Abstract
Human activities in Latin American countries have resulted in past and ongoing deforestation located in the Amazon and the Andes. Demonstrative of this new Anthropocene Epoch, the illegal production of cocaine stands as a major driver of these environmental outcomes in these countries; however, in recent years the extraction of illegal gold has yielded larger export values than that of cocaine. The consequences of these practices have far-reaching environmental, economic, and social consequences. Using a critical realist perspective, we investigate and analyze how, when, and under what conditions the treadmills of production and destruction are absent, present, and thriving in Colombia and Peru. The implications of these relationships are grave as both the Amazon and the Andes are undergoing extensive transformations – damage that represents the Anthropocene Epoch in which human activities are driving ecological systems toward “tipping points”. We find that the two treadmills operate differently within each country and that treadmills are not ubiquitous but are, instead, contingent. We underscore the fact that when present, both types of treadmills have the ability to engage in social and environmental destructions, sometimes violently so.
Highlights
This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press
The relationship between treadmills is contingent: they may operate simultaneously, reinforcing and amplifying one another (Jorgenson and Clark 2009; Bonds 2016); it is possible that the operation of a treadmill of production can impede the operation of a treadmill of destruction,and vice versa
The environmental effects of treadmills are clearly human-driven endeavors. These practices should be viewed through the lens of the Anthropocene Epoch in which humans are the dominant force in environmental change
Summary
This journal is published by the University Library System, University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Our examination of the multi-faceted assaults on the environment in the Andean region is guided by our recasting of treadmill theory (Hooks, Lengefeld, and Smith Forthcoming) In this recasting, we integrate the treadmill framework with critical realism (Bhaskar 2008; 2010; Carolan 2005a; 2005b). We define a “treadmill” as an anthropocentric process wherein (1) powerful organizations appropriate and transform nature to amass power and capital, (2) competition among these organizations propels accelerating degradation of the environment, and (3) these organizations obscure, distort, and suppress information about the environmental damage Fleshing out this definition, we specify the distinction between a treadmill of production and a treadmill of destruction and the interplay between them. Because treadmills span the biophysical and the social, and because there is an ontological asymmetry between the biophysical and the social (Bhaskar 2008, 2010; Carolan 2005a, 2005b), contingency and change are inevitable
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