By: Max Lorenze
For eons humans have fought for control of land, water, minerals, in the end for the end goal of power. Who Rules the Earth? by Paul Steinberg asks the very question who rules the world? Paul Steinberg is the Malcolm Lewis Professor of Sustainability and Society and Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy at Harvey Mudd College. Steinberg has focused focus on environmental studies and affairs through the lens of social sciences. This is comparatively different then how Vaclav Smil examined the world. Steinberg presents a discussion of global environmental theory and how the world either accepts that or rejects it. What it takes for deeply rooted societal beliefs with how its retains to environmental action.
Steinberg’s underlying examination is about the social constructs and beliefs that keep hold of all aspects of how people interact with each other. Whether through cities, laws, international cooperation, activist groups, etc. Steinberg examines the difference between how we think and take action around environmentalism. Then comparing that with what we need to do. He begins by examining what we think works and what we are doing summing this up in chapter 9. He mentions four ideas that will not change the world, the first being autonomous technology,”Without the kind of political mobilization that points creative minds in new directions, many of the inventions needed to help the environment will simply never come to be. Political innovation is often a prerequisite for technological innovation”(Steinberg 2015, 216). This first idea is one many people live and die by and it is that technology will solve all of our problems. That there is little need for personal action when there is big technological solutions. Steinberg examines how technology alone will only do so much along with examining the other three ideas. The next being, “A second idea being that will not save the world, closely related to the first, is the assumption that environmental conditions automatically improve as societies grow richer” (Steinberg 2015, 216). This follows the same area of thought as the first, technology is not inherently good. The third idea is a faith in the workings of global economies. That by investing and shifting the focus of those economies that the environment will inherently get better. The last idea is the individual action alone will solve all. Like the others it comes out of a lack of knowledge on the topic itself.
The place of rules, the value of rules, and the rules them self play a great importance in the Who Rules the Earth?. We are a society governed by rules and we have rules for every aspect of our lives. It makes sense that Steinberg would discuss rules. Near the end of the text Steinberg raps up his view on rules at the end of chapter nine and through chapter ten. Beginning on page 240 with the sub-heading of Don’t Just Break The Rules–Make Them, that idea is both romantic and practical. Because if you truly want to create lasting change, create new rules, do not work with old outdate rules. The other aspect of rules discussed is in chapter ten is the overarching rules that govern the rules, Super Rules. Super rules are, “Super rules govern every arena in which people come together to make mutually binding decisions”(Steinberg 2015, 246). This thought follows many of the other themes of the text which are that there are over arching social codes that drive how we think, what we do, and why we reject certain ideas.
Works Cited
Paul F. Steinberg. 2015. Who Rules the Earth?: How Social Rules Shape Our Planet and Our Lives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.