ABSTRACT
A distinction needs to be made between virgin nature untouched by human action and the processes of nature. The principal weakness of Beck's work is that he fails to incorporate explicitly into his explanation the processes of nature and interaction with social constructions. Truth and enlightenment have reflexive properties that challenge unique capacities of the human species having access to them to rise to a more reflective level in which social action would be analyzed in its natural context. Little effort has been made to develop technology and social organization capable of identifying polluters, make them pay, and control pollution. There are now precedents for the successful application of the 'polluter-pays' principle in the legal system, even in cases of shared responsibility. The weakness of Marxist environmentalism consists of the flaw of Marxist theory tout court, namely its refusal to examine how the inadequacies of Marxist theory have resulted in the degeneration of its ideals into systems of bureaucratic totalitarianism.
