TREADMILL THEORY OF PRODUCTION

The Treadmill Theory of Production is a theoretical model developed by Allan Schnaiberg, which explains the expansion of environmental problems in the modern era. According to this model, advances in technology, primarily encouraged and created by owners of the means of production seeking to increase profits, drive the expansion of production and consumption all at the same time. This process leads to a cycle of production which is dependent on more production, because all sectors of society (the state, organized labor, and private capital) depend on continued economic growth to solve problems, such as unemployment created by mechanization, which are formed by growth itself. Schnaiberg in Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology, states that ' human societies depend on the flows of energy from nature and thus are not except from the two basic laws of thermodynamics. The first law is that of conservation of matter and energy, which states that matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed; they can only be transformed. The second law all energy transformations are degradations that change energy from more to fewer forms. Treadmill of production theorists argue that environmental problems cannot be solved in such a system, since growth puts ever-increasing demands on the environment by extracting natural resources and generating pollution. Thus, achieving environmental sustainability requires severe restructuring of the political economy and a move away from growth dependence.

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