The Commodification of Nature (ENV 295)
Undergraduate Course, W&L, Environmental Studies, 2023
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'Worse than Slavery'?: Racialized Contract Labor, the Corporeal Rift, and Ecological Imperialism in Peru’s Nineteenth-Century Guano Boom
Published in Journal of Peasant Studies, 2021
Recommended citation: Loustaunau, Lola, Mauricio Betancourt, Brett Clark, and John Bellamy Foster. 2021. ""Worse than Slavery"?: Racialized Contract Labor, the Corporeal Rift, and Ecological Imperialism in Peru’s Nineteenth-Century Guano Boom. " Journal of Peasant Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1979966
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publications
The Effect of Cuban Agroecology in Mitigating the Metabolic Rift: A Quantitative Approach to Latin American Food Production
Published in Global Environmental Change, 2020
Abstract The historical development of capitalism created what Karl Marx called a rift in the social metabolism with nature, whereby soil nutrients were systematically siphoned into cities where they were discarded as waste and thus did not return to the land. An alternative mode of food production known as agroecology was developed by different scientists and activists partly to transcend this contradiction. Drawing on data from the United Nations and the World Bank, this work analyzes whether agroecology has contributed to mitigate the metabolic rift in agriculture in Cuba, the country where this approach to food production, adopted after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, is more widely developed. By means of a panel model, both an internal comparison through time within Cuba and a cross-national comparison of Cuba with the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), were developed to determine whether the post-Soviet transition to agroecology in Cuba successfully decoupled industrial agricultural practices from productivity in comparison to other countries in LAC. Decoupling is understood as the removal of the positive correlation between fertilizer use and yield. Synthetic fertilizer use is utilized as an indicator of industrialized agriculture, and productivity of maize and beans as a proxy measure of soil improvement. The model shows a reversal of the fertilizer use and productivity positive correlation in Cuba, where crop productivity has increased while the use of inputs has diminished, which suggests that agroecology has indeed mitigated the metabolic rift produced by industrialized agriculture.
Recommended citation: Betancourt, Mauricio. 2020. "The Effect of Cuban Agroecology in Mitigating the Metabolic Rift: A Quantitative Approach to Latin American Food Production. " Global Environmental Change. 63:102075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2020.102075
Chinese Contract Labor, the Corporeal Rift, and Ecological Imperialism in Peru’s Nineteenth-Century Guano Boom
Published in Journal of Peasant Studies, 2021
Abstract Building on the theory of ecological imperialism in the context of the Peruvian guano boom, this analysis explores the metabolic rift in the human relation to external nature and the corresponding corporeal rift in the destruction of human bodily existence. Guano capitalists robbed Peru of the manure deposited by seabirds, while British imperialism introduced a system of racialized expropriation (the ‘coolie trade’), referred to by Karl Marx as ‘worse than slavery.’ Previous failures to understand this historical tragedy were due to the legal forms adopted, which categorized as semi-free labor what was in fact the social murder of the workers.
Recommended citation: Loustaunau, Lola, Mauricio Betancourt, Brett Clark, and John Bellamy Foster. 2021. "Chinese Contract Labor, the Corporeal Rift, and Ecological Imperialism in Peru's Nineteenth-Century Guano Boom." Journal of Peasant Studies . https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2021.1979966
Conflicting outcomes of alternative energies: agricultural methane emissions and hydroelectricity, 1975-2015
Published in Environmental Research: Climate, 2022
Abstract Mitigating emissions from methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is a critical task of fossil fuel alternatives in energy generation as well as in other sectors with large environmental impacts such as agriculture. Agricultural methane emissions have not been given sufficient attention in social science approaches to the human dynamics of greenhouse gas emissions. Given the importance of methane emissions, the need for renewable energy development, and the relationship between hydropower and agricultural systems, we ask: Does hydroelectricity development influence agricultural methane emissions? If so, under what socioeconomic conditions? Using the World Bank’s World Development Indicators and FAO data, we present fixed-effects models with robust standard errors to predict agricultural methane emissions from 1975-2015. Our results show that in low middle income nations and across all nations, increased hydroelectricity generation was associated with increased agricultural methane emissions during this period. We suggest hydroelectricity generation and affluence are associated with a suite of agricultural techniques, including the organization of agricultural waterbodies and animal feed, which may contribute to higher levels of agricultural methane emissions. Given the pressing need for alternatives to fossil fuels, we recommend further examination of the economic conditions for implementing alternative fuels to avoid unintended environmental harms, including those which directly counteract the intended emissions-reduction purpose of these alternatives.
Recommended citation: Sikirica, Amanda, Nick Theis, and Mauricio Betancourt. 2022. "Conflicting outcomes of alternative energies: agricultural methane emissions and hydroelectricity, 1975-2015. " Environmental Research: CLimate. https://doi.org/10.1088/2752-5295/ac8ca9
talks
Improving soil quality: A time series comparison of agroecology and industrial agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean
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This reserach makes a longitudinal, cross-national comparison of agricultural practices in Latin America and the Caribbean (1961-2015), examining the relationship between synthetic fertilizer use and yield, and finding that agroecology seems to have improved soil quality in Cuba, the country where this approach to food production is more widespread.
Radical Responses to the Environmental Crisis
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Along with Prof. Victor Wallis and Prof. Fred Magdoff, I discuss how climate change has brought about a multi-pronged environmental crisis that is getting worse every day. We also talk about how we can transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy and restore biodiversity, as well as what will it take for environmental movements to force changes in governmental and corporate policies.
The formation and commodification of guano off 19th-century Peru and northern Chile: a case of ecological imperialism
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I discuss the entwined geophysical and ecological processes that allow for the formation of guano off western South America, and how this substance became commodified in the nineteenth-century by British and French merchants, launching a socioecologically catastrophic guano rush.
Cuban Agroeoclogy and the Metabolic Rift: A Comparative Study of Agricultural Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean (1961-2015)
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I discuss how the yield of maize and beans has increased in Cuba after 1991, following the adoption of agroecology, despite utilizing less than 70% synthetic fertilizer, on average, than in the period 1961-1990. In addition, this has been achieved in the same agricultural area, all of which points to agroecology’s potential for soil restoration and the mitigation of the metabolic rift in agriculture.
The Anthropocene and the future of the planet
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I discuss the Anthropocene notion: its genesis, development, causes, and socioecological implications amidst the present-day socioecological crisis. Watch it here.
teaching
Research and Pre-University Texts
High School Course, INHUMYC, 2015
Taught in 2015 and 2016, this course introduces students to five selected topics: academic writing, biological evolution, the origin and diversity of plants and animals, biochemistry and biotechnology, and conservation biology. You can find the syllabus of the class here (in Spanish).
History and Philosophy of Biology
Undergraduate Course, National Autonomous University of Mexico, School of Sciences, 2015
Taught in 2015 and 2016, this introductory course provides an overview of philosophy of science (Plato, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos), as well as of the history of biology, with an emphasis on evolutionary theory (Linnaeus, Buffon, Geoffroy, Cuvier, Lamarck, Lyell, Wallace, Darwin, Mendel, and the Modern Synthesis). Here is a syllabus of the class (in Spanish).
Community, Environment, and Society (SOC 304)
Undergraduate Course, University of Oregon, Sociology, 2020
The aim of this course is to analyze the interrelation between communities, the environment, and society, with an emphasis on the ecological and socioeconomic crises in the Anthropocene. The central theme is how to create a just and sustainable society as well as how to develop a rational relationship with the rest of nature in today’s world. You can find the syllabus of the class here.
Introduction to Sociology: Social Behavior and Structural Inequality (SOCI 165)
Undergraduate Course, Oberlin College, Sociology, 2022
In this course students learn about the discipline of sociology, including its historical development, its main theories and methods, and its range of topics. We also study how sociologists develop theories, formulate research questions, and collect and analyze data to understand how humans behave in various contexts, as well as how societies change over time. We examine topics such as social interactions, culture, ecology, power, globalization, race, gender, sexuality, inequality, crime, social movements, and revolutions. You can find the class syllabus here.
Environmental Sociology: Nature, Society, and the Anthropocene (SOCI 284)
Undergraduate Course, Oberlin College, Sociology, 2022
The aim of this course is to analyze the interrelation between communities, the environment, and society, with an emphasis on the ecological and socioeconomic crises in the Anthropocene. The central theme is to explore how to create a just and sustainable society. The course will serve as an introduction to the broad range of issues addressed in environmental sociology as a field. A specific focus will be given to interconnections between current lived lifestyles (e.g. the city/country divide, cars and cities, and production and consumerism) and questions of environmental justice and sustainability. You can find the syllabus of this class here.
Sociology of the Global South (SOCI 364)
Undergraduate Course, Oberlin College, Sociology, 2023
In this course students learn about the discipline of Sociology in the Global South, with a special emphasis on Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). We examine the works of several influential scholars, political figures, and activists, all emanating from and situated in LAC, Africa, or Asia. We study topics such as ecology, power, dependency, world-systems, unequal exchange, decolonization, liberation pedagogies, class, race, gender, feminism, food sovereignty, indigenous social movements, and revolutions. By the end of this class, students are familiar with the key discussions in Sociology, other social sciences, and the social movements that have arisen in the Global South vis-à-vis decolonization and environmental justice. This class grants Cultural Diversity because of its focus on cultures outside the United States. You can find the class syllabus here.
Empires and World Inequality (SOCI 464)
Undergraduate Course, Oberlin College, Sociology, 2023
In this course students learn why some countries are deemed as “developed,” “advanced,” “industrialized,” or “affluent,” while others are labeled as “underdeveloped,” “backward,” “agrarian,” or “poor,” as well as how this state of affairs came about. We study key theories that examine why some countries are rich and others are not, as well as several historical and current case studies of how raw materials were commodified and traded from the Global South into the Global North. We also analyze the ecological degradation and human exploitation common to these episodes, as well as possible paths to transcend the asymmetric cross-national power relations characterizing the modern world. This course is Writing Advanced (“W-Adv”) as it actively addresses the writing process through peer-reviewed and Instructor revision and feedback. You can find the class syllabus here.
The Commodification of Nature (ENV 295)
Undergraduate Course, W&L, Environmental Studies, 2023
This course studies the nature-society relationship in the colonial and modern world by analyzing the history of instrumental raw materials that have been commodified as part of the development of capitalism. Drawing on dependency, unequal exchange, and world-systems theories, we examine commodity chains and trade relations between the Global North and the Global South, with an emphasis on ecological and social issues. We also analyze environmental justice topics related to these episodes, as well as possible paths to transcend the asymmetric cross-national power relations characterizing the modern world. The course is also intended to help students develop their analytical thinking, writing, research, and communication skills. You can find the class syllabus here.
Introduction to Environmental Studies (ENV 110)
Undergraduate Course, W&L, Environmental Studies, 2023
The aim of this course is that students learn about the interactions between humans and the environment. This will involve issues from a diversity of disciplines including anthropology, biology, economics, geography, history, and sociology. We explore how human societies affect the environment, and, in turn, how they are shaped by it. Students learn to recognize, understand, and discuss the basic ecological structure and dynamics of the Earth and its ecosystems; the cultural, ecological, and economic bases for ecosystem value; the role of stakeholders in shaping the causes, consequences, and solutions to environmental problems; and the essential background of environmental issues and their potential solutions. In addition, they learn how to apply perspectives from the natural and social sciences and the humanities in analyzing environmental issues, present concise summaries of environmental issues based on evidence, utilize reliable literature to support their arguments, and draw solid conclusions supported by evidence. The course is also intended to help students develop their analytical thinking, writing, research, and communication skills. You can find the class syllabus here.