In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement. Every Species is a Masterpiece brings together some of Edward O. Wilson's most profound and significant writings on the rich diversity of life on Earth, our place in it, and our obligation to conserve the planet's fragile ecosystems. Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.

Once confined to the research laboratory, the genetic engineering of plants is now a big business that is changing the face of modern agriculture. Giant corporations are creating designer crops with strange powers, from cholesterol-reducing soybeans to plants that act as miniature drug factories, churning out everything from vaccines to insulin. They promise great benefits: better health for consumers, more productive agriculture - even an end to world hunger. But the vision has a dark side, one of profit-driven tampering with life and the possible destruction of entire ecosystems. In this text Daniel Charles takes us deep inside research labs, farm sheds and corporate boardrooms to reveal the hidden story behind this agricultural revolution. He tells how a handful of scientists at Monsanto drove biotechnology from the lab into the field, and how the company's opponents are fighting back with every tool available to them, including the cynical manipulation of public fears. A dramatic account of boundless ambition, political intrigue and the quest for knowledge, this is ultimately a story of idealism and of conflicting dreams about the shape of a better world.

The first in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's representations of climate and the sky While ecocritical approaches to literary texts receive more and more attention, climate-related issues remain fairly neglected, particularly in the field of Shakespeare studies. This monograph explores the importance of weather and changing skies in early modern England while acknowledging the fact that traditional representations and religious beliefs still fashioned people's relations to meteorological phenomena. At the same time, a growing number of literati stood against determinism and defended free will, thereby insisting on the ability to act upon celestial forces. Sophie Chiari argues that Shakespeare reconciles the scholarly approaches of his time with popular views rooted in superstition and promotes a sensitive, pragmatic understanding of climatic events. Taking into account the influence of classical thought, each of the book's seven chapters addresses a different play where sky-related topics are crucial and considers the way climatic phenomena were presented on stage and how they came to shape the production and reception of Shakespeare's drama. Key Features Offers an all-encompassing approach on early modern climate in Shakespeare Redefines the notion of 'climate' as Shakespeare's contemporaries understood it Suggests new hermeneutic tracks to understand Shakespeare's major comedies and tragedies Probes environmental issues in Shakespeare's plays and, in doing so, echoes major concerns of the present time

This booklet offers an unique presentation of the unfolding of our universe. It interweaves the insights of contemporary science with Christian faith, and reveals the divine orchestration of the Creation Story in a dramatic, fresh and appealing way. Part One offers a brief background to the new story of creation which has emerged over the past century with the discovery of the expanding universe. We now know that the universe is 13.8 billion years old. Part Two takes the reader through thirty stages of the development of the cosmos and of our Earth from the big bang to the present day. Each stage is succinctly outlined and offers material for prayerful pondering.

A new expanded and illustrated edition of the history-making speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young activist who has become the voice of a generation 'We are the change and change is coming' In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day. A year later, she was joined in her strike by over seven million people around the world. This is the record of a game-changing year in the fight against the climate crisis. Collecting the speeches that sparked a global movement, and iconic images of those who made it happen, No One Is Too Small to Make A Difference is a rallying cry for why we must all wake up and fight to protect the living planet, no matter how powerless we feel. Our future depends upon it. With new speeches from Vienna, Paris, New York and Montreal

Howard T. Odum possessed one of the most innovative minds of the twentieth century. He pioneered the fields of ecological engineering, ecological economics, and environmental accounting, working throughout his life to better understand the interrelationships of energy, environment, and society and their importance to the well-being of humanity and the planet.

This volume is a major modernization of Odum's classic work on the significance of power and its role in society, bringing his approach and insight to a whole new generation of students and scholars. For this edition Odum refines his original theories and introduces two new measures: emergy and transformity. These concepts can be used to evaluate and compare systems and their transformation and use of resources by accounting for all the energies and materials that flow in and out and expressing them in equivalent ability to do work. Natural energies such as solar radiation and the cycling of water, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are diagrammed in terms of energy and emergy flow. Through this method Odum reveals the similarities between human economic and social systems and the ecosystems of the natural world. In the process, we discover that our survival and prosperity are regulated as much by the laws of energetics as are systems of the physical and chemical world.

Moving between ancient and modern sources, philosophy and theology, and science and popular culture, Sean McGrath offers a genuinely new reflection on what it means to be human in an era of climate change, mass extinction and geoengineering. Engaging with contemporary thinkers in eco-criticism, including Timothy Morton, Bruno Latour and Slavoj Zizek, McGrath argues for a distinctive role for the human being in the universe: the human being is nature come to full consciousness. McGrath's compelling case for a new Anthropocenic humanism is founded on a reverence for nature, a humanism that is not at the expense of nature, and a naturalism that is not at the expense of the human.

A major study of environmentalism and Islam in practice and theory, with an historical overview that sets out future challenges, including reformulating the fiqh or Islamic legal tradition to take the ecological dimension seriously. In addressing this book to the one billion Muslims in the world it has the potential to reinvigorate the desire for environmental change in a community that is ignored at the planets peril. In arguing that modernity, consumerism and industrialisation need to be rethought, alongside an appeal to reconnect man and woman with creation in the divine order, this book has the potential to transform a generation. In the same way that Naomi Klein's This Changes Everything presented the argument for environmental action in a Capitalist framework, Fazlun Khalid has written a book that demands action from those whose primary orientation is towards the Islamic faith.

The town of Longyearbyen in the high Arctic is the world's northernmost settlement. Here, climate change is happening fast. It is clearly seen and sensed by the locals; with higher temperatures, more rain and permafrost thaw. At the same time, the town is shifting from state-controlled coal production to tourism, research and development, rapidly globalising, with numerous languages spoken, cruise ships sounding the horn in the harbour and planes landing and taking off. Zdenka Sokolí�ková lived here between 2019 and 2021, and her research in the community uncovered a story about the conflict between sustainability and the driving forces of politics and economy in the rich global North. A small town of 2,400 inhabitants at 78 degrees latitude north on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, Longyearbyen provided a unique view into the unmistakable relationship between global capitalism and climate change. The Paradox of Svalbard looks at both local and global trends to access a deep understanding of the effects of tourism, immigration, labour and many other elements on the trajectory of climate crisis, and whether anything can be done to reverse them.

Can democrats be environmentalists? Democracy and the Claims of Nature tackles the core questions raised by the intersection of our democratic and environmental commitments, including the conceptual and practical connections between democratic theory and environmental ethics, the potential for an environmentally defined democratic citizenship, the concerns of equity and justice in environmental discourse and policy making, and the shape and future of democratic environmental movements. The prominent contributors-philosophers, political theorists, and social scientists-engage both the complexities and the possibilities of a robustly democratic environmentalism, and each offers their own unique insights into the particular challenges that flow from the intermingling of environmental ethics and politics. Taken together, the essays provide an indispensable multidisciplinary analysis of the ways in which our loyalties to democracy and the environment confront and mutually reinforce one another in theory and practice. Democracy and the Claims of Nature will be of great interest not only to students and educators in environmental studies, American political thought, and democratic theory, but to environmental professionals and citizens concerned about the health of both our democratic ideas and institutions and the environment in the 21st Century.

The sustainability challenges of yesterday have become today's resilience crises. National and global efforts have failed to stop climate change, transition from fossil fuels, and reduce inequality. We must now confront these and other increasingly complex problems by building resilience at the community level. But what does that mean in practice, and how can it be done in a way that's effective and equitable? The Community Resilience Reader offers a new vision for creating resilience, through essays by leaders in such varied fields as science, policy, community building, and urban design. The Community Resilience Reader combines a fresh look at the challenges humanity faces in the 21st century, the essential tools of resilience science, and the wisdom of activists, scholars, and analysts working with community issues on the ground. It shows that resilience is a process, not a goal; how resilience requires learning to adapt but also preparing to transform; and that resilience starts and ends with the people living in a community. Despite the formidable challenges we face, The Community Resilience Reader shows that building strength and resilience at the community level is not only crucial, but possible. From Post Carbon Institute, the producers of the award-winning The Post Carbon Reader, The Community Resilience Reader is a valuable resource for students, community leaders, and concerned citizens.

In Cultural Encounters with the Environment, a distinguished group of contributors offers a fresh and original view of contemporary geography. The authors explore the role of four traditional themes in the Onew cultural geographyO: the interplay between the evolution of particular biophysical niches and the activities of the culture groups that inhabit them; the diffusion of cultural traits; the establishment and definition of culture areas; and the distinctive mix of geographical characteristics that gives places their special character in relation to one another. By examining how cultural space is constructed; how environment is remade, understood, and imaged as a consequence; and how people lay claim to place, this volume establishes a compelling case for the importance of these enduring concepts to present and future trajectories in cultural geography.

The first edited collection to bring ecocritical studies into a necessary dialogue with postcolonial literature, this volume offers rich and suggestive ways to explore the relationship between humans and nature around the globe, drawing from texts from Africa and the Caribbean, as well as the Pacific Islands and South Asia. Turning to contemporary works by both well- and little-known postcolonial writers, the diverse contributions highlight the literary imagination as crucial to representing what Eduoard Glissant calls the "aesthetics of the earth." The essays are organized around a group of thematic concerns that engage culture and cultivation, arboriculture and deforestation, the lives of animals, and the relationship between the military and the tourist industry. With chapters that address works by J. M. Coetzee, Kiran Desai, Derek Walcott, Alejo Carpentier, Zakes Mda, and many others, Postcolonial Ecologies makes a remarkable contribution to rethinking the role of the humanities in addressing global environmental issues.

As seen on Oprah's Book Club! The #1 New Zealand Bestseller! Discover how to live a happier life - simple, traditional wisdom for difficult modern times. Aroha is an ancient Maori word and way of thinking. Maori psychiatrist Dr Hinemoa Elder explores how Aroha can help us all by sharing 52 thought-provoking whakatauki, traditional Maori life lessons - one for each week of the year. Discover how we can all find greater contentment and kindness for ourselves, each other and our world by understanding how we might invite the values of Aroha into our daily lives. Ki te kotahi te kakaho ka whati, ki te kapuia, e kore e whati. When we stand alone we are vulnerable but together we are unbreakable.

Economic growth, progress, industry and, erm, stuff have all come in for a sharp kicking from the green left and beyond in recent years. Everyone from black-hoodied Starbucks window-smashers to farmers' market heirloom-tomato-mongers to Prince Charles himself seem to be embracing 'degrowth' and anti-consumerism, which is nothing less than a form of ecological austerity. Meanwhile, the back-to-the-land ideology and aesthetic of locally-woven organic carrot-pants, pathogen-encrusted compost toilets and civilisational collapse is hegemonic. Yet modernity is not the cause of climate change and the wider biocrisis. It is indeed capitalism that is the source of our environmental woes, but capitalism as a mode of production, not the fuzzy understanding of capitalism of Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, Derrick Jensen, Paul Kingsnorth and their anarcho-liberal epigones as a sort of globalist corporate malfeasance. In combative and puckish style, science journalist Leigh Phillips marshals evidence from climate science, ecology, paleoanthropology, agronomy, microbiology, psychology, history, the philosophy of mathematics, and heterodox economics to argue that progressives must rediscover their historic, Promethean ambitions and counter this reactionary neo-Malthusian ideology that not only retards human flourishing, but won't save the planet anyway. We want to take over the machine and run it rationally, not turn the machine off.

'An inspiring rallying cry for activists everywhere to work together to build a just, ecosocialist future' - Grace Blakeley Time is up. The climate crisis is no longer a future to be feared, but a devastating reality. We see it in the wildfires in California and floods across Britain - the 'once in a generation' extreme weather events that now happen every year. In a world where those in charge are constantly letting us down, real change in our lifetime means taking power into our own hands. The task ahead of us is daunting, but the emergence of a new wave of movements focused on climate justice, equality and solidarity also brings hope. Asking how we have arrived at this moment, Chris Saltmarsh argues that the profoundly political nature of the environmental crisis has been relentlessly downplayed. After all, how can solar panels save us while capitalism places profit over the future of the planet? Analysing the failures of NGOs, the limitations of Extinction Rebellion and Youth Strikes, the role of trade unions, and the possibilities of a Green New Deal, Burnt issues a powerful call for a radical collective movement: saving the world is not enough; we must build a better one in the process.

In the encyclical Laodato Si, Pope Francis describes the earth as 'the new poor', opening it up as a place in need of liberation. The fate of the poor, the marginalised, and those on the wrong side of the western colonial project is inextricably tied up with the fate of the planet. In A Liberation for the Earth Anupama Ranawana explores the nexus between climate, race and the liberative potential of the cross. Reflecting on the entanglement between colonialization and the destruction of the planet, she considers how this entanglement is played out and resisted within faith based and secular ecological justice movements in Canada, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.

"A Companion to Environmental Philosophy" is a pioneering work in the burgeoning field of environmental philosophy. This ground-breaking volume contains thirty-six original articles exemplifying the rich diversity of scholarship in this field.

The volume begins by exploring environmental philosophy and the cultural traditions from which it springs. After discussing its roots, and then looking at contemporary environmental ethics, environmental philosophy is brought into conversation with other fields and disciplines such as literature, economics, ecology, and law. The last section focuses on the environmental problems that stimulate current debates.

This "Companion" is an indispensable reference book for students and researchers in environmental philosophy. It will be enjoyed by anyone who is interested in environmental affairs.

The most significant shift in environmental governance over the last thirty years has been the convergence of environmental and liberal economic norms toward "liberal environmentalism" -- which predicates environmental protection on the promotion and maintenance of a liberal economic order. Steven Bernstein assesses the reasons for this historical shift, introduces a socio-evolutionary explanation for the selection of international norms, and considers the implications for our ability to address global environmental problems.

The author maintains that the institutionalization of "sustainable development" at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) legitimized the evolution toward liberal environmentalism. Arguing that most of the literature on international environmental politics is too rationalist and problem-specific, Bernstein challenges the mainstream thinking on international cooperation by showing that it is always for some purpose or goal. His analysis of the norms that guide global environmental policy also challenges the often-presumed primacy of science in environmental governance.

This book invites readers to think of Mediterranean cultures as interconnected worlds, seen in light of how they evolve, disappear, are reborn and perpetually transform. This perspective intends to build bridges between the Northern and Southern coasts of the sea in order to broaden and deepen our understanding of current evolutions in Mediterranean worlds, at the cultural, literary, artistic and geopolitical levels. As Paul Valery suggested, we can consider this plural space from the perspective of the intense cultural, economic and human exchanges which have always characterized the Mare Nostrum. We can also consider Mediterranean worlds within an open enactive process, deeply exploring their evolution between nature and culture, examining the natural environment and the transforming relationships between humans and non-humans. The writers and researchers in Re-storying Mediterranean Worlds call for a dialog between the two coasts in order to connect what has been broken. In this volume, they highlight an intercultural and creolized conscience, traversing the Mediterranean worlds - including Italian, French and Tunisian cultures, but also migrations from, to and within the region - and transcending any idea of communitarian withdrawal. These essays express the urgent need to shift from an understanding of migration as suffering to the notion that mobility is an unalienable right, building foundations for a new idea of global citizenship.

Reimagining Urban Nature questions some of the underlying imaginaries which have for so long allowed us humans to develop technologically at great cost to the more-than-human world and ourselves. In urban places, cultural and more-than-human entities are in frequent contact; however, the non-human is often seen as expendable in these human-centric places. While much important work has been done on improving care for the more rural and wild areas of the globe, to really address environmental damage we must work towards reimagining the city. These are places where the majority of people live and work, and where the majority of decisions are made about the care and protection of many environments within and beyond the city. This book contributes to the still under-developed field of urban ecocriticism by adding a posthumanist perspective, as well as expanding current discussions within urban studies and environmental activism that seek to shift political and cultural imaginaries of urban nature. Importantly, this investigation is grounded in the Australian (and more broadly, the Australasian) context to allow for the analysis of a more diverse set of voices, texts and ecologies in an area still dominated by the northern hemisphere and the Global North.

Nature on the brink? Maybe not. With so much bad news in the world, we forget how much environmental progress has been made. In a narrative that reaches from Native American tribal practices to public health and commercial hunting, Wild at Heart shows how western attitudes towards nature have changed dramatically in the last five hundred years. The Chinook gave thanks for King Salmon's gifts. The Puritans saw Nature as a frightening wilderness, full of 'uncooked meat.' With the industrial revolution, nature was despoiled and simultaneously celebrated as a source of the sublime. With little forethought and great greed, Americans killed the last passenger pigeon, wiped out the old growth forests, and dumped so much oil in the rivers that they burst into flame. But in the span of a few decades, our relationship with nature has evolved to a more sophisticated sense of interdependence that brings us full circle. Across the US, people are taking individual action, planting native species and fighting for projects like dam removal and wolf restoration. Cities are embracing nature, too. Humans can learn from the past, and our choices today will determine whether nature survives. Like the First Nations, all nations must come to deep agreement that nature needs protection. This compelling book reveals both how we got here and our own and nature's astonishing ability to mutually regenerate.

Plants are silent, still, or move slowly; we do not have the sense that they accompany us, or even perceive us. But is there something that plants are telling us? Is there something about how they live and connect, how they relate to the world and other plants that can teach us about ecological thinking, about ethics and politics? Grounded in Thoreau's ecology and in contemporary plant studies, Dispersion: Thoreau and Vegetal Thought offers answers to those questions by pondering such concepts as co-dependence, the continuity of life forms, relationality, cohabitation, porousness, fragility, the openness of beings to incessant modification by other beings and phenomena, patience, waiting, slowness and receptivity.

A political history of environmental policy and regulation in California, from the Gold Rush to the present Over the course of its 150-year history, California has successfully protected its scenic wilderness areas, restricted coastal oil drilling, regulated automobile emissions, preserved coastal access, improved energy efficiency, and, most recently, addressed global climate change. How has this state, more than any other, enacted so many innovative and stringent environmental regulations over such a long period of time? The first comprehensive look at California's history of environmental leadership, California Greenin' shows why the Golden State has been at the forefront in setting new environmental standards, often leading the rest of the nation. From the establishment of Yosemite, America's first protected wilderness, and the prohibition of dumping gold-mining debris in the nineteenth century to sweeping climate- change legislation in the twenty-first, David Vogel traces California's remarkable environmental policy trajectory. He explains that this pathbreaking role developed because California had more to lose from environmental deterioration and more to gain from preserving its stunning natural geography. As a result, citizens and civic groups effectively mobilized to protect and restore their state's natural beauty and, importantly, were often backed both by business interests and bystrong regulatory authorities. Business support for environmental regulation in California reveals that strict standards are not only compatible with economic growth but can also contribute to it. Vogel also examines areas where California has fallen short, particularly in water management and the state's dependence on automobile transportation. As environmental policy debates continue to grow more heated, California Greenin' demonstrates that the Golden State's impressive record of environmental accomplishments holds lessons not just for the country but for the world.

With its wireless networks encompassing the globe, the Digital Revolution is altering the very fabric of our lives with alarming rapidity. New technologies are bringing about an ever closer union between human beings and machines, whilst at the same time transforming our planet into an increasingly hybrid 'cyber-physical' world. The current rollout of fifth generation wireless communication networks, or 5G, is central to the project to create a global 'electronic ecosystem', in which we will be obliged to live. This will provide the basis for an all-pervasive Internet of Things, and the widespread integration of Augmented and Virtual Reality into human experience. But what genuine human needs will this serve? Does the planet really need to be made 'smart'? Will our health, and that of other living creatures, really be unaffected by exposure to escalating levels of electromagnetic radiation? As we enter a new era of extreme technology, driven by a momentum that seems beyond the constraint of any spiritual or moral consideration, both human beings and nature face an unprecedented challenge. Jeremy Naydler argues that it is a challenge that can only be met through a re-affirmation of essential human values and the recovery of a sacred view of nature. From this grounding, we can work towards a truly human future that, rather than creating yet more pollution and toxicity, will bring blessing to the natural world to which we belong.