A comprehensive yet accessible introduction to the conceptual tools used to explore real-world environmental problems
Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition demonstrates how theoretical approaches such as environmental ethics, political economy, and social construction work as conceptual tools to identify and clarify contemporary environmental issues. Assuming no background knowledge in the subject, this reader-friendly textbook uses clear language and engaging examples to first describe nine key conceptual tools, and then apply them to a variety of familiar objects—from bottled water and French fries to trees, wolves, and carbon dioxide. Throughout the text, highly accessible chapters provide insight into the relationship between the environment and present-day society.
Divided into two parts, the text begins by explaining major theoretical approaches for interpreting the environment-society relationship and discussing different perspectives about environmental problems. Part II examines a series of objects, each viewed through a sample of the theoretical tools from Part I, helping readers think critically about critical environmental topics such as deforestation, climate change, the global water supply, and hazardous e-waste. This fully revised third edition stresses a wider range of competing ways of thinking about environmental issues and features additional cases studies, up-to-date conceptual understandings, and new chapters in Part I on racializd environments and feminist approaches. Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition:
Covers theoretical lenses such as commodities, environmental ethics, and risks and hazards, and applies them to touchstone environment-society objects like wolves, tuna, trees, and carbon dioxide Uses a conversational narrative to explain key historical events, topical issues and policies, and scientific concepts Features substantial revisions and updates, including new chapters on feminism and race, and improved maps and illustrations Includes a wealth of in-book and online resources, including exercises and boxed discussions, chapter summaries, review questions, references, suggested readings, an online test bank, and internet links Provides additional instructor support such as suggested teaching models, full-color PowerPoint slides, and supplementary teaching material
Retaining the innovative approach of its predecessors, Environment and Society: A Critical Introduction, Third Edition remains the ideal textbook for courses in environmental issues, environmental science, and nature and society theory.
List of Figures x List of Tables xv List of Boxes xvi Acknowledgments xvii About the Companion Website xviii 1 Introduction: The View from a Human-Made Wild 1 What is This Book? 6 The Authors’ Points of View 9 Part I Approaches and Perspectives 13 2 Population and Scarcity 15 A Booming China or a Busting One? 16 The Problem of Exponential Growth 17 Population, Development, and Environment Impact 19 The Other Side of the Coin: Population and Innovation 23 Limits to Population: An Effect Rather than a Cause? 24 Thinking with Population 29 3 Markets and Commodities 33 The Bet 34 Managing Environmental Bads: The Coase Theorem 37 Market Failure 39 Market-Based Solutions to Environmental Problems 40 Beyond Market Failure: Gaps between Nature and Economy 45 Thinking with Markets 48 4 Institutions and “The Commons” 51 Controlling Carbon? 52 The Prisoner’s Dilemma 52 The Tragedy of the Commons 54 The Evidence and Logic of Collective Action 56 Crafting Sustainable Environmental Institutions 58 Are All Commoners Equal? Does Scale Matter? 62 Thinking with Institutions 64 5 Environmental Ethics 67 The Price of Cheap Meat 68 Improving Nature: From Biblical Tradition to John Locke 70 Gifford Pinchot vs. John Muir in Yosemite, California 72 Aldo Leopold and “The Land Ethic” 74 Liberation for Animals! 76 CAFOs and Climate Change: Now that You Know, What Should You Do? 78 Holism and Other Pitfalls 78 Thinking with Ethics 80 6 Risks and Technology 83 The Bt Cotton Revolution 84 Environments as Hazard 85 The Problem of Risk Perception 87 Risk as Culture 90 Beyond Risk: The Political Economy of Hazards 92 Thinking with Risk and Technology 95 7 Political Economy 99 The Contradictions of COVID-19 100 Labor, Accumulation, and Crisis 101 Production of Nature 108 Global Capitalism and the Ecology of Uneven Development 110 Social Reproduction and Nature 112 Environments and Economism 114 Thinking with Political Economy 114 8 Social Construction of Nature 118 The Blank Spot on the Map 119 So You Say It’s “Natural?” 120 Environmental Discourse 124 The Limits of Constructivism: Science, Relativism, and the Very Material World 129 Thinking with Construction 132 9 Feminism and the Environment 136 Gender and Environment 138 From Earth as Woman to Ecofeminism 140 Feminist Approaches to Economies and Nature 142 Feminist Approaches to Knowledge and the Environment 146 Thinking with Feminism and the Environment 152 10 Racialized Environments 156 Structural Environmental Racism 158 Environmental Justice 159 Settler Colonialism 163 Whiteness and Nature 169 Thinking with Racialized Environments 170 Part II Objects of Concern 175 11 Carbon Dioxide 177 Stuck in Pittsburgh Traffic 178 A Short History of CO2 178 Institutions: Climate Free-Riders and Carbon Cooperation 184 Markets: Trading More Gases, Buying Less Carbon 190 Political Economy: Who Killed the Atmosphere? 193 The Carbon Puzzle 196 12 Trees 200 Chained to a Tree in Berkeley, California 201 A Short History of Trees 201 Population and Markets: The Forest Transition Theory 209 Political Economy: Accumulation and Deforestation 212 Gender, Trees, and Power: Feminist Insights into Forests 214 Ethics, Justice, and Equity: Should Trees Have Standing? 216 The Tree Puzzle 218 13 Wolves 222 Wolves, Be Wary Where You Tread 223 A Short History of Wolves 224 Ethics: Rewilding and Wolves 229 Institutions: Stakeholder Management 232 Feminism: Of Wolves and Masculinity 235 The Wolf Puzzle 238 14 Uranium 242 Promise and Peril in Post-Nuclear Worlds 243 A Short History of Uranium 244 Risk and Hazards: Debating the Fate of High-Level Radioactive Waste 250 Race: Environmental Justice and the Navajo Nation 253 Social Construction: Discourses at Work in Australia 256 The Uranium Puzzle 260 15 Tuna 264 Big Trouble for Big Tuna 265 A Short History of Tuna 265 Markets and Commodities: Eco-Labels to the Rescue? 270 Political Economy: Re-regulating Fishery Economies 273 Ethics: Saving Animals, Conserving Species 276 The Tuna Puzzle 279 16 Lawns 283 How Much Do People Love Lawns? 284 A Short History of Lawns 284 Risk and Chemical Decision-Making 288 Social Construction: Good Lawns Mean Good People 291 Political Economy: The Chemical Tail Wags the Turfgrass Dog 292 The Lawn Puzzle 295 17 Bottled Water 298 A Tale of Two Bottles 299 A Short History of Bottled Water 300 Population: Bottling for Scarcity? 305 Risk and Technology: Health and Safety in a Bottle? 307 Political Economy: Manufacturing Demand on an Enclosed Commons 309 Racialized Environments: The Burden of Bottled Water in the United States 312 The Bottled Water Puzzle 314 18 French Fries 318 Getting Your French Fry Fix 319 A Short History of the Fry 319 Feminist Approaches: The Body Politics of French Fries 325 Political Economy and Racialized Environments: Have it Your Way? 328 Ethics: Protecting or Engineering Potato Heritage? 333 The French Fry Puzzle 337 19 E-Waste 341 Digital Divides 342 A Short History of E-Waste 343 E-Waste and Markets: From Externality to Commodity 348 The Political Economy of E-Waste 351 E-Waste and Racialized Environments 355 The E-Waste Puzzle 359 Glossary 362 Index 372
Paul Robbins is Professor and Dean of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His research interests focus on understanding human–environment systems, the influence non-humans have on human behavior and organization, and the implications these interactions hold for ecosystem health, local communities, and social justice. He is also author of Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction, now in its third edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2019). John G. Hintz is Professor of Environmental, Geographical, and Geological Sciences at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA. His research interests include the politics of public lands management, mapping protected areas, and sustainable agriculture. He has published in several journals, including Capitalism Nature Socialism and Ethics, Place & Environment. Sarah A. Moore is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. Her research investigates the political, economic, and social dimensions of waste management at several scales. Her publications include articles in numerous journals including Progress in Human Geography, The Professional Geographer, and Society and Natural Resources.
