THE INEQUALITY OF NATURAL RESOURCES CONSUMPTION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT LEVEL BASED ON THE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT AND THE HDI

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 69-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
DONGJING CHEN ◽  
XIAOYAN MA ◽  
HAIRONG MU ◽  
PEIYING LI

This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the current situation of natural resources consumption in the world and its relationship with the level of social development. The Ecological Footprint concept is used to indicate human beings' environmental impact, and the Human Development Index (HDI) is used as a process for the social development level. Based on the dataset of 136 countries from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), we calculate the Gini coefficients of the total Ecological Footprint per person (EF) and its sub items, i.e., Renewable Resources Footprint per person (REF) and Energy Footprint per person (EEF). The results indicate that significant inequality exists in natural resources consumption among the 136 countries from 1996 to 2005, and inequality of the EEF is the largest. We also calculate the Lorenz asymmetry coefficients of EF, REF and EEF, which are all greater than 1, indicating that the inequality results from some countries having extremely high resources consumption. The regression analyses of EF, REF and EEF with HDI, respectively, are made to show that there is a significant U-shaped relationship between natural resources consumption per person and the social development level rather than an inverted U-shaped relationship. Therefore, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is not supported by this research.

2014 ◽  
Vol 1051 ◽  
pp. 542-546
Author(s):  
T. Badrakh-Yeruul ◽  
Jian Hua Zhang ◽  
B. Chinzorig

Human beings have recognized that the philosopy of “Utilization of natural resources for economic reasons disregarding the need for replenishing these resources” would overexploitate all the natural resources in the world and realized that we must live by adapting to the nature in the modern 21st century. This new development model is known as “Sustainable development”. The model is being implemented by many nations in the world regardless of whether they are big or small, developed or under developed. The “Sustainable development” model includes educational and development requirements that countries need to address in order to follow the model.This paper presents our hypothesis on the economic development model that fulfills the above requirements gipro-economics and documents the results of our research on this hypothesis.


Author(s):  
حسن بن إبراهيم الهنداوي (Hassan Hendawi)

الملخّصإنّ الفقر والإملاق من المشكلات الرئيسة التي يواجهها العالم اليوم، ومن أسبابها ندرة الموارد الاقتصادية الشديدة وندرة الغذاء والماء. فندرة الموارد وقلتها كانت ذات أثر مباشر في قتل الملايين من الأنفس البشريّة. وتعدّ ندرة الموارد عند الاقتصاديين الخطر الأساس الذي يهدد الوجود البشري في هذا العصر. ويعتبرها الاقتصاديّون كذلك معضلة اقتصادية ناتجة عن رغبات الإنسان غير المتناهية مقابل موارد محدودة ومتناهية. ومن الأمور التي يقترحها الاقتصاديون من اجل التغلب على هذه المشكلة أن النّاسن ينبغي عليهم أن يختاروا الموارد الضرورية والحاجية لتلبية رغباتهم. فمفهوم الندرة من منظور الاقتصاد التقليدي يعني موارد محدودة في العالم مقابل حاجات ورغبات غير محدودة. وسبب ذلك عند الاقتصاديين أن الطبيعة لا توفر موارد كافية لتلبية حاجات الناس ورغباتهم غير المتناهية. ونظرة الإسلام التي يمثلها القرآن الكريم والسنة النبوية الشريفة لمسألة الندرة نظرة مختلفة تماما عن نظرة الاقتصاد التقليدي. ويعنى هذا البحث ببيان أن الندرة ليست مشكلة الطبيعة التس سخّرها الله تعالى للإنسان،  ولكن المشكلة في أخلاقيات الناس وتصرفاتهم في الموارد الطبيعية وطريقتهم في الانتفاع بها التي أدت إلى إدخال الضرر والفساد على الموارد الموجودة.الكلمات المفتاحية: الإسلام، ندرة الموارد، الاقتصاد المعاصر، الموارد الطبيعية، الطبيعة. **************************************               AbstractAmong the main problems that the world is facing today are poverty and destitution caused by severe scarcity of economic resources and the scarcity of food and water. The lack of resources has already caused the death of millions of human beings. The scarcity of resources is counted by economists as the primary danger that threatens the human existence. Economists also consider it an economic dilemma caused by infinite human desires against limited and finite resources. In order to overcome this problem among the suggestions made by economists is that human beings should choose only necessary resources to satisfy their desires. The conventional concept of scarcity is that the resources in the world are limited vis-à-vis the unlimited human needs and desires. The reason for that according to economists is that the nature does not provide sufficient resources to meet people’s endless needs and desires. Islamic approach as represented by the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah to the issue of scarcity is essentially different from the conventional viewpoint of economists. This paper proposes and explains that the problem is not in the nature which Allah has made subservient to man, but it is in the ethics of the people and their behaviour and way of utilization of natural resources, which ultimately damage and corrupt the available resources.Keywords: Islam, Scarcity of Resources, Modern Economy, Environmental Resources, Nature.


10.14201/3110 ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo S. Vila Merino

RESUMEN: Los seres humanos, como seres culturales, tenemos nuestras referencias inmediatas en los significados con los que interaccionamos en nuestro proceso de socialización y es a partir de los mismos desde donde nos hacemos y construimos el mundo. En este sentido, y más aún en nuestras complejas sociedades multiculturales, resulta muy importante rescatar el valor del concepto de mundo de la vida y sus aplicaciones al ámbito educativo. Todo esto nos debe llevar a entender este proceso como integrado por acciones simbólico-significativas y argumentando la necesidad de desarrollar en el mismo posicionamientos comunicativos que potencien la dimensión ética e intercultural en los intercambios socioeducativos.ABSTRACT: Human beings, as cultural beings, have our immediate references in the meanings which we make contacts in our socialization process, and from this relations we build the world. In this sense, and still more in our multicultural and complex societies, is very important to rescue the value of the concept life-world and its applications to the educative ambit. This question must lead us to understand this process as integrated for symbolic-meaning actions and reasoning the need to develop in the same comrromicative positions that promote the ethical and intercultural dimension into the social-educative exchanges.SOMMAIRE: Nous, les êtres humains en tant qu'êtres culturales, nous avons nos références immédiates dans les significations avec lesquelles nous interagissons dans notre processus de socialisation. C'est à partir de ces mêmes significations que nous nous formons et à la fois construisons le monde. En ce sens-là, et même plus dans nos sociétés multiculturelles complexes, il est primordial de restituer la valeur du concept de monde de la vie et de toutes ses applications au domaine éducatif. Tout cela doit nous amener à comprendre ce processus comme intégré par des actions symbolique-significatives et, parallèlement à justifier le besoin de développer des positions communicatives qui favorisent la dimension éthique et interculturelle dans les échanges socioéducatifs.


1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
M.S. Jillani

The debate over the relationship of population and development is now more than 200 years old, starting with the treatise on population by Malthus, in 1798. The increase in population, ever since, has remained a matter of concern for economists and development planners. The most recent high point of the issue was witnessed at Cairo in September, 1994. The conference which was attended by more than 10,000 persons from all over the world ended with an agreement on the issues involved in the growth of population and the economy. The outcome was a Plan of Action for the next twenty years, which would concentrate on Reproductive Health in order to obtain, “a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity in all matters relating to the reproductive system and its functions and process”. This can be a turn-around in global efforts for human health and welfare, if properly implemented.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina V. Lisova

The article is devoted to the level of social development of Russian regions. It is noted that at present the social component plays a leading role in the research of various authors. It is proposed to use the indicators published in the statistical collection "Regions of Russia. Socio-economic indicators", as well as regional housing and utilities tariffs for assessing the level of social development. A method for determining the integral indicator of social development has been developed, and a computer program has been created to determine its numerical values based on indicators of housing conditions of the population. The calculated generalized indicators for the regions of the Central Federal District are given. Conclusions are drawn about the possibility of using the obtained data to assess and predict the level of social regional development.


2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 387-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Featherstone

The term global suggests all-inclusiveness and brings to mind connectivity, a notion that gained a boost from Marshall McLuhan's reference to the mass-mediated ‘global village’. In the past decade it has rapidly become part of the everyday vocabulary not only of academics and business people, but also has circulated widely in the media in various parts of the world. There have also been the beginnings of political movements against globalization and proposals for ‘de-globalization’ and ‘alternative globalizations’, projects to re-define the global. In effect, the terminology has globalized and globalization is varyingly lauded, reviled and debated around the world. The rationale of much previous thinking on humanity in the social sciences has been to assume a linear process of social integration, as more and more people are drawn into a widening circle of interdependencies in the movement to larger units, but the new forms of binding together of social life necessitate the development of new forms of global knowledge which go beyond the old classifications. It is also in this sense that the tightening of the interdependency chains between human beings, and also between human beings and other life forms, suggests we need to think about the relevance of academic knowledge to the emergent global public sphere.


2020 ◽  
pp. 146954052094422
Author(s):  
MJ Ryder

The diverse fields of business, management and marketing have long explored the concept of the ‘prosumer’ – the producer-consumer who not only consumes those products produced by industry, but also has some hand in their creation. But while the term itself is often credited to futurist Alvin Toffler , the concept he describes (and that which Ritzer et al. adapt) is a central concern of science fiction, which has much to offer our understanding of modern-day prosumption and is not limited by the language and limitations of purely scientific academic discourse. Indeed, one of the most important voices in this area is author and editor Frederik Pohl, with his co-authored novel The Space Merchants and short stories including ‘The Midas Plague’ and ‘The Man Who Ate the World’. In each of these works, Pohl seeks to satirise the mindless robot-like behaviour of human beings, while also posing a word of warning for the social, economic and ecological impact mass-prosumption. This is a particularly relevant message given the rise of ‘surveillance capitalism’ – the real world manifestation of the dystopias that Pohl and his contemporaries describe. In this paper, I argue that science fiction isn’t just a useful tool for social theorists, but rather, a vital resource, as it provides a speculative framework through which to interrogate the potential impacts and implications of new technology, and the links between production and consumption, technology and work. Furthermore, it provides the means through which to imagine possible futures and the lasting impacts of consumption that go beyond describing the world as it is, and move into the realms of what the world may become.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 230-246
Author(s):  
Ricardo González-García

Como una reunión simbólica de conciencia, toda gran obra de arte es un apocalipsis silencioso que, con sus significativas impresiones o interacciones, puede llegar a transformar la estructura social. Transfigurando el mundo mediante sus espacios de representación, es capaz de adquirir una capacidad profética que denuncia situaciones a fin de, como en el caso específico aquí ofrecido, reestablecer el equilibrio de los ecosistemas degradados por la huella que el ser humano ha impreso sobre ellos. Esta misma impronta antropocénica, auspiciada por la idea de progreso que confiere la utopía del crecimiento ilimitado propuesta por el sistema capitalista, paradójicamente podría llevar al ser humano a asistir al fin de su propia especie. Por esta razón, parte del arte contemporáneo lleva tiempo sumamente preocupado en concienciar a la sociedad y, así, frenar la llegada de un catastrófico escenario futuro. Debido a la urgencia de esta acuciante situación, se abordan diversas denuncias establecidas en las prácticas artísticas para cambiar la actitud de sus espectadores. Para ello, se proponen aquí dos vertientes: la de obras que muestran escenarios distópicos y la de otras más activistas que tratan de atajar la situación desde entornos concretos. As a symbolic gathering of conscience, every great artwork is a silent apocalypse that, with its significant impressions or interactions, can transform the social structure. Transfiguring the world through its spaces of representation, it is capable of acquiring a prophetic capacity that denounces situations in order to, as in the specific case offered here; restore the balance of ecosystems degraded by the footprint that human beings have printed on them. This same anthropocenic imprint, sponsored by the idea of progress that confers the utopia of unlimited growth proposed by the capitalist system, paradoxically could lead the human being to attend the end of his own species. For this reason, part of contemporary art has been extremely concerned about raising awareness in society and, thus, curbing the arrival of a catastrophic future scenario. Due to the urgency of this pressing situation, we complaints various complaints established in artistic practices to change the attitude of its spectators. To do this, we proposed two aspects here: that of works that show dystopian scenarios and that of other more activists which try to tackle the situation from specific environments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Ian Morris,

Ian Morris a társadalmi fejlődés (social development) fogalmával az emberi közösségek képességét fejezi ki „dolgok elintézésére” a világban. Az így értelmezett társadalmi fejlettség mérhető és összehasonlító állapotokat jelent, térben és időben. Morris 4 tényező (az energiafelhasználás, a társadalmi szerveződés, az információtechnológia és a hadviselő kapacitás) kvantifikálásával megszerkesztett indexét kifejtő könyvéből az információtechnológiára vonatkozó, a többihez hasonlóan a Kelet és a Nyugat összehasonlítására épülő fejezetet fordítottuk le. Úttörő okfejtései és becslései remek kiindulópontok, hogy újraértékeljük és alaposan végiggondoljuk az információtechnológia helyét és „küldetését” a beavatkozásképesség, a cselekvési hatékonyság szempontjából. A tanulmányt Z. Karvalics László bevezetésével közöljük. --- The civilization path of information technology: measurement and classification Ian Morris defines social development as “social groups’ abilities to master their physical and intellectual environments and get things done in the world”. From this approach, “social development is - in principle - something we can measure and compare through time and space”. The Social Development Index of Morris is based on the quantifiable attributes of four pillars: energy capture, social organization, information technology, war-making capacity, comparing the numbers of the West and the East. We have translated and published the information technology chapter of his book with Laszlo Z. Karvalics’ introduction to support the re-evaluation of the role and mission of information technology throughout the ages from a special point of view: to facilitate the ability to act effectively.


Author(s):  
Antoni Santisteban Fernández ◽  
Neus González-Monfort

Individual identity is defined by unique traits and is constructed from the diversity of human beings and, at the same time, in relationships with other people. This gives rise to a plurality of ways of thinking and perceiving the world. The collective identity is constructed through the discourse or the story that is shared in the community, relationships, or in socialization spaces, among others, in the school, through the discourse of the teaching staff or the school texts. Otherness acts as a mirror where we look at ourselves to recognize ourselves. Otherness is the acceptance that there are different views when we interpret the world, different ways of thinking or ideologies, but it also shows that we human beings have much in common. Education for citizenship should aim to enable people to define their diverse identities in an education for freedom, equality, and participation. Education for citizenship must ask what identities are invisible and why, and demand the social change.


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