Environment and Society
A Critical Introduction
Published on 26. September 2011
312 pages
978-1-4443-5862-9 (ISBN)
Description
Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction is anoverview of the diverse conceptual tools and traditions forthinking about, explaining and addressing the environmentalchallenges we face in the contemporary world.
* Provides an introduction to the environmental challenges weface in the contemporary world through foundational theoreticalideas illustrated with concrete, everyday examples
* Utilizes compelling, conversational language to expound ontheory, history, and scientific topics, making the text accessibleto a diverse readership
* Draws upon contemporary theoretical understandings innature/society theory while demonstrating through practice anddeployment
* Includes discussion of key historical events, topical issues,and policies, as well as scientific concepts
Reviews / Votes
"Combining theory and case material, this title provides an accessible insight into one of the most important issues of our time." (The Environmentalist, May 2010)"This innovatively structured work, from some of the field's mostcreative thinkers, sheds fresh light on some familiar butintractable subjects. This is one of those rare books thatholds out the promise that you will think differently after you putit down than you did when you picked it up." --Michael R. Dove, Yale University "At last, a text that renders the recent and voluminous researchinto society-nature relations both accessible and engaging. Itsucceeds superbly in blending theory and case material, resultingin a rich and challenging text." --Noel Castree, University of Manchester "At last a rigorous environmental text suitable forundergraduates based on current theory, so badly needed to move onfrom the tired platitudes that have dominated discussion overenvironment and society for the last four decades. I especiallyappreciated its inclusion of objects ranging from carbon dioxide tofrench fries, clearly demonstrating how environment and society areinseparably entangled." --Jim Proctor, Lewis & Clark CollegeMore details
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Persons
Paul Robbins is a Professor in the School of Geography andDevelopment at the University of Arizona, Tucson. His currentresearch centers on the relationships between individuals,environmental actors, and the institutions that connect them.Robbins is also the author of Political Ecology: A CriticalIntroduction (2004) and Lawn People: How Grasses Weeds andChemicals Make us Who We Are (2007).
John Hintz is Assistant Professor of Geography andGeosciences at the Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Hiscurrent research focuses on land use conflicts, environmentalpolicy, and the US environmental movement. He has most recentlypublished in the journals Capitalism Nature Socialism andEthics, Place and Environment.
Sarah A. Moore is Assistant Professor in the School ofGeography and Development at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Herresearch focuses on urban development politics, urban environmentalissues, and environmental justice in the United States and LatinAmerica. Her publications include articles in the ProfessionalGeographer and Society and Natural Resources.
Content
List of Figures.
List of Tables.
List of Text Boxes.
Acknowledgments.
1 Introduction: The View from Clifton Bridge.
What Is This Book?
Part I Approaches and Perspectives.
2 Population and Scarcity.
A Crowded Desert City.
The Problem of "Geometric" Growth.
Population, Development, and Environment Impact.
The Other Side of the Coin: Population and Innovation.
Limits to Population: An Effect Rather than a Cause?
Thinking with Population.
3 Markets and Commodities.
The Bet.
Managing Environmental Bads: The Coase Theorem.
Market Failure.
Market-Based Solutions to Environmental Problems.
Beyond Market Failure: Gaps between Nature and Economy.
Thinking with Markets.
4 Institutions and "The Commons".
Controlling Carbon?
The Prisoner's Dilemma.
The Tragedy of the Commons.
The Evidence and Logic of Collective Action.
Crafting Sustainable Environmental Institutions.
Are All Commoners Equal? Does Scale Matter?
Thinking with Institutions.
5 Environmental Ethics.
The Price of Cheap Meat.
Improving Nature: From Biblical Tradition to John Locke.
Gifford Pinchot vs. John Muir in Yosemite, California.
Aldo Leopold and "The Land Ethic".
Liberation for Animals!
Holism, Scientism, and Pragmatism? Oh My!
Thinking with Ethics.
6 Risks and Hazards.
The Great Flood of 1993.
Environments as Hazard.
The Problem of Risk Perception.
Risk as Culture.
Beyond Risk: The Political Economy of Hazards.
Thinking with Hazards and Risk.
7 Political Economy.
The Strange Logic of "Under-pollution".
Labor, Accumulation, and Crisis.
Production of Nature.
Global Capitalism and the Ecology of Uneven Development.
Social Reproduction and Nature.
Environments and Economism.
Thinking with Political Economy.
8 Social Construction of Nature.
Welcome to the Jungle.
So You Say It's "Natural"?
Environmental Discourse.
The Limits of Constructivism: Science, Relativism, and the Very Material World.
Thinking with Construction.
Part II Objects of Concern.
9 Carbon Dioxide.
Stuck in Pittsburgh Traffic.
A Short History of CO2.
Institutions: Climate Free-Riders and Carbon Cooperation.
Markets: Trading More Gases, Buying Less Carbon.
Political Economy: Who Killed the Atmosphere?
The Carbon Puzzle.
10 Trees.
Chained to a Tree in Berkeley California.
A Short History of Trees.
Population and Markets: The Forest Transition Theory.
Political Economy: Accumulation and Deforestation.
Ethics, Justice, and Equity: Should Trees Have Standing?
The Tree Puzzle.
11 Wolves.
January 12, 1995, Yellowstone National Park.
A Short History of Wolves.
Ethics: Rewilding the Northeast.
Institutions: Stakeholder Management.
Social Construction: Of Wolves and Men Masculinity.
The Wolf Puzzle.
12 Tuna.
Blood Tuna.
A Short History of Tuna.
Markets and Commodities: Eco-Labels to the Rescue?.
Political Economy: Re-regulating Fishery Economies.
Ethics and Ecocentrism: The Social Construction of Charismatic Species.
The Tuna Puzzle.
13 Bottled Water.
A Tale of Two Bottles.
A Short History of Bottled Water.
Population: Bottling for Scarcity?
Risk: Health and Safety in a Bottle?
Political Economy: Manufacturing Demand on an Enclosed Commons.
The Bottled Water Puzzle.
14 French Fries.
MMM-MMM Good.
A Short History of the Fry.
Risk Analysis: Eating What We Choose and Choosing What We Eat.
Political Economy: Eat Fries or Else!
Ethics: Protecting or Engineering Potato Heritage?
The French Fry Puzzle.
Glossary.
References.
Index.
