November 20, 2010
Capitalism on Trial
Historically, a rapid warming of Earth has engendered four out of the five
major species extinction events which have occurred to date. The warming
caused a completely different climate, massive extinctions, and, after millions
of years, the emergence of an entirely new planetary ecological system.
Earth is now warming very rapidly. Before the Industrial Revolution, the
concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide was 280 parts per million. It is now
390 ppm, rising at 1.9 ppm annually. The present level is higher than at any time
in the past 800,000 years, and higher perhaps than in the past 20 million years.
We are now in the midst of the 6th major extinction. The “background rate”
of species extinction is 0.1-1.0 species going extinct per million species per year.
The present rate is 100 species per million species per year, and is expected to
increase, during the present century, to 1,000 species per million per year.
Other indicators of dramatic change abound. From no nitrogen removed from
the atmosphere in 1900, we now remove 121 million tons annually, the flow
of fertilizers producing dead zones in lakes and oceans. From 1 million ton
of phosphorus flowing annually into the oceans, 9 million tons now flow.
Since industrialization, the acidity of the ocean, measured as the mean
saturation of surface ocean water with aragonite (a form of calcium
carbonate), has decreased from 3.44 to 2.90, the ocean now being
so acid as to threaten a massive die-down of shell-forming organisms.
The annual human consumption of run-off fresh water has risen from 415 cubic
kilometers (km3) pre-industrially, to 2,600 km3, a level now threatening
both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Of this water, 70 percent is used for
irrigation, and of this irrigation water, 25 percent is withdrawn unsustainably.
In 1960, humanity appropriated one half of the total biological capacity
of Planet Earth. At present, every year, we use 30 percent more than
the Planet can regenerate. A projection of present trends predicts that
we would use, in 2035, the regenerative capacity of two Planet Earth.
Human nature? True, we have been destroying nature since we
discovered fire and began felling trees for agriculture. Nevertheless,
this hypothesis is untenable without a prior thorough investigation of
the numerous more proximate possible causes of the present disaster.
Population growth? In part, of course. But the world economy
has expanded much faster than population, and, on a per capita
basis, the average consumption of resources and use of nature’s
waste sinks, are much higher in affluent than in poor nations.
Industrialization? Yes, indeed, but not industrialization in the abstract,
devoid of the human power relations in which it is embedded. Since the
late 15th century, technological innovation has been determined by the
capitalist political-economic system which has now become dominant globally.
Capitalism is a system which focuses on profits – a quantitative money
value. Its driving force is competition, and, therefore, inequality.
Nature is a “free gift” to investors, and any commodity produced has
value only insofar as it can be sold (insofar as it has an exchange value).
Recognizing only exchange value, capitalism omits any consideration
of other types of values, such as aesthetic, moral, intrinsic, or use value.
An old growth forest is valueless, unless it can be counted as square
feet of timber which can be sold. Biodiversity detracts from profits.
In his drive for profits, the capitalist investor must exploit both labor
and nature. He exploits labor by paying wages worth less than the
actual value of labor’s contribution to the production process. He
exploits nature by externalizing onto it the costs of production – waste.
To increase its control over the production process, capitalism simplifies
both labor and nature. It simplifies labor by narrowing each worker’s
contribution (the assembly line); and it simplifies nature by replacing old
growth forests with monocultures of rapidly growing, easily-harvested trees.
The technology developed under capitalism is one specifically geared to
increasing profits. Labor is replaced by machines (including the computer)
which can function 24 hours a day, without ever requiring paid sick leave.
Any resulting unemployment is advantageous, as it depresses wages.
Capitalism has no feedback loop for its degradation of nature. A forest
now clear-cut, simply signals investors to move on to another forest, often
across national boundaries. Only when all the forests are gone, will global
capitalism realize that it cannot forever continue to exploit a limited planet.
In the meantime, capitalism takes advantage of the despoliation of nature.
Scarce clean water is privatized and becomes a market commodity sold for
profit. The over-use of environmental carbon dioxide sinks provides the
opportunity for an entirely new market in carbon trading (“cap-and-trade”).
The most important characteristic of capitalism is that it must grow in order
to survive. Profits must continue to increase. Translated to the national
level, the gross domestic product (GDP) must grow, ad infinitum. Capitalism
does not know “enough.” It is a treadmill of private money accumulation.
Our interaction with nature is one in which both ourselves and nature
co-evolve in dialectic fashion. We must – extremely rapidly – develop
an economic system with a feedback loop for the state of the planet.
We must stop delegating our relationship with nature to an “invisible hand.”
The controlling hand must be ours, democratically determined, and
global, forged on the basis of a substantial equality among all people.
Neither increased efficiency, “dematerialization,” “substitution,” less, or
more economic development, nor the valuing of “natural” capital will help.
The interface between nature and humanity, that junction where labor
uses nature to produce commodities, is the area now pathological.
And it cannot be healed without a change in human power relations.
We cannot save ourselves and also save the societal status quo.
References
Principal Reference:
Foster, John Bellamy, Brett Clark and Richard York. 2010. The ecological rift – capitalism’s war on the earth. New York, N.Y.: Monthly Review.
Cap-and-Trade: p. 427.
Capitalism as now dominant: pp. 132, 251 and 271.
Carbon Intensity: pp. 102-103 and 140-142.
Commodity, Definition: p. 431.
Dematerialization: pp. 112-113, 177, 179 and 183.
Dickens, Charles: p. 175.
Displacement of Costs: p. 44.
Economic Development: p. 253.
Efficiency of Capitalism: pp. 43-44, 105, 140, 142, 178-179, 185 and 427.
Equality: pp. 47, 398, 409, 416 and 442.
Exchange Value: pp. 408 and 434.
Extinction of Species: pp. 15, 271-272 and 424.
Future Generations: p. 96.
Gaia: pp. 258-260 and 429-430.
Global Warming, Rate: pp. 35-36 and 38.
Historical, Capitalism since the 15th Century: pp. 121 and 132.
Labor: pp. 228, 257, 384 and 401-402.
“More Development needed”: pp. 139-40, 252-253 and 489.
Foster et al explain that the “inverted U-shaped curve representing the relationship between economic development and environmental impact, is known as the “environmental Kuznets curve,” and follows the same formulation as Simon Kuznets’ discussion of the relationship between economic growth and income inequality (1955)” (pp. 253 and 489. See also Wikipedia, 2010, “Simon Kuznets, 1901-1985”).
“Environmental economists from the neoclassical tradition acknowledge that economic development has generated environmental problems, but argue that further economic development can solve these problems rather than add to them. The environment is seen as a luxury good, subject to public demand through the market” (pp. 252-253).
“Natural” Capital: pp. 113 and 139.
Nature as Wealth: pp. 58, 61, 63, 137, 203, 210 and 433.
Planetary biological Capacity: pp. 17-18.
Planetary Boundaries: pp. 14-18, 144, 412, 424-425 and 443-444. See Table 1 below.
A threshold is a non-linear transition in the functioning of a human-environmental system. The recent abrupt retreat of Arctic sea ice, caused by anthropogenic global warming, is an example of a threshold.
A planetary boundary is a value set by humans at a “safe” distance from either a global threshold, or (if no threshold is known) a “safe” distance from what is considered a dangerous level.
Planetary boundaries are interdependent, the transgression of one possibly shifting other boundaries, or causing them to be transgressed.
The concept of planetary boundary was developed by Johan Rockstrom et al, to define the space within which humanity can operate safely. It is
“a non-negotiable planetary pre-condition that humanity needs to respect in order to avoid the risk of deleterious, or even catastrophic environmental change on a continental to global scale” (Rockstrom 2009, pp. 2-7. Quotation, p. 4).
Table 1: Planetary Boundaries*
Earth System Process Pre-industrial Proposed Current
Value Boundary Value
__________________________________________________________________
Atmospheric Carbon dioxide (ppm)** 280 350 390
Species Extinction (species/
million species/year)** 0.1-1.0 10 100
Atmospheric Nitrogen removed
(million tons/year)** 0 35 121
Phosphorus discharged into the
Oceans (million tons/year) 1 11 8.5-9.5
Ocean Acidification (global mean surface
ocean saturation with aragonite) 3.44 2.75 2.90
Human Consumption of run-off
fresh Water (km3) 415 4,000 2,600
Ice-free Land Surface used for Cropland
(percent) Very low 15 11.7
Stratospheric Ozone (Dobson Units) 290 276 283
Bio-capacity of the Planet appropriated
by Humans (percent/year) 50 (in 1960) - 130
Atmospheric Aerosols -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- No available measure -- -- -- --
Chemical Pollution -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - No available measure -- -- -- --
__________________________________________________________________
* Foster et al base their figures on Rockstrom, Johan et al, 2009. “A Safe operating Space for Humanity.” Nature 461:24, September; and Rockstrom, Johan et al, 2009. “Planetary Boundaries – exploring the safe operating Space for Humanity,” Ecology and Society 14:2:32, http://ecologyandsociety.org. Johan Rockstrom is Director of the Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University. Transgressing one planetary boundary may cause others to be transgressed. For the Planet’s biocapacity, World Wildlife Fund, Living planet report, 2008. http://wwf.panda.org.
** These three processes have already crossed their planetary boundaries.
Population Growth: pp. 16 and 377-379.
Production, quantitative: pp. 39-40, 53, 203, 257, 396 and 408.
Profits, short-term: pp. 98, 147, 150, 202, 408 and 432.
Scarcity: pp. 54-55 and 69-70.
Simplification of Nature: pp. 203-204, 350.
Social Driver of Capitalism: pp. 8, 39, 47 and 109.
Sustainability: pp. 112 and 189-190.
“Sustainable” Capitalism: pp. 19 and 73.
Technological Innovation: pp. 19, 42, 80, 84, 116, 157, 251, 427, 430 and 436.
Treadmill of Production: pp. 8, 28-30, 39-40, 75, 90, 98, 109, 135-136, 153, 156, 163, 181, 201, 207, 281, 345, 396 and 431.
Voluntary Simplicity: p. 387.
Other References:
Hall, Francoise,
2005. “Ask the Mosquitoes.” (Poem). March 19 (13 pages, unpublished). (See Wilson 1992/1999).
History of Life: pp. 3-6.
2010. “History poised to repeat itself.” (Poem). August 25 (8 pages, unpublished).
Major Extinctions: p. 5.
Peterson, Garry, 2009. “Johan Rockstrom – Sweden’s Person of Year.” Resilience Science/Resilience Alliance. December 14.
http://rs.resalliance.org/2009/12/14. Accessed November 21, 2010.
Upon receiving the award, Professor Rockstrom stated, in part,
“Both the Stockholm Environmental Institute and the Stockholm Resilience Center conduct enormously important work to support sustainable development in both rich and poor countries” (Quotation p. 2).
Rockstrom, Johan, W. Steffen, K. Noone, A. Persson, F. Chapin, III, E. Lambin, T. Lenton, M. Scheffer, C. Folke, H. Schellnhuber, B. Nykvist, C. de Wit, T. Hughes, S. van der Leeuw, H. Rodhe, S. Sorlin, P. Snyder, R. Costanza, U. Svedin, M. Falkenmark, L. Karlberg, R. Corell, V. Fabry, J. Hansen, B. Walker, D. Liverman, K. Richardson, P. Crutzen, and J. Foley, 2009. “Planetary Boundaries – exploring the safe Operating Space for Humanity.” Ecology and Society 14:2:32.
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32. Accessed November 22, 2010.
Wikipedia, 2010.
“Carbon dioxide in Earth’s Atmosphere.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki. Updated November 13. Accessed November 20, 2010.
“The concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere is approximately 390 parts per million (ppm) by volume, as of 2010, and rising by about 1.9 ppm/year. . . The present level is higher than at any time during the last 800,000 years, and likely higher than in the past 20 million years.”
“Simon Kuznets, 1901-1985.”
Nobel Prize in Economics, 1971. “(Kuznets discovered) an inverted U-shaped relation between income inequality and economic growth (1955, 1963).”
“Water Resources.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki. Updated November 13. Accessed November 20, 2010.
“It is estimated that 69 percent of worldwide water use is for irrigation, with 15-35 percent of irrigation withdrawals being unsustainable.”
Wilson, Edward. 1992/1999. The diversity of life. New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton.
Summarized in Francoise Hall, 2005. “Ask the Mosquitoes.” (Poem). March 19 (13 pages, unpublished).
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