Green Economics

Green Economics                 Gregory DeRosso

Homework Week 1                                                                                                                               May 20th 2017        

2. Chapter 1 of Plan B: Failing states – why are certain countries classified as failing states? Which countries are those? What kind of social and environmental problems do they create?

States fail when a government cannot control or secure parts or all of its territory or their people. Certain basic services can no longer be provided, such as education, health care and food. There is a breakdown in the physical infrastructure which also leads to the neglect of the natural system as people struggle to survive.  

As of 2017 the failed state index has listed the following 16 nations based on 12 indicators of state vulnerability, grouped by category: social, economic and political indicators that are on the on the verge of collapse.

South Sudan, Somalia, Central African Republic, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Congo Democratic Republic, Chad, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Guinea, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Burundi^[1] 

These countries are losing the race between food production and population growth. Food shortages can put intense pressures on governments. For example, Congo Democratic Republic government agencies have collapsed, hunger is widespread, and chaos reigns. (page 16)

Failing states cannot maintain stability. Spreading political instability could disrupt the global economic progress.

3. Chapter 3 of Plan B: In this chapter L. Brown mention 4 components of his plan to save civilization. What are those four parts of the plan? Explain each briefly.

1. Cut carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2020.

L. Brown believes a transition from oil, coal and natural gas to wind, solar and geothermal is necessary and that the technology is already present to do so. It is a goal to cut carbon emissions dramatically while raising energy efficiency. He states that the continual investment into earth’s renewable energy resources will directly lead to a better quality of life. (Page 27)

2. Stabilizing population at 8 billion or lower.

2.4 billion people projected to be added by 2050 will be born in developing countries. (Page 24) These areas are in such disarray that the detartrating conditions of the land and water supply and hunger will increase the mortality rate resulting is to a lower than projected increase of population. Plan B also embraces a reduced fertility option.

3. Eradicating poverty.

In conjunction with stabilizing population growth, the shift to smaller families will lessen the burden and the worry of having enough to provide for their families. This will allow the impoverished nations the ability to be concerned with international issues such as climate. Also, it is a hallmark of civilized society to have the capacity to care about others. (Page 24)

4. Restoring the earth's natural systems, including soils, aquifers, forests, grasslands, and fisheries

The rise in hunger can be attributed to the failure to protect the natural systems that support Humanity. Unless we begin conserving soil, ban deforestation, promote reforestation and restore fisheries, we may be a point where it will be too late to reverse the damaging effects.

4. According to Jared Diamond, how did environmental destruction contribute to the collapse of several ancient civilizations?

Jared Diamond says that within the last decade archaeologists have shown us that there were environmental problems underlying many of these past collapses and that we should learn from the past and that it can help us avoid collapsing in same way.

He illustrates a five-part reason for the extinction of the Greenland Norse society and its comparison to what is currently happening in Montana (circa 2008) He believes that Montana is suffering from the same problems as the Greenland Norse.

The Norse has a detrimental impact on their environment. People inadvertently destroyed the resources they depended on. This caused soil erosion and deforestation. The Norse relied on the forest to make charcoal and the charcoal for the fire to make iron. “So they ended up an Iron Age European society, virtually unable to make their own iron.”^[2]

In Montana, the toxic problems from mine waste have caused of billions of dollars in damages. Montana has lost areas from salinization, problems of forest management and had problems of forest fires.

The underlying question is didn’t they see this coming? Easter Islanders deforested their environment and were not seeing the impact on their environment. He mentions two generalizations.  The first makes collapse more likely. There is a conflict of interest between “the short-term interest of the decision-making elites and the long-term interest of the society as a whole.” 2 For example, Greenland Norse chiefs wanted is more followers, sheep and resources than the neighboring chiefs. That led the chiefs to over cultivate, overstocking the land and forcing their tenant farmers into dependency. This made the chiefs powerful in the short run, but led to the society's collapse in the long run.

This is a non-sustainable course that many current nations are following. Jared Diamond gives examples of how the Philippines will lose all its accessible loggable forest within five years and that he Solomon Islands are only one year away from losing their loggable forest, which is their major export. The resolution will come in own of two forms: “either we will resolve these non-sustainable time-fuses in pleasant ways of our own choice by taking remedial action, or else these conflicts are going to get settled in unpleasant ways not of our choice — namely, by war, disease or starvation. But what's for sure is that our non-sustainable course will get resolved in one way or another in a few decades.”2