Abstract
The chapter analyses the subordination of the natural environment to economic rationality as the central example of ‘post-rationality,’ most dramatically manifested in the climate change debate and denial. The chapter discusses other environmental issues such as waste, resource depletion and pollution of the land, sea, air and even the Earth’s orbit. The chapter presents several illustrative case studies of environmental disasters that became milestones to environmental awareness in Western countries. Built-in obsolescence and industrial food production are presented as case studies of economic rationality ultimately harming society and the natural environment. The authors discuss whether Western capitalism, driven by the economic imperative, is able to reform itself in order to account for negative environmental externalities, in particular the global problem of climate change.
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Notes
- 1.
The Age of Stupid is a 2009 British futurist docu-drama by Franny Armstrong, produced by John Battsek. See http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1300563/. Accessed on 6 June 2017.
- 2.
In economics, an externality is a cost or benefit to a third party not directly involved in the activity that causes the cost or benefit. For example, industries that cause air or water pollution impose health and clean-up costs on the local area or the whole society. See http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/externality.asp
- 3.
The sea levels were higher due to the lack of ice and the thermal expansion of the oceans. Sea level refers to the mean global sea level (‘eustatic’ sea level). See the British geological survey at http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/climateChange/general/coastal.html?src=topNav. Accessed 6 June 2017.
- 4.
Water vapour is the dominant greenhouse gas, but the amount of it in the atmosphere is driven largely by temperature. Under clear skies, CO2 contributes about 26 per cent of the total greenhouse warming, but it makes a smaller contribution in overcast conditions (Kiehl and Trenberth 1997).
- 5.
The pollution in the atmosphere included 1000 tonnes of smoke particles, 2000 tonnes of carbon dioxide , 140 tonnes of hydrochloric acid and 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds; 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide gas combined with moisture in the atmosphere became 800 tonnes of sulphuric acid. See the UK Meteorological Office: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/learning/learn-about-the-weather/weather-phenomena/case-studies/great-smog. Accessed on 7 June 2017.
- 6.
Directed and produced by Chai Jing, released 28 February 2015. If you are not in China, copies of the video with English subtitles can still be found on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5bHb3ljjbc. Accessed on 7 June 2017.
- 7.
Electronics manufacturer Foxconn churns out an amazing half a million iPhones every day from its factory in Zhengzhou, China, known to the locals as ‘iPhone city.’
- 8.
Figures derived from Word Bank data (World Bank 2014).
- 9.
The Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO ) is the leading scientific institution in Australia . Details of CSIRO researcher Chris Wilcox’ work on plastic pollution in the ocean can be found at http://people.csiro.au/W/C/Chris-Wilcox.
- 10.
James Lovelock (b. 1919) is a chemist, earth scientist and author, most widely known for his Gaia hypothesis that treats the biosphere and the inorganic surrounds of the Earth as a single complex system.
- 11.
Paul Crutzen, F. Sherwood Rowland and Mario Molina shared the 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on damage to the ozone layer.
- 12.
According to climateactiontracker.org
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Colic-Peisker, V., Flitney, A. (2018). Economic Rationality Versus the Earth. In: The Age of Post-Rationality. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6259-9_6
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