CHAPTER 15

GLOBALIZATION: THE UNITED STATES IN THE WIDER WORLD

Discussion Questions

1. What are the historical roots of the environmental justice movement? What are the effects of "not in my back-yard" (NIMBY) syndrome? How has the environmental justice movement attempted to combat this problem and with what results? What techniques might you suggest to assist such neighborhoods?

2. Why should African Americans, Native Americans, and members of other minority groups become environmentalists?

3. What global environmental problems exist in the late twentieth century? What are some possible responses to the global ecological crisis?

4. What is meant by globalization?  Are globalization and environmental sustainability compatible?  What role might the anti-globalization movement play in achieving sustainability?

5. Discuss the underlying assumptions about nature and the appropriate human relationship to nature in the following contemporary environmental movements: Ecofeminism, Deep Ecology, Bioregionalism, Green Party, and Social Ecology.

6. What are some of the environmental problems associated with a world population of six billion people?  What are some humane ways of addressing population issues?