Integrating different literature sources is one of the critical approaches to enhancing understanding of important phenomena that might have affected society in a specific period or exist within a society. Analysis of Bathsheba Demuth’s “Floating Coast” alongside two other secondary sources offers a comprehensive understanding of several themes, such as energy, capitalism, and environmental change. The theme of capitalism and communism discussed in Demuth’s book particularly relates to the arguments drawn in Park’s (2015) and (Pinheiro et al. (2023) articles. The two sources highlight the negative effects of profit-driven motives on ecological systems, emphasizing the need for a more sustainable approach to source management.
In the book “Floating Coast: An Environmental History of the Bering Strait, Bathsheba Demuth gives an overview of the environmental and social history of the Bering Strait region, paying attention to American and Russian interests as well as the relations with the representatives of the local Indigenous population. Demuth accentuates the effect of capitalism and socialism on taking advantage of the region’s natural resources with their permanent preoccupation with unsustainable ways (Demuth (2019). The text emphasizes the contribution of non-human players like whales to environmental and human history. It also elucidates the area’s vulnerability to climate change and the outcomes for humans and non-humans. This research of Demuth is based on local histories, where oral traditions and archival research together with the scientific text combine.
Source #1 (Jonathan T. Park)
Demuth’s content closely relates to Jonathan T. Park’s “Consilience Park: The Intersection of Capitalism and Climate Change,” which criticizes capitalism as much as it is used in addressing the climate change issue. Park questions the assumption of capitalist competition that the market would ensure innovation and the creation of alternatives, leaving resources when the resources are in shortage. He suggests that capitalism is not working in the practical application of the system because consumers do not perform thorough cost-benefit analyses, and this mechanism does not provide an efficient way to calculate the value of natural resources and the environment. Park highlights the issue of capitalism on climate change, pointing to the failures of the free market and emphasizing global unification to solve the problem. He presents a counter-argument to the belief in capitalism as the way of resolving the climate crisis.
Thesis
Jonathan T. Park says that capitalism, with its theoretical strengths, such as innovation and adaptation to scarcity, cannot be used to solve the problem of climate change (Page 9). The study denies the cost-acceptable behaviour of consumers in their economic activities and confirms the inefficiency of capitalism in providing correct price indicators of natural resources and the environment.
Examples of Evidence
Jonathan T. Park utilizes a 2013 climate change survey, “Climate Change in the American Mind,” to indicate little knowledge and few people’s concerns about climate change in a large part of the country (Page 2). Another piece of evidence is when Park quotes from Matthew Kahn’s book “Climatopolis,” where he asserts the capitalist perspective – “Capitalism is the solution to climate change,” giving credit to wealth in helping people to face environmental disasters (Page 9, para 3).
Source #2 (Pinheiro et al. )
On the other hand, Pinheiro et al. (2023) relate to Demuth’s discussion on how the researchers test different aspects of capitalism in terms of environmental performance. The study is based on data from 6,257 companies in 55 countries involving different types of capitalism using five indicators of the economy, including cooperation factors between employees and employers, economic freedom, local competition, Human Development Index (HDI), and governance environment to examine the relationship between capitalism and environmental performance. The study shows that countries with more cooperation, economic freedom, and better competition perform better, with companies with high environmental performance, better HDI, and good governance.
Thesis
The characteristics of capitalism can shape the environmental behaviour of companies. The researchers argue that countries with good employee and employer relationships, more economic freedom, competition between firms, and better HDI and national governance experience higher environmental performance (Pinheiro et al., 2023, page 10).
Specific Examples and Quotes
According to Pinheiro et al., “Employees’ relationships with employers, economic freedom, and competition between firms, among other facets of capitalism within companies, enhances high environmental performance” (Pinheiro et al., 2023, page 18). The study also shows that effective organizational management leads to environmental conservation
Analysis and Comparison
The two sources partly agree with Demuth’s discussion because they both emphasize the score of capitalism on environmental issues. As stated by Pinheiro et al., various characteristics of capitalism can significantly affect environmental performance, contributing to the overarching theme of scrutinizing capitalism and socialist ideologies. This view relates to Demuth’s (2019) source, which offers a historical perspective on capitalism’s impact on a specific region, focusing on the conflict between capitalist and socialist. On the other hand, Park challenges the capitalist approach to solving global climate change. While Demuth concentrates on the narrow region, Park and Pinheiro et al. pursue a more universal expansion of the capitalists’ global governance spoken in climate change. The three sources depart from criticizing the main limit of capitalist ideologies, Demuth focusing on the effect on the history of a specific region, Park questioning whether it will find a solution even to a more general environmental crisis, and Pinheiro et al. providing a more comprehensive understanding of how different facets of capitalisms impact environment. The reflexive analysis reveals a second common factor of criticism of capitalism’s position on environmental issues and the necessity to reconsider them and have global cooperation.
By integrating these perspectives, we see that Demuth’s narratives cohesively coincide with the global examination of economic ideologies in the article of Pinheiro et al. (2023) and Park’s (2015), thus providing a more ambitious critique of capitalism. The sources project a need for detailed perspectives on economic systems as guiding environmental outcomes that pave the way for valuable insights into establishing a more comprehensive view of capitalist systems, environmental performance, and ecoregions. In summary, both scholars view capitalism as a driving force with its effects on the environment, though with different approaches and narratives.
References
Demuth, B. (2019). Floating coast: An environmental history of the Bering Strait. WW Norton & Company.
Park, J. T. (2015). Climate change and capitalism. Consilience, (14), 189-206.https://www.jstor.org/stable/26188749
Pinheiro, A. B., Oliveira, M. C., & Lozano, M. B. (2023). When in Rome, do as the Romans do: The effect of characteristics of capitalism on environmental performance. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management.http://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-04-2023-0193
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