Author Question: How do the conservative, liberal, and radical left points of view define environmental problems? ... (Read 395 times)

809779 · **on:** Jul 2, 2018

How do the conservative, liberal, and radical left points of view define environmental problems? Which view is most optimistic?

Which is the most pessimistic? How does each point of view define solutions to many of the environmental problems discussed in the chapter?

What is an Ideal response?

Question 2

Define environmental racism. Give examples of this pattern. Do you think this issue involves race or class or both?

What is an Ideal response?

Liamb2179 · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 2, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Radical-Left View: The natural environment is in serious danger due to capitalism's ever-increasing appetite for growth and profits. Under the current economic and political system, the natural environment is likely to experience eventual collapse.
Liberal View: The natural environment is in danger. Both increasing pollution and the rapid use of natural resources including freshwater threaten people now and present societal patterns are not sustainable.
Conservative View: There are challenges but problems can be solved. Although humanity has created pollution and consumed natural resources, it has shown itself capable of devising new, clean technologies as well as alternative forms of energy.

Answer to Question 2

Environmental racism theory states that the poorand especially minoritiessuffer most from environmental hazards.
Historically, factories that create pollution have been located in or near neighborhoods of the poor and people of color. People with low incomes often find that the only housing they can afford stands in the very shadow of the plants and mills where they work.
Through the years, the most serious environmental hazards have been found around Newark, N.J., rather than in upscale Bergen County; on Chicago's South Side rather than in wealthy Lake Forest; and on or near Native American reservations in the West rather than in the affluent suburbs of Denver or Phoenix.