SOC 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Commodification, Reclaimed Water, International Inequality
THE ENVIRONMENT
❖ 15 min late
❖ The situatio: the orld’s supply of eergy soures ad ra aterials is
limited but demand for them continues to grow
❖ Experts expect us to be completely out of oil by 2050 if current
consumption continues
➢ This has’t take ito aout ilitaris or the haitat
destruction/pollution that comes with war
❖ Ecology or ecological questions concern not only how best to technically
interface with the natural environment and contain the already existing
damage to it but also concern our basic ways of life
❖ How does this relate to global inequality?
➢ Consumption: main driver of environmental inequality
▪ defined as the goods, services, energy and resources that are used
and are primarily bought in our societies
▪ vast quantity/demand that grows each year
▪ pattern: inequalities between rich and poor within a country
notable and between rich and poor countries extreme
▪ the rihest % of the orld’s populatio aouts for 8.5% of
private consumption while the poorest 20% only accounts for 3%
▪ the richest 5th consume: 45$ of all meat and fish and the poorest
5%, 58% of eergy …
▪ DISPROPORTIONALITY: each American consumes as much as 32
Kenyans! The US has 10x the population of Kenya but consumes
320x more resources
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