Anthropocene and Economic Growth - Case Study Example

Anthropocene and Economic Growth Introduction Every living thing has a direct influence on the environment but human beings are influencing the forces of nature on a great scale that is changing every aspect of the Earth. Anthropocene, is a geological terminology that explains how the human activities has led to a global impact on the Earth’s ecosystems. To begin with, anthropocene depicts that there are so many of us, and that we are using so many natural resources and as a result, interfering with the grand cycles of Earth’s chemistry, geology and biology. As a result, there have been extreme climate changes on a global scale such as the melting of the ancient ice, natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes. Moreover, business activities have been affected all over the world due to the changing climatic patterns and the availability of some natural resources such as water (Bhaduri et al., 70). As a result, this has had a negative on the economic growth. Despite scientists have claimed that we are living in the age of anthropocene, businesses need to adapt means of production that limit the harm they can be posing to the environment. Defining Anthropocene The human activities have changed the way elements such as carbon and nitrogen circulate between the land, water and the atmosphere; changing the Earth’s ecosystems as never before. The changing ecosystems traces back to the geological period known as Holocene-nearly 10,000 years ago. As a result of our collective actions, we have entered a new geological period which a growing number of scientists are referring as anthropocene. Perhaps the best found aspect of the newly found geological term is how the human activities have influenced the climate. For example, the scientists predict that due to the high levels of carbon emission, it may be at its highest levels in 15 million years to come. Nevertheless, the human activities have been affecting the planet in countless ways. For instance, due to the poor agricultural activities, the nutrients from fertilizers have been washed off from the fields and drained down the rivers, forming stretches to the seas where nothing except algae have grown in large scales (Morton 100). Deforestation has resulted in vast quantities of soil being eroded and swept away. Moreover, some species are going into extinction, ancient glaciers are melting away and the rich grasslands are transforming into deserts. All these developments are interrelated, and there is a risk of an irreversible cascade of transformations that will take us into a future that will be different from the one we have faced before. Little by little, we are changing Earth into a hotter, stormier and diverse planet. Anthropocene is precisely a break down from what happened before. Scientists are arguing when exactly it began; whether it was during the time man started farming or during the industrial period, or with the dawn of the atomic energy. As a result of the human lifetime, the face of the Earth has been transformed into cities. Today, cities dominate the land and will remain one of the most anthropocene enduring legacies even if people disappeared tomorrow. In fact, the world has been changing around us in the past millennium at a scale and a speed at which have led scientists to call these rapidly changing events as the Great Acceleration (Bengston and Dockry, “Forest Futures in the Anthropocene: Can Trees and Humans Survive Together?”) Defining Economic Growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase in the total amount of goods and services produced in a given nation, also, best explained as a process of transformation. Economic growth is determined by an increase in the Growth Domestic Product (GDP), or literally, can be described as an economy that is getting bigger. Economic growth theorists argue that there are two most important factors of economic growth-GDP and nation’s population. As such, economic growth is determined by finding the ratio of GDP to the size of population of people in a given county which, is also referred as per capita income. In economics, economic growth is typically referred as growth of the potential output. In other words, it is a growth that occurs when the production of goods and services is at full employment. However, economic growth has been differentiated from development economics. While economic growth refers to the total increase in the wealth of a country and over an extended time, economic development refers to the increase the wealth of each of the individual for a given country. Economic development refers to the increase in the standards of living of people of a given country. How Anthropocene Influences the Energy Industry Normally, there are four phases of business cycles: Peak, recession, trough and expansion. At the beginning of the business cycle, the employment rates are at their highest levels and the GDP is at its upper limits. At this phase, the income levels are increasing and there is little wastage that occurs. However, during the recession phase, employment and income begins to decline, leading to a negative economic growth. The sale of consumer products decline while the interest rates increase. During the trough phase, employment and output bottoms out; waiting for the expansion phase to begin. Expansion phase is also known as recovery and at this stage; there is an overall growth in expansion, production and income. How Anthropocene affect the Energy Industry during the Recession Period The above definitions will help in understanding how anthropocene has influenced the energy industry. The impact of the anthropocene on energy industry begins during the industrial era which, started during the 1800, through to 1945. As a result of the industrial revolution, the high rate of consumption of fossil fuels and the human population and development have limited the availability of energy. In addition, the wind and the water energy have been limited by location; due to the increasing population. Without the adequate supply of energy, it has been argued that the industrialization and the population boom have forced the energy industry to go into recession phase. The recession phase in energy industry has been characterized by the expansion of human endeavor which has been associated with the invention of the steam engines that are driven by coal. In the 20st Century, there has been a great depletion of fossil fuels from the coal mine and the changing climatic patterns have resulted to the drying up of rivers; provide water that is used to produce electricity in hydro-electric power stations. Since anthropocene has been defined as human disruption of the Earth’s ecosystems over extended period; therefore, the energy industry can be traced to be falling into recession phase at the 20st Century. The population is on the increase while the natural resources for the production of electricity are decreasing. As a result, most energy companies have been forced to reduce the number of workers they are employing in order to reduce the cost of producing electricity. Nevertheless, the energy companies have been looking for other means of producing electricity such as the use of wind and solar energy which, will increase total power in the national grid systems and satisfy the customers’ demands. Low supply of energy to the consumers has reduced the rate of production of goods and service and resulted in slower economic growth (Eklund, “The Anthropocene has been shaped by the media and our digital lives”). How Anthropocene affect the Energy Industry during the Recession Period The breakthrough of the fossil fuels is no longer in the Holocene Age. As a result of the large scale combustion of fossil fuels, there have been extensive alterations of ecosystems and environments including the hydrological cycles. The humanistic approach to understanding energy in the anthropocene age is by distinguishing what is “natural” and what is “man-made” energy. The natural energy from the fossil fuels has been altered all over the world and as a result, most companies have been experiencing “lagged” economic growth, or have been in the trough phase of business cycles. The impacted of the climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels is expected to be severe. Emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is expected to result in increased global warming, causing a decrease in the volumes of water in the hydrological power stations due to the drying up of rivers. As a result, it is expected that the amount of electricity generated from these dams will reduce. The decreasing energy production from fossil fuels and hydrological power stations will have to force humans to turn to wider arrays of energy sources-“ the man-made” energy sources. At the current age of anthropocene, the world’s energy industry seems to be moving from high-carbon high-energy in the past, to a low-carbon, low-energy future. Such a transition is expected to offer opportunities by exploring safer means of energy production such as the wind and the solar energy, and bio-fuels. These forms of energy will provide new employment opportunities and result in an economic growth for countries that will cooperate. As a result, the additional energy from the alternative sources of energy is expected to increase the energy consumption by the consumer and lead to rapid expansion of the energy industries (Ellis and Trachtenberg 123) A Critique in Favor of the Claim that Some Businesses have Experienced Economic Growth During The Age of Anthropocene Despite the challenges that most businesses are facing due to the climatic changes and natural depletion of natural resources that have been experience in the anthropocene age, there are some critiques that have supported that claim that the era has made some businesses to thrive. On the critiques is Ruth Defries who is a professor of sustainable development at the University of Columbia. In her book, “The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives In The Face Of Natural Crisis”, she focuses on what has made use to remain dominant. She argues that we have the ability to feed ourselves. She tries to find a relationship between optimists and Malthusian doomsayers, and explains in term of “ratchet, hatchet and pivot”. In her argument, she focuses on the economic growth in agriculture during the anthropocene age. She describes ratchet as the boom we experience once we have made innovations such as domesticating wheat. She refers hatchet as the unexpected problems that arise which includes exhaustion of nutrients in the soil (Defries 25). Lastly, she refers pivot as the next innovation that seeks to find a solution to the problem such as practicing crop rotation. She argues that the pivot in turn results in the next ratchet. In her argument, she explains that argues that we have the ability to thrive in the faces of crises. She makes this claim from the observation that since humans have succeeded to make their way out of problems, that humans have done the same in so many ways which have allowed them to increase in numbers. DeFries further refers to the death toll in Ireland where the potato famine killed a million people in the 19th Century. She explains that since the death toll (previous ratchet), improvement of agricultural product which she also referred as agricultural revolution, it eventually led to the huge population boom. The Ireland crisis lead to another DeFries’ main points; that everywhere there is a business cycle and the risks are higher, chances are that our species will expand rapidly. Probably, the most satisfying fundamental about DeFries argument is because of focusing on food, and which she noted that food was our greatest connection with nature. DeFries argues that the successful economic growth in the agricultural sectors has been influenced by our need to survive since the last ice age and, the development of human civilization has led to more inventions in agricultural sector. The increasing innovative methods of farming have contributed to the sustainable farming in the age of anthropocene (Defries 35). Importance of Understanding Anthropoene In Future Business Ventures Recent posts environmental economists have indicated that maintaining status quo by engaging in excessive production and consumption will not ensure sustainability in the economic growth. As a result, there have been series of advancements in an effort to help businesses to move to a more sustainable economy. There are several steps that have been suggested that should be taken into consideration in business operations so as to ensure sustainable economic growth (Abrams, “Humanity’s epic planetary facelift: Climate change, mass extinction and the uncertain future of life on earth”). The first is for business to recognize that they have entered the age of anthropocene, a new geological epoch where the human activities have negative affected the Earth’s ecosystems. The human population has increased and technology has advanced insofar the ecosystem is changing at the planetary scale. These shifts have changed not only the way people view the human activities in the ecosystems, but, most importantly, the need to cooperate on a global problem. For example, there is the need for businesses to works towards minimizing environmental pollution (Galaz, V. et al. 85). The second step is to recognize that the central organizing structure for any business operations is the market structure. Within the age of anthropocene, the market structure must adjust to recognize the global challenges that the businesses are facing. Economic growth shall be defined in the context of the importance of corporation with a global society. Collaboration on a global scale will requires ensuring sustainable business practices through creating norms of sustainable social and environmental equity on a global scale. These norms should be implemented at the local and national levels, for coming generating solutions that are systemic in nature, instead of generations of siloed approaches. The standard norms will help to ensure that businesses will restore the social and the environmental problems that have been caused by the economic growth in the past (Forbes and Jermier 558). The third step, and which is probable the most daunting one, will be the continued evolution and correction of the business education. There has been insufficient notion on how to maintain sustainability in both the market and in business schools, educators and researchers at the dawn of the anthropocene era. There are various anthropocene issues that need to be addressed such as the changing practice norms and the management science. For example, Rakesh Khurana points out how the business school education has not fully addressed the challenges of poverty, climate change and species extinction in the rapidly globalized world. Conclusion Overall, business education bring about how business organization should ensure production of goods and services, while limiting or preventing the damage they can be posing to the environment. At the age of anthropocene, there has been the need to adapt business practices that do not cause harm to the environment. However, there some businesses which have directly impacted the Earth’s ecosystems such as high rates of carbon emission from the transportation and energy sectors; leading to further depletion of natural resources and ecosystem. Environmental economists have argued that the future of business ventures will rely on the proper utilization of the natural resource and use of cleaner methods of producing energy. Works Cited Abrams, Lindsay. “Humanity’s epic planetary facelift: Climate change, mass extinction and the uncertain future of life on earth”. Salon, 2014. Retrieved from: http://www.salon.com/2014/11/15/humanitys_epic_planetary_facelift_climate_change_mass_extinction_and_the_uncertain_future_of_life_on_earth/ Bengston, David and Michael J. Dockry. “Forest Futures in the Anthropocene: Can Trees and Humans Survive Together?” The World Future Society, 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.wfs.org/futurist/2014-issues-futurist/july-august-2014-vol-48-no-4/forest-futures-anthropocene-can-trees-and Bhaduri, Anik, János Bogárdi, Jan Leentvaar and Sina Marx. The Global Water System in the Anthropocene: Challenges for Science and Governance. New York, NY: Springer, 2014. Print. Defries, Ruth. The Big Ratchet: How Humanity Thrives in the Face of Natural Crisis. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2014. Print. Eklund, Martin. “The Anthropocene has been shaped by the media and our digital lives”. Academic Rigour, Journalistic Flair, 2015. Retrieved from: http://theconversation.com/the-anthropocene-has-been-shaped-by-the-media-and-our-digital-lives-37124 Ellis, Michael A., and Zev Trachtenberg. “Which Anthropocene is it to be? Beyond geology to a moral and public discourse.” Earth’ Future, 2, (2013): 122-125 Forbes, Linda C., and John M. Jermier. “The new corporate environmentalism and the symbolic management of organizational culture.” In Hoffman, A. and Bansal, P. (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Business and the Environment. (Oxford: Oxford University Press), (2012): 556-571. Galaz, V. et al. “’Planetary boundaries’ – Exploring the challenges for global environmental governance.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 4, (2012): 80-87 Morton, Timothy. The Ecological Thought. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2012. Print. Read More