Ecological Concern in a Capitalist Economy: Climate Change Perception among U.S. Specialty Crop Producers

• In Event: 1149 - Scorched Earth: Climate Change, Energy, and the Sociology of Development

Abstract

The agricultural sector offers a unique opportunity to examine the topic of climate change because agriculture is more susceptible to climate disruptions than many other industrial sectors, and research indicates that weather disruptions linked to climate change have steadily increased over the past four decades. We evaluate whether agricultural growers perceive water availability and climate change as distinct, even though scientific findings point to a direct connection. Based on the analysis of the survey data from specialty crop producers in California, New York, Pennsylvania, and New York, we tested the capacity of ecological modernization and treadmill of production perspectives to explain how resource-intensive producers recognize water availability and climate change as threats to their operation’s economic viability. Furthermore, we explain the role of the local and international markets as socio-economic structures in the perception of climate change. Our findings support the ecological modernization perspective’s explanation of how resource-intensive producers recognize and respond to resource availability problems. We also found that treadmill of production is better at explaining the failure of producers to respond to climate change beyond natural resource problems. Producers in a capitalist economy face a short-term growth imperative that limits their capacity to recognize environmental problems beyond immediate resource needs. Finally, our finding on the association between the perception of water as a natural resource and climate change perception goes beyond the conventional treadmill of production dualism that only theorizes the impact of economic factors on socio-ecological dynamics.

Authors

• Yetkin Borlu, University of Richmond

• Leland Glenna, Pennsylvania State University