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The realities of global economic integration are far more complex than many of its supporters or detractors acknowledge. One consequence of simplistic thinking about globalization, claims Robert Paehlke, is that we tend to focus on economic prosperity to the neglect of such other important considerations as environmental and social well-being. A first step toward righting this imbalance is the recognition that economic gains do not guarantee better lives or better communities and societies.

Democratic societies face a dilemma. Global economic integration produces a need for global political integration. Without it, national, state, and local governments are under pressure to forego environmental protection and social programs in order to be competitive. At the same time, global governance presents problems because of its scale and its inaccessibility to citizens. This book describes the consequences of this dilemma—such as political cynicism and lack of democratic participation—and proposes ways of dealing with it.

Paehlke seeks a middle ground between those who reject globalization and those who claim that it will create the best of all possible worlds. Because there is no returning to a world that is less economically, culturally, and politically integrated, he argues, we should make every effort to advance global cooperation and equity. He suggests specific interventions that could be built into international trade agreements, including global minimum wages and provisos that natural commodities from developing economies such as energy and forest cuttings not be allowed to decline in price relative to the manufactured goods of more advanced economies. He also suggests ways to improve domestic democratic effectiveness. ... Read more

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The possibility of bringing the insights of modern political theory to bear on the problems of human ecology has long been plagued by disagreements over the category of nature itself. But with Denaturalizing Ecological Politics, Andrew Biro has found a way of rescuing environmentalism from the ideological trap of naturalism.

Biro develops an environmental political theory that takes seriously both the materiality of the ecological crises generated by industrial and post-industrial society and the anti-foundationalist critiques of ?nature? developed in postmodern social theory. He argues that the theoretical basis for ecological politics can be better advanced through the lens of alienation from nature, sidestepping some of the pitfalls of debates over conceptions of nature itself.

Biro traces the development of the concept of alienation from nature through four modern political thinkers ? Rousseau, Marx, Adorno, and Marcuse ? each of whom are read as arguing that human beings are not biologically separate from the rest of nature, but are nevertheless historically differentiated from it through the self-conscious transformation of the natural environment. In so doing, Biro provides the starting point for a ?denaturalized? rethinking of ecological politics.

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One of the major problems facing practitioners and scientists working with water management is how to integrate knowledge and experiences from scientific, policy and stakeholder perspectives. In this book this science-policy-stakeholder interface (SPSI) is examined both analytically and through the description of practical experiences from river basins in Europe, India and South-East Asia. These include the Tungabhadra (India), Sesan (Vietnam/Cambodia), Tagus (Spain/Portugal) and Glomma (Norway), which particularly highlight issues associated with pollution, severely altered river flows and transboundary conflicts.

Following two chapters which lay the framework for the book, the authors describe how SPSI was managed in the case study basins and how stakeholder participation and scenarios were used to integrate different perspectives, and to facilitate the communication of different forms of knowledge. Four important aspects of water management and SPSI are then discussed; these are water pollution, land and water interaction, environmental flow and transboundary water regimes. Short descriptions of the case study rivers are provided together with analyses of how SPSI was managed in water management in these basins and policy recommendations for the basins. The book concludes by providing a series of recommendations for improving the science-policy-stakeholder interface in water management. It represents a major step forward in our understanding of how to implement integrated water resources management. ... Read more

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The damaging environmental impact of urban transport, as recognised by the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, is a worsening global problem that needs to be tackled with local solutions. At the same time, urban transport has been causing serious local environmental problems, particularly in developing countries. This book was commissioned with the aim of helping to develop solutions by sharing experience from around the world.

Four extensive chapters by leading researchers give an overview of the problem, analyse structures and trends in urban transportation, list the various ways transport affects the environment, and critically review the whole range of policy countermeasures available.

The second half of the volume is given over to a uniquely valuable collection of case studies of 21 metropolises, carefully selected to provide a cross-section of different types of city from across the developing and developed world.The relevant characteristics of these cities are systematically described: socio-economic background; local condition of transport and the environment; policy planning, implementation, and evaluation, all with concrete examples.Key data are then presented in charts with a common structure to facilitate comparisons between cities. ... Read more

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It's one thing to be passionate about protecting the environment. It's another to be successful at it.In this book, Stroup expains why many of our environmental laws have failed us and how we might go about doing a better job protecting nature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Eco-nomics : What Everyone Should Know About Economics and the Enviroment
~Eco-nomics : What Everyone Should Know About Economics and the Enviroment~ adroitly illustrates the vitality of market processes and private property rights while making it clear that the market is not incompatible with civil society's desire to protect the environment.Far from being detrimental to the environment, a liberal market economy, particularly over time, serves our societal goal of environmental protection.Private property encourages good stewardship and accountability, and making more "commons" is not necessarily advantageous to cause of environmental protection by any means.Many laws have been enacted to preserve scenic natural beauty and prevent pollution, but such regulations often have unintended consequences.Richard Stroup opens with a straightforward introduction to economics and the problems posed such as scarcity, and the upside and downside to competition.Stroup astutely explains how free market exchange is conducive to a prosperous society. Stroup incisively explains the consequences of strict environmental protection or "protection at any cost" measures.They are quite a few ridiculous cases where overbearing regulators trample property rights and extort exorbitant sums of money from property owners-in the name of environmental protection.Stroup clearly ascertains why public policies that erode the protection of property rights actually serve to reduce the ability and incentive of owners to protect and conserve their resources.With innovate public policy solutions, however, society can set and attain reasonable environmental protection goals while not biting the hand that feeds it.Pollution credit charges and a trading system to exchange those credits have served well. He concludes that the burden of proof for a regulatory intrusion should be on the government, not on the private property owner.Nonetheless, Stroup surmises in the end that market solutions prove more effective than mindless intervention.

Good, But One Sided
This book is NOT about economics and the environment. It IS about the up-side of using property rights and free-market capitalism to resolve conflicts with environmental regulation. The book (actually a very long essay) is very well written, but it only presents one side of this debate; nothing wrong with that, everyone does it, but in this case it should be more clearly stated. For every example of where property rights and free-market environmentalism have worked, there are examples of where they didn't. PERC is not in the business however of presenting both sides, again; nothing wrong with that. However if you are looking for a book about the general considerations of economics and the environment, Try Bionomics: Economy As Ecosystem by Michael Rothschild or For the Common Good : Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future by Herman E. Daly. While both of these may be as biased to the other side of the issue, although I'm not sure what "the other side" is, they are much more about the use of economic theory to understand conflict resolution in environmental disputes.

Very Interesting!
Most people don't think economics is very interesting.In fact, they tend to think of economics as dry and boring.Professor Stroup has written a book that should reverse that thinking.He has taken his analytical skills as an economist and shown how the basic principles of that discipline are imperialistically invasive; that is, they can easily be applied to a broad range of topics, including the environment.

If you want to understand why some people, especially many economists, consider environmentalists to be somewhat hypocritical, this is the book to read.If you want to understand how and why even environmentalists can be at odds with one another, this is the book to read.If you want to see why economists enjoy practicing their discipline, this is the book to buy.It is not a long book, so if you want a quick lesson in basic economic principles couched in terms of an issue that should be of interest to most people, read this book.If you don?t like the book, donate your copy to a local library.I'm sure a lot of other folks in your community will find it interesting.

Economic realities of preserving the environment
Eco-nomics: What Everyone Should Know About Economics And The Environment by Richard L. Stroup (Professor of Economics, Montana State University) is a straightforward look at the practical and economic realities of preserving the environment, including learning from past mistakes and failed environmental laws, to balancing property rights and the necessities required to preserve habitats, to what truly constitutes judicious and effective use of government action. Eco-nomics is an insightful, timely, and welcome contribution to Environmental Studies reading lists and policy reference collection. ... Read more

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In this book Kerry Whiteside introduces the work of a range of French ecological theorists to an English-speaking audience. He shows how thinkers in France and in English-speaking countries have produced different strains of ecological thought and suggests that the work of French ecological theorists could lessen pervasive tensions in Anglophone ecology.Much of the theory written in English is shaped by the debate between anthropocentric ecologists, who contend that the value of our nonhuman surroundings derives from their role in fulfilling human interests, and ecocentric ecologists, who contend that the nonhuman world holds ultimate value in and of itself. This debate is almost nonexistent among French theorists, who tend to focus on the processes linking nature and human identity. Whiteside suggests that the insights of French theorists could help English-language theorists to extricate themselves from endless debates over the real center of nature’s value.Among the French theorists discussed are Denis de Rougemont, Denis Duclos, René Dumont, Luc Ferry, André Gorz, Félix Guattari, Bruno Latour, Alain Lipietz, Edgar Morin, Serge Moscovici, and Michel Serres. The English-language theorists discussed include John Barry, Robyn Eckersley, Robert Goodin, Tim Hayward, Holmes Rolston III, and Paul Taylor. ... Read more

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No less obscure
"Divided Natures: French Contributions to Political Ecology" covers a broad range of Gaulic political ecophilosophy over the past half century. While an interesting summary and exposition, the author, Kerry Whiteside, does little to hold the attention of the reader for any of several reasons.

I was particularly struck by the feeling that Whiteside has spent very little time exploring aspects of the natural world outside of his head. And therein lies the problem with his conclusions. It's like Alfred North Whitehead's comment of his friend, Bertrand Russell's first Harvard lecture on the Quantum Theory: "I'd like to thank Professor Russell for his brilliant exposition. And especially for leaving unobsecured the vast darkness of the subject."

Bernie Krause, PhD ... Read more

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This important new book addresses the prospects for reconciling economic competitiveness with sustainable development.It shows that we cannot simply assume that changes in public attitudes, business policies and government regulation will guarantee the conditions for long-term ecological, social and economic sustainability.

On the basis of new original case studies, the authors consider corporate environmental strategies, technological change and sustainability, and sustainable development as a social partnership between firms, citizens and government.They suggest that competitiveness must be considered as a dynamic process requiring proactive and reactive adjustments by business and government institutions all working towards sustainability.

Sustainability and Firms combines intellectual rigor with accessibility tocommunicate fundamental ideas to help policy decision makers, enterprise managers, environmental scientists and economists grapple effectively with the problems of competitiveness, technological change, strategies of firms, governance and sustainable development. ... Read more

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What impact do displaced people and refugees have on the place where they eke out a living from resources under pressure? Gaim Kibreab questions the degree of impact on land degradation by war-displaced Eritreans on the Gedaref region of the Sudan. Was land degradation on and around the scheme really due to humans and their livestock?North America: Africa World Press/Red Sea Press ... Read more

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As the twenty-first century dawns, public land policy is entering a new era. This timely book examines the historical, scientific, political, legal, and institutional developments that are changing management priorities and policies-developments that compel us to view the public lands as an integrated ecological entity and a key biodiversity stronghold.Once the background is set, each chapter opens with a specific natural resource controversy, ranging from the Pacific Northwest's spotted owl imbroglio to the struggle over southern Utah's Colorado Plateau country. Robert Keiter uses these case histories to analyze the ideas, forces, and institutions that are both fomenting and retarding change.Although Congress has the final say in how the public domain is managed, the public land agencies, federal courts, and western communities are each playing important roles in the transformation to an ecological management regime. At the same time, a newly emergent and homegrown collaborative process movement has given the public land constituencies a greater role in administering these lands. Arguing that we must integrate the new imperatives of ecosystem science with our devolutionary political tendencies, Keiter outlines a coherent new approach to natural resources policy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A case for local ecosystem collaboration
In this book, Robert Keiter reviews an extensive literature on ecosystem management in the United States, especially when ecosystems cross management or political boundaries. It's not obvious from the beginning, but he wants to make the case for a new approach to these transboundary problems - - an approach that reduces the role of federal agencies and increases the role of local citizens.

Keiter makes his argument through a series of case studies, too many to list here.The more famous cases include Yellowstone wolf reintroduction, the Northern spotted owl controversy, and wilderness designation in southern Utah.As background material, these cases are very good, and fairly thorough.Keiter's desire to tell the whole story in each case does mean that he gets distracted from the main line of his argument - - he'd rather relate additional details or discuss an important issue for the understanding of the individual case than trim the story down to the essentials.This makes the book longer than it need be for the overall argument, but useful as a reference for the cases.Whether he made the right choice or not depends on what you want out of the book.

The final prat of the book makes an argument for local collaboration as alternative to federal regulation.Keiter gives special attention to the work of the Quincy Library Group in the Sierra Nevada.The Quincy process includes environmentalists, extractive industries, recreationists and others in the community who try to reach a consensus on how to manage local public lands.Keiter uses that case to illuminate the political and legal challenges of ecosystem management in light of the political and legal framework that he discussed in earlier chapters.Though he recognizes its limitations and legal challenges, Keiter views this local collaboration as a more authentic, participatory form of democracy and thus a better way to manage ecosystems on public lands.

Clearly, these local processes can have the advantage of bringing in private land managers, though California's largest landowner (Sierra Pacific Industries) excludes its own lands from the Quincy Library Group discussions.My larger concern is that these local collaborations are only participatory for those who live locally.Those of us who visit public lands at a distance from our homes are excluded from the process.As a result, local economic interests will always receive greater weight in these collaborations than will wilderness designations, endangered species, and other national concerns.Keiter realizes this, but when the chips are down he sides with local participation over national environmental concerns.That's a defensible choice but will leave all of these collaborations open to lawsuits by national groups.

Whether you agree with him or not, Keiter has made a serious case here, and much of the background material is interesting for its own sake.I think it's longer than it needs to be, but the length does make the book a good source for its many case studies.
... Read more

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Why should any society take the decision to devote scarce resources,as a matter of public policy, to preserving natural objects? This isone of the questions considered in the field of environmental ethics,and the thinking that has taken place in this discipline has beendominated by the 'ecocentric-anthropocentric' distinction. Answersfocus on either 'intrinsic values in nature', or on the human welfarebenefits that will accrue from preservationist policies. These twoanswers are generally taken to be both mutually exclusive andcollectively exhaustive. Ecocentric writers believe that theirpreferred environmental ethic transcends anthropocentrism, whilst those who cleave to a more 'ecological humanist' position, view theturn to ecocentrism as at best an unnecessary diversion or at worst asa thinly disguised expression of misanthropy. ... Read more

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In this volume, scholars from around the region analyze the impacts of globalization on cities in the Asian Pacific region. It focuses on the region's specific urban concerns and on broader theoretical issues surrounding social and environmental conditions in major metropolitan centres. ... Read more

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Offers new insights into the study of social organisation and its effect on the environment. This groundbreaking volumes is an essential resource for students and researchers of IR, Environmental studies and Political Economy. ... Read more

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The prominent contributors in "Conservation Reconsidered" establish a fundamentally original view of the conservation movement and the impact of public policy on nature. This collection of essays articulate the belief that the thinkers and actors who helped develop the conservation movement-notably John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot and Aldo Leopold-have been seriously misunderstood by scholars who have analyzed them in the context of contemporary environmental debates. Conservationism, the contributors argue, was a diverse movement dealing with difficult questions about the relationship of human beings to nature in a modern liberal democratic state. The essays place conservationism within the framework of 19th century American political thinkers including Darwin, Emerson, Thoreau and Olmsted, and they illuminate perennial questions about citizenship and our place in the natural world. "Conservation Reconsidered" takes a new look at what is problematic about the legacy of American conservationism and explores worthy alternatives to the dominant environmentalist thinking of today. ... Read more

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While researching Russia's historical efforts to protect nature, Douglas Weiner unearthed unexpected findings: a trail of documents that raised fundamental questions about the Soviet political system. These surprising documents attested to the unlikely survival of a critical-minded, scientist-led movement through the Stalin years and beyond. It appeared that, within scientific societies, alternative visions of land use, resource exploitation, habitat protection, and development were sustained and even publicly advocated. In sharp contrast to known Soviet practices, these scientific societies prided themselves on their traditions of free elections, foreign contacts, and a pre-revolutionary heritage.

Weiner's ambitious goal is no less than to explain the intricacies of environmental activism under Stalin and his successors. He portrays the activists not as do-or-die resisters to the system, nor as inoffensive do-gooders. Rather, they were individuals who opened the discursive space and carved out independent social and professional identities within a system that prescribed official models of behavior, ethics, norms, and identity for all. Written in a lively style, this absorbing story tells for the first time how organized participation in nature protection provided an arena for affirming and perpetuating self-generated social identities and preserving a counterculture whose legacy survives today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Force of Nature:Environment as a Movement in Soviet Russia
A very needed contribution about a very important but little known part of modern Russia.From the druzhina movement to defeat of the "Project of the Century" that helped topple soviet dominance, the Russian loveof the environment has served as a source of strength and politicalexpression.A good antidote to the lingering cold war condescion stillkicking that there is nothing of value in Russian society.Dense reading,however, but good.An important historical source. ... Read more

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This book discusses important recent developments in the theory, concepts and empirical applications of ecological economics and sustainable development.The editors have assembled a fascinating collection of papers from some of the leading scholars in the field of ecological economics.

Topics covered include:

•the contribution of classical economics to ecological economics
•alternatives to the growth paradigm and Gross Domestic Product
•valuation in ecological economics and indicators of natural resource scarcity
•case studies of sustainable development
•critical reviews of the environmental Kuznets curve
•green national accounting.

This will be an invaluable text for scholars, policy analysts and students interested in sustainable development and ecological, environmental and resource economics. ... Read more

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Proponents of globalization argue that it protects the global environment from degradation and promotes worldwide sustainable economic growth while opponents argue the exact opposite. Examining the local, national, and international impacts of globalization, the Handbook of Globalization and the Environment explores strategies and solutions that support healthy economic growth, protect the environment, and create a more equitable world.

The book sets the stage with coverage of global environmental issues and policies. It explores international sustainable development, the evolution of global warming policy, transborder air pollution, desertification, space and the global environment, and human right to water. Building on this foundation, the editors discuss global environmental organizations and institutions with coverage of the UN's role in globalization, the trade-environment nexus, the emergence of NGOs, and an analysis of the state of global environmental knowledge and awareness from an international and comparative perspective.

Emphasizing the effects of increasingly integrated global economy on the environment and society, the book examines environmental management and accountability. It addresses green procurement, provides an overview of U.S. environmental regulation and the current range of voluntary and mandatory pollution prevention mechanisms in use, explores a two-pronged approach to establishing a sustainable procurement model, and examines a collaborative community-based approach to environmental regulatory compliance. The book concludes with an analysis of controversial issues, such as eco-terrorism, North-South disputes, environmental justice, the promotion of economic growth through globalization in less developed countries, and the ability of scientists to communicate ideas so that policy makers can use science in decision making. ... Read more

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Tony Prato and Dan Fagre offer the first systematic, multidisciplinary assessment of the challenges involved in managing the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem (CCE), an area of the Rocky Mountains that includes northwestern Montana, southwestern Alberta, and southeastern British Columbia. The spectacular landscapes, extensive recreational options, and broad employment opportunities of the CCE have made it one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States and Canada. They have also led to a shift in its economic base from extractive resource industries to service-oriented recreation and tourism industries. In the process, however, the amenities and attributes that draw people to this "New West" are under threat. Pastoral scenes are disappearing as agricultural lands and other open spaces are converted to residential uses, biodiversity is endangered by the fragmentation of fish and wildlife habitats, and many areas are experiencing a decline in air and water quality.

Sustaining Rocky Mountain Landscapes provides a scientific basis for communities to develop policies for managing the growth and economic transformation of the CCE without sacrificing the quality of life and environment for which the land is renowned. The book begins with a natural and economic history of the CCE, followed by an assessment of current physical and biological conditions. The contributors then explore how social, economic, demographic, and environmental forces are transforming ecosystem structure and function. They consider ecosystem change in response to changing patterns of land use, pollution, and drought; the increasing risk of wildfire to wildlife and to human life and property; and the implications of global climate change on the CCE. A final, policy-focused section of the book looks at transboundary issues in ecosystem management and evaluates the potential of community-based and adaptive approaches in ecosystem management.

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As the world's largest polluter and its wealthiest country, the US has a potentially enormous impact on international efforts to protect the environment. In this thought-provoking book, an international group of scholars examines how US foreign policy affects and is affected by global environmental change. Covering three broad areas - national security and geopolitics, domestic and international politics, and national interests and international obligations - the contributors examine a host of key issues, including ozone depletion and climate change, biodiversity and whale hunting, environmental and energy security, and international trade. They also raise moral issues associated with the United States' obligations to the rest of humanity. Because the environment has become an ever-more pressing issue at the diplomatic level, this book is aimed at policymakers, activists, and anyone interested in environmental change and international relations. ... Read more

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This book presents a uniquely comprehensive and balanced survey of current green political ideas. It analyzes the ability of these ideas to provide plausible answers to fundamental problems in political theory, concerning justice and democracy, individual rights and freedom, human nature and gender. The contributors, who come from a range of different disciplines, explore the relationship between green ideas and other traditions including liberalism, anarchism, feminism and Christianity. ... Read more