Exam 1 - All deck

The way we impact the environment and the way that the environment impacts us

organized and change in respones to the natural world, jsut as the changes in the natural world forces us to respond and change

started in 1950s and is the way that humans have colonized the natural world so much that we have done irreversible damage to the natural world

we can limit the damage that we have done, but we cannot stop climate change at this point.

All human societies have altered nature and have contributed to the anthropocene, however, capitalism has accelerated the speed of this impact

Socioeconomic metabolism - the material exchange between social and natural systems. We give waste back while taking the most natural resources we can for profit

Colonization of natural processes - the intentional / unintentional alteration of natural processes

Think of a commodity as something that is bought and sold. How do you commodify nature? By making every last bit of nature something to be purchased and sold. We sell trips to Jamaica and the Caribbean Islands for profit, we use every last bit of the soil we farm for the same cash-crops and drain the nutrients from it, we genetically modify nature for the sake of money

It began with the industrial revolution, and hybridization is the process in which nature loses its autonomy and has been transformed into something we dominate and exploit for social activities

Dams that have altered water flow, genetically designed chickens, mass produced food that is wasted so we can cheapify it, cheaping labor through division of labor

mass migration has increased urbanization and population density has required plenty of infrastructure, money, and energy. We have to support these cities at the cost of nature

Alienation has changed our relationship with nature because we now see ourselves as useful so long as the market economy can use us... we are a commodity and we enjoy it

rationalization - think of the new prophets, old prophets, mechanized petrification, and the soullessness

Power is the ability to exert your will over someone else's resistance

Globalization - we are becoming more alike through globalization and the race to the bottom. we are all now contributing to climate change because we have made consumerism the only dominant regime

Financialization - we determine ourselves as sucessful if we produce a market profit. So long as the stock market is doing well, we are doing well.

Sustainability - is no longer about preserving nature, but keeping enough of it to serve our needs

Natural stocks - things that are consumed after being used - oil, coal, etc

Natural funds - things that can be used indefinitely - water, solar, air

Natural capital - all natural resources that we can use for human needs (both natural stocks and funds)

Criticality - natural components that when we run out of, reduce our chances of survival massively

Fungible - natural components that are important but are not esssential -oil and coal

Disposable - natural components that don't matter too much

De-skilling - we get so good at once task, we lose all other skills because of the division of labor

Irrationality - us as a society require so many policies and things that don't make sense for the sake of continuing a tradition

Power is the ability to get indivduals to conform to your will despite your opposition

Hegemonic ideology - We recreate power structures willingly even if they don't benefit us