Environmental Politics

Seit Jahrzehnten wissen wir um die Erderwärmung und ihre Gefährlichkeit. Dennoch nehmen die globalen Treibhausgasemissionen weiter zu. Offenbar gelingt es uns nicht, den Klimawandel zu stoppen. Wie lässt sich dieses Versagen erklären? Warum reagieren Gesellschaften so zögerlich auf diese Bedrohung? In seinem neuen Buch gibt Jens Beckert eine Antwort.

For decades, discerning listeners have turned to journalist and historian Gwynne Dyer for his unparalleled acumen in serving up hard geopolitical truths. Intervention Earth is built around Dyer’s interviews with one hundred climate scientists from around the globe, including the leading figures in the geoengineering field. One of the most interesting topics: the pros and cons of Solar Radiation Management, a possible planetary Hail Mary that is rife with political risks. But Intervention Earth is about more than technological mega-projects.

Set in 2014-16, and in the fictional town of West York, KY, All Lies Begin with Truth dramatizes the complexities of natural gas extraction, its legalities and impact on a small town's economy, infrastructure, and surrounding environment. Split into three distinctive perspectives, the novel begins with Eris Carroll, the outsider, a young and energetic activist negotiating her place in a world where societal rules and cultural norms cater to and support patriarchy. Later, the perspective changes to Lionel Boone, whose past indifferences and mounting guilt over surviving a kettle bottom ...

Toxic Water, Toxic System exposes the consequences of a seemingly anonymous authoritarian state willing to maintain white supremacy at any cost—including poisoning an entire city and shutting off water to thousands of people. Weaving together narratives of frontline activists along with archival data, Michael Mascarenhas provides a powerful exploration of the political alliances and bureaucratic mechanisms that uphold inequality.

As climate change becomes an international crisis, more and more industries are looking for a sound model for creating successful environmentally friendly companies, and a new generation of young leaders are eager for inspiration and guidance on creating sustainable businesses. Mid-Course Correction Revisited advocates why we need to create prototypical green companies and a new economy - not based on non-renewable resources, but on renewable energy, aggressive recycling, innovative technology, and sustainable business practices.

Climate Change and the Road to Net-Zero is a story of how humanity has broken free from the shackles of poverty, suffering, and war and for the first time in human history, grown both population and prosperity. It’s also a story of how a single species has reconfigured the natural world, repurposed the Earth’s resources, and begun to reengineer the climate. The book uses these conflicting narratives to explore the science, economics, technology, and politics of climate change.

Amy and her friends, a united force of young, intelligent, and ambitious individuals, are fearless in their mission to combat the global water crisis. They quickly realize that their seemingly simple goal is a challenge they will face together.

An epic struggle over land, water, and power is erupting in the American West and the halls of Washington, DC. It began when a 4,000-square-mile area of Arizona desert called Black Mesa was divided between the Hopi and Navajo tribes. To the outside world, it was a land struggle between two fractious Indian tribes; to political insiders and energy corporations, it was a divide-and-conquer play for the 21 billion tons of coal beneath Black Mesa. Today, that coal powers cheap electricity for Los Angeles, a new water aqueduct into Phoenix, and the neon dazzle of Las Vegas.

What does it mean to be a millennial in this chaotic world? Beyond Snapchat and Tinder, the consumerist culture we’ve inherited, and quarter-life crises, can a millennial aspire to more? Alison Lea Sher argues, yes, we can! Packing herself up in an RV, Sher embarks on a road trip, interviewing 150 of her millennial peers as they begin their adult lives. From kids heading straight to Wall Street after college, to those sleeping on it, Sher asks: “Who are you; what should you do; and how can you step into your destiny as a stakeholder in society?”

The Copernican view of the universe is mistaken. The Earth continues to be the center of the universe, because here there is life, and plenty of it. From the very limited exploration of our solar system, we have learned that there is no complex meaningful life. For humanity to survive in this century, we need to change the paradigm back to the Earth is the center of the universe. The nearest star system, Proxima Centuri, is at least 4.2 light years, (over 20 trillion miles) and unreachable. It would take approximately 70,000 years with present technology to get there.

The media constantly bombard us with news of health hazards lurking in our everyday lives. But many of these hazards turn out to have been greatly overblown. According to author and epidemiologist Geoffrey C. Kabat, this hyping of low-level environmental hazards leads to needless anxiety and confusion on the part of the public as to which exposures have important effects on health and which are likely to have minimal or no effect.

The World We Need provides a vivid introduction to America's largely unsung grassroots environmental groups - often led by activists of color and the poor - valiantly fighting back in America's so-called sacrifice zones against industries poisoning our skies and waterways and heating our planet. Through original reporting, profiles, and interviews, we learn how these activist groups, almost always working on shoestring budgets, are devising creative new tactics.

We are on the brink of environmental catastrophe. Cutting emissions is essential but won't be enough. We also need to harness the power of nature, recognizing that the natural world is not only priceless, but has measurable economic value. Restoring biodiversity aided by technological and financial innovation will unlock environmental protections and economic benefits. The Case for Nature sets out with powerful clarity how protecting nature is both the right thing to do, and in our economic interests.

Deniers of climate change sometimes quip that claims about global warming are more about political science than climate science. They are wrong on the science, but may be right with respect to its political implications. A hotter world, writes Andrew Guzman, will bring unprecedented migrations, famine, war, and disease. It will be a social and political disaster of the first order.

For many years, Sadiq wasn't fully aware of the dangers posed by air pollution, nor its connection with climate change. Then, at the age of 43, he was unexpectedly diagnosed with adult-onset asthma - brought on by the polluted London air he had been breathing for decades.

Unsettling Canada, a Canadian best seller, is built on a unique collaboration between two First Nations leaders, Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ron Derrickson.Both men have served as chiefs of their bands in the B.C. interior and both have gone on to establish important national and international reputations. But the differences between them are in many ways even more interesting. Arthur Manuel is one of the most forceful advocates for Aboriginal title and rights in Canada and comes from the activist wing of the movement.

Was man wirklich über Klima-Kipppunkte wissen muss. Überschwemmungen, Hitzewellen, Dürren, Waldbrände – die Auswirkungen des immer extremeren Wetters sind auch hierzulande zunehmend spürbar. Aber all das ist erst der Anfang: Weil das 1,5-Grad-Limit nicht mehr zu halten ist und die Erderhitzung fortschreitet, drohen in naher Zukunft im Klimasystem mehrere sogenannte Kipppunkte überschritten zu werden. Die Folgen wären einschneidend, auch für Deutschland. Benjamin von Brackel und Toralf Staud liefern, was man über Kipppunkte wirklich wissen muss.

This audiobook narrated by Jennifer Woodward explains why acknowledging diverse eco-social relationships can help us overcome the political polarization that undermines our ability to protect the environment.

Colonists brought a different view of nature, one that saw its resources as commodities to be bought and sold. Over the course of centuries, this conflict of ideologies would continue, one that persists today in courtroom debates surrounding Indigenous rights, on frontlines protesting pipeline projects, and in the hearts and minds of people advocating that "water is life". So when a water protector proclaims "water is life", they speak not just in slogan form, but as part of an ancient philosophy that dates back millennia.

The ocean sustains life on our planet, from absorbing carbon to regulating temperatures. But as we exhaust the resources on land, its reserves are increasingly dredged and extracted to fuel new industry. Today we are facing two urgent challenges at sea: massive environmental destruction, and spiraling inequality in the ocean economy. Chris Armstrong reveals how existing governing institutions are failing to respond to the most pressing problems of our time.