This text argues that environmental problems need to be looked at internationally, in terms of the global economic system, and that the degradation of the environment is not natural, but an historical process which is intrinsically linked and shaped by economic and political systems.

We live in a society as dominated by food preference as by sexual preference, as obsessed with eating too much as with eating too little. Food as the ultimate commodity in an economic system lies at the base of global development and interdependence; food, from cultivation to consumption, provides the chief link between humankind and the natural environment. Yet, technological advances - in genetics, agri-business and food processing - have combined with changing patterns of diet and (women's) employment to challenge our perception of the natural and of our position within a natural system....

This book marks a watershed in the social sciences. The qualitative, critical perspective of sociology and allied disciplines challenges the technocentric managerialism' which dominates environmental policy, its discourse and its impact.
The authors explore the relationship between social theory and sustainability in an attempt to transend technical rhetoric and embrace a broader understanding of nature'.

The concept of sustainability is traditionally viewed in exclusively environmental terms. Sustainability: Life Chances and Livelihoods links peoples livelihoods and life chances to the concept of sustainability by examining the way in which social and economic processes complement and compound environmental change. Looking at the main ingredients of sustainable development - health, economic policy, land use, ethics and education, in both the north and south, this book demonstrates the way in which the life chances of individuals both effect and are affected by, their environments....

In Chewing Gum, Michael Redclift deftly chronicles the growing popularity of gum in the U.S. alongside a fascinating history of peasant revolution led by charismatic Indians in the jungles of southern Mexico.

Without the creation of more sustainable livelihoods, sustainable development will remain a utopian and elusive goal. The author argues that the way we understand and think about the environment conditions our responses, and our ability to meet the challenge, and discusses tangible policies for increased sustainability.

Sustainable development cannot be achieved solely at the international level. Without the creation of more sustainable livelihoods, it will remain a utopian and elusive goal. Yet given the huge differences in economic development and levels of consumption between North and South, how might this be brought about? Taking the 1992 Rio Summit as its point of departure, Wasted examines what we now need to know, and what we need to do, to live within sustainable limits. One of the key issues is how we use the environment: converting natural resources into human artifices, commodities and services....