Ecological Modernization - Coursework Example

CRITICALLY EVALUATION OF THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF 'ECOLOGICAL MODERNIZATION' Introduction on what Ecological Modernization Ecological modernization has been one of the recent subjects that have received a lot of criticism in the world. First developed by the by Huber in 1985 and 1981, the theory of ecological modernization has been received with mixed feeling al over the world. The theory of ecological modernization can be defined as a new thought that has a new outlook on the environmental discourse. Therefore it is a new school of thought that has a focus on the issue regarding the environment. At the centre of development of this theory was a social scientific and policy oriented approach in the view of the contemporary society and the environment crisis that the world is facing. It is a new approach that makes the society become more concerned with the environment issues that are affecting it. It is a new approach that is aimed at making the world have a new outlook at how it can integrate the modern technology not only in meeting g its n needs but also in meeting the needs of the environment as well. This new approach is taking place in several spheres including the changing role of science and technology, increasing important of marketing dynamics and various economical agents, the transformation in the role of the nation and state, modification in the new position and ideology of social movement in the society, and the changing discursive practices with integration to the new emerging ideologies. (Fisher and Freudenburg, 2001) Strengths of Ecological Modernization There are many ways in which the concept of ecological modernization can be applied in the modern world and as far as we deal with the environment and the need to advance in technology. There are many supporters of the concept who have argued that the rationale behind the ecological Modernization is the need to develop in all aspects of the life. In this regard, the society needs to develop economically and socially and at the same time take care of the environment. What have been happenings in the world has acted as a wake up call to the whole world on the need to be conscious to the needs of the environment. In this regard, there is need for the world to become more focused on the changes that are taking place in the environment. The theory of ecological modernization assume that there are some way in which the world cause the modern technological in order to help to reduce consumption of the resource and at the same time increase efficiency in the use of resources. In this regard it calls for a change in the production process to be focused on reducing wastage of resource using some means like waste recycling and others. This has been one of the positions of the industrial ecology which has taken the concept of using the raw material sparingly in order to enhance sustainable development. (Cahill, 2002) Therefore one of the most important aspects of this theory is that the support needed to have sustainable development. As defined by the United Nations, sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present generation but in a way that it does not compromise the ability of the future generations to meet their needs as well. Therefore it postulates that we are guardians of the world for the future generation. In this regard we have to use the resources that we have in a sparingly manner so that we can enhance the ability of the future generation to meet their needs from the same resource. Ecological modernization calls for the use of modern technology in a way that it will help use to use our resources and at the same time help the future generation to use the same recourses. One of the strength in the development of the theory has been the support that the theory has been receiving from the civil societies. In this regard the rise of the civil society has been one of the most important factors that has enable the growth for the theory. This has been due to that fact that the civil society has been campaigning for the need to have a clean technology that meets the needs of the humans and at the same time preserves their environment for the future generations. As such the civil society has been acting as a key component of change in campaigning for ecological modernization though it has taken various steps towards achieving this. Strength of ecological modernization is rooted in that it takes an approach of integrated world where there is outlook on all the spheres of life. In this regard it does not only focus on one area of life alone but it spread its wings in many areas. It looks on the way in which technology affect the social life of the people and the environment in general. As a result, it looks into the ways in which the world can achieve a focused development in the social life of the people. In this way ecological modernization tries to study the effect of the modern technology on the social life of the people and also on the environment in general. It also looks at other principles that affect the life of the people like the marketing systems and the production system in the world. Ecological modernization challenges the free market principles and calls for a marketing system that meets the need for the people and the needs for the environment at the same time. It moves to challenge the ideas that have been inculcated in the minds of the people of spending without looking at the consequences of the process. It focuses more on the production system, the marketing systems and the spending culture of the world. The theory is also likely to attract a lot of interest from the politician and other people. It is based on a development platform that will enable the emergence of new environment governance system in which the political class, the communication, the business community and other interested gourds will take a conscious look at the environment and the effects that the environment has on the life of the people. In this way it calls for political modernization which will see the emergence of new norms and institutions that will be free and will articulate the various issues that the world is facing. Ecological modernization also calls for a modernized media environment where people will be given a chance to access all the information that they need on matters concerning the environment. It calls for the need to have a free media that is not influence by the political class and that serves the needs for the people. It calls for an environment where there will be freedom of expression and observance of basic human rights. This is supported by the rise of modern information and communication technology which has enabled people to have free flow of information in the world. The increased use of the internet and other devices has enabled people to have access to free information on various matters. (Gleeson, 1999) Therefore there is a high probability that the concept of ecological modernization will take root in the world as the community in the world and the business world with the support of the political class become more conscious of the need to take care of the environment and at the same time the need to have sustainable development. Looking at one example, Japan has been able to restructure it production system and it has been able to recycle most of the waste material back to new products. In this way is ensured that there is little waste of resources. Weaknesses of Ecological Modernization There are several weaknesses that have already being detected on the theory of ecological modernization. In this regard these weaknesses have been based broadly on the applicability of the theory in the world. This is because there are many discourses in the technology that is being used currently and one agreement that we can all stand on is that the world is not using the most appropriate technology. This has been affected by many factors which are actually the causes of weakness in the applicable of this theory. It has baffled so many people on how the concept of technological advancement can also help to resolve many of the problems that the world is facing. In this regard technological advance cannot be a way of conserving resource since these resources are used and cannot be replaced by any technology. There is no technology that can be used to make these resources. It has also been shown the best technologies that are invented are which can help to protect the environment are not usually used. For example hydrogen and bio fuels have not received use world wide despite being developed because there has been a concept of business self-regulation and corporations can choose what to use when they need. Therefore though technology has helped to create feasible ways of dealing with the challenges, they are not widely used due to individual preferred and lack of a clear system to enforce it. (Dickens, 2004) The production system of the world has been based on the capitalist ideologies. Even before the end of the cold war, capitalist ideologies had already taken toll on the world economies and it was just a matter of time before the social economies were consumed by the capitalism led economies. But this comes with many repercussions in the world. Capital economic emphasize on the culture of production and consumption with little regard to the issue of conservation. In a way capitalist economies have their base on the end result of the process and not on the process itself. They are based on utilitarianism. Therefore they are profits oriented and in most case ethics in the process have not been one of the bases of development of these production and consumption system. Therefore it is hard to understand how the concepts of ecological modernization will address the issues that arise from the capitalist led economies and also how the world will address various injustice that arise from these economies. (Fitzpatrick, 2003) One of the outcomes of the capitalist economies has been massive injustice in the world. The developing world has been exploited by the developed nations and the struggle for resources from the developing word has led to open wars between these countries and civil wars in the developing nations. Therefore one of the most end results of these wars has been massive injustice committed against these nations. There has not bee a systematic way in which he developed world has helped the developing nations to come up with proper ways of dealing with the problems that these nations have been facing. The concept of ecological modernization has not given us the way in which we can deal with some of these problems like environment racism where coloured people as they are referred to and mostly those from the low income areas are bearing a big burden of the environment pollution and at the same time they don't have access to environment benefits like the parks and nature service. Some of these country have watched helplessly as their economies are plundered buy the developing nations. If we take Congo for example, the country has been in war since 1960s when it attained independence due to the conflicting interest between the developed nations. Apparently all these nations eye the mineral resource of the nation and therefore they fuel different kinds of conflicts in order get a chance to exploit the resource. Recently there has been a case of dumping of waste in its rivers by the developing nations. The concept of ecological economics does not give us any approved way of dealing with some of these problems. As a result of the capitalists economy, there are high rates if unemployment in the world. The concept does not give us a prescribed way on how we can deal with some of these problems which apparently is fuelled by the production and the consumption system. (Bullard, 2003) The theory has been criticized also on the ground that it has low efficacy in the global economic system. It has been claimed that the theory is only applicable on its countries of origin in Germany and Netherlands and has not come up with a plan that can be used for the developing world. In this regard has been show that sustainable growth is only a concept that is postulated in the theory but its application may not be possible in the world. Growth entails consumption of capital and human resources which means that it has a great impact on the ecosystems and the society in general. In some aspects it has not been able to show how some of the resource like the human resource can be recycled in order to enhance its applicability. This means that it has not considered the dynamics in the developing world and other parts of the world in meeting the requirements of the theory. How the society of the world will respond to the concept is likely to be determined by the way that society views its production system and the way the production system meets the needs of its people. In this regard, the Kyoto protocol can be taken as an example. Though it had a lot of praise, some of the countries which campaigned for the formulation of the protocol like America have never ratified the protocol due to the effect that it would have had on its economic system. Therefore the applicability of the theory in the world may not be considered that much effective. (Foster, 2002) Conclusion The concept of ecological modernization is quiet new in the world and has received worldwide support and criticism. This has been due to the way the economic system has been modelled and the effect that has on the production and the consumption system of the world. The concept is useful to the world as it creates a focus to the production systems in the world and the environmental effects that they have. It also focus on the ways in which the world can use the modern technology in order to solve most the problem that it is facing. The concept looks at how technology can be used to help in economized use of resources in order to ensure that there is minimum wastage for these resources. The theory is based on the concept of sustained development which calls for development that meets the needs for the current generation and does not compromise the needs for the future generation. However there are many weaknesses that can be detected in the theory and which apparently have constrained the applicability for the theory. In this regard the theory has focused on the way in which modern technology can be sued to develop systems that meets the need to use resource well. But even the most feasible technologies that have been developed have not been used due to the concept of free markets and the individual choice of what to use. There is no defined framework that can be used to enforce these developed technologies. The theory has also not given use the ways in which we can deal with some of the problems resulting from the capitalist economies. In this regard, the theory does not meet the requirements of the developing world and the challenges that they are facing due to the change in the environment. However, the theory of ecological modernization should be encouraged in the world as it can help the world to come up with proper ways to archived sustainable development. References Bullard, R. (2003). Confronting environmental racism; Boston: South End Press Cahill, M. (2002): The Environment and Social Policy, London: Rutledge Dickens, P. (2004). Society and Nature: Changing our environment, changing ourselves, Polity Fisher, D. & Freudenburg, W. R. (2001): Ecological modernization and its critics. Society and Natural Resources, Vol. 14 Fitzpatrick, T. (2003): After the new social democracy: Social welfare for the twenty-first century, Manchester University Press Foster, J. (2002). Ecology against Capitalist; New York: Monthly Review Press Gleeson, B. (1999). Global ethics and environment; London: Routlledge Read More