Description
The book analyses several manifestations of the growing 'environmental justice movement', and also of 'popular environmentalism' and the 'environmentalism of the poor', which will be seen in the coming decades as driving forces in the process to achieve an ecologically sustainable society. The author studies, in detail, many ecological distribution conflicts in history and at present, in urban and rural settings, showing how poor people often favour resource conservation. The environment is thus not so much a luxury of the rich as a necessity of the poor. It concludes with the fundamental questions: who has the right to impose a language of valuation and who has the power to simplify complexity?
Joan Martinez-Alier combines the study of ecological conflicts and the study of environmental valuation in a totally original approach that will appeal to a wide cross-section of academics, ecologists and environmentalists.
About the Author
Joan Martinez-Alier, Professor of Economics and Economic History, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain, Recipient of the Balzan Prize in 2020 and the Holberg Prize in 2023
Reviews
'This is a wonderful book - rich in empirical detail, full of theoretical insights, offering hope in a bleak world, altogether inspiring. . . a tremendous achievement of having helped to create the disciplines of ecological economics and political ecology, bringing them alive in this book, and making their insights available to the developing worldwide movement for environmental justice.' -- Pat Devine, Environmental Values
'Any book by the ecological economist Joan Martinez-Alier is a Big Publishing Event. . . this is a book by a writer who loves his subject, knows it well, respects its history, and is driven by the desire to do justice. These are qualities enough to send you to the bookshop or the library in search of The Environmentalism of the Poor' -- Andrew Dobson, Environment Politics
'The book is a worthy and in-depth contribution to debates about political ecology and ecological economics. It should be read by all environmental and ecological economists who wish to make their analysis more relevant.' -- Tim Forsyth, Progress in Development Studies
'A marvellous combination of insight, research and activism. . . A must-read for policymakers, practitioners and academics alike, and for anyone concerned with sustainable development, environmentalism or poverty alleviation.' -- Human Ecology Journal
Book Information
ISBN 9781843764861
Author Joan Martinez-Alier
Format Paperback
Page Count 328
Imprint Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd
