Sustainability & Frameworks
According to the Brundtland Report, what does sustainable development mean?
Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own.
What does “uneven development” mean?
The systematic production of spatial inequality as a feature—not a failure—of capitalism.
What event is considered the catalyst of the U.S. environmental justice movement?
The 1982 protests in Warren County, North Carolina, against PCB dumping.
What is meant by the “climate debate”?
The politically constructed controversy over the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change.
What is a “carbon footprint”? Who popularized the term/concept?
The total greenhouse gas emissions associated with an individual, product, or process. Popularized by British Petroleum (BP) from early 2000s onwards.
What are the three scientific principles of sustainability?
Dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling.
Define “primitive accumulation.” Historical example?
The process of dispossessing common land and labor to create private capital. Enclosure Acts in England.
What was the central issue at Love Canal, New York?
Toxic waste buried under a working class, residential neighborhood caused widespread health problems.
How have fossil fuel corporations shaped public perceptions of climate science?
By funding think tanks, lobbying efforts, and misinformation campaigns that sow doubt and delay regulation
What is Matt Huber’s main critique of carbon footprints?
They individualize responsibility and obscure class and structural sources of emissions.
What is the key difference between weak and strong sustainability?
Weak assumes natural and human capital are substitutable; strong views natural limits as non-substitutable.
What is meant by the “spatial fix”?
The relocation of capital investment to new spaces to "fix" issues relating to costs of operations. Capital moves around geographically to find cheaper labor, cheaper resources, less regulatory bodies that limit their profit margins, etc.
How does the case study of "Cancer Alley" demonstrate environmental racism?
It reveals how low-income and Black communities face greater environmental risk and political neglect.
What rhetorical strategy has been central to manufacturing doubt about climate change?
Presenting scientific uncertainty as ignorance or disagreement, even when consensus exists.
What does “carbon inequality” refer to?
The unequal distribution of emissions and responsibility across classes, sectors, and nations.
What global framework includes 17 goals addressing social, economic, and environmental development?
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
What does the “second contradiction of capitalism” refer to?
The way capitalism destabilizes its own ecological and social foundations of production.
How did Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) shift public understanding of environmental issues?
It revealed the unseen chemical connections between human health, ecosystems, and industrial production, helping to launch modern environmentalism.
How did Trump’s 2025 UN speech illustrate the politicization of climate science?
It portrayed climate action as a "scam," or a threat to economic freedom and national sovereignty, framing science itself as partisan and invented by "stupid" people.
What sector or class is responsible for the majority of emissions globally?
The top 10% of income earners, primarily through high-consumption and capital-intensive industries.
What is one key assumption built into the Brundtland definition of sustainability? Critiques of this assumption?
The SDGs conflate a justice oriented sustainability with sustainability as profitability, masking structural inequalities and the contradictions of capitalist growth. A justice-oriented logic centers redistribution, equity, and historical responsibility, while a profitability logics prioritizes market efficiency and growth. Are these compatible?
How does the case study of the Niger River Delta illustrate "uneven development"
Social and economic development in Ogoniland halted and undermined to facilitate development elsewhere in the world.
What was a major limitation of the mainstream environmental movement of the 1970s?
It often centered white, middle-class concerns with pollution and preservation while overlooking racial and economic inequalities.
Why is the “climate debate” better understood as a struggle over power than over evidence?
Because the controversy sustains fossil fuel interests, political ideologies, and capitalist imperatives—not genuine scientific disagreement.
How does the framework of “personal responsibility” obscure systemic causes of climate change?
It shifts focus from fossil fuel corporations and infrastructure to individual consumer choices.