Global Environmental Politics: From Person to Planet

ISBN-13: 9781612056494 / Angielski / Miękka / 2014 / 355 str.

Paul Wapner; Simon Nicholson

Opis

Today's students want to understand not only the causes and character of global environmental problems like climate change, species extinction, and freshwater scarcity, but also what to do about them. This book offers the most comprehensive, fair-minded, accessible, and forward-looking text for introducing students to the challenge of global environmental protection. Drawing on a diverse range of voices, the book sequentially explains our current predicament, examines what is being done to respond at a variety of levels from the international to the local, and outlines different, relevant strategic choices for genuine political engagement. Developed by two top researchers and master teachers of global environmental politics, the book brings together sharply written introductory essays with tightly edited selections from a broad cross section of thinkers to provide a text that will excite and educate students of global environmental affairs. In addition, the book introduces a series of exercises designed specifically to help students draw connections between their own lives and the broader challenge of global sustainability. Global Environmental Politics: From Person to Planet finally answers the question of how to teach students about environmental harm with a sober sense of ecological reality, a firm grasp on politics, and an optimistic look toward the future.

Spis treści

Introduction: Living in an Environmental Age
PART I: STATE OF THE PLANET
Section 1: Species Unbound: Humanity's Environmental Impact
Introduction
1. Enter the Anthropocene, Elizabeth Kolbert
2. State of the Species, Charles C. Mann
3. Humanity's Potential, Alex Steffen
Section 1 Exercise: "The Time Machine"

Section 2: Four Planetary Challenges: Climate, Extinction, Water, and Food
Introduction
4. Global Warming's Terrifying New Math, Bill McKibben
5. End of the Wild, Stephen M. Meyer
6. Where Has All the Water Gone? Maude Barlow
7. The Global Food Crisis, Lester Brown
Section 2 Exercise: "Fries with That? Tracing Personal Consumption"

Section 3: Causes of Environmental Harm
Introduction
8. Too Many Americans? Thomas Friedman
9. A Finite Earth? Bill McKibben
10. Consequences of Consumerism, Erik Assadourian
11. Use Energy, Get Rich, and Save the Planet, John Tierney
Section 3 Exercise: "Where do Babies Come From? The Causes of Population Growth"

PART II: STATES, MARKETS, AND SOCIETY: GEOPOLITICAL RESPONSES TO UNSUSTAINABILITY
Section 4: International State System
Introduction
12. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
13. Brief History of International Environmental Cooperation, Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne
14. What's Wrong with Climate Politics? Paul Harris
15. State Sovereignty Endangers the Planet, Richard Falk
Section 4 Exercise: "Talking with the United Nations"

Section 5: Economy
Introduction
16. The Promise of Corporate Environmentalism, Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister
17. Environmental Economics 101: Overcoming Market Failures, Paul Krugman
18. Capitalism vs. Climate, Naomi Klein
Section 5 Exercise: "What's for Dinner?"

Section 6: Civil Society
Introduction
19. The Power of Environmental Activism, Paul Hawken
20. Forcing Cultural Change, Paul Wapner
21. The Wrong Kind of Green, Johann Hari
Section 6 Exercise: "Unpacking the NGO World and Taking Action"

Section 7: Race, Class, and Geopolitical Difference
Introduction
22. The Delusion of Sustainable Growth, Herman E. Daly
23. Who is an Economy For? Rethinking GDP, Jonathan Rowe
24. One Atmosphere, Two Worlds, Peter Singer
25. Environmental Colonialism: The Perverse Politics of Climate Change, Anil Agarwal and Sunita Narain
26. Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement, Robert Bullard
Section 7 Exercise: "A Toxic Thank You"

PART III: FROM PERSON TO PLANET: INTO A LIVABLE FUTURE
Section 8: Thinking Strategically
Introduction
27. Leverage Points Toward a Sustainable World, Donella H. Meadows
28. Plant a Tree, Buy a Bike, Save the World? Michael F. Maniates
29. The Poverty of Lifestyle Change, Paul Wapner and John Willoughby
30. Why Bother? Michael Pollan
Section 8 Exercise: "Two Minutes to Sustainability: Moving Governments, the Economy, and Public"

Section 9: Political Imagination
Introduction
31. Island Civilization: 1,000 Years into the Future, Roderick Frazier Nash
32. A is for Acid Rain, B is for Bee, Joanne Harris
33. The Future is Local, Wendell Berry
34. Technological Salvation, Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus
35. Geoengineering: Reformatting the Planet for Climate Protection? Simon Nicholson
36. Humility in a Climate Age, Paul Wapner
37. How to be Hopeful, Barbara Kingsolver
Section 9 Exercise: "Calling All Earthlings: Self and Planetary Stewardship"

O autorze

Simon Nicholson is Assistant Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics program in the School of International Service at American University. His research, teaching, and public engagement center on global food politics and the politics of emerging technologies, with a focus most recently on climate geoengineering technologies.

Paul Wapner is Professor of Global Environmental Politics in the School of International Service at American University and author of Living Through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism and Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics. His research focuses on Environmental Thought, Transnational Environmental Activism, Environmental Ethics, and Global Environmental Politics.