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With examples ranging from timbering and fishing to automobility and meat production, Princen shows that sufficiency is perfectly sensible and yet absolutely contrary to modern society's dominant principle, efficiency. He argues that seeking enough when more is possible is both intuitive and rational - personally, organisationally and ecologically rational. And under global ecological constraint, it is ethical. Over the long term, an economy - indeed a society--cannot operate as if there's never enough and never too much.
How to imagine and then realize an ecological order based on living within our biophysical means. We are living beyond our means, running up debts both economic and ecological, consuming the planet's resources at rates not remotely sustainable. But it's hard to imagine a different way. How can we live without cheap goods and easy credit? How can we consume without consuming the systems that support life? How can we live well and live within our means? In Treading Softly, Thomas Princen helps us imagine an alternative. We need, he says, a new normal, an ecological order that is actually economical with resources, that embraces limits, that sees sustainable living not as a “lifestyle” but as a long-term connection to fresh, free-flowing water, fertile soil, and healthy food. The goal would be to live well by living well within the capacities of our resources. Princen doesn't offer a quick fix—there's no list of easy ways to save the planet to hang on the refrigerator. He gives us instead a positive, realistic sense of the possible, with an abundance of examples, concepts, and tools for imagining, then realizing, how to live within our biophysical means.
At a time when states are reactive, at best, to the global ecological crisis and when economic globalization seems to be significantly contributing to the acceleration of that crisis, environmental non-governmental orgainisations (NGOs) are proliferating. This book explains the key role of NGOs in an emerging world environmental politics, showing how NGOs act both as independent bargainers and as agents of social learning, to link biophysical conditions to the political realm at both the local and global levels. Throught the use of case studies the authors reveal the richness and diversity of NGO activity and the dificulty of the choices facing decision-makers in their attempts to protect the environment, seek new forms of governance and foster social environmental learning. The book generates questions that are central, not only to an understanding of NGO relations, but to the study of international environmental politics. Environmental NOGs in World Politics will be of great interest to upper level student sand scholars of both environmental politics and international relations. It will also appeal to environmental-policy professionals.
Essays that offer ecological, social, and political perspectives on the problem of overconsumption.
Few scholars have attempted to evaluate critically the role mediators play in managing international conflicts. Thomas Princen examines where mediation fits in the larger realm of diplomatic practice, going beyond the usual state-centric focus to account for the mediating activities of a wide range of actors-from superpowers to small states, from international organizations to nongovernmental groups. Originally published in 1992. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Readings that point the way to a peaceful, democratic, and ecologically resilient transition to an era of localization, limits, and societal opportunities. Energy supplies are tightening. Persistent pollutants are accumulating. Food security is declining. There is no going back to the days of reckless consumption, but there is a possibility—already being realized in communities across North America and around the world—of localizing, of living well as we learn to live well within immutable constraints. This book maps the transition to a more localized world. Society is shifting from the centrifugal forces of globalization (cheap and abundant raw materials and energy, intensive commercial...
What if modern society put a priority on the material security of its citizens and the ecological integrity of its resource base? What if it took ecological constraint as a given, not a hindrance but a source of long-term economic security? How would it organize itself, structure its industry, shape its consumption? Across time and across cultures, people actually have adapted to ecological constraint. They have changed behavior; they have built institutions. And they have developed norms and principles for their time. Today's environmental challenges—at once global, technological, and commercial—require new behaviors, new institutions, and new principles. In this highly original work, T...
A provocative call for delegitimizing fossil fuels rather than accommodating them, accompanied by case studies from Ecuador to Appalachia and from Germany to Norway. Not so long ago, people North and South had little reason to believe that wealth from oil, gas, and coal brought anything but great prosperity. But the presumption of net benefits from fossil fuels is eroding as widening circles of people rich and poor experience the downside. A positive transition to a post-fossil fuel era cannot wait for global agreement, a swap-in of renewables, a miracle technology, a carbon market, or lifestyle change. This book shows that it is now possible to take the first step toward the post-fossil fue...
What difference do nonstate actors in international relations (such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International, IBM, or organizations of scientists) make in world politics? How do cross-national links interact with the world of states? Who controls whom? This book answers these questions by investigating the impact of nonstate actors on foreign policy in several issue areas and in regions around the world. It argues that the impact of such nonstate actors will depend on the institutional structure of states as well as international regimes and organizations.
In a world of dwindling natural resources and mounting environmental crisis, who is devising ways of living that will work for the long haul? And how can we, as individuals, make a difference? To answer these fundamental questions, Professor Karen Litfin embarked upon a journey to many of the world’s ecovillagesÑintentional communities at the cutting-edge of sustainable living. From rural to urban, high tech to low tech, spiritual to secular, she discovered an under-the-radar global movement making positive and radical changes from the ground up. In this inspiring and insightful book, Karen Litfin shares her unique experience of these experiments in sustainable living through four broad w...