Environment and Society: A Reader

Published by New York University Press 2017

Environment and Society

A Reader

Edited by: Christopher Schlottmann , Dale Jamieson , Colin Jerolmack and Anne Rademacher
In collaboration with: Maria Damon

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479844746.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

Environment and Society connects the core themes of environmental studies to the urgent issues and debates of the twenty-first century.

In an era marked by climate change, rapid urbanization, and resource scarcity, environmental studies has emerged as a crucial arena of study.

Assembling canonical and contemporary texts, this volume presents a systematic survey of concepts and issues central to the environment in society, such as: social mobilization on behalf of environmental objectives; the relationships between human population, economic growth and stresses on the planet’s natural resources; debates about the relative effects of collective and individual action; and unequal distribution of the social costs of environmental degradation.

Organized around key themes, with each section featuring questions for debate and suggestions for further reading, the book introduces students to the history of environmental studies, and demonstrates how the field’s interdisciplinary approach uniquely engages the essential issues of the present.

Author / Editor information

Schlottmann Christopher :

Christopher Schlottmann is Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at New York University.Jamieson Dale :

Dale Jamieson is Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy at New York University. Jerolmack Colin :

Colin Jerolmack is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Sociology at New York University.Rademacher Anne :

Anne Rademacher is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies and Anthropology at New York University. Damon Maria :

Maria Damon analyzes policy instruments for sustainable development as well as capacity building in response to climate change.

Reviews

Richard York,co-author of The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth:
Environment and Societyprovides a thoughtful and diverse selection of key readings in environmental studies, including pieces from some of the best known thinkers along with some well chosen works that don't appear in other readers. This is a valuable book for teachers, students, and anyone interested in environmental thought.

Kimberly Smith,Professor of Environmental Studies, Carleton College:
Environment and Societylives up to its ambitious aims. Providing essential readings in environmental studies, this book serves as an excellent introduction to the enduring questions and most important emerging ideas in the field today.

This book is both well-organized and nicely abridged for use in undergraduate courses this textbook fulfills the major criteria for teaching undergraduates: it is accessible, affordable, and informative. I highly recommend its integration into environmental history courses.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Ideas of Nature
1. Excerpts from The End of Nature Bill McKibben Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	3
2. The Anthropocene Are Humans Now Overwhelming the Great Forces of Nature? Will Steffen, Paul J. Crutzen and John R. McNeill Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	12
3. Excerpts from The World without Us Alan Weisman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
4. Excerpts from “Reinventing Eden: Western Culture as a Recovery Narrative” Carolyn Merchant Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	42
5. Excerpts from Laudato Si Pope Francis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
6. Excerpts from “The Etiquette of Freedom” Gary Snyder Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	60
7. Excerpts from “The Land Ethic” Aldo Leopold Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	69
Part II. Environmentalism and Environmental Movements
8. Hetch Hetchy Valley John Muir Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
9. Excerpts from Silent Spring Rachel Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
10. Excerpts from “Environmentalism and Social Justice” Robert D. Bullard Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
11. Excerpts from “Where We Live, Work, and Play” Robert Gottlieb Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
12. Excerpts from “The Death of Environmentalism” Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
13. The Paradox of Global Environmentalism Ramachandra Guha Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	109
14. Excerpts from “Between Violence and Desire: Space, Power, and Identity in the Making of Metropolitan Delhi” Amita Baviskar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
Part III. Population and Consumption
15. Excerpts from “An Essay on the Principle of Population” Thomas Malthus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
16. How Do We Know We Have Global Environmental Problems? Science and the Globalization of Environmental Discourse Peter J. Taylor and Frederick H. Buttel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	136
17. Excerpts from “The IPAT Equation and Its Variants” Marian R. Chertow Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
18. Excerpts from “Socioeconomic Equity, Sustainability, and Earth’s Carrying Capacity” Gretchen C. Daily and Paul R. Ehrlich Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
19. The NEXT Industrial Revolution William McDonough and Michael Braungart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
20. Excerpts from “In Search of Consumptive Resistance: The Voluntary Simplicity Movement” Michael Maniates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
21. Excerpts from “Overpopulation versus Biodiversity” Leon Kolankiewicz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	198
Part IV. Public Goods and Collective Action
22. Excerpts from “The Tragedy of the Commons” Garrett Hardin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
23. Revisiting the Commons Local Lessons, Global Challenges Elinor Ostrom, Joanna Burger, Christopher B. Field, Richard B. Norgaard and David Policansky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	213
24. Excerpts from “Rationality and Solidarities: The Social Organization of Common Property Resources in the Imdrhas Valley of Morocco” Peggy Petrzelka and Michael M. Bell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
25. Averting the Tragedy of the Commons Mark Van Vugt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
26. Excerpts from “Climate, Collective Action and Individual Ethical Obligations” Marion Hourdequin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
27. Excerpts from “About Free- Market Environmentalism” Jonathan H. Adler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Part V. Values and Justice
28. Excerpts from “Walking” Henry David Thoreau Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267
29. Excerpts from “Naturalness as a Source of Value” Robert E. Goodin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277
30. Excerpts from “Conservation” John Passmore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
31. Sustainability Alan Holland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
32. Excerpts from “Theorising Environmental Justice: The Expanding Sphere of a Discourse” David Schlosberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	309
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	319
Part VI. Environmental Controversies
City and Country Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	321
33. Excerpts from “More like Manhattan” David Owen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	324
34. Excerpts from “Freedom and Wilderness, Wilderness and Freedom” Edward Abbey Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	335
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	341
Agrarian and Industrial Agriculture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
35. Excerpts from “The Green Revolution Revisited and the Road Ahead” Norman Borlaug Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	344
36. The Agrarian Standard Wendell Berry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	353
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	361
Managing Nature versus Stewardship Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	363
37. Excerpts from “Earth Systems Engineering and Management” Brad Allenby Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	364
38. The Earth Is Not Yet an Artifact David W. Keith Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	373
Reading Questions and Further Readings Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	380
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	381
About the Editors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	386

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Illustrations
- Other: 9 black and white illustrations

eBook

Published: January 24, 2017
ISBN: 9781479844746