplay of liberal
economics has given way for environmental degradation. Society is already neck deep into
the troubles that these economic policies created. The objective outlook of current policies
focused mostly of numbers and models left out many social, cultural and environmental
factors out of its formulae, literally and figuratively.

Current economic measurements, like GDP, does not take into account things like waste
disposal. Improper solid waste disposal, e-waste disposal or hazardous waste disposal directly
impact the ecosystem. World Bank states that 90% of waste were thrown directly into open
ground or burnt in low-income countries, as of 2018. Powerful green house gases are released
when plastics start to disintegrate (Vishwakarma, 2020).

The objective of the essay is to engage in a discussion that probes into environment in a
pluralistic manner. The goal is to see the situation under new light and how policies could
have been created to protect the environment had they considered multiple perspective.

Contemporary debates

In the book Rational Ecology: Environment and Political Economy John Dryzek explores
ecological rationality in the human interest where he presents in a subtle, informed and
philosophical way the role of prudence in environmental decision making (Sagoff, 1989). The
book deals with alternative ways for collective action and evaluates the models’ capacity to
handle contemporary ecological problems (Moran, 1989).

Moreover, the book deals with existing social choice mechanisms which deal with the nature
of ecological problems and evaluates them (Moran, 1989). The book also considers how
markets fail to coordinate their interactions with ecosystem and are poor for dealing with
ecological problems.

Fred Gale in his book Political Economy of Sustainability takes on the highly contested
concept of sustainability. The concept of sustainability was introduced in the 18th century by
German forestry circles. Later, the Burndtland Report termed it as sustainable development.
It was defined as a harmonious economic, social and ecological development that enhances
both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations. The book advances
the idea which is lacking in progress and implementation as firms, individuals, sates and
political parties have a narrow understanding of the concept. The book challenges the current
unsustainable economic, political and cultural institutions and their functioning. It embraces a
pluralistic value of sustainability. (Sabau, 2020).

There was been debates around ‘carbon tax’ and other policies like that. Some propose
attaching money value to environment to carry out cost benefit analysis. On the other hand,
people are demanding better legislation that checks on the corporations and protects the
people who depend on the natural forests. There has also been lot of news about protection of
the indigenous tribes.
The minimalism movement has also grown into a world wide movement where people
actively try to minimise their carbon footprint by making eco-friendly choices, like using a
metal straw instead of using plastic straws, buying necessary goods only, recycling things,
etc. Veganism is another popular movement that is worthy of mention.

A lot of debates and discussions are happening all over the world for preserving our
environment. Different global organisations like, Fridays for Future are taking it to the streets
to highlight the importance of environment. In India, the controversial EIA draft faced a lot
of criticism. This was because people were actively educating people about the shortcoming
of the draft and how to make the government aware about their concerns.

Discussion

A dictionary of economic terms tells us that “political economy is the science of wealth” and
“deals with efforts made by man to supply wants and satisfy desires” (Eatwell, Milgate and
Newman, 1987). But if we follow a socially grounded etymology, we discover that economy
meant the social custom, practice and knowledge of how to manage the household and then
the community.

Based on a sense of descriptive and prescriptive, the foremost intent of political economy was
to function as a branch of state-craft. Only in the later 19th century the discipline started to
focus more on set of mathematical equations to describe different outcomes of factors of
production like land, labour and capital. This marked the departure of the ‘political’ from the
mainstream economics.

Many scholars have criticised the ability of economics. Political economy helps us
concentrate on a specific set of social relations organised around power or the ability to
control other people, process and things (Mosco, 2009). This means that we not only look at
the market demands but also how it will affect other aspects of the society, like environment.
An economist might see that ramping up industrialisation by providing subsidies. They are
driven by job creation, employment, production and growth in GDP. But a better
understanding indicates that rapid industrialisation will also rapidly increase pollution which
in turn will make people sick reducing their ability to work. Lower productivity will lead to
redundant growth. Pollution will also cause major public health concerns which is another
detriment for the society. Likewise, there are multiple other examples where catering only to
the market can lead to serious environmental problem. Assessing decades of industrialism
since the industrial revolution, we can say that the former assessment is indeed very true. Big
oil, automobile industry, space industry and countless other have severely impacted the
environment. While the damage was not too adverse in corelation to damage done, current
times have witnessed the impact of the environmental damage done. Hence, we are currently
experience a lot of discussion around the importance of a pluralistic understanding of both the
economy and the environment.

In assam, the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) allowed coal mining in part of Dehing
Patkai. The decision of the NBWL is a very political one with economic advantage. Coal
mining helps the economy of the state. A bump in the economy boosts the incumbent
government’s position for upcoming elections. But the matter at hand is the destruction that is
set to cause to the flora and fauna of the ecosystem of Dehing Patkai. The states-people have
protested and expressed their concerns. Multiple media outlets have covered the issue as is
there right.

A similar trend was seen when the controversial Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
draft. The massive backlash from the people halted the draft for a long time.

Clearly, the interplay between economics and politics plays an important role in shaping up
the policies that in-turn shape the society we live in. While the current inter-play is based on
political ambition and capitalist greed which has largely ignores other factors. This inter-play
can be changed depending the government or the citizen. The point is if we base all our
judgement based on the crude objectively of economics alone, we will be in bad situation.

Personal Opinion

I believe that we cannot base our policies only on the objectivity of one discipline. In order to
save our environment, we have to think from all the different perspective and not just the
market. We have to be empathetic towards people who cannot have direct say over what
happens, policy wise. We should always keep in mind how we make the rules of the society
for it impacts everyone, from the ones who make the rules to the ones who cannot read and
write.

The knowledge that different disciplines provide us is of importance but what should be at
the core of all of it is empathy. Only if the smarter stopped to think overpowering the stronger
and the stronger stopped to about outsmarting the smarter and decided to think for everyone,
together.

I believe that superpowers exist. It exists in the form of knowledge and education. Education
gives people power to make decisions that can change how societies function. This gives
people immense power and control over other people’s lives.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Reference

Vishwakarma A. (2020) Unsustainable Management of Plastic Wastes in India: A Threat to

Global Warming and Climate Change. Singh P., Singh R., Srivastava V. (eds) Contemporary
Environmental Issues and Challenges in Era of Climate Change, Springer.

Sabau, G. (2020). The Political Economy of Sustainability. Sustainability, 12(4), 1537. MDPI

AG

Mosco, V. (2009). What is Political Economy? Definitions and Characteristics. The political
Economy of Communication, SAGE publications.

Clement, F., Harcourt, W., Joshi, D., & Sato, C. (2019). Feminist political ecologies of the
commons and commoning. International Journal of the Commons, 13(1), 1-15.

Clapp, J and Helleiner, E. (2012). International political economy and the environment: back
to the basics? International Affairs, 88(3).

Sagoff, M. (1989). Ethics, 100(1), 192-195.

Emlio F. Moran. (1989). Human Ecology, 17(1), 117-119.