1.1 Framing nature using language tools By framing, I mean the structures and pre-assumptions that we consciously or unconsciously apply to a situation in order to make sense of it. So are there any differences between the way in which we frame nature in caring for environment and the way in which we frame it to provide accountability? What significance might this have, and what tools might be used to bridge the responsibilities of caring and accountability? Caring for environment makes manifest the informal aspects o
Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: understand why systems thinking might be useful and know something about how it can be applied in the context of environmental responsibility; describe the significance of environmental pragmatism and cognitive justice as tools for supporting environmental policy and action.
References 1.4.4 Summary The question of who is responsible for factory sweatshops in the poorer regions of the globe remains a passionate political issue, in North America and beyond. Views on how responsibility for overseas sweatshops should be exercised differ between those who believe that it should be left to market forces to improve conditions and those who consider that everyone, as a consumer, bears some responsibility for their perpetuation and should intervene to bring abo 1.4.3 It's all down to connections For Iris Marion Young, the responsibility of those in North America and Europe towards distant others does indeed rest with their connections to injustices elsewhere, but it would be a mistake to stretch this line of reasoning too far. Although these connections, whether as a consumer, boardroom executive or shop manager, can establish a line of responsibility, as was claimed in Section 3.1, for Young this is only the starting point and not the end point of our involvement. We do not have to 3.1 Introduction So what are the principal energy systems used by humanity at present, and how sustainable are they? Until quite recently, human energy requirements were modest and our supplies came either from harnessing natural processes such as the growth of plants, which provided wood for heating and food to energise human or animal muscles, or from the power of water and wind, used to drive simple machinery. 2.4 Natural science valuation: towards ecological restoration While the previous two subsections dealt with the social sciences, the ideas of ecology represent more the natural sciences tradition. In the early years of controversy around how to practise sustainable development, some concern was expressed about the perceived bias towards social rather than natural sciences. Bryan Norton (1992), for example, is critical of the social scientific approach. He argues that reliance on standard economic and other social scientific tools will not be enough to e Learning outcomes By the end of this unit you should be able to: appreciate different connotations and traditions of the terms ‘nature’ and ‘environment’ in the context of environmental responsibility; use conversation as a core metaphor for describing ‘what matters’ in environmental responsibility; identify and compare formal and less formal expressions of environmental responsibility. 6 Further reading The models being used in research take such simple energy flows and increase the ‘granularity’ of the components used, to build complex time sequences. You may like to see Information Sheet 8 at the website of the Climatic Research Unit for a summary of how these have developed. Click on 'View document' to see charts mentioned in the activity below 4 Further reading For information on changes to flora, click on Science magazine. For changes to fauna, and economic effects, go to Information Sheet 4, or for the paper quoted at the top of the screen, Information Sheet 1, both at Climatic Research Unit. Click on 'View document' to open the data-smoothing information 4.5 The Kew Gardens Millennium Seed Bank Appeal Acknowledgements The material acknowledged below is Proprietary, used under licence and not subject to Creative Commons licensing (see terms and conditions). Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following: Figure 1/Unit Image © John Isaac/Still Pictures Figure 2 © Ian Hodgson/Reuters/Popperfoto Figure 3 © PA Photos Figure 4 © Accent Alaska Figure 5 © Tony Bennets/Lonely Planet Images Figure 6 © Bryan & Cherry Alexander Photography References 6.2 The hierarchy of human needs A second approach is to look at the human needs and wants from a more theoretical perspective. One such model was developed in the 1950s and 1960s by Abraham Maslow. Although it exists in many variants it is generally known as Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. In the most common interpretations it places the fundamental material needs of survival, such as food, shelter and safety at the base of a triangle, rising through social needs of belonging in human society, to 3.2 The agreement to protect the ozone layer After a decade of controversy about the possible effects of CFCs, in 1985 British scientists discovered over the Antarctic a quite unexpected ‘hole’ in the ozone layer which was the size of the USA. This helped to galvanise the international community into action (though some who took part in the negotiations claim it played little part). By 1987 the first international agreement to control substances damaging to the ozone layer, the Montreal Protocol, was established. Interestingl 2.4 Changing environmental attitudes So, from the start of the Industrial Revolution, people have been aware that the development of an industrial economy brings problems as well as benefits. But the benefits, in terms of productive capability, mobility, convenience, cheap consumer goods, and profits, were usually felt to outweigh the disadvantages, particularly by those in positions of power. Many of the accompanying negative factors, such as poverty and unemployment, or the creation of more destructive machines of war, if they 2.2 We are part of nature Take a few minutes to look around at your surroundings before you read on. What do you see? Obviously this depends on where you are at the moment: at home, at work, or perhaps travelling in between, or maybe you have the misfortune to be laid up in hospital. Possibly like me you are at home. I am fortunate to have a study where I do much of my writing and you won't be surprised to hear that I'm looking at a computer screen at the moment. What else can I see? Books and bookshelves, furniture o 2.1 Environment and technology A central concern of environmental studies is the relationship between technology and our environment: how people use technology to transform materials into forms which can meet our needs and wants. In the process of doing this we inevitably change the environment which provides these materials but which also supports all life. A few moments ago I went to my fridge and took some milk out to add to a cup of coffee. I used this common example of a modern domestic appliance without a secon 6.1 Introduction The international level can be viewed as an arena of politics in its own right and not just as a context for states and other actors. If we think of the international world in this way, how should relations between states, and other actors on the international stage, be constructed? To what extent should those relations be regulated? We can ask whether relations between states, and states' policy making, should be dictated by allegedly universally shared human rights principles, or by other o 5.7 Relating individual rights to state sovereignty The fourth set of problems is really a specific example of the third set and relates to the ways in which individual rights relate to state sovereignty. The Millennium Conference of the UN in 2000 endorsed the need for people-centred changes to the institution and renounced its previous ‘state-centred’ structure. The human-centred logic of rights regards human rights as a value which places legitimate constraints upon the politics of national self-interest and interstate competition. Chan
