Environmentalism From Below

A global account of the grassroots environmental movements on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Environmentalism from Below takes readers inside the popular struggles for environmental liberation in the Global South. These communities—among the most vulnerable to but also least responsible for the climate crisis—have long been at the forefront of the fight to protect imperiled worlds. Today, as the world’s forests burn and our oceans acidify, grassroots movements are tenaciously defending the environmental commons and forging just and sustainable ways of living on Earth. Scholar and activist Ashley Dawson constructs a gripping narrative of these movements of climate insurgents, from international solidarity organizations like La Via Campesina and Shack Dwellers International to local struggles in South Africa, Colombia, India, Nigeria, and beyond. Taking up the four critical challenges we face in a warming world—food, urban sustainability, energy transition, and conservation—Dawson shows how the unruly power of environmentalism from below is charting an alternative path forward, from challenging industrial agriculture through fights for food sovereignty and agroecology to resisting extractivism using mass nonviolent protest and sabotage. An urgent, essential intervention, Environmentalism from Below offers a hopeful alternative to the gridlock of UN-based climate negotiations and the narrow nationalism of some Green New Deal efforts. As Dawson reminds us, the fight against ecocide is already being waged worldwide. Building on longstanding traditions of anticolonial struggle, environmentalism from below is a model for a people’s movement for climate justice—one that demands solidarity.

When East Germany collapsed in 1989-1990, outside observers were shocked to learn the extent of environmental devastation that existed there. Saving Nature Under Socialism introduces readers to environmentalism in Cold War East Germany and traces the evolution of environmental policy and protest in East Germany and central Europe from the 1960s.

Environmentalism – defined here as activism aimed at protecting the environment or improving its condition – is undergoing significant change in the United States. Under attack from the current administration and direct questioning from its own ranks, environmentalism in the US is at a crossroads. This special issue will explore the changing patterns of and challenges to environmentalism in the contemporary US. More specifically, it will examine the following dynamics: · the re-conceptualisation of core ideas and strategies defining US environmentalism; · questions of identity and relations with other advocacy groups (including labour, global justice and women’s groups); · institutional change (especially the shift away from regulatory policies and approaches); · the expanding arenas of activism, to both above and below the state; · environmentalists’ response to Bush administration policies and priorities. This book was previously published as a special issue of Environmental Politics.

Since the early 2000s, authoritarianism has risen as an increasingly powerful global phenomenon. This shift has not only social and political implications, but also environmental implications: authoritarian leaders seek to recast the relationship between society and the government in every aspect of public life, including environmental policy. When historians of technology or the environment have investigated the environmental consequences of authoritarian regimes, they have frequently argued that authoritarian regimes have been unable to produce positive environmental results or adjust successfully to global structural change, if they have shown any concern for the environment at all. Put another way, the scholarly consensus holds that authoritarian regimes on both the left and the right generally have demonstrated an anti-environmentalist bias, and when opposed by environmentalist social movements, have succeeded in silencing those voices. This book explores the theme of environmental politics and authoritarian regimes on both the right and the left. The authors argue that in instances when environmentalist policies offer the possibility of bolstering a country’s domestic (nationalist) appeal or its international prestige, authoritarian regimes can endorse and have endorsed environmental protective measures. The collection of essays analyzes environmentalist initiatives pursued by authoritarian regimes, and provides explanations for both the successes and failures of such regimes, looking at a range of case studies from a number of countries, including Brazil, China, Poland, and Zimbabwe. The volume contributes to the scholarly debate about the social and political preconditions necessary for effective environmental protection. This book will be of great interest to those studying environmental history and politics, environmental humanities, ecology, and geography.

Explains how environmentalism became a fundamental norm in international relations and explores the impact of the greening of international society.

A provocative and urgent essay collection that asks how we can live with hope in “an age of ecocide” Paul Kingsnorth was once an activist—an ardent environmentalist. He fought against rampant development and the depredations of a corporate world that seemed hell-bent on ignoring a looming climate crisis in its relentless pursuit of profit. But as the environmental movement began to focus on “sustainability” rather than the defense of wild places for their own sake and as global conditions worsened, he grew disenchanted with the movement that he once embraced. He gave up what he saw as the false hope that residents of the First World would ever make the kind of sacrifices that might avert the severe consequences of climate change. Full of grief and fury as well as passionate, lyrical evocations of nature and the wild, Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist gathers the wave-making essays that have charted the change in Kingsnorth’s thinking. In them he articulates a new vision that he calls “dark ecology,” which stands firmly in opposition to the belief that technology can save us, and he argues for a renewed balance between the human and nonhuman worlds. This iconoclastic, fearless, and ultimately hopeful book, which includes the much-discussed “Uncivilization” manifesto, asks hard questions about how we’ve lived and how we should live.

This one-of-a-kind book provides thoughtful insight into the current relationship between humankind and the environment Beyond Environmentalism is the first book of its kind to present a timely and relevant analysis of environmentalism. The author's decades of experience as a philosopher of science allow him to critically comprehend scientific issues and to develop and explain sound, ethical policies in response to them. The result is a volume that builds a philosophy of nature and helps the reader assess humankind's relationship with and impact on the world around us. This innovative book discusses the inconsistencies, both scientific and philosophical, of popular environmentalism and sheds new perspectives on the issues, causes, and debates that embrace society today. The goal is not to settle environmental issues once and for all, but rather to provide the basis for more reasoned, scientific, and productive debates. The need for a new philosophy of nature is explored through methodological discussion of several topics, including: The rise and fall of scientific proof Nature in religion, romance, and human values Humankind's responsibility to the environment The value of freedom Kinship among species Numerous case studies throughout the book delve into global warming, the "sixth extinction," the precautionary principle, pollution, and other popular issues within environmentalism. Feature boxes guide the reader through complex topics such as eco-sabotage, the Gaia hypothesis, and the urban heat-island effect, while vivid illustrations demonstrate scientific data, theories, and philosophical arguments in a reader-friendly manner. With its balanced approach to provocative issues, Beyond Environmentalism serves as an excellent, thought-provoking supplement for courses on environmental studies at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an interesting and accessible read for anyone with a general interest in environmental issues.

øInformation Environmentalism applies four environmental analytical frameworks _ ecology, Šthe commons�, public choice theory, and welfare economics _ to the information environment. The book neatly captures the metaphorical relationship between the ph