Environmental Geopolitics

AvShannon O'Lear

Häftad, Engelska, 2018

Del i serien Human Geography in the Twenty-First Century: Issues and Applications

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Beskrivning

This thought-provoking and clearly argued text provides a critical geopolitical lens for understanding global environment politics. A subfield of political geography, environmental geopolitics examines how environmental themes are used to support geopolitical arguments and physical realities of power and place. Shannon O’Lear considers common, problematic traits of such familiar but widely misunderstood narratives about human-environment relationships. Mainstream themes about human-environment relationships include narratives about presumed connections between human population trends and resource scarcity; ways in which conflict and violence are linked to resource use or environmental degradation; climate security; and the application of science to solve environmental problems. O’Lear questions these narratives, arguing that the role or meaning of the environment is rarely specified, humans’ role in these situations tends to be considered selectively, and little attention is paid to spatial dimensions of human-environment relationships. She shows that how we tend to think about environmental concerns often obscure value judgments and constrain more dynamic approaches to human-environment relationships. Environmental geopolitics demonstrates how we can question familiar assumptions to generate more just and creative approaches to our many relationships with the environment.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2018-03-12
Mått:149 x 231 x 14 mm
Vikt:358 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Serie:Human Geography in the Twenty-First Century: Issues and Applications
Antal sidor:216
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
ISBN:9781442265813

Utforska kategorier

Internationella relationer inom Samhälle och politik

Mer om författaren

Shannon O’Lear is Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Kansas. Her books include Environmental Politics: Scale and Power (Cambridge 2010) and Reframing Climate Change: Constructing Ecological Geopolitics (Routledge 2015)

Recensioner i media

O’Lear presents a cohesive, valuable analysis of the role geopolitics plays in discourse about the environment and environmental problems. She asserts that the Western world’s dialogue about environmental problems fails to carefully define the environment, to understand the role of human power systems, and to understand the role of human geography. Through four in-depth case studies, O’Lear demonstrates the West’s tendency to oversimplify risks, underplay political power struggles, and ignore the context of cultural and political geography. Her case studies focus on overpopulation, slow violence and resource scarcity, climate change security, and the role of science in policy making. Her cases provide a wealth of examples of the limitations in Western modes of environmental dialogue, drawing on a wide range of media coverage. Furthermore, though her four cases offer distinct pieces of supporting evidence for her research, O’Lear also integrates the cases well, connecting them for her overarching argument about linking geopolitics to environmental discourse. Ultimately, she presents a strong case for recognizing and challenging the West’s existing framework for environmental discourse by bringing in a stronger role for science and a clearer understanding of security and risk.Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Innehållsförteckning

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsChapter 1: Introduction to Environmental GeopoliticsChapter 2: Population and EnvironmentChapter 3: Resource Conflict and Slow ViolenceChapter 4: Climate Change and SecurityChapter 5: Science, Imagery, and Understanding the EnvironmentChapter 6: Building from HereReferencesInddexAbout the Author