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Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmentalist thought & ideology
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.
An Anthropogenic Table of Elements provides a contemporary
rethinking of Dmitri Mendeleev's periodic table of elements,
bringing together "elemental" stories to reflect on everyday life
in the Anthropocene. Concise and engaging, this book provides
stories of scale, toxicity, and temporality that extrapolate on
ideas surrounding ethics, politics, and materiality that are
fundamental to this contemporary moment. Examining elemental
objects and forces, including carbon, mould, cheese, ice, and
viruses, the contributors question what elemental forms are still
waiting to emerge and what political possibilities of justice and
environmental reparation they might usher into the world. Bringing
together anthropologists, historians, and media studies scholars,
this book tests a range of possible ways to tabulate and narrate
the elemental as a way to bring into view fresh discussion on
material constitutions and, thereby, new ethical stances,
responsibilities, and power relations. In doing so, An
Anthropogenic Table of Elements demonstrates through elementality
that even the smallest and humblest stories are capable of powerful
effects and vast journeys across time and space.
HOW NATURE MATTERS presents an original theory of nature's value
based on part-whole relations. James argues that when natural
things have cultural value, they do not always have it as means to
valuable ends. In many cases, they have value as parts of valuable
wholes - as parts of traditions, for instance, or cultural
identities. James develops his theory by investigating twelve
real-world cases, ranging from the veneration of sacred trees to
the hunting of dugongs. He also analyses some key policy-related
debates and explores various fundamental issues in environmental
philosophy, including the question of whether anything on earth
qualifies as natural. This accessible, engagingly written book will
be essential reading for all those who wish to understand the moral
and metaphysical dimensions of environmental issues.
This new critical volume presents various perspectives on teaching
and teacher education in the face of the global climate crisis,
environmental degradation, and social injustice. Teaching in the
Anthropocene calls for a reorientation of the aims of teaching so
that we might imagine multiple futures in which children, youths,
and families can thrive amid a myriad of challenges related to the
earth's decreasing habitability.Referring to the uncertainty of the
time in which we live and teach, the term Anthropocene is used to
acknowledge anthropogenic contributions to the climate crisis and
to consider and reflect on the emotional responses to adverse
climate events. The text begins with the editors' discussion of
this contested term and then moves on to make the case that we must
decentre anthropocentric models in teacher education praxis. The
four thematic parts include chapters on the challenges to teacher
education practice and praxis, affective dimensions of teaching in
the face of the global crisis, relational pedagogies in the
Anthropocene, and ways to ignite the empathic imaginations of
tomorrow's teachers. Together the authors discuss new theoretical
eco-orientations and describe innovative pedagogies that create
opportunities for students and teachers to live in greater harmony
with the more-than-human world. This incredibly timely volume will
be essential to pre- and in-service teachers and teacher educators.
FEATURES: Offers critical reflections on anthropocentrism from
multiple perspectives in education, including continuing education,
educational organization, K-12, post-secondary, and more Includes
accounts that not only deconstruct the disavowal of the climate
crisis in schools but also articulate an ecosophical approach to
education Features discussion prompts in each chapter to enhance
student engagement with the material
Spearheading Environmental Change: The Legacy of Indiana
Congressman Floyd J. Fithian describes the life of a four-term
United States congressman, focusing on his role in the emerging
environmental movement in late twentieth-century America.
Spearheading Environmental Change highlights Fithian's legislative
efforts regarding three water-related issues that profoundly
concerned Hoosier and midwestern voters: creating a national park
on the Indiana shoreline of Lake Michigan; canceling dam
construction near Purdue University; and mitigating flooding in the
Kankakee River Basin. The book also covers Fithian's positions on
ecologically sensitive issues such as pesticides, noise pollution,
fossil fuels, and nuclear power. Largely remembered for his
participation in the Democratic reform wave that took over Congress
in 1975 post-Watergate (the so-called Class of '74) and as an
advocate for Hoosier farmers, Fithian has been overlooked for his
role as a force to be reckoned with on the House floor when it came
to the nation's environmental challenges. Fithian was a highly
ethical, pragmatic reformer bent on preserving his country's
natural resources. Spearheading Environmental Change gives Fithian
the credit he deserves as an environmental warrior on the national
stage.
Bringing together two parallel and occasionally intersecting
disciplines - the environmental and medical humanities - this
field-defining handbook reveals our ecological predicament to be a
simultaneous threat to human health. The book: * Represents the
first collection to bring the environmental humanities and medical
humanities into conversation in a systematic way * Features
contributions from a wide range of interdisciplinary perspectives
including literary studies, environmental ethics and philosophy,
cultural history and sociology * Adopts a truly global approach,
examining contexts including, but not limited to, North America,
the UK, Africa, Latin America, South Asia, Turkey and East Asia *
Touches on issues and approaches such as narrative medicine,
ecoprecarity, toxicity, mental health, and contaminated
environments. Showcasing and surveying a rich spectrum of issues
and methodologies, this book looks not only at where research
currently is at the intersection of these two important fields, but
also at where it is going.
The captivating inside story of the man who helmed National
Geographic over the course of six decades is a front-row seat to
iconic feats of exploration, from the successful hunt for the
Titanic to Jane Goodall's field studies, offering a rare portrait
of one of the most iconic media empires in history and making an
impassioned argument for our enduring need to know and care for our
world. Though his career path had been paved by four generations of
his family before him, Gilbert M. Grosvenor left his own mark on
the National Geographic Society, founded in 1888 and recognised the
world over by its ubiquitous yellow border. In an unflinchingly
honest memoir as big as the world and all that is in it, Grosvenor
shows us what it was like to "grow up Geographic" in a family home
where explorers like Robert Peary, Louis Leakey, and Jane Goodall
regularly crossed the threshold. As staff photographer, editor in
chief and then president of the organisation, Grosvenor oversaw the
diversification into television, film, books, as well as its
flagship magazine, which under his tenure reached a peak
circulation of nearly 11 million. He also narrates the shift from a
nonprofit, family-focused enterprise to the more corporate,
bottom-line focused world of publishing today. For Grosvenor,
running National Geographic wasn't just a job. It was a legacy,
motivated by a passion not just to leave the world a better place,
but to motivate others to do so, too. Filled with world travel,
charismatic explorers, and the complexities of running a publishing
empire, A MAN OF THE WORLD is the story of one man, a singular
family business, and the changing face of American media.
This book was written during the lockdown caused by the Covid
crisis: streets were emptied, churches closed down, and all of a
sudden we began to hear the sounds of nature. A new relationship
with nature developed in which new questions arose: is God present
in nature? Is communion with God in nature possible? Is there a
relationship between the God of creation, the God of history and
the God we worship in Sunday liturgies. This book seeks to explore
some of these questions by going back to the Bible. In the Old
Testament it discovers texts that talk about Nature praising God.
In the Christian tradition it shows that nature is understood as a
living community, is graced by God, and has a sacramental character
to it. More particularly the Incarnation of the Word made flesh in
Jesus is of profound significance for a new understanding of nature
and the way we worship. The Incarnation reveals the integrity of
nature, the sacred character of the natural world and the presence
of some form of 'interiority' in the life of nature An awareness of
nature praising God stands out as a rebuke of humanity's
self-absorption at the expense of other creatures, a critique of a
man-centred view of liturgy, and an invitation to join the cosmic
choir in giving glory to God . The overall result of these
explorations is the outline of a new theology of nature praising
God, with lessons for the way we worship God in our churches today.
'Beautifully written, intimate and intellectually fascinating'
Nathan Filer 'This book represents, genuinely, a moment of
ground-breaking importance for how we think about nature, access
and wellbeing in late capitalism' Dr Alice Tarbuck 'Impeccably
researched . . . A call to us all to find a place within the
simplicity and complexity of nature' Lara Maiklem, bestselling
author of Mudlarking Everybody is talking about the healing
properties of nature. Hospitals are being retrofitted with gardens,
and forests reimagined as wellbeing centres. On the Shetland
Islands, it is possible to walk into a doctor's surgery with
anxiety or depression, and walk out with a prescription for nature.
Where has this come from, and what does 'going to nature' mean?
Where is it - at the end of a garden, beyond the tarmac fringes of
a city, at the summit of a mountain? Drawing on history, science,
literature and art, Samantha Walton shows that the nature cure has
deep roots - but, as we face an unprecedented crisis of mental
health, social injustice and environmental devastation, the search
for it is more urgent now than ever. Everybody Needs Beauty engages
seriously with the connection between nature and health, while
scrutinising the harmful trends of a wellness industry that seeks
to exploit our relationship with the natural world. In doing so,
this book explores how the nature cure might lead us towards a more
just and radical way of life: a real means of recovery, for people,
society and nature.
Spearheading Environmental Change: The Legacy of Indiana
Congressman Floyd J. Fithian describes the life of a four-term
United States congressman, focusing on his role in the emerging
environmental movement in late twentieth-century America.
Spearheading Environmental Change highlights Fithian's legislative
efforts regarding three water-related issues that profoundly
concerned Hoosier and midwestern voters: creating a national park
on the Indiana shoreline of Lake Michigan; canceling dam
construction near Purdue University; and mitigating flooding in the
Kankakee River Basin. The book also covers Fithian's positions on
ecologically sensitive issues such as pesticides, noise pollution,
fossil fuels, and nuclear power. Largely remembered for his
participation in the Democratic reform wave that took over Congress
in 1975 post-Watergate (the so-called Class of '74) and as an
advocate for Hoosier farmers, Fithian has been overlooked for his
role as a force to be reckoned with on the House floor when it came
to the nation's environmental challenges. Fithian was a highly
ethical, pragmatic reformer bent on preserving his country's
natural resources. Spearheading Environmental Change gives Fithian
the credit he deserves as an environmental warrior on the national
stage.
The classic study of changing attitudes toward wilderness during
American history and the origins of the environmental and
conservation movements "The Book of Genesis for
conservationists"-Dave Foreman Since its initial publication in
1967, Roderick Nash's Wilderness and the American Mind has received
wide acclaim. The Los Angeles Times listed it among the one hundred
most influential books published in the last quarter century,
Outside Magazine included it in a survey of "books that changed our
world," and it has been called the "Book of Genesis for
environmentalists." For the fifth edition, Nash has written a new
preface and epilogue that brings Wilderness and the American Mind
into dialogue with contemporary debates about wilderness. Char
Miller's foreword provides a twenty-first-century perspective on
how the environmental movement has changed, including the ways in
which contemporary scholars are reimagining the dynamic
relationship between the natural world and the built environment.
Dedicated to an articulation of the earth from broadly ecological
perspectives, eco art is a vibrant subset of contemporary art that
addresses the widespread public concern with rapid climate change
and related environmental issues. In Landscape into Eco Art, Mark
Cheetham systematically examines connections and divergences
between contemporary eco art, land art of the 1960s and 1970s, and
the historical genre of landscape painting. Through eight thematic
case studies that illuminate what eco art means in practice,
reception, and history, Cheetham places the form in a longer and
broader art-historical context. He considers a wide range of
media-from painting, sculpture, and photography to artists' films,
video, sound work, animation, and installation-and analyzes the
work of internationally prominent artists such as Olafur Eliasson,
Nancy Holt, Mark Dion, and Robert Smithson. In doing so, Cheetham
reveals eco art to be a dynamic extension of a long tradition of
landscape depiction in the West that boldly enters into today's
debates on climate science, government policy, and our collective
and individual responsibility to the planet. An ambitious
intervention into eco-criticism and the environmental humanities,
this volume provides original ways to understand the issues and
practices of eco art in the Anthropocene. Art historians,
humanities scholars, and lay readers interested in contemporary art
and the environment will find Cheetham's work valuable and
invigorating.
One of the earliest warnings about climate change and one of
environmentalism's lodestars 'Nature, we believe, takes forever. It
moves with infinite slowness,' begins the first book to bring
climate change to public attention. Interweaving lyrical
observations from his life in the Adirondack Mountains with
insights from the emerging science, Bill McKibben sets out the
central developments not only of the environmental crisis now
facing us but also the terms of our response, from policy to the
fundamental, philosophical shift in our relationship with the
natural world which, he argues, could save us. A moving elegy to
nature in its pristine, pre-human wildness, The End of Nature is
both a milestone in environmental thought, indispensable to
understanding how we arrived here.
'A fascinating portal into arguments about why we need to get
beyond money' - Harry Cleaver What would a world without money look
like? This book is a lively thought experiment that deepens our
understanding of how money is the driver of political power,
environmental destruction and social inequality today, arguing that
it has to be abolished rather than repurposed to achieve a
postcapitalist future. Grounded in historical debates about money,
Anitra Nelson draws on a spectrum of political and economic thought
and activism, including feminism, ecoanarchism, degrowth,
permaculture, autonomism, Marxism and ecosocialism. Looking to
Indigenous rights activism and the defence of commons, an
international network of activists engaged in a fight for a
money-free society emerges. Beyond Money shows that, by organising
around post-money versions of the future, activists have a hope of
creating a world that embodies their radical values and visions.
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