By Integrated Studies Project Submitted to Dr. Angela L. Specht In
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DIVERGING FROM THE ROAD TO NOWHERE: ESCAPING THE TREADMILL OF OVERPRODUCTION AND OVERCONSUMPTION By KELLY DAVISON Integrated Studies Project submitted to Dr. Angela L. Specht in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts – Integrated Studies Athabasca, Alberta December, 2009 2 Abstract A textual analysis of the environmental discourse suggests one reason for the lack of progress toward sustainability is the failure to connect environmental damage with overconsumption in the developed world—currently the fundamental cause of environmental disorganization. A perusal of popular and academic environmental literature indicates, however, that reducing the overconsumption by both producers and consumers has not been targeted for behavioural change by policymakers. Environmental concern is, instead, re-directed to small acts performed by individuals, also known as the small-steps approach, that do not threaten consumption levels. Schnaiberg’s (1980) Treadmill of Production theory has considerable explanatory power for this discrepancy between sustainability goals and sustainability policy. Schnaiberg’s theory posits that a great many social institutions and powerful economic actors are beholden to the acceleration of both production and consumption and that overconsumption will, therefore, be maintained (if not enhanced) by these structures and actors. 3 Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................5 Treadmill of Production Theory and Rational Choice Theory...........................17 Neoliberalism and the Individualization of Responsibility..................................25 Overconsumption versus Consumption.................................................................27 The Problem of Information or Awareness......................................................................32 Access to Information..............................................................................................33 Environmental Organizations................................................................................41 Misinformation and Casting Doubt.......................................................................43 Obfuscation of Green Consumerism and Cause-Related Marketing.................46 Illicit Strategies........................................................................................................51 The Myth of Runaway Technology........................................................................52 Distancing.................................................................................................................54 Education and Religion...........................................................................................58 Framing the Issues...................................................................................................62 The Freedom to Buy: Consumer Sovereignty...........................................66 Individualization of responsibility..............................................................69 Externalization of Costs..................................................................75 Rational Choice’s Hierarchy of Preferences and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs..........77 Expanding Production Necessitates Expanding Consumption........................................82 Creating an Insatiable Hunger: False Needs and Infinite Desires......................87 The Commoditization Trap.....................................................................................90 Primitive Accumulation: Capturing the commons and expanding wealth.....................95 Possible Alternatives..........................................................................................................101 Alternatives to the Increasing Accumulation of Wealth by a Small Elite.........102 4 Alternatives to the Movement of Workers to Wage Labour.............................106 Alternatives to the Expansion of Production to Compete for Profit.................109 Alternatives to the Manufacturing of Insatiable Desires...................................111 Alternatives to the Concern of Government for Economic Development........112 Alternatives to the Communications and Education of Treadmill Values......118 Organizing..................................................................................................121 Conclusion..........................................................................................................................128 Revisiting Individualization of Responsibility....................................................129 Works Cited.......................................................................................................................137 5 Overconsumption must be reduced in the industrialized nations if humanity is to avoid global ecological collapse and attain sustainability. Oskamp (2000), in his look at how psychology can help find solutions to environmental problems asserts that if humanity cannot collectively address its problems of overconsumption and overpopulation, these two behaviours may “eventually . make Earth nearly uninhabitable for future generations” (p. 496). Policies created to promote the goal of sustainability, internationally agreed at Rio in 1992, however, rarely address overconsumption (Princen, Maniates, and Conca, 2002b). This failure to address overconsumption has seen levels of environmental destruction continue to rise. Increasing levels of toxic heavy metals and chemicals seethe from electronics dumped in the landfills of developing nations, food stocks are decreasing as harvest levels from the seas and land decrease, acid rain kills our trees and the fish in our rivers and lakes, and millions of people die each year from air pollution (Booth, 2004; Diamond, 2005; Flannery, 2005). The most urgent problem, perhaps, is that of anthropogenic climate change by emissions of the greenhouse gases (GHG) carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide which are causing our planet’s climate to change at a rate faster than the rate at which species can adapt (Godrej, 2001). This global change in the earth’s ecosystems endangers the survival of all species that have evolved during very different climatic conditions. Climate scientists predict that without an 80, or even 90, percent reduction in GHG emissions within the next decade, ecological catastrophe will result (Brown, Larsen, Dorn, and Moore, 2008; Lever-Tracy, 2008; Pachauri, 2008; Taylor and Tilford, 2000), yet this reduction is not likely to occur with consumption levels rising around the world. Policies intended to create sustainability in Canada and America, where overconsumption is rife, have focused primarily on the small-steps approach directed at individual consumers. This approach is based on the idea of consumer authority and rational 6 choice; that is, each individual decides rationally which change is possible and best for his or her interests and consequently shows his or decision in the market place either by purchasing or by not purchasing certain products. Much of this behavioural change is channeled into green consumer action—for example, purchase of products that are deemed better for the environment such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, energy-efficient appliances, or hybrid automobiles—purchases that are expected to eventually accrue to create widespread improvement in ecosystems if sufficient numbers of individuals decide to make these purchases. The problem with this approach is that although a good number of people are taking the small steps such as buying eco-products and recycling, this change is not enough to create sustainability because it is not reducing overconsumption. There needs to be a tremendous drop in consumption in the developed nations if we are to retain the services of the earth’s ecosystems—such as atmosphere or oceans—upon which life on the planet depends. In order to effect the magnitude of change required for true sustainability, both overproduction and overconsumption must be drastically reduced—reductions that would require new forms of energy, transportation, and food provisioning as well as new social expectations. These changes are impossible to accomplish with the band-aid solution of the small-steps approach. While certain small steps, such as using less motorized transport, would help create less energy consumption and GHG emissions if the entire population participated, many people do not participate for reasons that are often beyond their individual control: lack of public transportation, lack of dedicated bicycle paths, or workplaces and residential areas located far apart so that public transportation involves many more hours of commuting than private transportation. One must also acknowledge social expectations— often created by manufacturers and their marketing forces—expectations such as the overwhelming pressure to own one’s own ‘wheels’ in North America. Attaining a driver’s 7 license and ownership of an automobile is a rite of passage that signals independence and financial viability (thus, adulthood) for many and is thus a social expectation that is difficult to dismiss as unnecessary even if more ecologically sound alternatives are available and convenient. Furthermore, the solutions that involve eco-products or recycling entail further production and, thus, further consumption, a position that avoids the first recommendations of reduce and reuse in the waste