Environmental Criminology

The Global Environment as a Theatre
for Culpability and Criminality

Environmental Criminology
 Crimes “against nature”
 Crimes “in defense of nature”
 Environmental Injustice
Taking ‘Man’
out of ‘Nature’
Taking ‘Man’
Agricultural revolution
out of ‘Nature’(10,000 years – 1,000 years ago)
 Transition from lifestyle of hunter-

gatherers to agriculture and
settlement
 A new ‘mastery’ over nature
 Views of the earth were of an

infinite expanse
Industrial/Urban Revolution
(started around 1750)
 Changed the world from a rural

and agrarian society to an
urban and industrial one
 The population ‘doubling

period’ was reduced from 500
to 50 years
Urbanization
 In
earlier times, as population grew dense in a
region, people moved to less populates areas,
now they move to urban areas.
 As
recently as 1800, less than 1% of the world’s
population lived in cities of 100,000 people or
more.
 More than 1/3 of all humans now live in cities of

that size, and more than half live in urban
places of any size.
 Nature as ‘wilderness’ – something ‘out there’

Old-school conservationism
 Preserves the abstraction of ‘man’ and
‘nature’
 Is fundamentally concerned with human

interests (anthropocentric)
 “Sustainable” implies the ability to continue

human practices, rather than concern for the
wellbeing of ecosystems and other species
A new global consciousness
 World wars (and international coorperation in
their wake)
 World-destructive capabilities
“Now I am
become Death,
the destroyer of
worlds”
--Robert J. Oppenheimer,
head of the Manhattan
Project, quoting the
Bhagavad Gita in 1945.
A new picture, a new consciousness.
“The Blue Marble, ” Taken from Apollo 17
The ‘vulnerability’ of the earth
(and us)
 This ‘zoomed-out’ perspective displays our

ultimate unity with the earth, and our
dependence on the earth
An even greater vulnerability: The ‘Pale Blue Dot’
Photographed on February, 1990 by Voyager 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl5dlbCh8lY
The irreplaceability
of the earth?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv6nUZj1dJI
The irreplaceability of the earth?
Has advocated that we become a
multi-planet species so that the species
wouldn’t go extinct in the case of
nuclear war, catastrophic climate
change, or ecological collapse.
Dr. Stephen Hawking
Rebuttal: “If you have the power to turn

another planet into Earth, then you
have the power to turn Earth back into
Earth.”
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson
Rachel Carson  In 1936
became
scientist and
editor for U.S.
Fish and Wildlife
Service
 Later became
Editor-in-chief of
all publications
for the Fish and
Wildlife Service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB
VGzf-fFl0 (17:30-22:30)
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and “Biological
Magnification”
 Explained how DDT

entered the food chain
and built up in the fatty
tissues of animals
 Showed how DDT can

cause cancer and
genetic damage
 One chapter entailed

how a town is silenced
when all the birds die
because of DDT
“There was a strange stillness ... The
few birds seen anywhere were
moribund; they trembled violently and
could not fly. It was a spring without
voices. On the mornings that had
once throbbed with the dawn chorus
of scores of bird voices there was now
no sound; only silence lay over the
fields and woods and marsh.”
Environmental ethics and justice:
how to achieve buy-in?
Environmental Injustice
When a “group bears a disproportionate

share of the negative environmental
consequences resulting from industrial,
municipal, and commercial operations or the
execution of federal, state, local, and tribal
programs and policies” (U.S. EPA, 1998)
Typical characteristics:
 Exposed community did not generate problem
 Exposed community receives marginal benefits
 Exposed community bears environmental burden

Explanations for unequal
distribution of environmental
‘bads’:
 Bad apple/bad person theory
 A few, rare, “bad apples” spoil the barrel
 Say that individuals or personality factors, psychological disturbance,
and free choice are the factors that determine deviance
 Likelihood that this is the only example of deviance that esxsts
Explanations for unequal
distribution of environmental ‘bads’:
 Iceberg theory
 The structure of society or instututions encourages
deviance
 Usually discovered by accident
 Likelihood that more problems exist that remain
undisciovered
Emerging Paradigm
Canada’s ‘Dirty Secret:’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnDo
bTds6t0
The Pulse: Excessive lead found in drinking

water: https://youtu.be/QiDOSKqMOZE
Source: Friends of the Earth International

Six Claims of Environmental Justice
Frame (Capek, 1993)
1. Accurate information about the situation

2. Prompt, respectful, and unbiased hearing when
contamination claims are made
3. Democratic participation
4. Compensation from parties who have inflicted
injuries on the victims
5. Commitment to solidarity with victims of toxic
contamination in other communities
6. A call to abolish “environmental racism”

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The Global Environment as a Theatre

for Culpability and Criminality

 Crimes “in defense of nature”

 Transition from lifestyle of hunter-

 A new ‘mastery’ over nature

 Views of the earth were of an

 Changed the world from a rural

 The population ‘doubling

 More than 1/3 of all humans now live in cities of

 Nature as ‘wilderness’ – something ‘out there’

 Is fundamentally concerned with human

 “Sustainable” implies the ability to continue

 This ‘zoomed-out’ perspective displays our

Photographed on February, 1990 by Voyager 1

Dr. Stephen Hawking

Rebuttal: “If you have the power to turn

 Explained how DDT

 Showed how DDT can

 One chapter entailed

When a “group bears a disproportionate

 Exposed community receives marginal benefits

 Exposed community bears environmental burden

The Pulse: Excessive lead found in drinking

Source: Friends of the Earth International

1. Accurate information about the situation

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