Chapter 2 Growth Machines and Carbon Emissions: A County-Level Analysis of how U.S. Place-Making Contributes to Global Climate Change

Abstract

Purpose – To combine insights from urban and environmental sociology to examine local drivers of carbon emissions in the United States, with particular focus on demographic, economic, and consumptive dynamics.

Design/methodology/approach – Apply spatial regression analysis to a novel county-level data set to test hypotheses about how different conditions and activities relate independently and positively to total carbon emissions at the local level.

Findings – Results provide strong support for theoretically derived hypotheses, even after controlling for other factors, including spatial autocorrelation. The implication is that within a social system that treats land as a commodity, efforts to increase the exchange value of this commodity tend to drive up local carbon emissions, thereby contributing to global climate change.

Originality/value – Complements previous sociological work on greenhouse gas emissions at the national level. Shows how local processes in general and urbanization in particular contribute to global climate change at and from the local areas where they occur.

Citation

Clement, M.T. and Elliott, J.R. (2012), "Chapter 2 Growth Machines and Carbon Emissions: A County-Level Analysis of how U.S. Place-Making Contributes to Global Climate Change", Holt, W.G. (Ed.) Urban Areas and Global Climate Change (Research in Urban Sociology, Vol. 12), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 29-50. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1047-0042(2012)0000012005