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Sociology, Environment, and Modernity: Ecological Modernization as a Theory of Social Change
... In this sense, it employs the concept of ecological modernization as a perspective to observe how the neoliberalist approach to global climate governance has been encountering various ideological and conceptual challenges. The ecological modernization approach refers to a concept of having a balance between ecological protection and economic growth by utilizing markets, technologies, industrial transformation and social participation as a means of achieving ecological actions (Christoff, 2006;Jänicke, 2008;Mol, 2006;Moore, 2014;Spaargaren and Mol, 2009). While the ecological modernization is an approach to state-cantered national actions, it reflects translating the elements of neoliberalist ideology, including market mechanisms, international cooperation and financing, into climate actions. ...
... The ecological modernization approach focuses on, to a large extent, administrative, industrial and social transformations, economic tools and markets, utilization of technology and social and public participance (Christoff, 2006;Jänicke, 2008;Mol, 2006;Moore, 2014;Spaargaren and Mol, 2009). As the ecological modernization is seen as a critical discourse, it refers to a range of the storylines translated and identified in global climate governance (Hajer, 1995). ...
While global climate governance has been identified across a wide range of international political events, it has been deeply rooted in the liberal international order which encounters various political challenges. This work employs the ecological modernization approach as a way to observe how the neoliberal elements of the global climate governance have been interrogated by different and emerging critical discourses. This work identifies that the populism, green movements and (radical) left-wing concepts have been emerging to challenge the existing global climate governance by holding critical stances on the key elements of the ecological modernization approach.
... Economic rationality centers on individuals whose behavior is assumed to be preference-based in response to fees and awards. Ecological modernization (Spaargaren and Mol 2009) has emerged as an approach that aligns economic rationality with responses to environmental challenges. It is grounded in the view that the economy evolves and modernizes over time, to become increasingly efficient and less resource intense, and that this progress occurs through innovations that can be marketed, eventually leading to the decoupling of economic growth and environmental damage (Spaargaren and Mol 2009). ...
... Ecological modernization (Spaargaren and Mol 2009) has emerged as an approach that aligns economic rationality with responses to environmental challenges. It is grounded in the view that the economy evolves and modernizes over time, to become increasingly efficient and less resource intense, and that this progress occurs through innovations that can be marketed, eventually leading to the decoupling of economic growth and environmental damage (Spaargaren and Mol 2009). Administrative and economic rationalities are combined in ecological modernization and, together, these rationalities have been dominant in environmental policy in the global north. ...
... En primera instancia, la metáfora (Torres Alvarez 2020, 89-96) parte del reconocimiento del antropoceno (Crutzen y Stoermer 2000). Busca ser una alternativa o complemento etnográfico frente a algunas corrientes o marcos analíticos socioambientales como el treadmill of production (Schnaiberg 1980;Schnaiberg, Pellow y Weinberg 2002;Weinberg, Pellow y Schnaiberg 2000), la modernización ecológica (Fisher y Freudenburg 2001;Huber 1985;1991;Hajer 1995;Mol 1995;Cohen 2000;Spaargaren y Mol 1992;Oltra 2005), el consumo verde (Lorenzen 2014) y las visiones sobre resiliencia o adaptación (Eakin et al. 2017;Meerow, Newell y Stults 2016). La naturaleza de esos modelos dejaba fuera hallazgos fundamentales del trabajo etnográfico. ...
This article presents the case study of Cabo Pulmo, a town located in Baja California Sur, Mexico, which went from an economy based on fishing and pearl extraction to one sustained by ecotourism. The objective is to analyze how this process was influenced by people and multiscale institutions. The ethnographic work consisted, first, in informal conversations with local inhabitants, followed by the application of in-depth interviews with three people, to obtain their life stories. To analyze the results, a metaphorical proposal based on the figure of the Ouroboros is used. The investigation focuses on a specific social group inserted in the globalized world, an environmental crisis with an adaptive response and articulated multiscale relationships for the consolidation of an ecotourism project and the defense of the territory against large tourist projects, also promoting socio-cultural changes. This case is considered a concrete example of how multiscale processes can influence local scenarios to promote adaptive responses, a topic associated with the discussions and challenges of climate change.
The main objective of this study is to examine the impact of green investment on environmental degradation in developing countries using machine learning-based estimation combined with robustness tests of static and dynamic panel data modeling techniques. The scope of this study covers 30 developing countries for 2009–2019. This study introduces a new index of environmental degradation that uses the entropy method and includes green gas emissions and deforestation. The study addresses trade openness, the quadratic shape of economic growth, and urbanization in the context of the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis (EKC) and the Ecological Modernization Theory (EMT), in addition to green investment. This study considers the kernel-based regularized least squares (KRLS) approach, the static panel technique Driscoll & Kraay standards error method, and a dynamic panel technique system generalized moment techniques. The empirical findings from the machine learning method show that green investment significantly reduces environmental degradation with a higher coefficient resulting from the static fixed effect estimation. The study also reveals that the main hypotheses, such as EKC and EMT, are confirmed by all estimation techniques. Based on the results, the study recommends that policymakers take pragmatic steps toward green investments and increase the financing of green energy initiatives to combat environmental degradation.
Ekolojik Modernleşme Teorisi, toplumların çevre ve ekonomi arasındaki ilişkileri yönetmelerinin yeni yollarını bularak, çevresel etkileri tanıma ve bunlara yanıt verme potansiyelini açıklamaktadır. Çevre politikası çıkarımları ise farklı bağlamlar içerisinde oluşturulmakta ve bu bağlamlar arasında aktarılacak yeni çevre politikaları biçimlerinin kapsamına odaklanmaktadır. Bu kapsamda çevresel bozulma ve reformlarda bilim ve teknolojinin değişen rolünün, ekolojik yeniden yapılanma ve reformların sosyal taşıyıcıları olarak devlet kurumlarının, toplumsal hareketlere ek olarak piyasa dinamiklerinin ve ekonomik aktörlerin artan önemine vurgu yapmaktadır. Aynı zamanda çevre reformlarında hükümetlerin ve ulus devletlerin geleneksel olarak merkezi rolüne ilişkin değişiklikleri, değişen söylemsel uygulamalarla politik ve toplumsal alanlarda ortaya çıkan yeni ideolojileri savunmaktadır. Ayrıca ekolojik dönüşüm sürecinde toplumsal hareketlerin konumunu, rolünü ve ideolojisini değiştirmek istemektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, Ekolojik Modernleşme Teorisi'nin çevre politikası çıkarımları üzerine büyük bir tartışma alanı olan literatür arasındaki bağlantıların incelenmesidir. Ulaşılan bulgulara göre çevre politikası çıkarımları, teorinin toplum yapısının ekolojik özelliklerini değiştirmede teknolojik yeniliğin temel rolüne ilişkin temel bileşeninden başlamaktadır. Bununla birlikte çevresel verimliliği artırmanın; üretim süreçlerinin hammadde-enerji yoğun faaliyetlerden, bilgi ve hizmet yoğun faaliyetlere dönüştürülmesi; ekonomik faaliyetlerde yeni teknolojiler kullanılarak temiz üretim süreçlerinin geliştirilmesi gerektiğini göstermektedir. Çoğunlukla sanayileşmiş ülkeler kapsamında ele alınan teorinin etkili ve başarılı olabilmesi, ekolojik hedeflerin makroekonomik ve sektörel hedefler içerisinde yer almasına bağlı olduğu tahmin edilmektedir.
Scientific research on the mechanisms to address global warming and its consequences continues to proliferate in the context of an accelerating climate emergency. The concept of climate action includes multiple meanings, and several types of actors employ its use to manage the crisis. The term has evolved to incorporate many of the suggested strategies to combat global warming offered by international bodies, states, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and social movements. The present work offers a classification scheme to build a shared understanding of climate action through a lens of environmental justice and just transitions developed by sociologists and others. The classification system includes major institutional and noninstitutional forms of climate action. By identifying the primary forms of climate action, analysts, scholars, policymakers, and activists can better determine levels of success and how different forms of climate action may or may not complement one another in the search for equitable solutions in turning back the rapid heating of the planet.
Climate change, one of the severest environmental threats to humankind, disproportionately affects low-income developing countries in the global South. Having no feasible mitigation alternatives, these countries resort to adaptation efforts in addressing the climate perturbations. Climate change adaptation (or resilience) is primarily a localized course of action that depends on individuals, social networks, economies, ecologies, political structures, and the capabilities of all those to work collectively to absorb, learn from and transform in the face of new realities. With a view to controlling the floods that shattered the life and economy of the then East Pakistan, which is Bangladesh now, during the mid-twentieth century, the coastal embankment project (CEP) was instituted as an adaptation strategy to natural disasters in southwestern Bangladesh. Based on the qualitative analysis of primary and secondary data, this paper seeks to critically evaluate the efficacy of the CEP in terms of the space for feasible action and ecological modernization. The findings of this research indicate that the CEP has become an unrealistic venture that hinders the growing economic activity of shrimp aquaculture in the area. This paper is expected to contribute to generate further theoretical and empirical discourse on evaluating similar development projects around the globe.
China has announced its ambitious targets of attaining a carbon peak before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Although China is a developing country, its oil sector plays a key role in carbon emissions and thus has a responsibility toward climate change. It is very important to understand the role of the oil industry of China in climate governance. This raises the following question: how have oil companies in China framed and tailored their climate strategies? By employing the concept of ecological modernization as a theoretical framework, this study observes the driving forces of climate policies, low-carbon energy, advanced technologies , and market mechanisms by collecting and analyzing reports published by three oil companies. The main findings are that state-owned oil companies in China have adopted the ideas and institutions of national climate strategies, low-carbon energy systems, and emerging financial and market tools. The analysis of the reports reveals that the main motives for the climate strategies of the companies are China' s administrative system , international climate cooperation, the transformation of the energy mix, and emerging market mechanisms.
The world is currently confronting two water crises, a developmental crisis concerning populations who lack access to water and an environmental crisis regarding water scarcity and freshwater resource depletion. Are we as academics addressing the complexity of these issues? Using network analysis of over 5,000 articles that address water development and water scarcity, I generate a co‐citation network to identify the overlap between development and environmental water literatures in academic journals. The results suggest that the development literature only has a 6.28 percent overlap with the environmental literature and the environmental literature has a mere 1.92 percent overlap. Overall, this research suggests that there is an extreme lack of academic articles that address water scarcity and water development concurrently. Until we as an academic community become more nuanced in our studies of water, we will lack a full understanding of how to solve these seemingly contradictory problems. I conclude by drawing on critical Marxist and “Frankfurt School” perspectives to explain this apparent disconnect.
Seafood production and trade have expanded dramatically over the last 40 years and comprise one of the fastest growing, and most environmentally impactful, sub‐sectors of the global food system. While richer nations have increased their seafood consumption and displaced their environmental load, the marine environmental impact of fishery production has largely shifted to the waters of less‐affluent nations. To sustain fishing economies and seafood security, in an era of increasing marine ecological precarity constitutes a major challenge for development and human well‐being in the 21st century. Blue growth perspectives emphasize the transformative power of growth‐oriented development. Such perspectives conflict with critical political economic theories of environment and food systems; notably, the treadmill of production and world food system scholarship. Using annual data from the Global Footprint Network, World Bank, UN FAO, and International Monetary Fund, this study applies methods in cross‐national, panel regression analysis in order to ultimately pose some important challenges to modernist blue growth perspectives. The analysis suggests that economic growth and incorporation into the world market economy have led to unsustainable and inequitable outcomes regarding the marine ecological impact of fisheries.
Most quantitative research testing ecological modernization theory focuses on the direct relationship between development and environmental outcomes. In this study, we assess overlooked propositions of the perspective: the impacts of economic development on intermediate mechanisms—efficiency improvement and environmental consciousness—that are theorized to contribute to ecological improvements. We analyze fully balanced panel data covering all 50 U.S. states to evaluate the influence of both personal income per capita and GDP per capita on two intermediate mechanisms—state-level energy efficiency policies and state environmentalism. The findings indicate that personal income per capita is positively related to both state-level energy efficiency policies and state environmentalism, which is expected, while GDP per capita is related to neither of these measures. While these results provide mixed support for ecological modernization theory, we observe that the enactment of a policy does not, by default, lead to the realization of the expected benefits or outcomes. By investigating the role of intermediate mechanisms in mitigating environmental degradation, this study advances our shared understanding of the social, political, and economic factors shaping environmental policy and management in the United States.
The purpose of this paper is to use the case of Iran to examine the basic premises of the ecological modernization (EM) and de-modernization (DM) theories with regard to agricultural extension policies to generate a green theory for agricultural extension. We argue that extension activities do not promote sustainability, so that technologies presented by extension are unsustainable. It is necessary to rethink seriously the activities, missions, and efforts of extension. It can be argued that agricultural extension should be reinvented. Two competing polar conceptual paths for agricultural extension are presented by EM and DM theories. These two paths are used to reconstruct the theoretical basis of agricultural extension.
