Global Environmental Politics

Simon Nicholson is Assistant Professor and Director of the Global Environmental Politics program in the School of International Service at American University. His research, teaching, and public engagement center on global food politics and the politics of emerging technologies, with a focus most recently on climate geoengineering technologies.Paul Wapner is Professor of Global Environmental Politics in the School of International Service at American University and author of Living Through the End of Nature: The Future of American Environmentalism and Environmental Activism and World Civic Politics. His research focuses on Environmental Thought, Transnational Environmental Activism, Environmental Ethics, and Global Environmental Politics.

Praise for Global Environmental PoliticsThe book creates an atypical walk through familiar readings and links one to another in an insightful way, enabling students to fain more than the sum of the parts... In sum, Global Environmental Politics has a place in any introductory-level undergraduate class on the subject.Global GovernanceThis remarkable collection ties together the work of writers, activists, and scholars to reveal the complexities of the world in which we live and the challenges facing the planet that supports us. Wapner and Nicholson confront readers with provocative ideas and realistic appraisals, but also with paths forward that cut across scales, from individual to global. I can't wait to see how my students respond to the ideas and perspectives presented in this exciting volume!Kate O'Neill, University of California-BerkeleyMore than a textbook, Nicholson and Wapner's collection of readings combines the responsibilities of sound scholarship and civic action with the possibilities of informed, meaningful action. Highly recommended.Thomas Princen, University of Michigan, Author of The Logic of SufficiencyAn excellent primary or complementary text for an introductory Global Environmental Politics course. The organization of topics is logical, the introductory comments are useful for putting the readings into context, and the student exercises are perhaps my favorite part -- an excellent idea! I like the balance of mixing popular readings with more scholarly readings and find that students like the mix as well. There is a need for a new reader in this area, and I really like this approach!Pamela Chasek, Manhattan CollegeIf you want to teach a course on environmental politics that forces students to engage the subject in relation to their daily lives, then Nicholson and Wapner's volume cannot be beaten. They have curated and carefully edited an array of fantastic texts, both scholarly and popular, and provided readers with succinct, thoughtful overviews of the themes these texts introduce. This book will profoundly enrich the learning experience of all those students lucky enough to be required to read it.Matthew Paterson, University of OttawaGlobal Environmental Politics: From Person to Planet gives us all signals to inspire positive behaviors as we collectively design a beneficial future for all the children of all species for all time.William McDonough, Architect and co-author of Cradle to Cradle

• Introduction: Living in an Environmental Age PART I: STATE OF THE PLANET Section 1: Species Unbound: Humanity's Environmental ImpactIntroduction 1. Enter the Anthropocene, Elizabeth Kolbert 2. State of the Species, Charles C. Mann3. Humanity's Potential, Alex SteffenSection 1 Exercise: The Time MachineSection 2: Four Planetary Challenges: Climate, Extinction, Water, and FoodIntroduction 4. Global Warming's Terrifying New Math, Bill McKibben5. End of the Wild, Stephen M. Meyer6. Where Has All the Water Gone? Maude Barlow7. The Global Food Crisis, Lester BrownSection 2 Exercise: Fries with That? Tracing Personal ConsumptionSection 3: Causes of Environmental HarmIntroduction 8. Too Many Americans? Thomas Friedman 9. A Finite Earth? Bill McKibben 10. Consequences of Consumerism, Erik Assadourian11. Use Energy, Get Rich, and Save the Planet, John TierneySection 3 Exercise: Where do Babies Come From? The Causes of Population GrowthPART II: STATES, MARKETS, AND SOCIETY: GEOPOLITICAL RESPONSES TO UNSUSTAINABILITY Section 4: International State SystemIntroduction12. Rio Declaration on Environment and Development13. Brief History of International Environmental Cooperation, Jennifer Clapp and Peter Dauvergne14. What's Wrong with Climate Politics? Paul Harris15. State Sovereignty Endangers the Planet, Richard FalkSection 4 Exercise: Talking with the United NationsSection 5: EconomyIntroduction16. The Promise of Corporate Environmentalism, Peter Dauvergne and Jane Lister17. Environmental Economics 101: Overcoming Market Failures,