Book Description
Citizen participation in such complex issues as the quality of the environment, neighborhood housing, urban design, and economic development often brings with it suspicion of government, anger between stakeholders, and power plays by many--as well as appeals to rational argument. Deliberative planning practice in these contexts takes political vision and pragmatic skill. Working from the accounts of practitioners in urban and rural settings, North and South, John Forester shows how skillful deliberative practices can facilitate practical and timely participatory planning processes. In so doing, he provides a window onto the wider world of democratic governance, participation, and practical decisionmaking. Integrating interpretation and theoretical insight with diverse accounts of practice, Forester draws on political science, law, philosophy, literature, and planning to explore the challenges and possibilities of deliberative practice.
Customer Reviews:
Searching for theory behind praxis.......2003-10-27
Once I started reading this book I could not put it aside for long. Perhaps this is because so many of the insights that the author offers on what practioners of deliberative planning and rural development actually do resonates so much with the work I am involved with in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Unlike many other books I have read on planning and development, this book relates stories of planners' real world experiences. It appears that most of the skills practitioners use to deal with the diversity of interests in the face of conflict are rarely taught in universities or textbooks. One wonders where practitioners learn what they do best.
While a solid professional background is necessary, planners must also use improvisation to deal with deliberative processes which involve many stakeholders. What I enjoyed most about this book, unlike many others, is that it contrasts rationality with emotional sensitivity, calculation with improvisation, all of which are necessary for good practice.
The author aslo addresses an often overlooked aspect of deliberative processes in the design professions, that is, how to balance pragmatism in contexts where there has been a history of injustice towards particular groups.
The book makes use of extensive practical experiences of real-life planners and attempts to draw theory from that praxis. These experiences are just as fascinating to read as the authors' insights into theory. It's like being immersed into a deliberative dialogue.
Planning in a Pluralist World.......2003-01-16
As Forester explains in his Introduction makes, the title of his book is an intentional reference to Don Schön's path breaking The Reflective Practitioner. To use a trite cliché, that his book begins where Schön's book left off. There is, on the one hand, a remarkable similarity between the way Schön frames the situation the planner faces on the one hand, and Forester's description of the planner's world and his concept of deliberation on the other. The difference is in Forester's upfront, no-illusion understanding of the conflict-ridden nature of the world of planners and policy makers. Where Schön's reflection-in-action can, perhaps somewhat unfairly, be read as an improvement of the received view of professional knowledge as the sage expert who solves complex problems for clients in need, Forester has no illusions anymore about the moral and instrumental bankruptcy of the expert model. This becomes nowhere as clear as when we look at the examples each author uses. Where Schön uses one-on-one encounters between a psychotherapist and his supervisee, or an architect and his student, Forester examples include a bitter, entrenched fight over urban development in the Oslo harbour, a black home buyer counsellor in the overtly racist environment of a low income white settlement house, or housing improvement among poor campesinos in rural Venezuela.
Between Schön's and Forester's book lie almost twenty years of massive social, economic and political change, and, in its wake, almost twenty years of disenchantment, if not disillusion, with the role of politicians, administrators, and experts in the public domain. The world that Forester's planners or today's administrators inhabit is the fragmented, pluralistic, adversarial world that has eroded the steering capacity of central governments and that transferred policymaking power to a fragmented field of social and political actors. It is a world that has become so complex and tightly coupled, that the only thing that seems certain to policy makers is that their actions will generate massive unforeseen effects. A world in which the "privileged" knowledge of experts time and again dramatically fails to foresee or solve social and technical problems, and in which, consequently, citizens no longer take the authority of experts for granted. A world, moreover, in which debates about policy solutions are often less about the effectiveness of solutions as about the nature of the problem or the identity of the parties involved. As Forester makes clear, any theory of planning or policymaking or public administration that aspires to even a modicum of social or political relevance, has somehow to come to terms with this world. Listen to the way Forester, subtly commenting upon Schön, sets the stage for his book: "As planners work in between interdependent and conflicting parties in the face of inequalities of power and political voice, they have to be not only personally reflective but politically deliberative too."(1999: 2) Planners, in order to be effective in this pluralist and conflicted world, have no choice but to work with others in an open, transparent and mutually respecting way.
So what does democratic deliberation in the real world of politics and administration entail? Without being exhaustive, let me just touch upon some of the more startling insights of this rich and rewarding book. First, deliberation is more than debate and dialogue; more than the opportunity of being heard. (1999: 115) It is above all active participation in joint problem solving situations. Despite the practical stance of the book, it's key argument is epistemic and circles around the twin notions of unpredictability and complexity. Actors have no choice but to immerse themselves in the messiness, ambiguity, and open-endedness of practical situations. Not only are they literally captives of the everyday world, but the social-technical complexity of most public problems is such that it discounts any general problem solving strategy, and demands from the actors' immersion in the rich, diffuse detail of concrete situations. Knowledge, thus, is essentially local and relational.
In line with the book's epistemic theme, Forester argues that an important part of participatory inquiry consists of telling stories as a special, pragmatic kind of knowing. Much has been written in the last two decades about the role of stories in providing meaning to unstructured, conflictual situations. Forester is particularly insightful about the central role of storytelling in working through everyday political situations. Stories, he tells us, are not mere representations of meetings or encounters between planners and their clientele. Instead, stories are generative; they open up possibilities and close off unwanted or unfeasible lines of action by helping the actors narratively explore the complexities and contradictions of the situation at hand as it is situated in its proximal and distal environment. As Forester puts it, with a particularly happy phrase, stories do all sorts of moral and practical "work": "descriptive work of reportage, moral work of constructing character and reputation (of oneself and others), political work of identifying friends and foes, interests and needs, and the play of power in support and opposition, and, most important. ...deliberative work of considering means and ends, values and options, what is relevant and significant, what is possible and what matters, all together." (1999: 29) Stories are, thus, the prime means for practical judgement. They retain the rich detail that we need for a valid assessment of the situation at hand, yet, by situating the concrete event in a wider moral and causal landscape, stories allow us to connect the particular with the general, the concrete situation with the more general standard. In addition stories allow the actor to explore the emotional dimensions of his actions, both for himself and for others.
"Listen to Stories, Learn in Practice".......2000-10-08
John Forester's latest book entitled "The Deliberative Practitioner encouraging Participatory Planning Process", (MIT press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England, 1999) develops the key ideas of his earlier writings on participatory planning processes by examining the challenges and difficulties of planning in the midst of contested power relationships.
Forester perceives planning as the effort to build consensus towards commonly perceived goals. Since the context of the planning is always fraught with differences, conflicts and inequalities, a planning process necessarily shapes opinion, creates value, transforms not just material conditions but human relationships.
The emphasis on democracy and participation is central to Foresters search for effective planning practices. Keenly sensitive to a world 'riddled with racial violence and discrimination with vast differences in levels of political organization and mobilization', Forester highlights the significance of public deliberations that give space to plural voices and strengthen democratic practices. Adversarial situations are not predetermining. They can be negotiated towards collaborative action. Deliberative planning is seen as a process of learning together to craft strategies towards greater community good. Forester's concern with planning focuses on the issues of rationality, emotional sensitivity and moral vision. Forester defines rationality as an interactive and argumentative process of marshalling evidence and giving reasons. By ethics, Forester understands not a system of fixed codes and predetermined standards, but the continuous allocation and recognition of value inherent in every pragmatic choice assessable by its quality of action and consequences. Emotional sensitivity is seen as a source of knowledge and recognition. "Deliberative practitioner" highlights these issues in a 'live' way by using 'stories' as a narrative method because stories deepen our understanding of planning as a human interaction. Stories bring into play our dual roles of actor and critic, crucial to planning. By capturing situations in their complexity, Forester sensitizes our perceptions to the significance of many non-formal processes and the elements of unpredictability and surprise in planning cautioning against a 'rush to interpretation' and simplistic cure-alls.
Forester's book makes significant contributions to the discussion on participatory planning. The stories he selects indicate how planners can through their technical inquiry, explicit value inquiry, and learning about social identities succeed in a pragmatic synthesis of rationality, ethical judgements and emotional sensitivities. Forester's book has special relevance to developing contexts, fraught with unevenness, caught between their indigenous cultures and the new cultures that the culture of external development aid brings with it. Development projects in such contexts, under the pressure of measurable, time-bound performance indicators, tend to abandon the process of deliberative planning. Forester's book reminds the planners in contexts of developing economies, of the need for culturally-sensitive planning process if sustainable development has to happen. It underscores the possibility and need of cross-context learning. It also reminds that in a situation of unequal relationship, participatory planning can be said to be successful only if existing relationship have been transformed through greater transfer of power to those who are the subjects of planning. Forester's book creates an effective, innovative way of educating planner, using theory and practice, the general and the particular, to mutually illuminate each other. Finally, and most importantly, it bridges the gap between theory and practice in a way that makes practice insightful and theory relevant, each enriching the other. It restores the practitioner to the centrality of planning discourse, and in doing so, the importance of people in planning.
Book Description
Global warming has become the most important issue for the future of our planet, dominating news headlines and policy discussions. Stop Global Warming turns headlines into action, providing testimony of leading environmental activist Laurie David's own passionate work and showing how and why others (particularly young people) should get involved in this and other environmental issues. In accessible and inspiring prose, David explains that Global warming is not an opinion but a scientific reality, one that policy makers by and large have failed to address. Interspersed throughout the text, short statements by celebrities such as John Mayer and Jack Johnson, along with average Americans, will reinforce why halting global warming is so important to our future. An important book that will cause you to think more about our planet and change your habits, Stop Global Warming is required reading for the 21st century.
Customer Reviews:
Very Interesting Read.......2007-03-22
I recieved a signed copy of the book from Laurie David herself and I was instantly hooked from the forward onwards. While most of what she suggests we do to stop global warming is common sense, it's very interesting nonetheless. She clearly shows much passion for this cause and I d as well.
too basic.......2007-03-19
I had been hoping for some more creative ideas. The book was fairly preachy about the need to combat global warming but since I was already concerned enough to buy the book I didn't need to be further convinced. Plus, the solutions the book proposed were so basic that unless energy conservation was a totally new concept to the reader there was nothing new. I was very disapointed and if it wasn't for the energy I would use in sending the book back I wouldn't have kept it.
Totally misleading.......2007-02-15
Well, first of all, with China and India the two biggest nations, and the two fastest developing nations, who are both exempt from any Kyoto protocols, building coal power generation plants and buying oil as fast as they can, one thing is completely certain:
All of us in the developed nations can reduce our CO2 emmissions to ZERO without having the slightest effect on the current rate of increase in Greenhouse gasses.
But why do we take it on faith that we would even want too?
The paleoclimatological evidence points out two very significant periods in history since the end of the last Ice Age where the earth was very warm. In each case it was a wetter world. When the first of those periods ended, the Saharan lakes dried up, the flourishing civilization there was scattered, and the Sahara desert was born. In the most recent cooling, the most advanced civilization in North America, the Anasazi, was also destroyed. That cooling period, which we know as the Little Ice Age, may have also wiped out the Mayans, but certainly destroyed the Viking colonies in Greenland when they could no longer grow crops there, and caused the many scattered lakes that dotted the Arabian Penninsula to dry up.
There a few scattered exceptions, but the overall evidence is that these were global effects that made for wetter conditions and were of vast benefit to man.
So is there any evidence that the current warming trends might be making the same alterations to the rainfall in drought stricken areas? Indeed yes. Type in Sahel and rainfall in any search engine to see what is beginning to happen (the Sahel is sub Saharan Africa, where the photos of emaciated babies come from). It's starting to RAIN!
So before you try to save the beaches at Malibu and Martha's Vinyard, think of the poor people in Darfur, and how great it would be if this respite from decades of horrible drought wasn't "fixed" before it really got going.
A Great Inspiration as to What EACH of Us Can Do!.......2007-01-20
I picked up this book at the library's NEW section...What a find! Ever since I saw Gore's movie, I've been very troubled about Global Warming...it trumps all other problems on the planet if it destroys the planet! (duh!). The other day I answered a telephone poll as to "what do you feel is the biggest problem facing the world today?" When I answered "Global Warming!" The pollster sounded surprised, like she'd never heard that as an answer before and said, "What?" Global Warming, I repeated. "I'm sorry, did you say, you think _'Global Warming'_ is the biggest problem facing the World today?" "Yes!" I said. Geez, is that so far fetched?
So obviously, despite Gore's fascinating and convincing movie...it still needs more publicity, which, thankfully Laurie David continues to provide in this gem of a book.
My daughter asked the other day, "Mom, what can we do to stop global warming?" Well, now I can quickly offer some tangible things beyond the usual...recycle, drive less, walk more, turn off the lights...because Laurie offers so much more insight as well as many more ideas. She concedes that if we do one thing thinking we're helping, like request paper(uh oh, it cuts down virgin trees)or plastics (Akk! they're made with petroleum oil), she points out alternative consequences can be just as bad on the environment-- so most of all we need to demand recycling be made easy for EVERYONE.
We need to demand leadership from politicians to look for real, long term solutions! Since she wrote the book, thank God we have a new (dem.) chair of the Senate's Environment & Public Works Committe who recognizes the reality of Global Warming. The last, Sen. Jim Inofe(R-OK) refused to accept the science, he instead "led" the Committee into waiting for more evidence! Which sounds a lot like President Bush, who is too closed minded to even watch Gore's movie.
As Laurie notes: Republicans/Democrats/Independents, we ALL need to take action or we will destroy much of the earth in as little as (she predicts to help us get off our butts) 5 more years (judging by the faster- than-expected-rate the polar ice caps are melting).
Laurie, if you're reading this review (and all other interested in finding solutions to the CO2 emmission asap) PLEASE check out a book on the Combustion Engine by Edwin Black. Laurie, I had the same SUV revelation you described when I heard him speak about his new book on CSPAN radio the other evening. But you, Laurie have the power/credibility/connections to do for him what you did for Al Gore's slide show. It could be another, even higher, high point of your career...and just might save the Earth.
I mean who has heard of Edwin Black? Obviously he does not have the name recognition or get the publicity Gore does, though he's been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize 10 times.
Anyway, Black tells FASCINATING, little known tales --going all the way back to ancient civilization--as to how we came to our oil dependency for transportation in the first place which gives so much power to middle eastern states (you may have read in Fast Food Nation how corporate greed destroyed California's clean, cheap trolley system? But did you know that the _original_ clean electric "horseless carriage" invention was discarded in favor of noisy, dirty gasoline burning engines because the dirty, faster going engines were considered more "manly" and it took brute strength to crank them... while the sissy "ladies" electric cars started with just the touch of a button?
And that Thomas Edison was collaborating with Ford on a clean transportation solution and was on the verge of introducing it to clean up all the soot cars were leaving everywhere, when rivals, who favored the dirty engines for economic reasons, burned down (despite fireproof walls!) workshop!
But most important, Black has a very plausible Green Fleet idea: if corporate fleets (Fed Ex, UPS, Postal Services) DEMAND electric cars--he warns that hybrids only postpone the problem--that are NOT oil dependent--the motor companies will build them so fast our heads will spin!
Please check it out, Laurie. It is such an inspiration to me that you've done so much to educate me and millions like me who didn't have a clue.
Thanks for this book and for putting Global Warming on the front page! Please keep going! (P.S. I loved your dedication. I guess we all need to thank Larry David for telling you it would be "Easier to change the world than me!" :)
Weak effort.......2006-12-30
We recently heard Laurie David speak and purchased this book later. I can't say we got much out of it. First, I guess you can say it is compact, but that is because there are only 54 pages of content. Second, if you've not lived in a cave for the last year, you have to be somewhat familiar with the basic issue of global warming. I recognize that is largely due to Laurie's role in An Inconvenient Truth, a defining event in raising public conciousness.
Short advice, spend you money on a donation to NRDC or buy World Changing and skip this book.
Book Description
In this passionate and personal book, Senator John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry shine the spotlight on an inspiring cross-section of today's new environmental pioneers. This Moment on Earth combines intensive research with keenly observed personal experiences to present a portrait of Americans devoted to the natural diversity and spectacular uniqueness of our country.
Customer Reviews:
May A Republican Say Something?.......2007-10-06
Senator Kerry, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time, and I read a lot of books. The common sense, lack of passion, and optimism did my old heart good. Since I'm not as optimistic as you, I believe if we're to come out of this tailspin that my party has put us in, your approach, not mine, is the key. As a Vietnam veteran who was shot down twice in Vietnam 1968-69, I hope you understand that the Swift Boat guys were exploited by sociopaths. The weak minded simply cannot refuse even the briefest moment in the limelight. They well forsake God and country without hesitation. Supporting you in 2004 has turned out to be one of the smartest things I have ever done. Believe me, it wasn't easy. It temporarily cost me the goodwill of friends and family. Thousands of Americans are still cheering Bush and Cheney not even aware that all their savings may be wiped out before these two leave office. Saudi Arabia on this very day--10/06/2007--has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signaling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East. As you know, Israel has already refused aid (free money) in Dollars. When Americans turned their backs on International laws, they turned their backs on God's laws as well. The price for doing so will be incomprehensible for most. Another book, please.
Required Reading.......2007-08-08
The material in this book should be put in the public's face daily via media, billboards, etc. It should be required reading. Every mother should understand that a disposable diaper takes 500 years to biodegrade (and as those chemicals in the diaper biodegrade, they pollute and cause potential carcinogens).
I would not call the book "bipartisan" as per some of the other reviews, and I think its bashing of the Bush administration (even though I am not a fan) detracted from the overall book. However, it is important reading; it had an impact on my behavior.
Stories of Hope.......2007-08-02
I was a little skeptical with this book being written by John Kerry. I wasn't sure what to expect. It gives some really good stories of everyday people who just wanted to make a change for the better. They weren't any sort of extremists or hippies. Just people with common sense and the determination to stand up for their right to live in a clean world.
KERRY gETS IT RIGHT.......2007-06-18
Kerry analyzes today;s environmental experts and gets it right. The book is passionate, well researched, spot on and well written. I was pleasantly surprised.
I think Kerry was at his best early in the book when he evaluated some of the current plans for saving the Earth. He got a little off track as the book progressed, then veered back on track in the last 100 pages.
I highly recommend this book for anybody who cares about the planet. Also recommended: "Earth In The Balance" by Al Gore. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit
Encouragement for activism.......2007-06-09
This book is both inspiring and upsetting. Inspiring for the stories of success in opposing pollution and degradation of the environment and restoration to a more healthy one. It is upsetting to read of the abuses and pollution creating dangerous places to live.
It is a call to action that we all need to consider. I got many good ideas about issues I hadn't thought about and it made me think about my local situation. It's good to know people have won battles and corrected abuses.
Book Description
In this book, two leading experts on community action provide the first scholarly examination of the civic renewal movement that has emerged in the United States in recent decades. Sirianni Friedland examine civic innovation since the 1960s as social learning in four arenas (community organizing/development, civic environmentalism, community health, and public journalism), and they link local efforts to broader networks and to the development of "public policy for democracy." They also explore the emergence of a movement for civic renewal that builds upon the civic movements in these four arenas.
In contrast to some recent studies that stress broad indicators of civic decline, this study analyzes innovation as a long process of social learning within specific institutional and policy domains with complex challenges and cross-currents. It draws upon analytical frameworks of social capital, policy learning, organizational learning, regulatory culture, democratic theory, and social movement theory. The study is based upon interviews with more than 400 innovative practitioners, as well as extensive field observation, case study, action research, and historical analysis.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of material, but very weak analysis.......2002-11-21
This book contains several very readable chapters that review organizations, movements and projects that any student of social action and community advocacy should be aware of. Sadly, the book leaves out any effort smacking of controversy or campaigns dealing with identity (where some of the largest efforts today at social change come from). Worse still, it paints controversy in change efforts as backwards. Several of the projects covered are also elite-directed, and not very participatory. The real nail in the coffin, however, is that their analysis is at the level of simply reporting "what people told us." E.g., the authors never ask if purported results are real, or should be truly attributed to the campaigns in question.
Book Description
Too many books leave policy analysis to a last and solitary chapter--or don't cover it at all. Kraft and Furlong answer to this need and integrate an evaluative approach to policy in their innovative text, encouraging critical and creative thinking on issues ranging from the benefits and costs of sustainable development to the advantages and drawbacks of U.S. efforts to fight the war on terrorism.
Public Policy starts with the basics and concisely describes government institutions, identifies primary policy actors, and reviews major theoretical models. The authors then discuss the nature of policy analysis and its practice, and show students how to employ evaluative criteria in six substantive policy areas. At its core, Public Policy guides students through policy alternatives, arming them with the analytic tools to understand how the interests and motivations of policy actors--both within and outside of government--impact a complex, yet comprehensible, policy agenda.
Improvements to Each Chapter
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Meticulous updating--all new chapter-opening vignettes, current tables and figures, and refreshed lists of suggested readings and websites.
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Strategic streamlining--restructured chapters early in the book ensure a more progressive and accessible introduction to the institutions, actors, and processes of public policy.
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Enhanced pedagogy--key terms focus only on the most important and relevant concepts while end-of-chapter discussion questions better facilitate student analysis.
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Working with Sources--these boxes help students investigate the reliability and comparative quality of sources of policy information through more extensive use of specific cases that call for active application.
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Steps to Analysis--this feature walks students through the steps of the evaluative process in a variety of actual cases, giving students even more opportunities to put their analytic skills to practice.
New Policy Coverage
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Homeland Security--analyzes the economic, political, and ethical dimensions of the United States' struggle with terrorism and disaster management. The authors examine the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, the use of private contractors for military operations and homeland security initiatives, the Patriot Act's implications for civil liberties, as well as how the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina illustrates the limits of the government's capacity to respond to emergencies.
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Health Care--evaluates President Bush's reforms to Medicare, including efforts to provide prescription drug coverage for seniors in light of persistently rising health care costs.
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Welfare and Social Security--analyzes President Bush's stalled plan to privatize Social Security as well as alternative reforms under consideration.
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Education--focuses on whether the No Child Left Behind Act has created valuable and effective education reforms, and what amendments to this legislation might improve current testing standards and federal funding allocations.
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Energy and the Environment--looks at the debates over oil drilling in the Arctic and federal and state responses to escalating gasoline prices in light of the ongoing conflict between business interests and environmental quality.
Book Description
"This valuable edited volume provides the foundations of empowerment evaluation by outlining its philosophy, theoretical frameworks, useful tools, basic steps, and lessons learned." --The Evaluation Exchange Short version of copy This outstanding group of evaluators from academia, government, nonprofits, and foundations explores empowerment evaluation, a method for using evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment Evaluation begins with an in-depth examination of this type of evaluation as it has been adopted in academic and foundation settings. The book then highlights the role empowerment evaluation has played in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' substance abuse prevention programs. The contributors also provide down-to-earth tools and technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation. This volume concludes with themes that emerge from the chapters and recommendations concerning next steps. This serves to strengthen the links between empowerment evaluation and community capacity building. Long version of copy This outstanding group of evaluators from academia, government, nonprofits, and foundations explores empowerment evaluation, a method for using evaluation concepts, techniques, and findings to foster improvement and self-determination. Empowerment Evaluation begins with an in-depth examination of this type of evaluation as it has been adopted in academic and foundation settings. The book then focuses on the various contexts in which empowerment evaluation is conducted, ranging from resistant environments (in which significant effort is required to move from passive-compliance orientations) to responsive environments (that already have a tradition of self-determination and community organizing). Interesting highlights concerning the role empowerment evaluation has played in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' substance abuse prevention programs are detailed throughout the book. The contributors also provide down-to-earth tools and technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation. This volume concludes with themes that emerge from the chapters and recommendations concerning next steps. This serves to strengthen the links between empowerment evaluation and community capacity building. Empowerment Evaluation is of special interest to students and professionals in evaluation, research methods, education, sociology, psychology, marketing, educational administration, management, public health and substance abuse. This book gives readers down-to-earth tools and the technical assistance needed to conduct empowerment evaluation.
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The Politics of Empowerment
Robert Weissberg
Manufacturer: Praeger Publishers
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Book Description
On today's menu of remedies for our social and economic ills, empowerment has become immensely popular. The scholarly literature abounds with it: computerized searches yield thousands of citations in myriad disciplines. The education profession seems intoxicated by it; it infuses the entire political spectrum--from Marxists to feminists, from Black Power advocates to conservatives. As Weissberg points out, all assume, typically with more hope than proof, that if only people seized control of their lives, betterment would surely ensue. Allegedly, empowerment will cure everything from personal disorders to declining city centers. Weissberg conducts an FDA-like inquiry across numerous academic disciplines to assess the worthiness of this cure. He balances a close reading of the underlying theoretical foundations with empirically demonstrated effectiveness. Entire chapters are devoted to empowerment as a cure for personal problems ranging from health to homelessness, education, community development, and the problems afflicting African Americans. Despite all the promises, however, evidence of accomplishment is not forthcoming. Indeed, as Weissberg demonstrates, much of the evidence is twisted to disguise failure. Worse, much of this helpfulness is merely admonitions for greater dependency and misdirection away from cures of proven utility. Given that almost all this advice emanates from academics, the discrepancy between promise and result raises some troubling issues about today's academy. Clearly, professors do not suffer from ill-conceived remediation though their careers may flourish from publications about uplifting. Bound to be controversial, The Politics of Empowerment is a tonic for social scientists, policy makers, and citizens concerned with America's myriad sociopolitical problems.
Book Description
When environmental health problems arise in a community, policymakers must be able to reconcile the first-hand experience of local residents with recommendations by scientists. In this highly original look at environmental health policymaking, Jason Corburn shows the ways that local knowledge can be combined with professional techniques to achieve better solutions for environmental health problems. He traces the efforts of a low-income community in Brooklyn to deal with health problems in its midst and offers a framework for understanding "street science" -- decision making that draws on community knowledge and contributes to environmental justice.
Like many other low-income urban communities, the Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn suffers more than its share of environmental problems, with a concentration of polluting facilities and elevated levels of localized air pollutants. Corburn looks at four instances of street science in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, where community members and professionals combined forces to address the risks from subsistence fishing from the polluted East River, the asthma epidemic in the Latino community, childhood lead poisoning, and local sources of air pollution. These episodes highlight both the successes and the limits of street science and demonstrate ways residents can establish their own credibility when working with scientists. Street science, Corburn argues, does not devalue science; it revalues other kinds of information and democratizes the inquiry and decision-making processes.
Book Description
An inspiring ecological call to arms by America's foremost and most controversial environmental activist, Dave Foreman. It is a book that will set the course for the environmental movement for years to come. "Rude and brilliant. Read it and you will see the future"--William Kittredge.
Line drawings.
Customer Reviews:
Confessions of an Eco-Warrior.......2005-10-19
Before they were taken over by politically correct left coast weenies Foremans Earth First! was a very cool thing. They were "redneck hippies" who had a love for American wilderness and took radical steps to conserve it. Written after the FBI's attempt to set him up on bogus charges and after he left EF! Foreman lays out his ideas on conservation/ecology and his reflections on his life and times in the environmental movement. There is an emphasis on the wilderness in the western United States with Foreman but thats to be expected considering thats where he's from. Excellent auto-biography from an admirable man who has a lot of interesting ideas.
Confusions of an Eco-Warrior.......2004-11-19
"A monkeywrench thrown into the gears of the machine may not stop it. But it might delay it, make it cost more. And is feels good to put it there."(Foreman, 23) - Dave Foreman
Author Dave Foreman is the cofounder of Earth First! and self-realized eco-warrior. Published in 1991, Foreman says the main purpose of his book is to motivate potential activists into action. His book lays out his reasoning for engaging in what he calls conservation. He portrays himself as a very mild-mannered, caring, and rational person, and not the radical eco-terrorist I was envisioning. But that should not deter the reader from the underlying message he is selling: humanity is secondary to air, water, land, and animals. And destruction of private property (sometimes risking the lives of humans) is the only means available to accomplish the preservation of Earth. While he lays out some very sound reasons as to why the environment (Earth) is under attack and needs human attention, his methods of execution harm the broader conservancy movement, make little impact on large-scale environmental destruction, and can be dangerous to innocent bystanders.
Of course, Foreman acknowledges that his methods are radical and fall outside of mainstream conservancy. He claims that larger organizations such as the Sierra Club have lost their vision and have become entangled in the bureaucracy of Washington. Foreman says that these mainstream environmental groups achieve nothing through lobbying and other bureaucratic modes. Foreman calls for direct action by motivated individuals to literally throw a monkeywrench into the gears of the machine. Foreman doesn't go into too much detail about how to do this, but makes it clear that disabling bulldozers or spiking trees are the only methods Earth-destroyers respond to (in tree-spiking, long metal nails are driven into trees. When loggers cut them down and send them to the mills, the saw blades are shattered by the spike therefore causing hundred or thousands of dollars in damage. Foreman addresses a specific instance where a saw blade was shattered and pieces of it flew into the faces of the workers. Foreman has the audacity to suggest that the tree-spikers were not to blame. The saw, he says shattered because it was old. A newer blade would've only been dismantled and rendered useless. This disregard for human safety is the core flaw of Foreman's logic. While he reluctantly condemns the use of tree-spiking, it grudgingly takes him awhile to come to that conclusion. Any sane person would see that these actions are destined to harm humans on multiple levels).
Earth First! Principals (quoted directly from the book. This "logic" pretty much says it all):
- A placing of Earth first in all decisions, even ahead of human welfare if necessary.
- A refusal to use human beings as the measure by which to value others.
- An enthusiastic embracing of the philosophy of Deep Ecology or biocentrism.
- A realization that wilderness is the real world.
- A recognition that there are far too many human beings on Earth.
- A deep questioning of, and even an antipathy to, "progress" and "technology."
- A refusal to accept rationality as the only way of thinking.
- A lack of desire to gain credibility or "legitimacy" with the gang of thus running human civilization.
- An effort to go beyond the tired, worn-out dogmas of left, right, and middle-of-the-road.
- An unwillingness to set any ethnic, class, or political group of humans on a pedestal and make them immune from questioning.
- A willingness to let our actions set the finer points of our philosophy and a recognition that we must act.
- An acknowledgment that we must change our personal life-styles to make them more harmonious with natural diversity.
- A commitment to maintaining a sense of humor, and a joy in living.
- An awareness that we are animals.
- An acceptance of monkeywrenching as a legitimate tool for the preservation of natural diversity.
- And finally: Earth First! Is a warrior society. "In addition to our absolute commitment to and love for this living planet, we are characterized by our willingness to defend Earth's abundance and diversity of life, even if that defense requires sacrifices of comfort, freedom, safety, or, ultimately, our lives. A warrior recognizes that her life is not the most important thing in her life. A warrior recognizes that there is a greater reality outside her life that must be defended. For us in Earth First!, that reality is Earth, the evolutionary process, the millions of other species with which we share this bright sphere in the void of space." (Foreman, 26-35)
MONKEYWRENCHING
"It is time for women and men, individually and in small groups, to act heroically in defense of the wild, to put a monkeywrench into the gears of the machine that is destroying natural diversity. Though illegal, this strategic monkeywrenching can be safe, easy, fun, and-most important-effective in stopping timber cutting, road building.............." (Foreman, 113)
I find this aspect of eco-terrorism (ecotage or monkeywrenching as Foreman calls it) the most disturbing. He claims that since moderate, bureaucratic environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club do nothing in the fight against the Earth-destroying forces, it is therefore up to subversive individuals to take matters into their own hands to stop the machinery of destruction. This, he states, is accomplished through the dismantling and destruction of these mechanisms one by one (spiking trees, rendering bulldozers useless, etc). Foreman claims that monkeywrenchers are acting under the same principles as the Boston Tea Party, Gandhi, the French Resistance, and even Martin Luther King Jr. He claims that in desperate times, laws must be subverted and broken in order to bring about a higher justice. I can agree with the logic that revolution over a corrupt system may be necessary from time to time, but he misses the key ingredient in his historical examples: unity. The American Revolutionaries, Gandhi's non-violence, the anti-Nazi movement, and the civil rights movement all had mass support behind them and were united in a specific cause. Eco-defenders are disjointed, have varying degrees of motivation, and all have different ideas of how environmental concerns should be addressed.
Foreman's assessment, however, is that organized resistance has been tried and doesn't work (he defeats his own logic here. By citing examples of historical, organized resistance, he fails to see that he is actually advocating the opposite: disjointed, random resistance). While Foreman condemns tree-spiking (extremely reluctantly, and with a slight wink-wink as if to say `I have to say that for legal reasons, but go ahead anyway') he fails to realize the uncontrollable juggernaut he's unleashed. Using the theory of virtually unbridled ecotage, eco-warriors have started to use arson as their method of choice. The infamous Hummer dealership that was torched, the fires of Southern California are said to be linked to eco-terrorism, and the burning of housing developments in Arizona have all been very close to harming innocent bystanders. Of course the eco-defender would say that the fact that no humans were hurt is evidence that their actions are just. But as anyone can plainly see (except Foreman), the practice of ecotage is only a few steps away from murder. Somewhere, somehow, somebody is going to be trapped in one of these fires and wind up dead. While Foreman may be able to shape his precise vision of minimally-destructive ecotage, he fails to realize that his approval of reckless youth engaging in unsupervised destruction of property is a recipe for disaster.
Besides the obvious dangers of ecotage to human life, has the practice of monkeywrenching really produced noticeable results? Sure, there's been lots of press and fear generated, but has a single one of these disjointed efforts stopped the great machine in anyway? Foreman acknowledges that the actions of individuals will only achieve small results. He seems to believe that all of these small steps will somehow add up to a reversal of eco-destruction. It is clear that it hasn't and won't. Hummers still roll off the assembly line, urban sprawl is still imminent, and forests are still harvested despite the efforts of a few flea bites.
Foreman's condemnation and frustration with the bureaucratic environmental groups is understandable. They seems to make a lot of noise, but don't really get much accomplished. After all, my air is still dirty, my water is still polluted, and my food is still laden with who-knows-what. I can understand why he would want to take more drastic matters in hand. While it is true that there is a desperate need to reshape the industries and governments which cause these unprecedented pollutants, doing so with such flawed logic as Foreman's is unproductive. Like the American Revolution or the civil rights movement, eco-defenders' only recourse will be unity in cause and action; a cause and action that puts humans on the same level as Earth and its other inhabitants, not as secondary citizens prone to harm.
Can Deep Ecology Save the World?.......2002-12-07
"Confessions of an Eco-Warrior" goes a long way towards describing the worldview of the radical environmentalist movement in the United States. Written by Earth First! cofounder Dave Foreman, the book is a sweeping indictment of industrial society and the damage this system is doing to our national parks, our water supply, and our wildlife. Foreman, who looks a lot like Grizzly Adams, is one American who is not going to take this destruction lying down. He is angry that damage to the environment continues without any let up, and he aims to reverse that damage by spreading the green gospel with this book.
Foreman begins with a detailed chronology of how he turned into a green radical. Foreman was a member of the Wilderness Society, one of the "Big Ten" environmental groups (others include the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society) working through political channels for wilderness protection. Foreman became disgruntled with these groups when he realized that legal means could not get the job done. A few other people shared Foreman's views, so they formed Earth First!, a group dedicated to using any means necessary to secure a bright future for the environment.
A central tenet of Earth First!'s manifesto is the philosophy of Deep Ecology. This philosophical outlook boils down to biocentrism, or a belief that the universe is not man-centered, but that mankind exists as part of a vast, interlocking chain of actions within the environment. Earth First! rejects dogmas such as communism, socialism, capitalism, or any other anthropocentric belief system, claiming that such systems are humanistic with little concern for the environment. Earth First! supports massive reductions in the human population, the rejection of rational systems of thought as the only credible way of thinking, and disdain for the unquestioning belief in progress and technology that most of us take for granted. As can be expected, many of Foreman's beliefs are not popular with significant majorities of the population. His attitudes about strict birth control methods across the globe, according to Foreman, continually bring outraged letters from leftists who cannot bear the thought of less people. But for Foreman, it is all a part of a better, greener planet. If humanity continues to grow as it has for the past century or so, the earth stands no chance of surviving into the future.
A significant part of the book deals with monkeywrenching, an action-oriented form of ecological terrorism designed to slow the growth of technology and progress in America's wilderness areas. Monkeywrenching became famous in environmental circles when Edward Abbey, a rabid environmentalist, wrote the novel "The Monkeywrenching Gang" in 1975. This form of terrorism often involves the destruction of construction sites or industrial equipment. Its most famous expression involves tree spiking, where metal nails and spikes driven into trees help save vast tracts of wilderness or destroy sawmill equipment when the spiked trees are cut for the market. Foreman is very careful about advocating such activities (probably due to his own arrest by the FBI for ecological terrorism), but goes on to give a full account of the pros and cons of taking part in monkeywrenching activities.
In Foreman's world, monkeywrenching becomes a necessity when the big corporations control the political process through bribes, campaign contributions, and intensive lobbying. With the political process closed to serious environmental reforms, the destruction of the environment continues at an unprecedented rate. In chapter after chapter, Foreman describes the destruction of our lands through careless grazing, overzealous logging, and government sponsored extermination campaigns against animals that prey on farming and cattle interests. As the litany of state sanctioned horrors unfold, Foreman's arguments for driving a few spikes in a tree look sensible.
Regrettably, making sense has little to do with many of Foreman's arguments. His ideas of a biocentric philosophy flies in the face of what seems to be a natural human inclination towards technological development. For the most part, people do not want to live in the world Foreman and his ilk hold up as a desirable goal. Foreman's claim that people were healthier and happier before industrialization stretches the truth to the breaking point. Industrialism certainly has its own problems, but the old days were far from perfect. Were people really "happier" in the old days when harsh conditions opened up communities to constant invasion, incurable diseases, and high mortality rates? If they were, why did "progress" and "technology" emerge as a viable system? Ultimately, I am uncomfortable with Foreman and his fellow radicals. Whenever radicals like this get into power, they always end up killing people.
"Confessions of an Eco-Warrior" does try and offer solutions to serious problems in our industrial based system. Unfortunately, the solutions are often worse than the problems. As a primer for learning about the radical environmental fringe, Foreman's book is probably one of the best. Concern for the environment is important and should be a priority for every living person on the planet, but Foreman and his fellow travelers take it way too far.
This Book Can Change Attitudes.......2000-09-22
Dave Foreman, lifelong preservationist, and founder of the Environmental organization called "EarthFirst!" provides an insightful explanation into the state of our nation and our world today from the preservationist viewpoint. Foreman refers often to historical information, biological research, ecological studies, demographic trends, science, population growth, political and economic facts, statistics, and motivations to explain the "why," "who" and "how" of our environmental condition today. "Common man" cattle-ranchers, behemoth corporations, bureaucratic agencies, and working and middle class--us, I, we humans--are relevant in this very mature and logical book. This is not a political or economically ideological book. The goal is to preserve what's left of our planet, pure and simple. "EarthFirst!" is inclusive for people from all economic, sociological, political, and religious backgrounds. In other words, it's not just for the so-called Greeners or Naturalists.
The bibliography noted in this text can lead anyone to further learn about the multitude of thinking, politics, history, and scientifically-based fact, which is the foundation of the preservationist movement. Foreman's description of the many species of plant and animal life makes the reader want to jump right into the natural world. Most of it is gone, however. Extinct. And many more species of animal and plant life are dwindling everyday. In the past I've read and viewed descriptions of "EarthFirst!" from those not familiar with environmentalism or biocentrism. Its coverage of "EarthFirst!" was extremely misleading in my opinion. This book is not a ranting and raving diatribe in any way. It is completely the opposite. This is an honest look at what we humans have been doing for centuries, and the all-encompassing ramifications and lower quality of life that will result from it for all of us. This book unemotionally describes and explains how our nation and world has been transformed, and it is saddening and frustrating. But that does not mean that it is too late for the expansion of positive preservationist thinking, eco-education, and action. In fact, it is more important today than ever at this stage. I've never been involved in environmental movements or have been much of an Outdoor person. I go camping occasionally, have done some hiking, and have always respected and admired natural beauty. Yet, I was mostly oblivious to much of the details of the environmental issues that I read about in the newspapers, saw on television news, and watched on documentaries regarding the environmental topics of today. It is people like me that a book like this can reach, and change. I am one of the masses. And this book can, I believe have a profound impact on the masses, in the way we think and how we act. Every North American should read this book. In my opinion it should be required reading in our schools as a starting point on how we view our world.
Book Description
Who should have the authority to shape the education of citizens in a democracy? This is the central question posed by Amy Gutmann in the first book-length study of the democratic theory of education. The author tackles a wide range of issues, from the democratic case against book banning to the role of teachers' unions in education, as well as the vexed questions of public support for private schools and affirmative action in college admissions.
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Who should have the authority to shape the education of citizens in a democracy? This is the central question posed by Amy Gutmann in the first book-length study of the democratic theory of education. The author tackles a wide range of issues, from the democratic case against book banning to the role of teachers' unions in education, as well as the vexed questions of public support for private schools and affirmative action in college admissions.
Books:
- The Disappearance of the Universe: Straight Talk About Illusions, Past Lives, Religion, Sex, Politics, and the Miracles of Forgiveness
- The Foxfire Book: Hog Dressing, Log Cabin Building, Mountain Crafts and Foods, Planting by the Signs, Snake Lore, Hunting Tales, Faith Healing, Moonshining
- The Glass Castle: A Memoir
- The Handbook of Brain Theory and Neural Networks (Bradford Book)
- The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
- The Many Adventures of Pengey Penguin
- The Nature and Properties of Soils (13th Edition)
- The New American Story
- The Practical Encyclopedia of Rocks & Minerals: How to Find, Identify, Collect and Maintain the World's best Specimens, with over 1000 Photographs and Artworks
- The Supreme Court of the United States: A Student Companion (Oxford Student Companions to American Government)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret
- Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want
- Path of the Assassin
- One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd
- Pattern Classification
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- Bands Brands and Billions: My Top Ten Rules for Success in Any Business
- Reforming Capital Income Taxation
- A Grab Bag of Thoughts
Planning in the Face of Power
Participatory Workshops: A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities
Citizens, Experts, and the Environment: The Politics of Local Knowledge
Deliberative Policy Analysis: Understanding Governance in the Network Society (Theories of Institutional Design)
Democracy in Practice: Public Participation in Environmental Decisions (RFF Press)
