Book Description
In Kumaon in northern India, villagers set hundreds of forest fires in the early 1920s, protesting the colonial British state’s regulations to protect the environment. Yet by the 1990s, they had begun to conserve their forests carefully. In his innovative historical and political study, Arun Agrawal analyzes this striking transformation. He describes and explains the emergence of environmental identities and changes in state-locality relations and shows how the two are related. In so doing, he demonstrates that scholarship on common property, political ecology, and feminist environmentalism can be combinedâin an approach he calls environmentalityâto better understand changes in conservation efforts. Such an understanding is relevant far beyond Kumaon: local populations in more than fifty countries are engaged in similar efforts to protect their environmental resources.
Agrawal brings environment and development studies, new institutional economics, and Foucauldian theories of power and subjectivity to bear on his ethnographical and historical research. He visited nearly forty villages in Kumaon, where he assessed the state of village forests, interviewed hundreds of Kumaonis, and examined local records. Drawing on his extensive fieldwork and archival research, he shows how decentralization strategies change relations between states and localities, community decision makers and common residents, and individuals and the environment. In exploring these changes and their significance, Agrawal establishes that theories of environmental politics are enriched by attention to the interconnections between power, knowledge, institutions, and subjectivities.
Customer Reviews:
Success in Grassroots Politics.......2006-03-22
This book reports a rare success story in Third World conservation: the rise of grassroots-level forest management in Kumaon, India. In the colonial period, the British tried to stop deforestation by increasingly authoritarian methods. This failed; the local countryfolk, prevented from using their forests for subsistence needs, protested more and more seriously, ultimately resorting to arson. Eventually the British got the message and eased off. Fortunately, the Indian government later built on this perception, and gave more and more management rights to the Kumaonese. They rose to the occasion, and now manage the forests reasonably well. Arun Agrawal uses a Foucauldian approach to analyze the development of local management in an extremely fine-grained, detailed, careful way. The benefit of this approach is that it has stimulated a uniquely thorough and fair ethnography. The cost of this approach is its narrow focus on government and "subjects"--there is no independent assessment of how well the forests are actually doing. One wishes for a biologist's input. Still, any success story, even relative, is welcome these days, and this book will be very useful to anyone interested in comanagement of resources or resource conservation in general. We simply have to involve local people and respect their needs, in every conservation project, and this book is notably good at detailing one way a governmental system actually did that.
How does environmentalism happen?.......2005-11-16
Arun Agrawal's book offers a fresh approach to consider how subjectivities change, particularly in terms of how environmentalism happens at an individual and social level. Agrawal borrows from a number of different fields, including anthropology and history, to pursue these questions. His approach differs from several dominant schools that address these issues. One group of scholars, when talking about rural citizens in developing countries, assume that their needs are primarily material and antagonistic to any sense of long-term environmental care. "Environmentalist sensibilities don't make any sense unless their bellies are full" they say. Another group of scholars argues that rural women, because they rely on natural resources for their familiy's daily needs, are actually quite environmentally minded.
Agrawal does not follow either of these approaches, and questions a number of their premises. To carry out his inquiry, Agrawal examines a region in India that was famous for its resistance to British forest protection during the colonial era. This area resisted British authority by lighting hundreds of deliberately set fires. Surprisingly, Agrawal now finds that a number of villages are forming their own community-based groups for forest protection, and he seeks to discover what accounts for these changes.
In his explanation, Agrawal draws on Foucauldian and other post-structural thought, but does so in novel ways. He is trying to examine the process of how subjects change over time, and even over the course of one lifetime. His writing is lively and his analysis is sharp. I highly recommend this book for those interested in social change, social theory, environmentalism, and new interdisciplinary approaches.
Book Description
The movement toward creating more sustainable communities has been growing for decades, and in recent years has gained new prominence with theincreasing visibility of planning approaches such as the New Urbanism. Yet there are few examples of successful and time-tested sustainable communities.
Village Homes outside of Davis, California offers one such example. Built between 1975 and 1981 on 60 acres of land, it offers unique features including extensive common areas and green space; community gardens, orchards, and vineyards; narrow streets; pedestrian and bike paths; solar homes; and an innovative ecological drainage system. Authors Michael and Judy Corbett were intimately involved with the design, development, and building of Village Homes, and have resided there since 1977.
In Designing Sustainable Communities, they examine the history of the sustainable community movement and discuss how Village Homes fits into the context of that movement. They offer an inside look at the development of the project from start to finish, describing how the project came about, obstacles that needed to be overcome, design approaches they took, problems that were encountered and how those problems were solved, and changes that have occurred over the years. In addition, they compare Village Homes with other communities and developments across the country, and discuss the future prospects for the continued growth of the sustainable communities movement.
The book offers detailed information on a holistic approach to designing and building successful communities. It represents an invaluable guide for professionals and students involved with planning, architecture, development, and landscape architecture, and for anyone interested increating more sustainable communities.
Customer Reviews:
A neutral guideline to understand the principle.......2002-02-28
The book has indicated the underlying theory, substantial framework for the implementation of the pinciple, and the practice of the p.p. in international society. Overall, most articles have done good job in describing their appraisal of the principle. I strongly recommend the book because of those authors' enthusiasms in advocating the application of the precautionary principle to address the scientific uncertainty. Even some of the articles cite insufficient information to support their points.
On Target but Fragmented--Needs New Edition with Summary.......2001-06-02
This is the second best of several books on environmental policy I have reviewed, and it merits careful scrutiny in part because it brings together a number of expert authors and there is in essence "something for everyone" in this edited work. What is lacks, though, is a good summary chapter that lists how the "precautionary principle" should be applied across each of the top ten environmental areas of concern--something that could circulate more easily than the book, and perhaps have a beneficial policy impact at the local, state, and national levels--and I suggest this because the meat of the book is good, it needs an executive summary.
The chapter that was most meaningful to me, the one that I think needs to be migrated into business education, international affairs education, science & technology policy education, is by Gordon K. Durnil, Chapter 16, and it deal with "How Much Information Do We Need Before Exercising Precaution." This is a brilliant piece of work that dissects our current environmental policy information collection, processing, and analysis system, and finds it very deceptive, disingenuous, and consequently seriously flawed.
For the best on the environment, read "Pandora's Poison". For the best on public health, read "Betrayal of Trust." For a very fine cross-over book that has good chapters from various good people, this is the book to buy and enjoy.
Ambitious and full of food for thought.......2000-07-02
"Protecting Human Health and the Environment" discusses what is involved in coming up with a meaningful, workable definition of the "precautionary principle." It also talks about how this principle (which comes down to the "First, do no harm" of Hippocrates) can be given effect in environmental policy, law, and specific problems. The book is a collection of articles that were first presented at the Wingspread Conference in 1998. This variety of voices and perspectives is one of the real strengths of the book: the precautionary principle is a huge idea that involves some fundamental shifts in American thinking about science, nature, and environmental protection; and this is the first book I've read which really manages to convey that. Those who think that the "precautionary principle" is another enviro plot to co-opt American policy and advance unfounded, neo-Luddite agendas really need to read this book. It is rich in thought-provoking ideas, backed up by meticulous review of existing policy, law, and science -- powerful without being dogmatic, sincere without being cloying. And those who grasp the severity of the threats to sustainability facing human society should find a deeply coherent, beautifully articulate means of responding to these threats. Unlike many of the sweeping solutions advance over the years to the human inability to moderate its behavior for the good of the whole, implementation of the precautionary principle actually seems possible! Indeed, it is already being pursued. Let's hope that lots of courageous and energetic folks get their hands on this one.
Book Description
Gifford Pinchot is known primarily for his work as first chief of the U. S. Forest Service and for his argument that resources should be used to provide the "greatest good for the greatest number of people." But Pinchot was a more complicated figure than has generally been recognized, and more than half a century after his death, he continues to provoke controversy.
This new biography, the first in more than three decades, offers a fresh interpretation of the life and work of the famed conservationist and Progressive politician. In addition to considering Pinchot's role in the environmental movement, historian Char Miller sets forth an engaging description and analysis of the man - his character, passions, and personality - and the larger world through which he moved.
Miller begins by describing Pinchot's early years and the often overlooked influence of his family and their aspirations for him. He examines Pinchot's post-graduate education in France and his ensuing efforts in promoting the profession of forestry in the United States and in establishing and running the Forest Service. While Pinchot's twelve years as chief forester (1898 - 1910) are the ones most historians and biographers focus on, Miller also offers an extensive examination of Pinchot's post-federal career as head of The National Conservation Association and as two-term governor of Pennsylvania. In addition, he looks at Pinchot's marriage to feminist Cornelia Bryce and discusses her role in Pinchot's political radicalization throughout the 1920s and 1930s. An epilogue explores Pinchot's final years and writings.
Miller offers a provocative reconsideration of key events in Pinchot's life, including his relationship with friend and mentor John Muir and their famous disagreement over damming Hetch Hetchy Valley. The author brings together insights from cultural and social history and recently discovered primary sources to support a new interpretation of Pinchot - whose activism not only helped define environmental politics in early twentieth century America but remains strikingly relevant today.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting biography but poorly organized.......2007-07-31
This book provides a biography of the founder of American forestry, Gifford Pinchot. There are other biographies, and Miller justifies this one in a strange way - - he argues that people too frequently see Pinchot as a transition between the West's nineteenth-century exploiters and twentieth-century environmentalists. However, Miller's account doesn't really challenge this portrayal, other than showing that Pinchot's perspective on sustainable development remains alive and well today.
A better justification would have emphasized that Miller gives serious attention to Pinchot's two terms as the governor of Pennsylvania. This part of the story allows Miller to pick up non-forestry themes such as economic justice, and to show how they shaped Pinchot's earlier career as Chief Forester. The coverage of Pinchot's later career is a real strength of the book, as are the comparisons between progressive Republican governor Pinchot (PA) and progressive Democratic governor FDR (NY) during the Great Depression. Both argued for a "New Deal," and the Republican rejection of Pinchot reflects fundamental changes in that party just as much as FDR's recasting of the Democrats changed American politics for 50 years.
Interesting as many of these stories are, the book has its frustrations for the reader. Miller often tells a part of Pinchot's story and then reaches back to grab narrative bits that belong earlier in the book, both chronologically and analytically. For example, Miller's story of Pinchot's campaign for governor gets him elected, and then reaches back to discuss his key support coalition. That coalition included prohibitionists, mineworkers, and women (suffragettes). Each of those groups reflects an important feature of Pinchot's character - - he was practically a teetotaler, he was socially progressive, and he had evolved toward gender equality. Each could have been part of the story much earlier, but all three come more or less as a surprise (the mineworkers are a partial exception). That surprise highlights an important flaw in Miller's strategy, in that he does not lay a sufficient foundation for the events he discusses.
The discussion of Pinchot's family life is similarly incoherent. It is the subject of some chapters but also appears as passages in other chapters, but does not appear in chronological order. The death of a near-fiancée, for example, appears mid-book despite its implications for both his professional and personal life.
Those are but two illustrations of a pattern throughout this book. It may be that the book consists of independently-written essays that Miller didn't edit sufficiently before including them in the book. Or it may be that Miller was trying to avoid a purely chronological biography but did not write a fully thematic one. Whatever the explanation, the organizational weakness detracts from what is otherwise an interesting story about an important figure in American political and environmental history.
Book Description
Better Environmental Decisions reponds to the need for improved environmental decision making by bringing together leading scholars and practitioners to provide a comprehensive interdisciplinary introduction to the subject. Each chapter describes an important aspect of environmental decision making; identifies key issues, problems, and barriers; and recommends ways to improve both the process and the final result.
Topics examined include:
- Congressional decisions about regulatory reform
- environmental benefit/cost analysis
- valuing environmental impacts
- comparing risks and setting priorities
- strategic environmental management
- corporate accounting for environmental and social factors
- corporate responses to rules and regulations
- community decisions about environmental risks
- civic environmentalism
- community partnerships with industry and government
Throughout, contributors focus on providing tools to make better decisions, and on presenting solutions to real-world problems.
Better Environmental Decisions describes and analyzes the key decision making criteria of each of the stakeholders involved-governments, businesses, and communities-and offers a compendium of techniques necessary for achieving success. It will be a landmark reference and resource for anyone involved with environmental decision making, including legislators, regulators, business and environmental managers, environmental advocates, community activists, reporters, researchers, educators, and students.
Book Description
This ethnography studies how, when, and under what circumstances culture change occurs. It is author Hsain Ilahiane's conviction that culture change directly affects resource use and community building processes. This study investigates the relationship between ethnicity and agricultural production at the household level, as well as the result of recent ethnic transformations in the restructuring of patterns of land access and social mobility within ethnically stratified communities.
Book Description
This book presents a comprehensive view of an important new field in human geography and interdisciplinary studies of nature-society relations. Tracing the development of political ecology from its origins in geography and ecological anthropology in the 1970s, to its current status as an established field, the book investigates how late twentieth-century developments in social and ecological theories are brought together to create a powerful framework for comprehending environmental problems.
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Regulating Chemical Accumulation in the Environment: The Integration of Toxicology and Economics in Environmental Policy-making
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521593107 |
Book Description
The environment has been exposed to a range of damaging contaminants from a wide variety of sources. Regulation of and legislation against offending parties has frequently been hampered because of the difficulty with cooperation among disparate disciplines in the natural, social and political sciences. This volume forms the conclusion of five years' collaboration among toxicologists, economists and lawyers in the understanding and solution of the problem of accumulative chemicals. As well as being a case study of the accumulation of pesticides in groundwater in one particular region (the European Union), the book forms a general study of the value of interdisciplinary approaches in environmental policy making. The volume will be a valuable resource for a broad group of academics and researchers in the area of environmental science and environmental policy.
Download Description
The environment has become exposed to a range of damaging contaminants from a wide variety of sources. Regulation of and legislation against offending parties has frequently been hampered because of the difficulty of co-operation between disparate disciplines in the natural, social and political sciences. This volume forms the conclusion of five years' collaboration between toxicologists, economists and lawyers in the understanding and solution of the problem of accumulative chemicals. As well as a case study of the accumulation of pesticides in groundwater in one particular region (the European Union), the book forms a general study of the value of interdisciplinary approaches in environmental policy making. The volume will be a valuable resource for a broad group of academics and researchers in the area of environmental science and environmental policy. It will also form a useful supplementary reference text for courses in environmental policy, science, economics and toxicology.
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Humanity's Environmental Future: Making Sense in a Troubled World
William, Ross McCluney
Manufacturer: SunPine Press
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Getting to the Source: Readings on Sustainable Values
ASIN: 0974446106 |
Book Description
There has been a lot of exciting movement at the Capitol recently--climate change and energy are top priorities in the new Congress. The newly discounted Humanity¿s Environmental Future provides detailed background information concerning both climate change and the energy crisis, as parts of a much bigger picture, all tied together neatly in this one comprehensive treatment. The book comprehensively examines the wide variety of difficult environmental and socio-economic problems facing humanity as it struggles toward a sustainable future. Powerful forces are driving us to degrade Earth's life-support system--the biosphere. These assaults are taking their toll, resulting in a daily barrage of news reports of environmental decline and ecosystem breakdown, all of which threaten Earth's ability to support its growing human population. The issues involved are imbedded in the industrial world's economic and business theories, lifestyles, development policies, and educational and political structures. They extend to the developing countries, as these follow similar growth, development, and economic advancement patterns. Humanity has already exceeded Earth's carrying capacity, in the absence of adequate supplemental energy inputs from the fossil fuels and other sources. As world petroleum production reaches a peak and then declines, there will be increasing pressure on energy prices to soar, possibly causing serious adverse economic consequences, and certainly stimulating major shifts in worldwide energy production and use. Major lifestyle and other changes are likely to result. Humanity's Environmental Future addresses these issues head on, examines their causes, and provides a variety of suggestions for reform. A major conclusion is that misplaced values and beliefs both drive humanity toward environmental disaster and prevent us from taking sufficiently comprehensive actions to stop the unrelenting destruction. Seven chapters are devoted to the insights and skills most needed for humanity to reverse its destructive course and make the needed changes before things have advanced so far that it may become too late to stop the worst of the consequences. The book concludes with several chapters dealing with specific reform proposals and positive suggestions for personal, group, and governmental action.
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Eco-pragmatism: Making Sensible Environmental Decisions in an Uncertain World
Daniel A. Farber
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
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ASIN: 0226238067 |
Book Description
Eco-pragmatism takes on the most critical controversies in environmental law today: how to weigh economic costs against environmental quality and human life, how to assess the long time horizons of environmental problems, and how to make appropriate decisions in the face of scientific uncertainty about the scope of environmental problems.
"A comprehensive well-argued effort to address many of the most difficult issues facing legislators concerned with environmental issues."—Stephen P. Adamian, Boston Book Review
"A timely and well-argued contribution."—Calestous Juma, Nature
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Environmental Democracy
Michael Paul Mason
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 0312227000 |
Book Description
Civic self-determination and ecological sustainability are widely accepted as two of the most important public goals. This book explains how they can be combined. Using vivid and telling case studies from around the world, it shows how liberal rights can include both ecological and social conditions for collective decision-making and how environmentalist goals and social justice can be achieved together.
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- Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill
- Freshwater Ecology: Concepts & Environmental Applications (Aquatic Ecology)
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- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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