Human Ecology

Despite the optimism of the `Earth Summit' held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the politics of environmental sustainable development has reached an impasse. Why do issues of environmental protection continue to take a back seat to economic competition, particularly in the international realm? Once the environmental problem was widely recognised, it was held that consensus could be reached. In practice, however, the development of sustainability had often continued to merely extend earlier technocratic practices and solutions, which fail to take into consideration the specific cultural questions. Living With Nature seeks to place the question of the dynamics of environmental crisis within a socio-cultural dimension of the existing economic and political institutions. The book argues for a need to find a new balance between a theoretical analysis of the debate and an appreciation of local circumstances, norms and knowledge. Politically, it implies an implicit understanding of the way in which we live together with nature.

The lesson of interconnectedness has yet to be fully absorbed in environmental policy, which lacks integration of ecological principles. Ecology is an indispensible thread in the cultural tapestry into which environmental policy and law are being woven. Extending beyond the four dimensions of space and time, ecological sciences are expressed from holistic and reductionist vantages, informing environmental professionals at levels as diverse as ecosystems experimentation and empirical human ecology. This volume renders ecology accessible to anyone lacking scientific preparation who would take an environmental stance: professional, political, legal, or personal.

Our present political system is dominated by business news and the stock market. But those in support of green politics ask whether human profit should continue to be the bottom line of political deliberations or whether it is time for the interests of the natural world to combine with or even displace them.In The Promise of Green Politics Douglas Torgerson offers a survey of different strands of ecological schools of thought, discusses their implications for the larger political sphere, and advances a three-dimensional concept of politics that emphasises ethics and discourse, as well as strategy.Arguing that the environmental movement has the potential to contribute to contemporary developments in political theory and social action by changing discursive practices at grassroots gatherings and along the corridors of power, Torgerson draws on the theories of Hannah Arendt and others to advocate a performative type of political debate that values a plurality of opinions and is not always oriented toward the narrowing of debate down to a single conclusion. In a world stuck in administrative, scientific gridlock, Torgerson argues, the theatrical, comic aspects of green politics are as important as other, more goal-oriented, aspects. Gestures of the carnivalesque-such as protestors sleeping in hammocks slung from trees targeted for destruction or funeral processions held for dying rivers-could be the key to the creation of what Torgerson refers to as a "green public sphere," one which promises a reconfiguration of the relationship between human creativity and the natural world. While offering a number of concrete policy suggestions, his focus remains on the complexity and heterogeneity of green thinking, and on the transformative promise implicit in green politics. In creating new ways to speak about the environment, Torgerson argues, the green movement offers a chance to productively rethink many larger issues of political theory and action.The Promise of Green Politics will serve as a gateway to new thinking about green politics and the emerging possibilities of a diverse and vital green public sphere. As such, it will be valued by those interested in environmental and public policy, political theory, social activism, and the future of political action.

Written by one of the instrumental figures in environmental ethics, Nature as Subject traces the development of an ethical policy that is centered not on human beings, but on itself.

Visionary quests to return to the Garden of Eden have shaped Western culture from Columbus' voyages to today's tropical island retreats. Few narratives are so powerful - and, as Carolyn Merchant shows, so misguided and destructive - as the dream of recapturing a lost paradise. A sweeping account of these quixotic endeavors by one of America's leading environmentalists, Reinventing Eden traces the idea of rebuilding the primeval garden from its origins to its latest incarnations in shopping malls, theme parks and gated communities.

How and why have Americans living at particular times and places used and transformed their environment? How have political systems dealt with conflicts over resources and conservation? This is the only major reference work to explore all the major themes and debates in the burgeoning field of environmental history. Humanity's relationship with the natural world is one of the oldest and newest topics in human history. The issue emerged as a distinct field of scholarship in the early 1970s and has been growing steadily ever since. The discipline's territory and sources are rich and varied and include climatic and geological data, court records, archaeological digs, and the writings of naturalists, as well as federal and state economic and resource development and conservation policy. Environmental historians investigate how and why natural and human-created surroundings affect a society's development. Merchant provides a context-setting overview of American environmental history from the precolonial land-use practice of Native Americans and concluding with twenty-first concerns over global warming. The book also includes a glossary of important concepts, people, agencies, and legislation; a chronology of major events; and an extensive bibliography including films, videos, CD-ROMs, and websites. This concise reference for students and general readers contains an accessible overview of American environmental history; a mini-encyclopedia of ideas, people, legislation, and agencies; a chronology of events and their significance; and a bibliography of books, magazines, and journals as well as films, videos, CD-ROMs, and online resources. In addition to providing a wealth of factual information, The Columbia Guide to American Environmental History explores contentious issues in this much-debated field, from the idea of wilderness to global warming.