William Frank Chapter 3

William Franke

Pearce, F. (2011, November 28). The New Story of Stuff: Can We Consume Less? Retrieved January 22, 2018, from http://e360.yale.edu/features/the_new_story_of_stuff_can_we_consume_less

1. I already knew that the income gap in continually growing and rich countries have a a much higher emissions per capita than poorer countries.

2. From this article I learned about this "dematerialization" trend. In some developed countries, GDP is becoming "decoupled" from the ecological/environmental footprint of a country. This is not a new trend though. In some countries this trend has been going on since the early 2000s. Historically, there has always been a strong correlation between GDP growth and ecological/environmental footprint. As new, more efficient technologies are developed and their is a behavioral shift in the younger generation, this trend is becoming less pronounced. The argument that countries will be able to decreases in their consumption and material use and still experience GDP growth is still up for debate among the scientific community however.

3. This article highlights the topic of environmental impact and the ecological footprint of our actions. This article makes reference to Kuznet's curve which illustrates the idea that per capita income versus environmental impact is a nonlinear trend. As countries develop and consume more, their footprint also increases. Eventually these countries reach a peak though. As their per capita income continues to increase, their environmental impact begins to decrease.

4. The thought that countries are able to decouple themselves from this trend of GDP growth and increased environmental impact is encouraging. Behavioral shifts, technology shifts, and new policies have made this possible. However, I share some of the criticisms stated in the article. These more developed countries, such as Britain, that are observed to have decreased environmental impacts are also known to exploit developing countries. Outsourcing the production of goods to these developing countries simply changes the location of the environmental impact, not the net global environmental impact.