1What is the socionatural entanglement? What do we build more of and for what purpose?
Natural and social systems are in a reciprocal relationship with one another - we effect it and it impacts us.
We build systems to protect ourselves from nature and to extract value from nature, which impacts it
2What is the Anthropocene era? What does it mean for the natural world?
Anthropocene is the geological era starting in the 50s where humans have colonized the natural world so much, we have caused irreversible harm to its natural functioning
It means that it now functions in a way that is similar to a state of survival and imbalance. We colonized the world to a point that we cannot undo, but we can limit the effects of
3What is environmental sociology the study of? What questions does it ask? What does it analyze?
How social systems are organized and change in response to the natural world, just as the changes they produce in the natural world forces social systems to respond and change
It asks questions like who benefits from anthropocene and who is harmed by it and analyzes our perception / relationship with nature
4Anthropocene and Capitalism - What is the relationship?
Define:
Socioneconomic metabolism, commodification of nature, and the colonization of natural processes
Humans and capitalism's definition of land as a commodity / thing to be conquered has accelerated our impact on the environment for the sake of profit
Socioeconomic metabolism - the material exchange between social and natural systems
Colonization of natural processes - the intentional / unintentional alteration of natural beings and processes
Commodification of nature- Incorporation of nature for the sake of profit
5What was the great hybridization the beginning of and what are the consequences of it now?
It was the beginning of the industrial revolution, with hybridization being the process in which nature lost its autonomy because of our activity and demands
Consequences:
There is no longer a separation of nature and industry
75% of Earth's ice-free land is now an anthropogenic biome
Industrial revolution caused us to think of nature as something for us to dominate in order to maximize comfort
6Great hybridization - degrees of nature
nothing is natural anymore because we have done so much to alter the environment that nothing is untouched anymore
7Examples of nature-culture alteration
Dams that have permanently altered the flow of water, genetically designed chickens that can't walk or move, the cheaping of nature because we sample everything in massive quantities
8Why is capitalism the accelerator of climate change? Think of globalization and financialization
Globalization - socio-ecological regimes that take advantage of labor-laws / raise to the bottom to get the most resources for profit
Financialization - we determine success and stability through the stock markets rather than sustainability
9How we can think about sustainabiltiy through vocabulary terms - Global carrying capacity, natural capital, natural stocks, natural funds
Global carrying capacity - the amount that the Earth can handle of our waste, the things we take from it, and the places we need to live
Natural Capital - all natural resources that humans employ for human needs
Natural stocks - non-renewable resources like coal and oil
Natural funds - things that can be used indefinitely like air, solar, water, nuclear
We should use more natural funds than we should stocks.
10What are the three dimensions of sustainability? FDC
Fungible - Natural components that are important, but not essential like oil
Criticality - natural components that will seriously lower our chances of survival if we lose these
Disposable - Natural components that are not necessary for our survival
11The Units of Significance - What are the natural units?
Animals/habitats represent ecological associations