Treadmill Of Destruction

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This article addresses the concept of treadmill of production as well as the concept of treadmill of destruction in relation to Native American tribes. The authors discuss the differences between the two concepts. The treadmill of production promotes economic growth while resulting in environmental contamination from the abuse of natural resources. On the other hand, the treadmill of destruction focuses on the negative social and environmental consequences specifically resulting from military expansion. As such, the treadmill of production addresses the role of profit in creating degradation while the treadmill of destruction claims that militarism and the use of force are responsible for environmental injustice. In particular, the authors …show more content…

Perkins (2012) conducted 25 interviews with women activists in California’s San Joaquin Valley between 2007 and 2008 highlighting the diversity of experiences that led to activism. The author challenges the idea that women are becoming activists to protect their families. Bu challenging the idea that environmental justice activism is a woman’s first political action, the author argues that scholars should reconsider their understanding of women’s ways to activism in order to provide a more accurate picture that reflects reality. Perkins’ (2012) interviews show that despite the common idea that women are apolitical, most of the respondents had prior experiences with political action before joining the environmental justice movement. More importantly, motherly concerns were not the primary reason for their engagement as described by their political and moral convictions. This article is very interesting in emphasizing the role of women in environmental justice groups which provides support for the Idle No More project. It also provides useful insights at the reasons that lead to people’s mobilization in a movement. Women become environmental justice activists because of diverse range of social interests, including personal experience with activism, negative interactions with governmental entities, health concerns, etc. This article …show more content…

She specifically looks at the case of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during WWII (which was well-documented) and explores the reasons explaining the sudden resistance movement in the Warsaw Jewish ghetto. Political opportunities do not always equals collective action. People have to be aware of the new opportunities which is not always the case. Einwohner (2003) argues that they even tend to overestimate them. People also have the ability to create opportunities. They also have the ability to mobilize despite the lack of opportunities. ). Her data comes from 14 personal diaries written by the people rebelling against the Nazi oppression as well as primary data from the Oneg Shabbat archive. After describing the context of the case study, Einwohner (2003) lists out the lack of opportunities in the ghetto (Jewish organizations sustaining Nazi oppression, lack of external support, etc.) which led to the uprising. The uprising was a response to the negative portrayal of Jews and it was an active decision aimed at showing their strength. The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is a great example of high-risk activism where participants were convinced that they would die and that they would die regardless of their implication in the resistance movement. Finally, the author argues that this situation of over-powerlessness highlights how

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