Sustainable Work and the Environmental Crisis


Book Description

This book applies a pioneering approach that provides a comprehensive and critical analysis of the links between political economic activity and the degraded nature of contemporary work. It crucially asks if positive outcomes for the environment and workers are compatible and achievable.




Sustainable Work and the Environmental Crisis


Book Description

Compared to 20 years ago, the jobs many people do today are increasingly characterised by low pay and insecurity, while countless others cope with workplace stress and ill-health. At the same time the consequences of our current model of economic activity are creating dangerous and critical changes in the planet’s climate. Until recently debates around these two issues have had little contact with each other. This book demonstrates that there are definite and complex connections between degraded jobs and a degraded environment, that neither the dominant economic model nor the rate at which we exploit the planet’s resources are sustainable and that the limits for both may be reached sooner rather than later. By bringing together insights from critical thinkers in a range of disciplines, the book discusses the requirements and characteristics for work to be at the same time economically, socially and environmentally sustainable and examines the potential for alternative routes to sustainable work in policies and actions that support both the natural environment and worker well-being. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of HRM, labour studies, employment relations, sociology, environmental studies and sustainability. It is particularly relevant for those focusing on the link between labour and climate change. It is also highly relevant to policymakers, trade unions and NGOs looking at decent work and sustainability.




Green Social Work


Book Description

Social work is the profession that claims to intervene to enhance people's well-being. However, social workers have played a low-key role in environmental issues that increasingly impact on people's well-being, both locally and globally. This compelling new contribution confronts this topic head-on, examining environmental issues from a social work perspective. Lena Dominelli draws attention to the important voice of practitioners working on the ground in the aftermath of environmental disasters, whether these are caused by climate change, industrial accidents or human conflict. The author explores the concept of ‘green social work' and its role in using environmental crises to address poverty and other forms of structural inequalities, to obtain more equitable allocations of limited natural resources and to tackle global socio-political forces that have a damaging impact upon the quality of life of poor and marginalized populations at local levels. The resolution of these matters is linked to community initiatives that social workers can engage in to ensure that the quality of life of poor people can be enhanced without costing the Earth. This important book will appeal to those in the fields of social work, social policy, sociology and human geography. It powerfully reveals how environmental issues are an integral part of social work's remit if it is to retain its currency in the modern world and emphasize its relevance to the social issues that societies have to resolve in the twenty-first century.




What Can I Do to Help Heal the Environmental Crisis?


Book Description

The culmination of over three decades of writing by environmental scientist and writer Haydn Washington, this book examines the global environmental crisis and its solutions. Many of us know that something is wrong with our world, that it is wounded. At the same time, we often don’t know why things have gone wrong – or what can be done. Framing the discussion around three central predicaments – the ecological, the social, and the economic – Washington provides background as to why each of these are in crisis and presents steps that individuals can personally take to heal the world. Urging the reader to accept the reality of our problems, he explores practical solutions for change such as the transition to renewable energy, rejection of climate denial and the championing of appropriate technology, as well as a readjustment in ethical approaches. The book also contains 19 ‘solution boxes’ by distinguished environmental scholars. With a focus on positive, personal solutions, this book is an essential read for students and scholars of environmental science and environmental philosophy, and for all those keen to heal the world and contribute towards a sustainable future.




Ecovillages


Book Description

In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillagesÑintentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. In this inspiring and insightful book, Karen Litfin shares her unique experience of these experiments in sustainable living through four broad windows - ecology, economics, community, and consciousness - or E2C2. Whether we live in an ecovillage or a city, she contends, we must incorporate these four key elements if we wish to harmonize our lives with our home planet. Not only is another world possible, it is already being born in small pockets the world over. These micro-societies, however, are small and time is short. Fortunately - as Litfin persuasively argues - their successes can be applied to existing social structures, from the local to the global scale, providing sustainable ways of living for generations to come. You can learn more about Karen's experiences on the Ecovillages website: http://ecovillagebook.org/




Rawls and the Environmental Crisis


Book Description

The liberal political theorist John Rawls, despite remaining largely silent on ‘green concerns’, was writing during a time of increasing awareness that the ecological stability of the earth is being compromised by human activity. Rawls’s reluctance to engage with such concerns, however, has not stopped several scholars attempting to ‘extend’, or ‘expand’, his works to incorporate this newfound fear for the ecosystems that support human life. But why Rawls? What is to be gained from developing the ideas of a theorist whose primary aim was to establish a system of justice for contemporaneous, rational, and reasonable citizens of a liberal polity? This research monograph offers a critical consideration of the contextual framework within John Rawls’s Political Liberalism and considers its compatibility with the conceptual process of ‘greening’. Rawls and the Environmental Crisis argues that Rawls’s perceived neutrality on green concerns is representative of a widespread societal indifference to environmental degradation and describes the plurality of methodological and ethical approaches undertaken by green political theorists in analyzing the contribution Rawls’s theory makes to environmental concerns. Addressing a series of key debates within contemporary political philosophy regarding a wider frustration with liberal theory in general, Rawls and the Environmental Crisis will be of great interest to researchers in contemporary political philosophy, environmental ethics, green political theory, stewardship theory, and those interested in renewing existing conceptions of deliberative democracy.




Just Sustainabilities


Book Description

Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. This book argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.




The Real Environmental Crisis


Book Description

"Jack Hollander has written a lucid and path-breaking book. He is completely convincing in his thesis that it is poverty we should be addressing, both for the environment and for moral reasons, and that science, technology, markets, and affluence are the friends of the environment and poverty is the enemy. The book is of the highest scholarship and gets the big picture right; the arguments on both sides are addressed with clear thinking and clear prose. Though he is an eminent scientist, Hollander has a wonderful talent for keeping technical jargon to a minimum yet making the essence of technical arguments clear. Both the intelligent layman and the environmental scientist will learn much from this book. I did, and enjoyed the book immensely."—Bruce Ames, Former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center, University of California, Berkeley "This book is a much-needed reminder that declining environmental integrity is not—and certainly need not be—an inexorable attribute of economic progress. Throughout the book the author dispels a number of closely related myths, such as that of steadily increasing scarcity of energy resources. Hollander provides a corrective to the simplistic and unbalanced treatment of environmental and natural resource topics one encounters all too often in the media and in public debate."—Joel Darmstadter, Resources for the Future; editor, Global Development and the Environment: Perspectives on Sustainability "This work is extremely important and makes a major contribution to the debate and decision-making surrounding efforts to eradicate poverty and protect the environment. In a uniquely balanced manner, Hollander adds to the general understanding of how poverty and wealth contribute to sustainable management of natural resources."—Per Pinstrup-Andersen, author of Seeds of Contention: World Hunger and the Global Controversy over GM Crops "Jack Hollander puts forth two simple hypotheses. The first, explicit, is that environmental sustainability depends on extending prosperity to the developing world. The second, implicit, is that the sustainability of environmentalism depends on transparent and objective science. Both are well defended in Hollander's clear, well researched and timely book."—Richard S. Lindzen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology




A People's Curriculum for the Earth


Book Description

A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is a collection of articles, role plays, simulations, stories, poems, and graphics to help breathe life into teaching about the environmental crisis. The book features some of the best articles from Rethinking Schools magazine alongside classroom-friendly readings on climate change, energy, water, food, and pollution—as well as on people who are working to make things better. A People’s Curriculum for the Earth has the breadth and depth ofRethinking Globalization: Teaching for Justice in an Unjust World, one of the most popular books we’ve published. At a time when it’s becoming increasingly obvious that life on Earth is at risk, here is a resource that helps students see what’s wrong and imagine solutions. Praise for A People's Curriculum for the Earth "To really confront the climate crisis, we need to think differently, build differently, and teach differently. A People’s Curriculum for the Earth is an educator’s toolkit for our times." — Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate "This volume is a marvelous example of justice in ALL facets of our lives—civil, social, educational, economic, and yes, environmental. Bravo to the Rethinking Schools team for pulling this collection together and making us think more holistically about what we mean when we talk about justice." — Gloria Ladson-Billings, Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison "Bigelow and Swinehart have created a critical resource for today’s young people about humanity’s responsibility for the Earth. This book can engender the shift in perspective so needed at this point on the clock of the universe." — Gregory Smith, Professor of Education, Lewis & Clark College, co-author with David Sobel of Place- and Community-based Education in Schools




Morality and the Environmental Crisis


Book Description

The environmental crisis besieges morality with unanswered questions and ethical dilemmas, requiring fresh examination of nature's value, animal rights, activism, and despair.