ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the kinds of theories that have been employed in green criminology to examine environmental enforcement patterns. It addresses the treadmill of production (ToP) theory as developed by Schnaiberg. The chapter focuses on two planetary boundaries: climate change and chemical pollution. ToP theory analyzes environmental harm from a political economic perspective. ToP theory is based on a political economic understanding of capitalism in which two issues become central to Schnaiberg's depiction of the intersection of capitalism and environmental crisis. According to ToP theorists, ecological disorganization intensified after the Second World War, and was tied directly to the expansion of chemically assisted production technology. Rather, orthodox approaches to green criminology often rely on whether or not a company violates an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) statute like the Clean Air Act or Clean Water Act (CWA). There is significant evidence of ecological disorganization in a variety of forms in the contemporary world.
