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
1—What is Political Ecology?
Part I: Agriculture
2—Overview of Global Food Production: Pressures to Industrialize
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.
3—Field Crops: Grains and Soy
Corn; NAFTA, Corn, Mexico, and the United States; Soy; Conclusions
4—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
5—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
6—Coal
Overview of the Significance of Coal and Its Environmental, Social, and Health Impacts; West Virginia and Mountain-Top Removal Coal Mining; Conclusions
7—The “Devil’s Excrement”—Petroleum
Petrostates; The Alberta Tar-Sands; Conclusions
8—HydroElectric and Irrigation Dams
Environmental, Health, and Social Impacts of Major Dam Construction; Conclusions
9—Uranium and Nuclear Power: The Case Against
Uranium and Nuclear Power in Canada; Uranium in Saskatchewan; The Problem of Nuclear Waste; The Search for a Nuclear Waste “Repository” in Canada, Focusing on Saskatchewan; Conclusions
Part III: Solutions
10—Transforming our Political Economies and Dealing with the Issue of Constant Growth
Green Growth; Green New Deals; Degrowth; Politically Who is Going to Take Responsibility for Solutions?; Conclusions
11—Some Solutions in Agriculture
Agroecology; Regenerative or Restorative Agriculture; Natural Systems Agriculture and Perennial Grains; Some Other Considerations and Conclusions
12—Renewable Energy Solutions
Sources of Renewable Energy; Transportation; Buildings; Industry; Storing Renewable Energy; Bringing it All Together through Redesigning the Grid with Major Diversification and Nested Localization; Worrisome Caveats and Conclusions
Part IV: Conclusions
13—The Big Moral Question
“Buck-Passing”; Morality, Law, and Some Issues Concerning the Young, Future Generations, and Nature; Movements and Mass Action—Manifesting “Climate X”; Conclusions
14—What Might Happen Next?
A New Green New Deal?; How Could People Respond to the Scenario of Global Warming and the Collapse of a Global Civilization?; 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 (2001), Applied Anthropology: Tools and Perspectives for Contemporary Practice (2005) and Cultural Transformations and Globalization: Theory, Development, and Social Change (2015).
