Robbins (2012) links environmental degradation to which factors?

• A. Local mismanagement only.
• B. Capitalism, colonialism, and governance.
• C. Weather patterns exclusively.
• D. Technological innovation as sole driver.

Answer: (C)

Environmental degradation, from Robbins’s perspective, is shaped by systemic social and economic forces as well as political structures. The idea is that how economies organize production and profit, the legacies of colonial resource extraction, and how rules and institutions govern resource use all play crucial roles in shaping environmental harm. The capitalist drive for accumulation often promotes intensive resource use and pollution, while colonial histories created unequal patterns of extraction that followed into present-day networks of trade and governance. Governance determines whether rules are set, enforced, and distributed fairly, which conditions the severity and location of degradation. Weather patterns can influence the severity of impacts, but they don’t explain the persistent, widespread patterns that arise from these structural factors. Local mismanagement can contribute, but it sits within broader economic and political contexts. Technological advances matter too, yet they are not a sole driver; their effects depend on how technology is chosen and regulated. So the best fit is linking environmental degradation to capitalism, colonialism, and governance because this captures the interconnected structural causes behind environmental harm.