Organization & Environment

Claims made by the United States and Canadian governments to the effect that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is beneficial for the North American environment are contested with reference to the actual text of the NAFTA and its side agreements and to cases and current history related to it. The argument is that although NAFTA has more to say about environmental issues, in fact, it is not protective of the environment. Provisions in the agreement for environmental and resource protection are weak or nonexistent. Its primary objective is to promote trade and investment, and these take precedence over environmental concerns. As well, the Commission on Environmental Cooperation has limited capacity to deal with environmental issues, and again, trade issues are paramount.

The environmental consequences of modern industrial society necessitates an investigation into the organizational basis of an ecologically sustainable society. From the 1930s through the 1950s, the pioneering social ecologist James Rorty examined these issues in ways that are still relevant today. Rorty's broad-ranging analysis explored the relationships among economics, society, culture, and ecology. Although not an uncritical proponent of technology, Rorty believed that science and technology could help create a society in balance with the natural environment. At its strongest, Rorty's analysis situated technology within a capitalist social and cultural system and examined the ways in which the profit-motive impeded the application of science and technology to social problems. At its worst, however, Rorty's work belied an overly optimistic faith in technological solutions to environmental degradation. The work of James Rorty demonstrates that there is a complex history of environmentalism and ecological thought that needs to be recovered and assessed.