1st Edition
Exploring Political Ecology Issues, Problems, and Solutions to the Climate Change Crisis
This book explores some of the conditions and underlying causes of the multiple environmental crises facing humanity. Rooted in anthropology, but multidisciplinary in scope, it surveys the many socio-cultural and socio-economic errors, foibles, and follies that brought us to these circumstances. Crucially and uniquely, it outlines an array of viable and practical solutions, some of which are radically different from the current status quo and cultural expectations. The first chapter canvasses the emerging, interdisciplinary field of political ecology, then Part I examines details and trends in agriculture. Part II portrays the threats posed by carbon dependent and combustive technologies as well as the hydro and nuclear energy systems now powering the majority of human actions in developed parts of the world and expanding beyond. The third part turns to consider solutions, including green new deals, de-growth policies, localization, agroecology, alternative energy systems, and many more possibilities. The conclusions engage with urgent moral and legal issues and outline social movement strategies—all related to our collective neglect of climate change—and then finally speculate upon possible futures. This book is key reading for researchers and students interested in climate change across the social and physical sciences and humanities.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter One—What is Political Ecology?
Part I: Agriculture
Chapter Two—Overview of Global Food Production (Factories in the Field, Feedlot, and Barn)— High Modernism and Contemporary Agriculture; A Major Critique of Industrial Agriculture; The Green Revolution; Political Motives for the Green Revolution and Other Global Agricultural Policies; Value Chains; Foreign Land Grabs; Conclusions.
Chapter Three—Field Crops: Grains and Soy— Corn; NAFTA, Corn, Mexico, and the U.S.A.; Soy; Conclusions.
Chapter Four– Livestock Production— The Virtual Extinction of the American Buffalo and the Rise of the Beef Industry; Cattle Ranching and the Brazilian Amazon; Pork Production; Conclusions.
Chapter Five–Who Really “Feeds a Hungry World”?— Industrial Food Chains VS Peasant and Small-Farmer Food Webs; La Vía Campesina and Food Sovereignty; Conclusions.
Part II: Energy
Chapter Six—Coal—Overview of the Significance of Coal and Its Environmental, Social, and Health Impacts; West Virginia and Mountain-Top Removal Coal Mining; Conclusions.
Chapter Seven—The “Devil’s Excrement”--Petroleum —Petrostates; The Alberta Tar Sands; Conclusions.
Chapter Eight—Hydro-Electric and Irrigation Dams—Environmental, Health, and Social Impacts of Major Dam Construction; Conclusions.
Chapter Nine—Uranium and Nuclear Power: The Case Against—Uranium and Nuclear Power in Canada; Uranium in Saskatchewan; The Problem of Nuclear Waste; Search for a Nuclear Waste “Repository” in Canada focusing on Saskatchewan; Conclusions.
Part III: Solutions
Chapter Ten—Transforming our Political Economies and Dealing with the Issue of Constant Economic Growth —Green Growth; Green New Deals; Degrowth; Politically Who is Going to Take Responsibility for Solutions?; Conclusions.
Chapter Eleven-–Some Solutions in Agriculture—Agroecology; Regenerative or Restorative Agriculture; Natural Systems Agriculture and Perennial Grains; Some Other Considerations and Conclusions.
Chapter Twelve--Renewable Energy Solutions-- Electrify as Much as Possible and Pursue “Negawatts”--Sources of Renewable Energy {solar, wind, hydro-electric including run-of-the-river or micro hydro, ocean power (wave and tidal), geothermal energy, bioenergy, hydrogen}; Transportation; Buildings; Industry; Storing Renewable Energy; Bringing it All Together through Redesigning the Grid with Major Diversification and Nested Localization; Worrisome Caveats and Conclusions.
Conclusions
Chapter Thirteen—The Big Moral Question—“Buck-Passing”; Morality, the Law, and Some Issues Concerning the Young, Future Generations, and Nature; The Rise of Movements and Mass Action--Manifesting “Climate X”; Conclusions.
Chapter Fourteen--What Might Happen Next and What Could be Done about Climate Change?—A New Green New Deal?; How Could People Respond to the Scenario of Global Warming and the Collapse of a Global Civilization? (localization. subsidiarity, resilience, transitions, cooperatives, conviviality in a low-tech society, emergent bottom-up cooperative behavior, reclaiming the commons, degrowth circular steady-state economies, rationing); Conclusions and Final Words.
References
Index
Biography
Alexander M. Ervin (PhD Illinois) is Professor Emeritus, Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan where he taught and researched for 51 years. His specialities include environmental anthropology, socio-cultural change, and applied anthropology. He is a past president of the Society for Applied Anthropology. His books include Canadian Perspectives in Cultural Anthropology (Nelson Thomson Learning 2001), Applied Anthropology: Tools and Perspectives for Contemporary Practice (Pearson 2005) and Cultural Transformations and Globalization: Theory, Development, and Social Change (Routledge 2015).
