0
Your cart

Your cart is empty

Browse All Departments
Price
  • R50 - R100 (1)
  • R100 - R250 (48)
  • R250 - R500 (196)
  • R500+ (1,246)
  • -
Status
Format
Author / Contributor
Publisher

Books > Earth & environment > The environment > Environmentalist thought & ideology

Environmental Stewardship (Paperback): Rj "Sam" Berry Environmental Stewardship (Paperback)
Rj "Sam" Berry
R3,575 Discovery Miles 35 750 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Is stewardship a useful way of regarding our relationship with our environment - or is it a dangerous excuse for plunder? Is it possible for us to be effective stewards? Or are we irrelevant parasites? Or foolish virgins unprepared for the Master's return? The notion that God has appointed us to care for creation has a long history and has been taken over into secular thinking. But can we be responsible for something if we do not acknowledge an Owner? This book gathers together classical expositions of stewardship with criticisms of the concept and adds other contributions written especially for this collection, linked by a critical commentary from the editor, R. J. Berry. The authors include both religious thinkers and practical conservationists. The questions faced were sparked by a conference of scientists and theologians organized by the John Ray Initiative and continued in a consultation at St George's House, Windsor Castle, with papers from Robin Attfield (philosopher), Murray Rae (theologian), Calvin DeWitt (environmental biologist), and Jim Lovelock (biogeochemist). The essays presented here are not simply an intellectual pastiche; they are a distillation of ideas to challenge us how to treat our environment - whether or not we call it 'Creation'.

The Politics of Development, Volume 200 - Forests, Mines, and Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941 (Paperback, 2): Nelles The Politics of Development, Volume 200 - Forests, Mines, and Hydro-Electric Power in Ontario, 1849-1941 (Paperback, 2)
Nelles
R971 Discovery Miles 9 710 Ships in 9 - 17 working days

Reveals the full extent of state involvement in the exploitation of natural resources in Ontario

Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies (Paperback): Heather Eaton Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies (Paperback)
Heather Eaton
R2,139 Discovery Miles 21 390 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

This book is about ecofeminism and its encounter with theology, predominantly that of Christian theology in Euro-western contexts. It introduces and explores ecofeminism and the encounter. The goal is to understand the significance and implications of ecofeminism and its contribution and challenge to theology. A further goal is to assist ecofeminist theology, or theologies, to be more effective in preventing ecological ruin, assisting women's struggles for freedom and supporting the flourishing of all life on earth. Ecofeminism represents ways of discerning associations of many kinds between the feminist and ecological movements, and between the oppression and domination of both women and the earth. Ecofeminism is an insight, referring to critical analyses, political actions, historical research, intuitions and ideals. The ecological crisis is creating a pivotal moral and religious challenge, and new contexts for theology. There is a renewed spiritual sensitivity towards the natural world. We are in a time of a spiritual awakening, wherein the earth and all life are experienced, as sacred, where it is possible to experience awe and wonder, and encounter the ineffable. Ecofeminist theologies are at the intersection of these ideas and experiences. They are the efforts of particular people who see and experience possibilities for greater life, more justice and freedom. They do not accept that injustice and ecological ruin are inevitable. Ecofeminist efforts are directed towards reducing further ecological and social devastation, and awakening consciousness to the immense beauty and elegance of all life on this fragile yet awesome blue-green planet.

Global Institutions and Social Knowledge - Generating Research at the Scripps Institution and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna... Global Institutions and Social Knowledge - Generating Research at the Scripps Institution and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, 1900s-1990s (Paperback, New)
Virginia M Walsh; Foreword by Oran R Young
R758 Discovery Miles 7 580 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

This theoretical and empirical study examines the influence of global institutions on the generation of scientific knowledge. Virginia Walsh's approach reverses the traditional focus of international relations literature--which most often deals with how scientific knowledge influences institutions--and offers an original way to look at international environmental governance. After proposing a theory of institutional mechanisms by which global institutions shape the generation of knowledge, the book turns to detailed case studies of two institutions in the under- studied but vital area of marine science, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, to illustrate these mechanisms.In part 1, "Theory," the book identifies three specific mechanisms or "fixes" that provide the means by which institutions shape the generation and use of knowledge. With the positional fix, key individuals use their social roles or positions in an institution to influence the beliefs of members or fix the direction of research. The statutory fix occurs when beliefs gain acceptance as a consequence of being embedded in rules or treaties. The committee fix is illustrated in the regularized practices through which social groups accept statements as group beliefs. Part 2, "Evidence," shows these mechanisms at work in the two case studies. The Scripps Institution, for example, illustrates the positional fix, as successive directors used their position to frame research. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, on the other hand, exemplifies both the statutory fix and the committee fix in its regulatory actions.

Rethinking Nature - Essays in Environmental Philosophy (Paperback): Bruce V. Foltz, Robert Frodeman Rethinking Nature - Essays in Environmental Philosophy (Paperback)
Bruce V. Foltz, Robert Frodeman
R837 Discovery Miles 8 370 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Rethinking Nature brings the voices of leading Continental philosophers into discussion about what is emerging as one of our most pressing and timely concerns the environmental crisis facing our planet. The essays featured in this volume embrace environmental philosophy in its broadest sense and include topics such as environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics, ontology, theology, gender and the environment, and the role of science and technology in forming knowledge about our world. Here, philosophy goes out into the field and comes back with rich insights and new approaches to environmental problems. This far-reaching and lively volume affords firm ground for thinking about the multiple ways that humans engage nature.

Contributors are David Abram, Edward S. Casey, Daniel Cerezuelle, Ron Cooper, Bruce V. Foltz, Robert Frodeman, Trish Glazebrook, James Hatley, Robert Kirkman, Irene J. Klaver, Alphonso Lingis, Kenneth Maly, Diane Michelfelder, Elaine P. Miller, Robert Mugerauer, Stephen David Ross, John Sallis, Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, Bruce Wilshire, David Wood, and Michael E. Zimmerman."

Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups (Paperback, New): Susan Paulson, Lisa L. Gezon Political Ecology Across Spaces, Scales, and Social Groups (Paperback, New)
Susan Paulson, Lisa L. Gezon
R1,158 Discovery Miles 11 580 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

"Political ecology is a strong and growing interdisciplinary field of inquiry, and this book makes a welcome and unique contribution. Susan Paulson and Lisa Gezon have put together an engaging and well-written collection that is full of fresh ideas and applications related to current theoretical debate, concepts, and methods."-Marianne Schmink, director, Tropical Conservation and Development Program, University of Florida "Political ecology and ecologists are sure to benefit from this splendid array of rigorous, richly contextualized, and far-reaching accounts that injects a masterful blend of political analysis and attention to the lifeworlds of diverse peoples worldwide into environmental studies."-Karl Zimmerer, professor and chair, Department of Geography and Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison "An ingenious mix of genealogy and the unfolding future of political ecology, bringing fresh insights to the dynamics of place, power, and people across the globe."-Dianne Rocheleau, coeditor of Feminist Political Ecology: Global Issues and Local Experiences As environmental issues become increasingly prominent in local struggles, national debates, and international policies, scholars are paying more attention to conventional politics and to more broadly defined relations of power and difference in the interactions between human groups and their biophysical environments. Such issues are at the heart of the relatively new interdisciplinary field of political ecology, forged at the intersection of political economy and cultural ecology. This volume provides a toolkit of vital concepts and a set of research models and analytic frameworks for researchers at all levels. Pointing to the entangled relationship between humans, politics, economies, and environments at the dawn of the twenty-first century, opening chapters trace rich traditions of thought and practice that inform current approaches to political ecology. The twelve case studies that follow explore sites located around the world as they describe uses of and conflicts over resources including land, water, soil, trees, biodiversity, money, knowledge, and information. Susan Paulson is the director of Latin American studies and an associate professor of anthropology at Miami University. Lisa Gezon is an associate professor and chair of the department of anthropology at the State University of West Georgia.

Identity and the Natural Environment - The Psychological Significance of Nature (Paperback, New): Susan Clayton, Susan Opotow Identity and the Natural Environment - The Psychological Significance of Nature (Paperback, New)
Susan Clayton, Susan Opotow
R1,177 Discovery Miles 11 770 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The often impassioned nature of environmental conflicts can be attributed to the fact that they are bound up with our sense of personal and social identity. Environmental identity--how we orient ourselves to the natural world--leads us to personalize abstract global issues and take action (or not) according to our sense of who we are. We may know about the greenhouse effect--but can we give up our SUV for a more fuel-efficient car? Understanding this psychological connection can lead to more effective pro-environmental policymaking. "Identity and the Natural Environment" examines the ways in which our sense of who we are affects our relationship with nature, and vice versa. This book brings together cutting-edge work on the topic of identity and the environment, sampling the variety and energy of this emerging field but also placing it within a descriptive framework. These theory-based empirical studies examine the degree of social influence on environmental identity, and focus on the interplay between social and environmental forces. As one local activist says, "We don't know if we're organizing communities to plant trees, or planting trees to organize communities." The book explores human identity in relation to a wide variety of topics, including wild black bears, rangeland and water conflicts, and involvement and expertise in the inner city.

The Tangled Roots of Feminism, Environmentalism, and Appalachian Literature (Paperback): Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt The Tangled Roots of Feminism, Environmentalism, and Appalachian Literature (Paperback)
Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt
R883 Discovery Miles 8 830 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Contemporaries were shocked when author Mary Noailles Murfree revealed she was a woman, but modern readers may be more surprised by her cogent discussion of community responses to unwanted development. Effie Waller Smith, an African American woman writing of her love for the Appalachian mountains, wove discussions of women's rights, racial tension, and cultural difference into her Appalachian poetry. Grace MacGowan Cooke participated in avant-garde writers' colonies with the era's literary lights and applied their progressive ideals to her fiction about the Appalachia of her youth. Emma Bell Miles, witness to poverty, industrialization, and violence against women, wrote poignant and insightful critiques of her Appalachian home. In The Tangled Roots of Feminism, Environmentalism, and Appalachian Literature Elizabeth Engelhardt finds in all four women's writings the origins of what we recognize today as ecological feminism-a wide-reaching philosophy that values the connections between humans and nonhumans and works for social and environmental justice. People and the land in Appalachia were also the subject of women authors with radically different approaches to mountains and their residents. Authors with progressive ideas about women's rights did not always respect the Appalachian places they were writing about or apply their ideas to all of the women in those places-but they did create hundreds of short stories, novels, letters, diaries, photographs, sketches, and poems about the mountains. While The Tangled Roots of Feminism, Environmentalism, and Appalachian Literature ascribes much that is noble to the beginnings of the ecological feminism movement as it developed in Appalachia, it is also unyielding in its assessment of the literatures of the voyeur, tourist, and social crusader who supported status quo systems of oppression in Appalachia.

Practical Ecocriticism - Literature, Biology and the Environment (Paperback, New): Glen A. Love (Professor Emeritus of English,... Practical Ecocriticism - Literature, Biology and the Environment (Paperback, New)
Glen A. Love (Professor Emeritus of English, University of Oregon, USA)
R897 Discovery Miles 8 970 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Practical Ecocriticismis the first book to ground environmental literature firmly in the life sciences, particularly evolutionary biology, and to attempt to bridge the ever-widening gulf between the "Two Cultures." Glen Love--himself one of the founders of ecocriticism--argues that literary studies has been diminished by a general lack of recognition for the vital role the biological foundation of human life plays in cultural imagination. Love presents with great clarity and directness an invaluable model for how to incorporate Darwinian ideas--the basis for all modern biology and ecology--into ecocritical thinking.

Beginning with an overview of the field of literature and environment and its claim to our attention, and arguing for a biologically informed theoretical base for literary studies, Love then aims the lens of this critical perspective on the pastoral genre and works by canonical writers such as Willa Cather, Ernest Hemingway, and William Dean Howells. A markedly interdisciplinary and refreshingly accessible work, Practical Ecocriticism will interest and challenge the entire ecocritical community, as well as humanists, social scientists, and others concerned with the current rediscovery of human nature.

Turning to Earth - Stories of Ecological Conversion (Hardcover): F.Marina Schauffler Turning to Earth - Stories of Ecological Conversion (Hardcover)
F.Marina Schauffler
R1,739 Discovery Miles 17 390 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Turning to Earth offers a window into the heart of environmental change, moving beyond the culture's traditional reliance on policy reforms and technological measures. It charts the course of "ecological conversion," a dynamic inner process by which people come to ally themselves with the natural world and speak out on its behalf. Stories by ecological converts illuminate a critical realm long neglected by environmental scholars and activists--how the terrain of spirit, psyche, and conscience shape our commitment to Earth.

Marina Schauffler's engaging exploration of "inner ecology" deftly weaves together numerous autobiographical accounts with insights from the fields of ecocriticism, ecopsychology, environmental philosophy, and environmental education. An opening portrait of the writer and activist Terry Tempest Williams traces her deepening devotion to Earth. Each subsequent chapter explores a key element of ecological conversion, drawing primarily on the personal testimony of Williams and five other pioneering writers: Rachel Carson, Alice Walker, Edward Abbey, Scott Russell Sanders, and N. Scott Momaday.

Turning to Earth extends the parameters of contemporary environmental discussion by illustrating how substantive change hinges not just on political and institutional reforms but also on profound inner transformation. The compelling life narratives of ecological converts provide inspiration and direction for the growing number of activists, educators, scholars, and citizens committed to changing the world from the inside out.

To Save the Land and People - A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia (Paperback, New edition): Chad... To Save the Land and People - A History of Opposition to Surface Coal Mining in Appalachia (Paperback, New edition)
Chad Montrie
R1,108 Discovery Miles 11 080 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Surface coal mining has had a dramatic impact on the Appalachian economy and ecology since World War II, exacerbating the region's chronic unemployment and destroying much of its natural environment. Here, Chad Montrie examines the twentieth-century movement to outlaw surface mining in Appalachia, tracing popular opposition to the industry from its inception through the growth of a militant movement that engaged in acts of civil disobedience and industrial sabotage. Both comprehensive and comparative, "To Save the Land and People" chronicles the story of surface mining opposition in the whole region, from Pennsylvania to Alabama.

Though many accounts of environmental activism focus on middle-class suburbanites and emphasize national events, the campaign to abolish strip mining was primarily a movement of farmers and working people, originating at the local and state levels. Its history underscores the significant role of common people and grassroots efforts in the American environmental movement. This book also contributes to a long-running debate about American values by revealing how veneration for small, private properties has shaped the political consciousness of strip mining opponents.

Visions of the Land - Science, Literature and the American Environment from the Era of Exploration to the Age of Ecology... Visions of the Land - Science, Literature and the American Environment from the Era of Exploration to the Age of Ecology (Hardcover)
Michael A. Bryson
R1,919 Discovery Miles 19 190 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The work of John Charles Fremont, Richard Byrd, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, John Wesley Powell, Susan Cooper, Rachel Carson, and Loren Eiseley represents a widely divergent body of writing. Yet despite their range of genres--including exploration narratives, technical reports, natural histories, scientific autobiographies, fictional utopias, nature writing, and popular scientific literature--these seven authors produced strikingly connected representations of nature and the practice of science in America from about 1840 to 1970. Michael A. Bryson provides a thoughtful examination of the authors, their work, and the ways in which science and nature unite them.

Visions of the Land explores how our environmental attitudes have influenced and been shaped by various scientific perspectives from the time of western expansion and geographic exploration in the mid-nineteenth century to the start of the contemporary environmental movement in the twentieth century. Bryson offers a literary-critical analysis of how writers of different backgrounds, scientific training, and geographic experiences represented nature through various kinds of natural science, from natural history to cartography to resource management to ecology and evolution, and in the process, explored the possibilities and limits of science itself.

Visions of the Land examines the varied, sometimes conflicting, but always fascinating ways in which we have defined the relations among science, nature, language, and the human community. Ultimately, it is an extended meditation on the capacity of using science to live well within nature.

Nature by Design - People, Natural Process and Ecological Restoration (Paperback): Eric Higgs Nature by Design - People, Natural Process and Ecological Restoration (Paperback)
Eric Higgs
R1,429 Discovery Miles 14 290 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Ecological restoration is the process of repairing human damage to ecosystems. It involves reintroducing missing plants and animals, rebuilding soils, eliminating hazardous substances, ripping up roads, and returning natural processes such as fire and flooding to places that thrive on their regular occurrence. Thousands of restoration projects take place in North America every year. In Nature by Design, Eric Higgs argues that profound philosophical and cultural shifts accompany these projects. He explores the ethical and philosophical bases of restoration and the question of what constitutes good ecological restoration.Higgs explains how and why the restoration movement came about, where it fits into the array of approaches to human relationships with the land, and how it might be used to secure a sustainable future. Some environmental philosophers and activists worry that restoration will dilute preservation and conservation efforts and lead to an even deeper technological attitude toward nature. They ask whether even well-conceived restoration projects are in fact just expressions of human will. Higgs prefaces his responses to such concerns by distinguishing among several types of ecological restoration. He also describes a growing gulf between professionals and amateurs. Higgs finds much merit in criticism about technological restoration projects, which can cause more damage than they undo. These projects often ignore the fact that changing one thing in a complex system can change the whole system. For restoration projects to be successful, Higgs argues, people at the community level must be engaged. These focal restorations bring communities together, helping volunteers develop a dedication to place and encouraging democracy.

Eco-Economy - Building an Economy for the Earth (Hardcover, New): Lester R. Brown Eco-Economy - Building an Economy for the Earth (Hardcover, New)
Lester R. Brown
R3,965 R3,637 Discovery Miles 36 370 Save R328 (8%) Ships in 9 - 17 working days

In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus challenged the view that the sun revolved around the earth, arguing instead that the earth revolved around the sun. His paper led to a revolution in thinking. In Lester Brown's brilliant and invigorating account of the industrial economy, he shows how a rethink of its fossil fuel-based, throwaway ethos is necessary to ensure that it works with, not against, the natural environment. The issue now is whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Brown argues the latter, pointing out that treating the environment as part of the economy has produced an economy that is destroying its natural support systems. One of the foremost experts on the new economic opportunities, Brown shows the vast economic potential and environmental gains that exist from eliminating the waste and destruction of current consumption. He describes how the global economy can be restructured to make it compatible with the earth's ecosystem so that economic progress can continue, with high standards of living and secure employment for all, while conserving resources and restoring the environment. In the new economy, wind farms replace coal mines, hydrogen-powered fuel cells replace internal combustion engines, and cities are designed for people, not cars. Eco-Economy is a map of how to get from here to there. It is an essential guide to the economy of the 21st century and will be compelling reading for business readers and environmentalists alike looking for ways to build a better future.

Rising Tides (Paperback, New edition): Rory Spowers Rising Tides (Paperback, New edition)
Rory Spowers
R138 Discovery Miles 1 380 Ships in 4 - 6 working days

Rising Tides is an extensively researched and engagingly written examination of the many factors that have shaped ecological thought. Challenging the basic assumptions of the western world-view, it exposes the fundamental flaws in a political, economic system that believes in unlimited economic growth within a finite world and has confused financial worth with the real wealth of the natural systems which we are all dependent upon. The rift is growing between a powerful elite pushing their policies of globalisation and a world-wide network disillusioned with notions of growth, wealth and progress. Rising Tides suggests ways in which we can all plug into this network - rescue our economic system from manipulation by the corporate elite and help to create the sort of world we want to live in.

The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making - Sustainability, Democracy, and Normative Argument in Policy and Law... The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making - Sustainability, Democracy, and Normative Argument in Policy and Law (Paperback)
John Martin Gillroy, Joe Bowersox
R1,096 Discovery Miles 10 960 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

In "The Moral Austerity of Environmental Decision Making" a group of prominent environmental ethicists, policy analysts, political theorists, and legal experts challenges the dominating influence of market principles and assumptions on the formulation of environmental policy. Emphasizing the concept of sustainability and the centrality of moral deliberation to democracy, they examine the possibilities for a wider variety of moral principles to play an active role in defining "good" environmental decisions. If environmental policy is to be responsible to humanity and to nature in the twenty-first century, they argue, it is imperative that the discourse acknowledge and integrate additional normative assumptions and principles other than those endorsed by the market paradigm.
The contributors search for these assumptions and principles in short arguments and debates over the role of science, social justice, instrumental value, and intrinsic value in contemporary environmental policy. In their discussion of moral alternatives to enrich environmental decision making and in their search for a less austere and more robust role for normative discourse in practical policy making, they analyze a series of original case studies that deal with environmental sustainability and natural resources policy including pollution, land use, environmental law, globalism, and public lands. The unique structure of the book--which features the core contributors responding in a discourse format to the central chapters' essays and debates--helps to highlight the role personal and public values play in democratic decision making generally and in the field of environmental politics specifically.

"Contributors." Joe Bowersox, David Brower, Susan Buck, Celia Campbell-Mohn, John Martin Gillroy, Joel Kassiola, Jan Laitos, William Lowry, Bryan Norton, Robert Paehlke, Barry G. Rabe, Mark Sagoff, Anna K. Schwab, Bob Pepperman Taylor, Jonathan Wiener

The Earth Policy Reader (Paperback, 1st ed): Lester R. Brown, Janet Larsen, Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, Earth Policy Institute The Earth Policy Reader (Paperback, 1st ed)
Lester R. Brown, Janet Larsen, Bernie Fischlowitz-Roberts, Earth Policy Institute
R546 Discovery Miles 5 460 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Award-winning environmental analyst Lester R. Brown and his colleagues chart progress in building the eco-economy, an economy that is compatible with the earth's ecosystem.

Brown explains, for example, why wind-generated electricity with its abundance and falling cost is emerging as the foundation of the new post-fossil fuel energy economy: now cheaper than electricity from coal, oil, or natural gas, it can be used to electrolyze water and produce hydrogen, the fuel of choice for the new fuel cell engines that every major automobile manufacturer is working on. And since an eco-economy relies heavily on recycling materials already in the system, such as steel and aluminum, we learn how, in this new economy, recycling industries will largely replace mining industries.

Bringing together in one volume the essential Eco-Economy Updates that are distributed worldwide over the Internet and published in the world's leading newspapers, The Earth Policy Reader monitors the shift from the old economy to the new.

"[Lester Brown is] a far-reaching thinker."—U.S. News & World Report

The Earth Story in the New Testament - Volume 5 (Paperback): Vicky Balabanski, Norman C. Habel The Earth Story in the New Testament - Volume 5 (Paperback)
Vicky Balabanski, Norman C. Habel
R3,923 Discovery Miles 39 230 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

The "Earth Bible" is an international project, including volumes on ecojustice readings of major sections of the Bible. The basic aims of the Earth Bible project are: to develop ecojustice principles appropriate to an Earth hermeneutic for interpreting the Bible and for promoting justice and healing for Earth; to publish these interpretations as contributions to the current debate on ecology, ecoethics and ecotheology; to provide a responsible forum within which the suppressed voice of Earth may be heard and impulses for healing Earth may be generated. The project explores text and tradition from the perspective of Earth, employing a set of ecojustice principles developed in consultation with ecologists, suspecting that the text and/or its interpreters may be anthropocentric and not geocentric, but searching to retrieve alternative traditions that hear the voice of Earth and value Earth as more than a human instrument. The lead article in Volume V is a reflection in responses to the ecojustice principles employed in the hermeneutic of the project. Several articles offer insights into New Testament texts that seem to devalue Earth in favour of heaven. The final article by Barbara Rossing challenges the popular apocalyptic notion that in the new age Earth will be terminated. A feature of this volume is a dialogue between Norman Habel, who argues that John One seems to devalue Earth, and two respondents, Elaine Wainwright and Vicky Balabanski (who is coeditor of this volume with Norman Habel). 1

Cutting the Vines of the Past - Environmental Histories of the Central African Rain Forest (Hardcover): Tamara Giles-Vernick Cutting the Vines of the Past - Environmental Histories of the Central African Rain Forest (Hardcover)
Tamara Giles-Vernick
R2,027 Discovery Miles 20 270 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Cutting the Vines of the Past offers a novel argument: African ways of seeing and interpreting their environments and past are not only critical to how historians write environmental history; they also have important lessons for policymakers and conservationists. Tamara Giles-Vernick demonstrates how various outsiders intervening in African land-use practices have repeatedly met failure because of their inability or unwillingness to understand how Africans see their land and their pasts.

Giles-Vernick takes as her focus doli, the environmental and historical perceptions and knowledge of the Mpiemu people in the Central African Republic. She argues that Mpiemu opposition to a modern environmental conservation project--the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park and the Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve--derives from the people's interpretations of their past experiences with environmental interventions imposed by concessionary companies, colonial officials, other Africans, Christian missionaries, and the postcolonial state. At the same time, Mpiemu people associate these contemporary conservationists with the bosses and Christian missionaries of the colonial past, viewing them as sources of jobs, consumer goods, and other support.

Giles-Vernick's argument will interest conservationists and policymakers as well as environmental historians. By examining Africans' environmental and historical ways of seeing and knowing, and by revealing how these have changed, Giles-Vernick offers a fresh perspective on the writing of environmental history.

Skeptical Environmentalism - The Limits of Philosophy and Science (Paperback): Robert Joseph Kirkman Skeptical Environmentalism - The Limits of Philosophy and Science (Paperback)
Robert Joseph Kirkman
R652 Discovery Miles 6 520 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

In Skeptical Environmentalism, Robert Kirkman raises doubts about the speculative tendencies elaborated in environmental ethics, deep ecology, social ecology, postmodern ecology, ecofeminism, and environmental pragmatism. Drawing on skeptical principles introduced by David Hume, Kirkman takes issue with key tenets of speculative environmentalism, namely that the natural world is fundamentally relational, that humans have a moral obligation to protect the order of nature, and that understanding the relationship between nature and humankind holds the key to solving the environmental crisis. Engaging the work of Kant, Hegel, Descartes, Rousseau, and Heidegger, among others, Kirkman reveals the relational worldview as an unreliable basis for knowledge and truth claims, and, more dangerously, as harmful to the intellectual sources from which it takes inspiration. Exploring such themes as the way knowledge about nature is formulated, what characterizes an ecological worldview, how environmental worldviews become established, and how we find our place in nature, Skeptical Environmentalism advocates a shift away from the philosopher s privileged position as truth seeker toward a more practical thinking that balances conflicts between values and worldviews."

Death Of A Hornet And Other Cape Cod Essays (Paperback, New edition): Robert Finch Death Of A Hornet And Other Cape Cod Essays (Paperback, New edition)
Robert Finch
R437 Discovery Miles 4 370 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Spanning more than 20 years, these essays record changes not only in the natural environment of Cape Cod but in the writer's own life. Death of a Hornet is one man's elegant rendering of Cape Cod, a sandy, scrub-oaked, tough, and vulnerable spit of land reaching out into the Atlantic Ocean. These stories are "natural adventures" that Finch's previous readers have come to expect, as well as longer meditations on the future of the Cape's fragile environment, on living in one place for a long time, and on the limitations of human sympathy.

The Western Paradox - A Conservation Reader (Paperback, New): Bernard De Voto The Western Paradox - A Conservation Reader (Paperback, New)
Bernard De Voto; Edited by Douglas Brinkley, Patricia Nelson Limerick
R2,199 Discovery Miles 21 990 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

"This book is the fascinating record of DeVoto's crusade to save the West from itself. . . . His arguments, insights, and passion are as relevant and urgent today as they were when he first put them on paper."-Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., from the Foreword Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) was, according to the novelist Wallace Stegner, "a fighter for public causes, for conservation of our natural resources, for freedom of the press and freedom of thought." A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, DeVoto is best remembered for his trilogy, The Year of Decision: 1846, Across the Wide Missouri, and The Course of Empire. He also wrote a column for Harper's Magazine, in which he fulminated about his many concerns, particularly the exploitation and destruction of the American West. This volume brings together ten of DeVoto's acerbic and still timely essays on Western conservation issues, along with his unfinished conservationist manifesto, Western Paradox, which has never before been published. The book also includes a foreword by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., who was a student of DeVoto's at Harvard University, and a substantial introduction by Douglas Brinkley and Patricia Limerick, both of which shed light on DeVoto's work and legacy.

Environmental Justice in South Africa (Paperback): David A McDonald Environmental Justice in South Africa (Paperback)
David A McDonald
R998 Discovery Miles 9 980 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Environmental Justice in South Africa provides a systematic overview of the first ten years of postapartheid environmental politics. Written by leading activists and academics in the field, this edited collection offers the first critical perspective of environmental justice theory and practice in South Africa. Accessible and wide-ranging in its coverage, the book offers a benchmark analysis of the environmental justice movement today as well as an assessment of where it may be headed in the future. Beginning with a history of the environmental justice movement in the country, the book explores a range of conceptual and practical questions: How does environmental justice relate to issues of marginalization and poverty in South Africa? What are the links between environmental justice and other schools of environmental thought? Is the legal system an appropriate tool for addressing environmental equity? How do race, class, and gender intersect in the South African environmental context? The second half of the book is a more concrete exploration of environmental (in)justice in the country. These chapters are interspersed with real-life stories of struggles by workers and communities for environmental change. The book is an invaluable resource for South African and international audiences interested in the growing, and increasingly global, environmental justice movement.

The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change - Fit, Interplay, and Scale (Paperback): Oran R Young The Institutional Dimensions of Environmental Change - Fit, Interplay, and Scale (Paperback)
Oran R Young
R897 Discovery Miles 8 970 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

Researchers studying the role institutions play in causing and confronting environmental change use a variety of concepts and methods that make it difficult to compare their findings. Seeking to remedy this problem, Oran Young takes the analytic themes identified in the Institutional Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (IDGEC) Science Plan as cutting-edge research concerns and develops them into a common structure for conducting research. He illustrates his arguments with examples of environmental change ranging in scale from the depletion of local fish stocks to the disruption of Earth's climate system.Young not only explores theoretical concerns such as the relative merits of collective-action and social-practice models of institutions but also addresses the IDGEC-identified problems of institutional fit, interplay, and scale. He shows how institutions interact both with one another and with the biophysical environment and assesses the extent to which we can apply lessons drawn from the study of local institutions to the study of global institutions and vice versa. He examines how research on institutions can help us to solve global problems of environmental governance. Substantive topics discussed include the institutional dimensions of carbon management, the performance of exclusive economic zones, and the political economy of boreal and tropical forests.

The Nature Fakers - Wildlife, Science and Sentiment (Paperback, New edition): Ralph H Lutts The Nature Fakers - Wildlife, Science and Sentiment (Paperback, New edition)
Ralph H Lutts
R906 Discovery Miles 9 060 Ships in 18 - 22 working days

In 1903 John Burroughs published an Atlantic Monthly article attacking popular nature writers--among them William J. Long and Jack London--as "sham naturalists."

The spirited "nature fakers" controversy that ensued reveals much about public attitudes toward nature at the time. Burroughs's argument that the writers invented facts and reported them as the gospel truth prompted a public literary debate, fueled by the avid participation of the nation's leading magazines and newspapers, and President Theodore Roosevelt's own denunciation of the 'faker' contingent. At issue was the conflict between science and sentiment as methods of understanding the creatures of the wild.

Ultimately, as Ralph Lutts demonstrates in "The Nature Fakers, " the dialogue resulted in a new standard of accuracy for the responsible nature writer and reflected a new way of thinking about moral responsibilities to wildlife.

Free Delivery
Pinterest Twitter Facebook Google+
You may like...
Alien: Romulus
Fede Alvarez DVD R275 Discovery Miles 2 750
The Metamorphosis of Leadership in a…
Roderic Ai Camp Hardcover R2,883 Discovery Miles 28 830
Media Ecologies of Literature
Susanne Bayerlipp, Ralf Haekel, … Hardcover R2,849 Discovery Miles 28 490
Light Through The Bars - Understanding…
Babychan Arackathara Paperback R30 R28 Discovery Miles 280
Anthony Peters Egg-Shaped Wooden Buttons…
R97 Discovery Miles 970
Brand Management
John Dixon Hardcover R3,269 R2,959 Discovery Miles 29 590
Dala Wooden Beads - Natural (250 Pack)
R156 R127 Discovery Miles 1 270
Facebook Marketing Tips - Zero Cost…
Tim Shek Hardcover R826 Discovery Miles 8 260
The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality…
Alena Ledeneva Hardcover R1,596 Discovery Miles 15 960
Reconceiving the Second Sex - Men…
Marcia C. Inhorn, Maruska la Cour Mosegaard, … Paperback R747 Discovery Miles 7 470

 

Partners