Suchergebnisse

Abstract This article analyzes the institutionalization of the discourse of sustainable development (SD) for more than three decades and its development as a symbolic structure that influences subjectivity and social practices in this century. Embracing an interdisciplinary approach, it focuses on a debate between psychoanalysis, attentive to the ways in wich discontent is manifested, and the ideas of risk society and reflexive modernization, from social risk theory. The analysis of the SD discourse allows to frame it as a narcissistic strategy to cope with the environmental crisis. Such a strategy structures itself in the very preservation of existence at the same time that it disputes a constant process of defining which way of life populations should live and how human conduct should be guided. As a discourse that denies finitude, supported by the need for efficiency and technological development in order to avoid the end of resources, this narcissistic strategy may ultimately lay the foundation of human and environmental exhaustion.

Abstract Technologies used for offshore oil exploration, in increasingly remote and extreme environments, potentiate new environmental threats in contemporary societies. In this context and from a theoretical-analytical perspective associated with Environmental Sociology, based on qualitative research results developed between 2013 and 2016, this article aims to comprehend the treatment of Pre-salt environmental threats in Brazil, a sociotechnical enterprise considered as strategic for national development from the governmental point of view. The researchers argue that the possible environmental consequences, even in face of unquantifiable uncertainties, were addressed, mainly from a perspective of measurable and controllable risks, in two of the main stages of the Pre-salt environmental arena: media and environmental licensing process. This treatment did not encourage a consistent public debate on the issue nor any governmental actions about possible unpredictable and uncontrollable consequences that characterize the technological systems, as represented by the Pre-salt.

Abstract Technologies used for offshore oil exploration, in increasingly remote and extreme environments, potentiate new environmental threats in contemporary societies. In this context and from a theoretical-analytical perspective associated with Environmental Sociology, based on qualitative research results developed between 2013 and 2016, this article aims to comprehend the treatment of Pre-salt environmental threats in Brazil, a sociotechnical enterprise considered as strategic for national development from the governmental point of view. The researchers argue that the possible environmental consequences, even in face of unquantifiable uncertainties, were addressed, mainly from a perspective of measurable and controllable risks, in two of the main stages of the Pre-salt environmental arena: media and environmental licensing process. This treatment did not encourage a consistent public debate on the issue nor any governmental actions about possible unpredictable and uncontrollable consequences that characterize the technological systems, as represented by the Pre-salt.

Abstract Among the possible developments of the Covid-19 pandemic at the international and national levels is the advancement of the Global Health Security (GHS) agenda. On the one hand, GHS might be able to give priority to health problems on the political agenda-setting, on the other, however, it might open up space for public security actors in decision-making processes to the detriment of the power of health authorities. This article critically analyzes the concept and the progress of the GHS agenda seeking to demonstrate that there can be no security in matters of public health when sustainability in its multiple dimensions is not taken into account. At the end, sustainability has a twofold responsibility: to maintain the consistency and permanence of emergency response actions, especially with investments in public health systems, with universal access, and to minimize the structural causes of pandemics linked to the environment.

Abstract Among the possible developments of the Covid-19 pandemic at the international and national levels is the advancement of the Global Health Security (GHS) agenda. On the one hand, GHS might be able to give priority to health problems on the political agenda-setting, on the other, however, it might open up space for public security actors in decision-making processes to the detriment of the power of health authorities. This article critically analyzes the concept and the progress of the GHS agenda seeking to demonstrate that there can be no security in matters of public health when sustainability in its multiple dimensions is not taken into account. At the end, sustainability has a twofold responsibility: to maintain the consistency and permanence of emergency response actions, especially with investments in public health systems, with universal access, and to minimize the structural causes of pandemics linked to the environment.

Abstract In this paper, we analyze secondary data from surveys focusing on climate change and adaptation in Sao Paulo municipalities. The survey was completed by municipal actors who work in 332 of the 645 municipalities in the State. In this paper, we use a theoretical framework on urban climate governance, which highlights the role that local governments play in proposing strategies to deal with climate change, to present and discuss data related to: 1) the occurrence of extreme climatic events in these municipalities; 2) the impacts of these events; 3) local government actors' perception about climate change; and 4) local actions and responses. Our analysis of these data significantly contributes to better understanding how cities in the most populous and economically developed state in Brazil perceive, respond and deal with climate change and what critical challenges hamper climate adaptation in these cities.