The number of protected areas has risen in recent years to over 110,000 covering over 20 million square kilometres, over 12% per cent of the planet's surface. How has this growth been achieved and why was so much of it undertaken in the last 15 years? What is the relationship between the massive rise in conservation initiatives, our economic system and corporate interests? What are the implications for the millions of people who live in or depend on protected areas? This groundbreaking volume is the first comprehensive examination of the rise of protected areas and their current social and economic position in our world. It examines the social impacts of protected areas, the conflicts that surround them, the alternatives to them and the conceptual categories they impose.The book explores key debates on devolution, participation and democracy; the role and uniqueness of indigenous peoples and other local communities; institutions and resource management; hegemony, myth and symbolic power in conservation success stories; tourism, poverty and conservation; and the transformation of social and material relations which community conservation entails. For conservation practitioners and protected area professionals not accustomed to criticisms of their work, or students new to this complex field, the book will provide an understanding of the history and current state of affairs in the rise of protected areas; introduce the concepts, theories and writers on which critiques of conservation have been built and provide the means by which practitioners can understand problems with which they are wrestling. For advanced researchers the book will present a critique of the current debates on protectedareas and provide a host of jumping off points for an array of research avenues.

The book introduces basic entomology, emphasising perspectives on insect diversity important in conservation assessment and setting priorities for management, as a foundation for managers and others without entomological training or background. It bridges the gap between photographic essays on insect identification and more technical texts, to illustrate and discuss many aspects of taxonomic, ecological and evolutionary diversity in the Australian insect fauna, and its impacts in human life, through outlines of many aspects of insect natural history.

Two headstrong conservative Mormon housewives, bent on preserving open space near Utah's Jordan River for their children and coming generations, speak out publicly against a multimillion-dollar commercial project that would encroach on the river and destroy wildlife habitat. They are promptly sued by the wealthy, influential, and powerful developers for $1.7 million. When these women choose to stand their ground and fight, the developers do everything in their power to use these women as "whipping moms" so that no citizen or city will ever dare oppose their developments in the future. On these bones of a classic American story (based on actual events), a cast of fascinating characters fleshes out. A bipolar lone-wolf environmental activist forms an alliance with the women and becomes the story's x-factor. A diverse team of lawyers, including a civil rights attorney, supply the women with legal assistance. The developers' network of family members, business associates, political cronies, judges, and church leaders reaches deep into small-town Salt Lake County. Here, they inevitably cross paths with the housewives and their allies. Neighborhood vandalism, vicious gossip, and dirty tricks ensue. The two beleaguered housewives and their ragtag grassroots supporters hunker down to resist a brutal lawsuit, intended to shut them up and break them with legal bills. An important environmental fight morphs into an even more significant battle for free speech. Will a glass and concrete city rise in the river bottoms?

County Mayo, Ireland, is spectacularly beautiful. Dolphins, whales, and seals frolic in bays, rivers teem with salmon. Into this tranquil, unspoiled region, in early 2002, came Shell Oil, announcing plans to build a gas refinery. Shell promised wonderful things: new jobs, improved roads, money for schools. Church officials called this project a “godsend,” while honest, hard-working families, who had lived in Mayo for generations, certainly saw no harm in the project. But when the citizens of County Mayo realized what Shell actually intended to do, they rose up. Shamrocks & Oil Slicks tells the story of County Mayo—the fishermen, farmers, teachers, business people—who, motivated by love for their environment, their community, and their country, fought one of the planet’s most powerful destroyers to a standstill. To combat the pipelines that Shell planned to build dangerously close to their homes and the toxic chemicals Shell wanted to dump into their drinking water and their bay rich in sea life, the people launched a nonviolent resistance movement that was to last some fifteen years. Residents from all walks of life were beaten by police, threatened by mercenaries, sent to jail and prison. Abandoned by the state and their church, insulted and maligned by the media, they refused to give up fighting to save their environment and their heritage. This is a story of the courage inherent in everyday folk, told with sweeping and lyrical sincerity. It is one of many stories taking place now throughout the world, wherever people struggle to preserve what’s left of their natural world. More people are joining this resistance every day, inspired by uprisings like the one in County Mayo, Ireland.

The existential environmental crisis prompted the United Nations to formulate the Millennium Development Goals at the turn of the 21st century in order to embark on an era of sustainable development. The progress and deficiencies in achieving the Millennium Development Goals provided impetus to the intelligentsia and policymakers to map out the pertinent goals for a sustainable growth trajectory for humanity and the planet. The United Nations' 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which was adopted in September 2015, took the shape of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. In effect, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals focus on protecting the earth's life support systems for intra- and inter-generational equity and for development that is rooted in sustainability science. Attaining these goals is an uphill task; nevertheless, scientific knowledge, trans and interdisciplinary inquiries, concerted global action and capacity building would provide an enabling environment for achieving the SDGs. This book explores the synergies and trade-offs between climate change management and other SDGs. It highlights the policy imperatives as well as the interrelations between combating climate change and its impacts (SDG 13) and food and nutritional security (SDG 2), water security (SDG 6), soil security (SDG 15), energy security (SDG 7), poverty eradication (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5), resilient infrastructure (SDG 9), and sustainable and resilient cities (SDG 11).

The Environmental Responsibility Reader is a definitive collection of classic and contemporary environmental works that offers a comprehensive overview of the issues involved in environmental responsibility, steering the reader through each development in thought with a unifying and expert editorial voice. This essential text expertly explores seemingly intractable modern-day environmental dilemmas - including climate change, fossil fuel consumption, fresh water quality, industrial pollution, habitat destruction, and biodiversity loss. Starting with 'Silent Spring' and moving through to more recent works the book draws on contemporary ideas of environmental ethics, corporate social responsibility, ecological justice, fair trade, global citizenship, and the connections between environmental and social justice; configuring these ideas into practical notions for responsible action with a unique global and integral focus on responsibility.

Explores the complex relationship humans have with the environment. It is one of both responsibility-including the sustainable or unsustainable management of natural resources-and emotion, like the elation gleaned from a beautiful landscape or the devastation experienced from a natural disaster. Human-induced damage to the environment has widespread consequences for Earth and its inhabitants that have already included sea level rise, increased wildlife extinctions, heatwaves, droughts, intensified air pollution, and water shortages. This book provides comprehensive coverage of the complex interactions between people and the environment. It presents three clear, honest, and down-to-earth essays that cover the devastating impact humans have on the environment; the equally devastating impact the environment has on humans at times; and the positive impact that increasing awareness of our effect on the planet is having on the movement to create a more sustainable future. In addition, in-depth entries on 60 key environmental geography terms, such as deforestation, ecotourism, and environmental justice, provide a deeper dive into the topic; 15 real-world case studies on topics like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the Great Green Wall of Africa illustrate geography in action; and 10 brief spotlights from around the world draw the reader in with relevant facts. Documents human modification of the Eearth on topics such asthrough deforestation, land use change, agricultural soil degradation, water pollution, waste generation, and the ultimate impact: climate change. Describes policies at national and global scales that have exacerbated environmental degradation (such as subsidies to fossil fuels) or acted to reduce such harm (such as pollution control regulations). Explains how richer and poorer nations are affected by and able to mitigate environmental degradation. Describes the interrelationships among people and the environment at various geographic scales: (individuals, communities, national policies, global initiatives); and alsoas well as the influence of public policies and community organizations such as (non-profit groups). Suggests how individuals can make better decisions and have a positive impact on future environmental conditions.

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN GENERAL NONFICTION WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD A CHICAGO TRIBUNE TOP TEN BOOK OF 2018 A GUARDIAN, NPR's SCIENCE FRIDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, AND LIBRARY JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF 2018 Hailed as "deeply felt" (New York Times), "a revelation" (Pacific Standard), and "the book on climate change and sea levels that was missing" (Chicago Tribune), Rising is both a highly original work of lyric reportage and a haunting meditation on how to let go of the places we love. With every passing day, and every record-breaking hurricane, it grows clearer that climate change is neither imagined nor distant-and that rising seas are transforming the coastline of the United States in irrevocable ways. In Rising, Elizabeth Rush guides readers through some of the places where this change has been most dramatic, from the Gulf Coast to Miami, and from New York City to the Bay Area. For many of the plants, animals, and humans in these places, the options are stark: retreat or perish in place. Weaving firsthand testimonials from those facing this choice-a Staten Islander who lost her father during Sandy, the remaining holdouts of a Native American community on a drowning Isle de Jean Charles, a neighborhood in Pensacola settled by escaped slaves hundreds of years ago-with profiles of wildlife biologists, activists, and other members of these vulnerable communities, Rising privileges the voices of those too often kept at the margins. In a new afterword for the paperback edition, Rush highlights questions of storytelling, adaptability, and how to powerfully shift conversation around ongoing climate change-including the storms of 2017 and 2018: Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, Irma, Florence, and Michael.

Most ecological risk assessments consider the risk to individual organisms or organism-level attributes. From a management perspective, however, risks to population-level attributes and processes are often more relevant. Despite many published calls for population risk assessment and the abundance of available scientific research and technical tools assessing risks to populations, risk assessors worldwide still have difficulty determining how population level considerations can be integrated into environmental decision-making. Population-Level Ecological Risk Assessment establishes a framework for goals, methods, and data needs for different assessment applications and for integrating population-level risk assessment into risk management decisions. Beginning with a summary of legal, regulatory, business, and other contexts, the book presents population-level ecological risk assessment as an internationally recognized, science-based tool and offers specific recommendations for using this tool to support environmental management decisions. It gives clear, explicit, operational population assessment definitions and explains the relevance of density dependence, genetics, and spatial considerations, as well as applicable lessons from conservation biology and natural resource management. The authors provide a "tool box" of empirical and modeling methods and describe the general approaches, assumptions, data requirements, strengths, and limitations of each method. They establish a working foundation for designing and conducting population-level ecological risk assessments consistent with North American, European, and Japanese risk management approaches. The book concludes by highlighting key considerations needed to improve the scientific quality and interpretation of assessments. Detailed appendices include examples of population-level assessment approaches applicable to specific environmental management contexts, a modeling case study, and a supplemental reading list.

As climate change takes hold, there is an ever-growing need to develop and apply strategies that optimize the use of natural resources, both on land and in water. This book covers a huge range of strategies that can be applied to various sectors, from forests to flood control. Its aim, as with resource management itself, is to combine economics, policy and science to help rehabilitate and preserve our natural resources.

Beginning with papers on carbon sequestration, including the practice of artificial desertification, the topics move on to cover the use of distributed modeling and neural networks in estimating water availability and distribution. Further chapters look at uncertainty analysis applied to the spatial variation of hydrologic resources, and finally the book covers attempts at estimating meteorological parameters in the context of hydrological variables such as evapo-transpiration from stream flow.

Within the next decade, the effects of climate change will be severe, and felt by ordinary human beings. This book proposes a raft of measures that can mitigate, if not reverse, the impact of global warming on the resources we have all come to depend on.

Environmental anthropology is at its best when firmly grounded in respectful and systematic ethnographic research and writing that spotlights uncommon perspectives on widely recognized issues confronting the world. Intentionally crafted for undergraduate course use in anthropology, geography, and environmental studies, Sustaining Natures showcases the best contemporary writing on nature and sustainability. With concise introductions and sample discussion questions, the editors guide readers through some of the field’s most pressing themes and debates, including farming, alternative energy, extractive industries, environmental justice, multispecies relationships, and urban ecology. This timely reader foregrounds diverse voices, views, and experiences of nature, from US corporate boardrooms to urban waste disposal sites in China, and moves environmental anthropology in new theoretical, methodological, and applied terrains.

Issues in Green Criminology: confronting harms against environments, humanity and other animals aims to provide, if not a manifesto, then at least a significant resource for thinking about green criminology, a rapidly developing field. It offers a set of specially written introductions and a variety of current and new directions, wide-ranging in scope and international in terms of coverage and contributors. It provides focused discussions of current and cutting edge issues that will influence the emergence of a coherent perspective on green issues. The contributors are drawn from the leading thinkers in the field. The twelve chapters of the book explore the myriad ways in which governments, transnational corporations, military apparatuses and ordinary people going about their everyday lives routinely harm environments, other animals and humanity. The book will be essential reading not only for students taking courses in colleges and universities but also for activists in the environmental and animal rights movements. Its concern is with an ever-expanding agenda the whys, the hows and the whens of the generation and control of the many aspects of harm to environments, ecological systems and all species of animals, including humans. These harms include, but are not limited to, exploitation, modes of discrimination and disempowerment, degradation, abuse, exclusion, pain, injury, loss and suffering. Straddling and intersecting these many forms of harm are key concepts for a green criminology such as gender inequalities, racism, dominionism and speciesism, classism, the north/south divide, the accountability of science, and the ethics of global capitalist expansion. Green criminology has the potential to provide not only a different way of examining and making sense of various forms of crime and control responses (some well known, others less so) but can also make explicable much wider connections that are not generally well understood. As all societies face up to the need to confront harms against environments, other animals and humanity, criminology will have a major role to play. This book will be an essential part of this process.

Providing useful insights on the use of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in natural resource management, this book examines a number of empirical applications for several countries and a variety of natural resources. It is shown that using MCDA in the management of water, forestry, wetland and other natural resources can substantially improve the design and implementation of natural resource and environmental policies. Stakeholder involvement is also an important determinant of successful resource management and MCDA provides a useful and effective framework for getting stakeholders involved in resource management decisions. Using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis in Natural Resource Management gives in-depth analysis of the potential problems in applying these techniques, including difficulties eliciting required information, lack of suitable measures for environmental variables and the need to develop innovative methods to simplify the use of MCDA.

Cumulative global transformations, occurring daily, affect important aspects of our life. Characteristic cultural and natural heritage, including sites of priceless value, is under constant threat. There are growing pressures, of both natural and human origin, such as wars, con icts, natural or technological disasters and the effects of global climate change. These provoke the continuous degradation of many sites included in the World Heritage List. In consequence, immediate strategic measures must be taken. Natural heritage is our legacy from the past, that we inherited from our ancestors and pass on to future generations. It is vital to realize its value and protect it by all possible means, enforcing innovative and sustainable action plans that promote global international co-operation. This book aims to address speci c natural heritage sites in Europe, from West to East. The six countries of study interest are Portugal, Malta, Greece, Italy, Romania and Turkey. For each case, the corresponding current status is presented. This is accompanied by recommended action plans for protection and conservation, tra- ing initiatives that improve the public awareness of natural heritage issues and efforts to estimate the natural/environmental value of the sites. The book is the overall result of an interregional initiative aiming to promote convergence, provoke public interest and recommend action for radical changes in our attitude towards heritage conservation.

Jonathan D Oldfield provides a detailed assessment of the changing relationship between Russian society and the wider environment since the fall of the Soviet Union. Through this, he highlights the need to critically evaluate assumptions regarding the post-Soviet environment, in order to move beyond generalization and engage meaningfully with the particularities of Russia's contemporary environmental situation. The book begins by focusing on the nature of Soviet environmental legacies as a necessary backdrop to the remainder of the study. This is followed by a general examination of the relationship between economic change and pollution output during the course of the 1990s. Further chapters provide in depth analysis of recent legislative and policy developments in the area of environmental protection and an exploration of emerging pollution and environmental quality trends at both the national and regional level. In addition, the book highlights pressures that are related to Russia's engagement with the global economy.

Transformation of the Earth's social and ecological systems is occurring at a rate and magnitude unparalleled in human experience. Data science is a revolutionary new way to understand human-environment relationships at the heart of pressing challenges like climate change and sustainable development. However, data science faces serious shortcomings when it comes to human-environment research. There are challenges with social and environmental data, the methods that manipulate and analyze the information, and the theory underlying the data science itself; as well as significant legal, ethical and policy concerns. This timely book offers a comprehensive, balanced, and accessible account of the promise and problems of this work in terms of data, methods, theory, and policy. It demonstrates the need for data scientists to work with human-environment scholars to tackle pressing real-world problems, making it ideal for researchers and graduate students in Earth and environmental science, data science and the environmental social sciences.

Examine why illegal logging is so pervasiveand how this problem can be addressed In March 2002, the Yale chapter of the International Society of Tropical Foresters brought together social and natural scientists, resource managers, policymakers, community leaders, and other interested parties to share experiences, strategies, successes, and failures in addressing illegal logging and corruption. The results were the conference Illegal Logging in Tropical Forests: Ecology, Economics, and Politics of Resource Misuse and this book, which brings together analyses from the perspectives, of anthropology, economics, forestry, law, political science, and sociology. Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime suggests specific policy interventions aimed at curbing illegal logging and identifying solutions to forest crime. It presents both thematic analyses of illegal logging at the global level and case studies on both the local and national levels in African, Latin American, and Asian countries. The contributors draw on their experiences in Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Vietnam. Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime examines: global governancewith a cross-country regression analysis of deforestation and various aspects of governance global forest tradewith extensive reviews of data on global trade in forest products community perspectives on illegal loggingincluding a system dynamics model of villagers' willingness to log, a description of community involvement in broader networks of illegal trade, and a chapter that challenges the credibility of illegality as defined by a corrupt government or agency the efforts of NGOs to combat illegal logging how illegal logging is typically symptomatic of broader failures of governance Specific chapters in Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime investigate: the role of monitoring in cutting forest crime whether illegal logging is better combated via law enforcement or by local communitieswith pros and cons for each approach the proximate causes of illegal logging, including access to forests and equipment, and economic factors the efforts of Transparency Internationala widely lauded organization combating corruptionto address illegal logging at the international policy level In addition, this valuable resource provides you with an essential overview of the literature on illegal logging, an in-depth analysis of the incentive structures that bring local residents to commit forest crimes, and a great deal more. Let Illegal Logging in the Tropics: Strategies for Cutting Crime be your guide to the intricacies of this increasingly urgent issue.

This book explores the opportunities and challenges associated with the legal protection of World Heritage sites in the Pacific Islands. It argues that the small Pacific representation on the World Heritage List is in part due to a lack of strong legal frameworks for heritage conservation, putting such sites under threat. Providing a comprehensive analysis of the nomination, listing and protection of the Solomon Island World Heritage Site, it examines the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Pacific context. It explores how the international community's broadening interpretation of the notion of 'outstanding universal value' has increased the potential for Pacific heritage to be classified as 'World Heritage'. This book also analyses the protection regime established by the Convention, and the World Heritage Committee's approach to heritage conservation, identifying challenges associated with the protection of Pacific Island heritage.

'Beautiful . . . Justifies its place alongside nature writing classics such as H is for Hawk' NEW STATESMAN 'Wonderful ... both frank and fearless' TELEGRAPH BEST TRAVEL BOOKS OF THE YEAR 'Fascinating' GUARDIAN TOP TEN NATURE MEMOIRS From Mexico to the Arctic ice, grey whale mothers swim with their calves. Following them, by bus, train and ferry, are Doreen and her toddler Max, in pursuit of a wild hope. Doreen first visited Alaska as a young journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities. There, drawn deeply into an Iñupiaq family, she joined the bowhead whale hunt, watching for polar bears under the never-ending light. Years later, now a single mother living in a hostel, Doreen embarks on this extraordinary journey: following the grey whale migration back to the Arctic, where greys and bowheads meet at the melting apex of our planet. 'Soundings got under my skin. I finished it in tears' AMY LIPTROT 'What a voice! What a book!' CHARLES FOSTER 'Soulful, honest, insightful, humane and propulsive' JINI REDDY 'Thrilling, passionate and tender-hearted' HELEN JUKES WINNER OF THE RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARD ONE OF SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE'S TEN BEST BOOKS ABOUT TRAVEL OF 2022

The Netherlands is one of the most prominent and innovative countries in the field of environmental planning. Since the 1990s, its government has introduced such groundbreaking schemes as Integrated Environmental Zoning, the City Environment Project and the Bubble Concept, and new approaches to coping with noise, odours, soil pollution, air pollution and safety issues. These initiatives and policy tools reflect a rapidly changing and decentralizing environmental policy, which contrasts with more conventional environmental ideologies. However, at present, little is know of these policies in the international arena. environmental planning. He shows how and why the country's planning system has moved away from its traditional top-down structure. The resulting changes have had far-reaching consequences for the traditional principles of Dutch Environmental policy. For example, contaminated soil no longer has to be cleaned up completely and national noise legislation is being dismantled in favour of local initiatives. In addition, measures for compensating excessive environmental loads are now open to discussion and environmental quality is a subject of negotiation among stakeholders. Environmental issues are no longer seen as issues that should be dealt with separately from other issues. It is recognized that environmental issues are often influenced by their local context and that policy must therefore be formulated in coherence with other area-related issues. Shared governance and participative decision-making are seen to be equally important. closely integrated with local initiatives that focus on general location-specific qualities. In this book, this development is referred to as tailor-made comprehensive planning, which relates closely to the local context, is area-specific, situation-dependent and embraces shared governance. Despite the fact that these developments in environmental planning in the Netherlands have raised a number of difficult questions, they have also created many interesting possibilities for dealing with environmental issues in complex situations.

A riveting portrait of the cultural struggles and political conflicts of proposed copper-nickel mines in Minnesota's Iron Range On an unseasonably warm October afternoon in Saint Paul, hundreds of people gathered to protest the construction of a proposed copper-nickel mine in the rural northern part of their state. The crowd eagerly listened to speeches on how the project would bring long-term risks and potentially pollute the drinking water for current and future generations. A year later, another proposed mining project became the subject of a public hearing in a small town near the proposed site. But this time, local politicians and union leaders praised the mine proposal as an asset that would strengthen working-class communities in Minnesota. In many rural American communities, there is profound tension around the preservation and protection of wilderness and the need to promote and profit from natural resources. In Mining the Heartland, Erik Kojola looks at both sides of these populist movements and presents a thoughtful account of how such political struggles play out. Drawing on over a hundred ethnographic interviews with people of the region, from members of labor unions to local residents to scientists, Kojola is able to bring this complex struggle over mining to life. Focusing on both pro- and anti-mining groups, he expands upon what this conflict reveals about the way whiteness and masculinity operate among urban and rural residents, and the different ways in which class, race, and gender shape how people relate to the land. Mining the Heartland shows the negotiation and conflict between two central aspects of the state's culture and economy: outdoor recreation in the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes and the lucrative mining of the Iron Range.

How do plants make a living? Some plants are gamblers, others are swindlers. Some plants are habitual spenders while others are strugglers and miserly savers. Plants have evolved a spectacular array of solutions to the existential problems of survival and reproduction in a world where resources are scarce, disturbances can be deadly, and competition is cut-throat. Few topics have both captured the imagination and furrowed the brows of plant ecologists, yet no topic is more important for understanding the assembly of plant communities, predicting plant responses to global change, and enhancing the restoration of our rapidly degrading biosphere. The vast array of plant strategy models that characterize the discipline now require synthesis. These models tend to emphasize either life history strategies based on demography, or functional strategies based on ecophysiology. Indeed, this disciplinary divide between demography and physiology runs deep and continues to this today. The goal of this accessible book is to articulate a coherent framework that unifies life history theory with comparative functional ecology to advance prediction in plant ecology. Armed with a deeper understanding of the dimensionality of life history and functional traits, we are now equipped to quantitively link phenotypes to population growth rates across gradients of resource availability and disturbance regimes. Predicting how species respond to global change is perhaps the most important challenge of our time. A robust framework for plant strategy theory will advance this research agenda by testing the generality of traits for predicting population dynamics.

For decades conservation has been based on the donor-driven principle. It hasn't worked. For centuries, environmental pollution or degradation has been addressed by the same attitude, the Polluter Pays' principle. It hasn't worked. The cycle has to stop. But while everyone talks about using a market-driven approach, few know how to do it. Faced with the situation on the ground what do you do? What is happening? How can you engage a system so that it is self-sustaining and the people self-motivated?This book is written by the leading conservation biologists, ecologists, biologists, economists, lawyers, community and tribal specialists, financial specialists, market makers, environment specialists, climatologists, resource managers, atmospheric scientists, project developers and corporate fund managers.

"Moving Environments: Affect, Emotion, Ecology, and Film," international scholars investigate how films portray human emotional relationships with the more-than-human world and how such films act upon their viewers' emotions. Emotion and affect are the basic mechanisms that connect us to our environment, shape our knowledge, and motivate our actions. Contributors explore how film represents and shapes human emotion in relation to different environments and what role time, place, and genre play in these affective processes. Individual essays resituate well-researched environmental films such as "An Inconvenient Truth" and "March of the Penguins" by paying close attention to their emotionalizing strategies, and bring to our attention the affective qualities of films that have so far received little attention from ecocritics, such as Stan Brakhage's "Dog Star Man."

The collection opens a new discursive space at the disciplinary intersection of film studies, affect studies, and a growing body of ecocritical scholarship. It will be of interest not only to scholars and students working in the field of ecocriticism and the environmental humanities, but for everyone with an interest in our emotional responses to film.