The Politics of the Earth: Environmental Discourses - Tapa dura

timely and important book. It is written with impeccable clarity and should go a long way to convincing sceptics that the metaphors and symbols embedded in language do have a IprofoundI influence on the way in which the game of environmental politics is played out between competing groups. It is very clearly structured and contains a wealth of sharp insights and observations about contemporary green politics which will be of great use to undergraduate students./ Highly recommended./ Andrew Jordan, International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol 56, No. 1, 1999.

This text provides an introduction to thinking about the environment by looking at the way people use language on environmental issues. John Dryzek helps make sense of the diverse developments in environmental politics by analyzing the main discourses which have dominated the area during the last three decades, and which are likely to be influential in the future. The first discourse, "Survivalism", is based on the contention that the Earth has a limited stock of resources and prescribes drastic, multidimensional action to prevent global disaster, receiving a reply from Prometheans who deny such limits exist. "Environmental Problem Solving" recognizes the existence of ecological problems but views them as tractable within the basic framework of industrial society. The concept of "Sustainability" is defined by imaginative attempts to dissolve the conflicts between environmental and economic values, whilst the "Green Radicalism" discourse rejects the basic structure of industrial society and the way the environment is conceptualized, and promotes transformation in human consciousness, economics, and politics. Dryzek provides an assessment of these various perspectives, their rise and fall, their interaction and impacts, and their strengths and weaknesses. His analysis of these discourses leads up to a concluding argument for a reinvigorated ecological democracy.