The Market Economy By Marge Piercy

Since the early 20th century the environmentalism movement has migrated from the struggles of consumers versus producers, or saving the planet as a whole as shown by Donald Worster in Nature’s Economy to a more socio-economic view based on urban growth and industrial health. Robert Gottlieb’s book Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement argues that as society goes so too does the environmental movement. As the emphasis on working environments and commercial goods we buy including food changes so too does the environmental movements. It did not matter whether it was large politically prominent environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club or the Audubon Societies or any other numbers of local grassroots

American author and journalist, Michael Pollan, in the article titled, “Why Bother?”, published in The New York Times Magazine, addresses the topic of environmental issues and argues that the phrase, “why bother?”, is what is keeping society from changing the ways citizens use up resources. His main focus of reasoning is supported by his idea that specialization has a significant role in reducing the average consumer’s chance of changing their lifestyle and also highlights that planting your own garden would be a task which in turn would benefit the consumer in many ways, while also decreasing their carbon footprint size. He concludes that these actions taking place could have a chain reaction that would spread these practices across the nation and lead to positive impacts on the environment.

Jobs and protecting the environment, important or not? George Will wrote his essay, “What Price Clean Air?” to convey the message that most of the Navajo Nation run and work at the power plants in Arizona, but as the growing change in protecting the environment, those Native Americans are forced to alter their livelihoods. George Will directs his essay to the American people, to persuade them to help find a change. Using the best equipment and spending billions of dollars on new technology may be affected by the uncertain environmental movement. With ethos, logos, and pathos, George Will effectively uses the rhetorical devices to convey his argument about the social and economic damage brought on by the federal government.

Have you ever thought about how your actions or opinions affected the environment around you? We’re constantly unaware of what we do that impacts the environment’s condition. One author named Wendell Berry blames the public in his article regarding the way society and the industry has treated the environment and its natural resources. This raises concerns whether we should be putting more importance on the economy or the land that we live in for the sake of our future survival. While I agree with most of Berry’s points and perspectives I slightly disagree with a few of his opinions, but nonetheless he brings up a great matter in today’s modern society.

As The World Burns: 50 Simple Things You Can Do To Stay In Denial, by Derrick Jensen and Stephanie McMillan, is a graphic novel about the state of our environment. They use cartoons and abundant sarcasm to convey the message that the attempts people are making to save the environment are not enough to do any real good. Their message challenges both those of Edward O. Wilson and the University of Connecticut in that Jensen and McMillan’s ideas are much more radical and suggest that the ideas posed by Wilson and UConn, such as the importance of recycling and sustainability efforts, are ineffective at saving the environment. We must resolve the challenges posed by Jensen and McMillan so that all of the ideas put forth in the sources may work together rather than against each other. In order to do this we must accept that some of the ideas given by Jensen and McMillan may be too extreme to do any real good and that the ideas suggested by Wilson and UConn, though slightly ineffective, are nonetheless important steps in saving the environment. Taken alone, none of their ideas will save the environment; instead it is necessary to combine the ideas of Wilson, UConn, and Jensen and McMillan in order to create a more realistic plan to save the planet.

The Rise of the Speculator, by Emily Lambert - This book tells the story of the two largest futures exchanges in Chicago, Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This book divided into 3 parts. First part is about trading in agriculture products such as grain, soybeans, eggs, onions, pork bellies and cattle. At first Chicago Board of Trade was just a group of businessmen. But in 1856, the Board of Trade had several hundred members and the trading room had grown crowed because of the trading of grain and corn. Second part is about financial product such as currencies, options, mortgages, bonds and stocks. Third part is about oil, euro dollars, bund and carbon.

Modernism represents an optimistic view of human impact on the environment that has been the dominant viewpoint for the last 200 years. The knowledge that mankind holds the ability to control the environment heavily stresses why climate change is not such a problem to worry about. One of the core beliefs of the modernistic perspective is that people have no need to fear future environmental disaster because the next technological advancement that will prevent it is right around the corner. Furthermore, those who share this view do not include themselves in their image of the ecosystem, believing they are detached from it. Lastly, a laissez-faire approach is taken to environmental problems, focusing on progression through technology, stressing that as long as progress is made in this area all problems will be fixed. For a modernist, climate change is nothing to worry about. This may be a real situation, but it will be solved with advancements in technology before one’s way of life is changed. What people should be worrying about is ensuring a laissez faire approach to the market with sponsorship to new technologies. As a result of reusable energy technology already existing, modernists believe that the problem of climate change has been solved and without disrupting free market system these technologies will be further implemented. As long as there are people given the opportunity to innovate, some will focus on and ultimately solve the concern of climate change. The issue of

Improvement of technology and its use has been the foundation for American economics. Although such innovation does create jobs, customs, and cultures that contribute to the American lifestyle, it can also create pollution that harms the environment and brings about environmental injustice. People focus on outcome effects of a certain project. Whether its main goal is for economic gains, to help improve the way American people live, or even if it is harming the ecosystem in any way, they will intervene. However, what people don’t pay attention to is the tool that is being used to accomplish such goals that can produce complications as it relates to the environment and injustice that comes with the utilization of technology.

Many Americans are influenced by the trends in advertisements and a big part of the problem is impulsivity, because the experience is a satisfying feeling when people shop. Americans, who are unmindful that low prices result from underlying costs, spend excessively caused by desires. While people buy, natural resources are abstracted from the environment at an unstoppable rate causing damages to the community and the species living in it. Unsustainable productions are practiced by businesses, and through their influence parts of society neglects a developing environmental crisis because of overconsumption.

The Collapse of the Western Civilization makes jokes about how wealthy people disregard global warming. However, it takes something very shocking for them to realize what is happening in the environment. One would think wealthy people would be invested in the environment because they have money and would want to invest their money in keeping the environment safe to live in. However, In The Collapse of the Western Civilization, “The loss of pet cats and dogs garnered particular attention among wealthy westerners” (TCOTWC, Pg. 8). This odd consistency surprisingly opens the eyes of the wealthy and begins to make them realize that global warming is an issue.

The author of this article is Matthew S. Gerson which according to research only has written this article with the purpose to share his thoughts on the matter of the subject. According to his profession there is no evidence to prove this individual is a studied person in this subject on economy. I believe the author chose to write this article to share his thoughts of the direction the economy could be heading for the middle class which according to the author is not good. The intentions of the author are to inform of the dilemma that is being caused by globalization and to make people feel sympathy for middle class earners that are being affected while still using factual evidence to prove his point.

The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century; the United States constructed big cities and factories which primarily relied on fossil fuels before government regulations were implemented. These large factories and companies released tons of unfiltered waste products into the atmosphere. By working in these factories, for many American’s their standard of living significantly increased. Fast forward a century and a half later and almost everything in this world today emits carbon; trains, planes, cars, construction, factories, and even breathing. It is time to stop making excuses and being part of the problem. Instead, we should be apart of the solution. We are treating our one and only home, the earth,

The relationship between the natural environment and human exchange is one that has been an ongoing battle of overconsumption and a regulation on natural goods. Human interaction during the Industrial Revolution spanning from the nineteenth and twentieth century has several contrasting principles. In the nineteenth century, the excuse of overconsumption was for industrial economic profit. Humans believed that over-using natural resource was acceptable due to the belief that natural resources were God’s gift to man, and God would replenish the natural goods. However, the overuse of natural goods results in smog, pollution, and water contamination which has various damaging health effects. In the 20th century, humans were more than aware of the effects that over-consumption produced, but neglected the environment for their own social status and profit. Nevertheless, during the end of the 20th century, scientific evidence led to widespread awareness of the effects occurring to the environment, prompting people to make policies to change and protect the environment. This caused humans to create a relationship with the government and restrict overconsumption. Ultimately, the first Industrial Revolution during the 19th century, the overuse of technology wasn’t perceived as harmful to the environment. However, in the second Industrial Revolution during the 20th century, over-consumption had external effects that were harmful to the environment, triggering intrusion from the

Eating Fossil Fuels made me realize how lazy our country is in general. Many things we consume today are eating away our insides without even knowing. This book provided efficient evidence to our failing food market, oil industry, population overcrowding, etc. Additionally, I realized how the collapse of our agriculture effects the entire world, and how no one seems to care about it. I will explain how certain circumstances relate to my life and add opinions to certain sections of the book that caught my eye.

This research examines the global economic transformation immediately following the Industrial Revolution and its relationship with the ever-widening economic, social, and political gaps of the world today. The consequence of industrialization have manifested itself in the form of environmental degradation, ecological extinction, and sea level changes. Even though the reality of global climate change has been a heated topic of political debate, air and water pollution and their adverse effects on human health is a solid fact. Therefore, an exploration into the possibility of global sustenance through sustainable development models will allow us to account for the true environmental and social cost of production and consumption.