Environmental Economics Lecture 10: Ecologies of local communities

Environmental Economics

Lecture 10: Ecologies of local communities

Outline Local responses to sustainability challenge:

Urban farming New forms of activism (citizen scientists)

Overview of upcoming assignments: Extra credit Report summary first draft

Project preparation: Field sites and interviews

Why should we farm the city? Brooklyn Grange: http://brooklyngrangefarm.com/

Urban farmer Annie Novak, photo by Todd Selby http://theselby.com/media/7_21_10_EagleStreetAnnie10064.jpg

Why should we farm the city?

1. Social benefits: E.g. community

2. Environmental benefits: Rain water management Reduces air pollution

3. Health benefits: E.g. spending time outside

Why should we farm the city? 4. Economic benefits:

Reducing “food miles” Alternative forms of employment Alternative use of urban space (greening the air)

5. Psychological benefits: Positive effects of being outdoors and working

6. Educational/nutritional benefits: Students learn about farming—and food

According to McClintock, why should we farm the city? Urban farming makes it possible to overcome a

metabolic rift.

What is a metabolic rift?

A rupture in the metabolic exchanges between society and nature due to capitalist production: Subsistence agriculture is sustainable (closed cycle) Industrialization: soil depletion, loss of

community/alienation

Alienation: “You are alone in a crowd of 9 million”

Virtual World

Alienation

How many of you read or listened to music on the subway?

How many of you spoke to a stranger today?

How many of you know well most of your neighbors?

Alienation from Nature

Alienation from Food

Alienation from Community

Understanding Alienation

Psychology: Individual experience

Sociology: Larger structures (e.g. modernity, capitalism)

Sociological Analysis of Alienation

Max Weber (1864-1920)

Émile Durkheim (1858-1917)

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Karl Marx The Economic and

Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844

Changing society: from peasants to workers

Marxian Alienation: Definition Human essence—work:

Sustenance Identity, fulfillment

Estrangement: Suffering, separation from one’s essence From Feurbach and Hegel (“Entfremdung”)

Alienation: Society’s separation from nature and self

Marxian Estrangement: Types 4 types of alienation:

From the product of one's labor

From the labor process

From essential human nature (“species being“)

From other human beings

Alienation: Causes

Private property: Commodification of land

Wage labor: Worker sells his human capacity to others Worker is a slave of wage Commodification of labor

Capitalism

Metabolic rift

Commodification is bad for nature: Profit seeking at all costs leads to overuse of

resources (both human and natural)

Solution(s)?

Non-commodified labor and land

Karl Polanyi: Double-move

The Great Transformation (1944)

The Great Transformation: Double-move theory Capitalist society develops in a series of

double-moves:

1. Push towards free market: Deregulation, reduction of taxes, other profit-making

incentives

2. Counter movement: Environmental protection movements Urban farming Citizen-science

History of urban farming: Double move

Boston Common: Victory Garden, 1944

Urban farming: As non-commodified labor and land

According to McClintock, how many waves of urban farming were in the US?

Group project

What are the potential limitations of the current urban farming movement?

Consider such issues as labor/employment, social justice, gender issues among others and provide at least three (3) critiques of urban farming.

What is citizen-science?

Knowledge produced by and for non-scientists.

Examples?

The use of “buckets” in Diamond subdivision in Norco, Louisiana

“Buckets”

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/tools-measure-air-pollution-airbeam-aircaster-epa http://www.pbs.org/pov/fenceline/getinvolved_article02.php

The role of standards in citizen science Contradictory functions:

Standards serve a boundary-bridging function that affords bucket monitoring data a crucial measure of legitimacy among experts.

On the other hand, standards simultaneously serve a boundary-policing function, allowing experts to dismiss bucket data as irrelevant to the central project of air quality assessment.

Upcoming deadlines and project

Extra credit: SIMS fieldtrip (due Nov 18) 1) In preparation for the trip, do additional research the SIMC facility (visit

and explore SIMS website and educate yourself about recycling through other websites)

2) Choose one aspect of SIMS operation (e.g. glass recycling; facility management; transportation system; history of recycling in NYC)

3) During your fieldtrip, try to learn more about this issue: Ask questions Take photos

4) Write a one page (single spaced) report summarizing your research.

Due November 18: Hard copy of the text is due at the beginning of class Pictures and the text have to be uploaded to OpenLab by 11:59pm

Adds up to 10 points to your exams

Sign up sheet: Information about your project

Preliminary title of your research project

Name(s) of contributors

Project report draft (due Nov 18) Refer to handouts for details:

1. Research question 2. Findings from secondary research

(articles, books, institutional websites) 3. Field site and what you learned about the

topic in it 4. Your contribution to the research

Progress report 1. The purpose and research question.

2. What field site have you chosen for your project? In 2-3 sentences explain why it is relevant for your broader

topic (e.g. recycling, renewable energy, etc.)

3. When is your visit scheduled? If you have not scheduled your visit yet, when are you planning to do it?

4. List at least five (5) interview questions that you .

Study Guide Questions What is metabolic rift? Who developed the theory of

the metabolic rift?

What is alienation? List four types.

What is a solution to alienation?

Why is urban farming considered a solution to the metabolic rift?

What is a double-move theory?

Study Guide Questions

What is citizen-science?

Why are standards important in citizen- science?

What two functions do standards serve in citizen-science?