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Title: The Local Politics of Global Sustainability by Thomas Prugh, Robert Costanza, Herman E. Daly ISBN: 1-55963-744-7 Publisher: Island Press Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (2 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Looking for a workable change agent.
Comment: This book could eventually be one of the most important ever published within the environmental community if it encourages environmental activists to shift their approach from confrontation to "principled" negotiation. Environmental activists for most of the past thirty years have tended to confront their adversaries using "hard" negotiation as described in Getting To Yes by Fisher and Ury. This was the style implied by Herman Daly's early writings.
If "names" such as Robert Costanza and Herman Daly can shift their thinking away from confrontation and toward working with non-environmentalists as collective problem-solvers, there is no end to the possibilites. Interestingly, they endorse the process of public deliberation or what Benjamin Barber calls "strong" democracy. They are dsicovering, as many of us already know, that citizens engaged in deliberation naturally tend to gravitate toward "sustainable" concepts. Hence, if we can create forums for strong democracy in our communities, pro-environmental thinking will follow.
In this manner, public deliberation can foster "principled" negotiation where all of us look for win/win solutions and treat each other with respect. Or, we can continue to confront and litigate each other and/or wait for big brother to impose a resolution. Are we, as "ordinary" citizens, up to the challenge. Prugh et al imply we are. Those of us in the "front lines" of community development know we are. Happy reading!!
Rating: 4
Summary: More interesting to theorists than activists
Comment: This book is a quick read, essentially an application of Barber's Strong Democracy treatise to the idea of sustainable development. It defines sustainable development as the reorientation of the economic system to accommodate inherent natural limits on energy use, waste sinks, etc. The authors point out there may be many different paths humanity may choose into the future: increasing maldistribution of resources or increasing global equity; increasing loss of biodiversity or reduced destruction of the biosphere; a bleak and degrading future or a more promising one. They posit that a move towards a strong democratic structure, with wider and deeper participation in the political system, would be a crucial step towards a more promising future.
I found the book interesting, though a little light on examples: there's one chapter devoted to historical examples of strong(er) democracy. On the other hand, the book offers some ideas about how to get there from here, how to move incrementally towards stronger democracy. The author's proposal to create the democratic foundation for a sustainable future is the major focus of the book: it would be interesting to explore in greater detail those aspects of modern culture that mitigate against popular participation, and those that might be brought into play to support it. How does the increasing homogenization of world culture, and the concomitant consumerization of the world's people (and the corresponding influence of advertising), undermine democratic participation? What trends, like the coop movement or the expanding NGO movement, help develop political participation? How can we shift the direction of the increasingly international economy and it's political implications as illustrated by the WTO, for example? What are the implications of modern communication/computer technologies, both positive and negative, on the ideas outlined here?
"Local Politics" doesn't attempt anything so grandiose. It's presents interesting ideas regarding strong democracy. I think it will be more interesting to theorists than activists, but many people might find something to chew on here.
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Title: Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth by Williams E. Rees, Mathis Wackernagel, Phil Testemale ISBN: 086571312X Publisher: New Society Pub Pub. Date: November, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins ISBN: 0316353000 Publisher: Back Bay Books Pub. Date: 12 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Great Unraveling: Losing Our Way in the New Century by Paul Krugman ISBN: 0393058506 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke ISBN: 0743260244 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 22 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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Title: Dude, Where's My Country? by Michael Moore ISBN: 0446532231 Publisher: Warner Books Pub. Date: 07 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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