Summary:

A number of competing theories on the environmental consequences of globalization and modernization and environmental degradation have been proposed over the last several decades.
These debates include:

1. Neoliberal theories [“economic production is not necessarily as connected to natural resource exploitation as many believe” 534];
2. Economic theories i.e. environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis [negative environmental impacts follow an inverted U curve during the modernization process];
3. Ecological modernization [less negative environmental impact as modernization ideas are diffused through the institutions of developing countries];
4. Neo-Marxist and [modernization drives environmental degradation];
5. world-systems theory [wealthy core dominate global economy and utilize a disproportionate share of the world’s natural resources];
6. Metabolic rift thesis [urbanization will consistently lead to the expansion of energy production and environmental degradation].

To assess these theories, York utilizes fourteen economies in Asia over twenty years as data in a magical multivariate cross-sectional time-series analysis. He concludes: 1. population growth is a key force driving the expansin of energy production; 2. modernization generally leads to an escalation in energy production; 3. In terms of globalization, the data supports world-systems theories as export intensity and debt service payments lead to higher rates of energy production.; and 4.“Modernization and globalization are key forces driving natural resource exploitation and the environmental problems stemming from them” 551.