Product Description
A call for the reappraisal of why Christians can and should work towards the wholeness of the biophysical environment. Green Witness explores the church's role as exemplar in striving towards the fulfillment of God's promise of peace, health and diversity to his Kingdom. An insightful work in theological ethics. ... Read more

Product Description
During the past twenty-five years, North American forestry has received increasingly vigorous scrutiny. Critics including the environmentalists, environmental scientists, representatives of public interest groups, and many individual citizens have expressed concerns about forestry's basic assumptions and methods, as well as its practical outcomes. Criticism has centered on such issues as the exploitation of forests for timber production, the reduction and fragmentation of old-growth habitats, the destruction of biodiversity, the degradation of grasslands through grazing practices, lack of government attention to recreation facilities, silvicultural methods like clearcutting and the use of herbicides and pesticides, the exportation of industrial forestry techniques to other parts of the world, and the use of public monies to provide services for private resouce companies, as in the creation of logging roads.This rising tide of public scrutiny has led many foresters to suspect that their "contract" with society to manage forests using their best professional judgment had been undermined.Some of these professionals, as well as some of their critics, have begun to reexamine their old beliefs and to look for new ways of practicing forestry. Part of this reflective process has entailed new directions in environmental ethics and environmental philosophy. This reader brings together some of the new thinking in this area. Here students of the applied environmental and natural resource sciences, as well as the interested general reader, will discover a rich sampling of writings in environmental ethics and philosophy as they apply to forestry.Readings focus on basic ethical systems in forestry and forest management, philosophical issues in forestry ethics, codes of ethics in forestry and related natural resource sciences such as fisheries science and wildlife biology, Aldo Leopold's land ethic in forestry, ethical advocacy and whistleblowing in government resource agencies, the ethics of new forestry, ecoforestry, and public debate in forestry, as well as ethical issues in global forestry such as the responsibilities of forest corporations, environmentalists, and individual wood consumers.This volume contains materials from the founders of forestry ethics, such as Bernhard Fernow, Giford Pinchot, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold; from such organizations as the Society of American Foresters, the Wildlife Society, the American Fisheries Society, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, and the Ecoforesters group.It also includes writings by a variety of well-known environmental philosophers and foresters, including Holmes Rolston, Robin Attfield, Lawrence Johnson, Michael McDonald, Paul Wood, James E. Coufal, Raymond Craig, Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Jeff DeBonis, Jim L. Bowyer, Alasdair Gunn, Goug Gaigle, Alan G. McQuillan, Stephanie Kaza, Alan Dregson, Duncan Taylor, and Kathleen Dean Moore. Peter C. List is Professor of Philosophy at Oregon State University, where he teaches courses on environmental ethics, ethical issues in the natural resource sciences, and sustainable forestry. He is the author of articles on Aldo Leopold's land ethic, and co-author of several articles on public attitudes about federal forests and forest management, published in the "Journal of Forestry and Society and Natural Resources". ... Read more

Product Description

“I love your book, it is one of the most fascinating I have ever read (certainly the most riveting textbook). The ideas you present are so on key… I just wanted to let you know how incredible your book is. Thank you for writing it.”

-Student at the University of Massachusetts, Boston

Bringing social and environmental interactions together as an ecological dialogue

The Third Edition of An Invitation to Environmental Sociology brings out the sociology of environmental possibility, inviting students to delve into this rapidly changing field. Written in a lively, engaging style, author Michael Bell covers the broad range of topics in environmental sociology with a personal passion rarely seen in sociology texts. With extensively updated material on our environmental situation, this edition challenges readers with the complexity of environmental puzzles.

New to the Third Edition

• Offers two new chapters – “Mobilizing the Ecological Society” and “Governing the Ecological Society”
• Improves the exposition and integration of the unifying concept of ecological dialogue
• Develops the notion of virtual environmentalism as a practical application of environmental sociology to real-world problems
• Offers a new integration of environmental social movement theory
• Discusses the latest theoretical trends in environmental sociology, including environmental flows, the Jevons paradox, disproportionality, degrowth, and participatory governance
• Presents evocative sketches that open each chapter
• Includes many new examples of the theoretical concepts

Ancillaries

• Instructor Resources on CD feature chapter summaries, Powerpoint slides, projects and classroom exercises, test questions, and more, are available for qualified adopters. Contact Customer Care at 1.800.818.7243 (6am – 5pm PT) to request a copy.

Intended Audience
This book is designed as a core text for courses in Environmental Sociology. It can also be used in courses such as Social Problems, Introduction to Environmental Issues, Human Dimensions of the Environment, and Environmental Ethics.

"This is the perfect text for an introductory course in Environmental Sociology."
-Eric Friedman, Drew University

Customer Reviews (4)

Class reading
I had to buy this book for an Environmental Sociology course I signed up for and over-all it is a very good book. Its general idea is to make you think about environmental problems in different way, as well as give you some history on the concept. The reading is rather easy and not too dense as some college books are so it should be accessible to anyone who is in/has graduated high school. I will be honest and say that I did most of the reading from this book on my own as the professor I had for the course did not use it as much as I had hoped for (considering how much I paid for it anyways). Overall it is a good beginners book into environmental/social issues.

Highly recommended
I highly recommend this book as an introduction to environmental sociology.My students say they like Bell's writing style, as it is accessible and he makes confusing concepts easy to understand.I like the way he places individual choices and decisions in a social context so that students can see the influences of social structures (the built environment, our time constraints and our need for social status) on the choices and decisions of individuals.In the 2004 edition, there is also a section on environmental justice, an important topic which is rarely covered adequately in environmental sociology textbooks.

Thoughtful, Innovative, Compelling, Empassioned
Michael Bell in this book takes an entirely new approach to introducing students to the field of environmental sociology.Yes there are other texts out there, and certainly they do a better job of reviewing all the research and thought that has gone before them.Some are much more encyclopedic, and end up reading like Sears Catalogues.However for its readablility and humanist treatment of this subject, Bell's stands alone.
Bell's humanities background shows in his wide-ranging examples from Asian, Classical and Enlightenment thinking, which shows readers how the questions currently being chewed on by environmental sociologists (such as what is "natural," why our culture and economic system drive us to destroy the environment) are truly age-old.This also makes the book extremely interesting for faculty and other readers, as well as students.
However what I like the best about this book is how beautifully and thoughtfully written it is.Bell's major points are carefully developed, and build upon each other beautifully.He speaks of his own life-choices, and he takes stands on issues.To me these make this book more compelling than text-book that seek to be catalogues of all the issues.Those have a place too, but students first need to care about the issues and the field, and feel as if something can be done about our pressing environmental problems.
I believe the other reviewer may be an outlier: Hundreds of my students over the past four years have given this book the thumbs up (and they certainly gave other books the thumbs down).Judge this book yourself, it is worth it.

Run screaming from this book
I had to buy this book for a class which could be summarized as "evironmental sociology".Of course, we had reading assignments from this for class discussion.That's fine, but in this book Bell manages to produce an unreadable dialogue that jumps between narritive and dry facts like a leapfrog on speed.

It may be a decent read for a casual reader who is actually interested in the subject matter and is not under any pressure to recite facts.However, the purpose of work such as this is to introduce the basic facts and ideas, but Bell loses the concepts in a labyrinth of words that leave you contemplating: "uh, what did I just read?"

Avoid this at all costs.I'm no expert on the subject, but there MUST be something better than this. ... Read more

Product Description

Environmental Ethics in Buddhism presents a logical and thorough examination of the metaphysical and ethical dimensions of early Buddhist literature. The author determines the meaning of nature in the early Buddhist context from general Buddhist teachings on dhamma, paticcasamuppada, samsara and the cosmogony of the Agganna Sutta. Consequently, the author shows that early Buddhism can be understood as an environmental virtue ethics. To illustrate this dimension, the Jatakas are used as a source. These are a collection of over five hundred folk tales, which also belong to early Buddhist literature. This work gives an innovative approach to the subject, which puts forward a distinctly Buddhist environmental ethics that is in harmony with traditional teachings as well as adaptable and flexible in addressing environmental problems.

Product Description
How can Christians contribute to the debates about climate change and global warming? What ethical criteria do they bring to the conversation? How does the Bible figure in their deliberation?

Product Description
Bringing Life to Ethics continues in the tradition of Michael W. Fox's lifelong inquiry into values, social and personal relationships, and the treatment of animals, the environment, and each other. Fox, the popular nationally syndicated columnist of "Ask the Animal Doctor", uses the compass of global bioethics in this book--humility, responsibility, interdisciplinary and intercultural competence, and compassion--to counter technological, ecological, and value threats by pointing in the direction of a humane and sustainable society. Not intended to further the scholarly debate over what constitutes ethics, Fox brings ethics into our personal and professional lives. He shows how bioethics has immediate relevance and applicability to a wide range of public and private enterprises. ... Read more

Product Description
The book demonstrates how educators and youth leaders can help middle-school-age and higher level students understand and define their relationship to nature and learn the importance of protecting the environment. Knapp maps out an educational journey that begins the moment you step outdoors.Alternative teaching strategies and structured activities will connect students with both the natural and built worlds.An examination of the history of environmental ethics and the diversity of worldviewsheld by people in our society underscores the complexity of reaching agreements about how to live more gently on the Earth. ... Read more

Product Description

This volume explores the legal, economic and political debate over intellectual property rights for traditional knowledge and genetic resources, analyzing theory and practice of access and benefits sharing around the world. The book investigates current flashpoints — the battle between Monsanto and Percy Schmeiser over farmers’ rights; disputes over coexistence of genetically modified and organic produce; and ownership and control of human genetic materials stored in human gene banks around the world.

Customer Reviews (1)

An broad perspective on ecological ethics
Sterba has compiled a comprehensive list of readings on topics relating to ecological ethics.That is, issues important to conciencious citizens of earth and how they should act to best preserve their global environment andtreat their fellow inhabitants.Many of the separate readings put intoperspective the moral and ethical teachings of past and present, and applythem to an increasingly earth-responsible perspective.Furthoremore, anobvious effort by the authors to draw similarities amoung themselves into acohesive statement of ecological responsibility succeeds withoutcompromising differences in each perspective.My only critisism is theinconsistency in citation style that leads to insufficient detailing ofsources for certain facts used to support important positions.This isespecially true of the two political writers.Citing the sources for dataquoted would lend heavier credence to the positions they expound. ... Read more

Product Description
Westra asks the questions, "What does 'integrity' mean?" and "Is there a moral doctrine that would support both the ideal and the obligation that integrity engenders?" The answers to these questions lead to the formulation of a principle which proposes that all our moral doctrines should be preceded by a principle aimed at preserving a philosophical analysis and defense of environmental integrity, then explores some of the practical implications of a principle of integrity for environmental ethics. ... Read more

Product Description
The proliferation of chemical substances in commerce poses scientific and philosophical problems.The scientific challenge is to develop data, methodologies, and techniques for identifying and assessing toxic substances before they cause harm to human beings and the environment.The philosophical problem is how much scientific information we should demand for this task consistent with other social goals we might have.In this book, Cranor utilizes material from ethics, philosophy of law, epidemiology, tort law, regulatory law, and risk assessment, to argue that the scientific evidential standards used in tort law and administrative law to control toxics ought to be evaluated with the purposes of the law in mind. Demanding too much for this purpose will slow the evaluation and lead to an excess of toxic substances left unidentified and unassessed, thus leaving the public at risk. Demanding too little may impose other costs.An appropriate balance between these social concerns must be found.Justice requires we use evidentiary standards more appropriate to the legal institutions in question and resist the temptation to demand the most intensive scientific evaluation of each substance subject to legal action. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Regulating Toxic Substances: A Philosophy of Science and the Law
Regulating Toxic Substances: A Philosophy of Science and the Law provides a sophisticated and educational analysis of the complexities associated with regulating, assessing and conceptualizing toxic substances. Cranor does an impressive job at dissecting and disentangling the perplexing relationship between scientific risk assessment analysis as it pertains to Tort law, regulatory agencies and their epistemic and philosophical considerations. Theories of distribution and variants of Rawls's concept of Utilitarianism provide an atypical way of conceptualizing ethical justifications for the regulation of carcinogens and other toxic substances.The universal consideration taken by Cranor is the relationship between scientific assessment of toxic substances and public-healthcare policy efficiency. Of particular value, the last four appendices discuss the theoretic and scientific cancer potency estimates in the California Department of Health Sciences (CDHS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Models of risk act as a function of Alpha and Beta values, statutes authorizing the regulation of carcinogens, and derivation of TD50 (tumorigenic dose) potency values.Regulating Toxic Substances: A Philosophy of Science and the Law will be best suited for those who are interested in the toxic Tort litigation and familiar with moderate to advanced statistic models of risk assessment and public-healthcare policy. Clanor puts together a cohesive evaluation of the synergetic relationship between toxic substances, policy and scientific method.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Morals and Ethics!
In the foreword, Richard D. Lamm, former governor of Colorado, says, and I paraphrase here: The great earthshaking controversies in our history...have been initiated by people who were characterized as heretic for challenging the straight jacket of orthodoxy. New ideas come particularly hard in public policy.

On the inside over the author wrote, "We need a new basis for ethical behavior, lest we suffer the wrath of Mother Nature." He takes on traditional environmental ethics like the balance between human activity and the environment.

Written before Hurricane Katrina and Rita, Elliot writes that our first ethical obligation should be to maintain the endurance and resistance of the Earth's ecosystem. Then, after the environment is secured, we need to turn our attention to human population.

This book has heavy, mind-boggling content that makes us realize we have only one Earth and each of us should be doing our part in saving it and its people.

Today the now-retired author, formerly a professor, lives simply and treads lightly on the earth. He wants us to do the same.

The Speaker's Corner Books is a provocative new series designed to get us to talk about public policy topics. Different experts have written:

Think for Yourself: An Essay on Cutting Through the Babble, the Bias and the Hype by Steve Hindes

The Enduring Wilderness: Protecting Our Natural Heritage through the Wilderness Act by Doug Scott

Parting Shots from My Brittle Bow: Reflections on American Politics and Life by Eugene J. McCarthy.

The Brave New world of Health Care by Richard D. Lamm

God and Caesar in American: An Essay on Politics and Religion by Gary Hart

For information on these other books, www.fulcrum-books.com

Armchair Interviews says this book is about morals and ethics, both the culturally big picture and individually (yours and mine). The book would be a great public or church discussion group topic.





... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ethics with heart and soul
Larry Rasmussen has done an excellent job of 'connecting the dots' in his analysis of the current state of Earth community. His analysis is thorough and holistic, as are the solutions he proposes, howbeit tentatively.His passion for Earth community comes through loud and clear, and one can hardly help but be moved by the depth of his compassion. Here we truly have a proposal for an ethic with heart and soul It is not a fast, easy read, however, and at times the text runs a bit dense. Overall, however, it is one of the finest books on Earth ethics--or ethics in general--that I have read. ... Read more

Product Description
For hundreds of years, the church championed the beauty of God’s creation, demonstrating in many ways how it points to the Creator. However, over the last century, the evangelical church has let the value of caring for creation slip away. Author and pastor Tri Robinson makes a compelling case for the biblical mandate behind environmental stewardship and shows the church what it can do about this eroding value.

Through sharing both his own personal story and the story of his church in response to environmental concerns, Robinson clearly shows how important this value is and how effective it is in showing others the Creator. Not only does Robinson inspire the reader to care for the environment, he reveals a clear pathway to making the value of environmental stewardship real in both the life of the reader and the Christian community in which he or she is involved. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Saving God's Green Earth: Rediscovering the Church's Responsibility to Environmental Stewardship
A well written missive.Growing up in Christian/Farmer home and while spending nearly 40 years in the environmental industry, I've ALWAYS believed that it has always been mankind's responsibility to "walk lightly" through the earth...managing the environment responsibly has been a root instinct--because I'm a Christian, of Farmer roots deep in the soil of the Midwest, and lastly because of my chosen career path.

Pastor Robinson presents the case for "visible" leadership in the environmental arena by Christians--which is seen by many as a dance among strange bedfellows.This missive presents the case that environmental leadership by the Church should be a natural response and opens channels of communication within the community that have been closed due to mistrust and misunderstanding.

Good book.

Simple but informative
This is a very simple, readable approach to environmental issues in the world today and necessary response of the body of Christ in the church to such issues. If it is read as a good introduction to the issues and a book to create awareness, it will be seen as insightful and helpful. If you are looking for an in-depth analysis of environmental concerns, you will be disappointed, but i think the book does a good job of encouraging the Christian church to wake up and recognize the responsibility we have to look deeper and be a part of restoring the incredible gift of creation God has given. The practical tips in the back are a good way to begin small lifestyle changes at an individual and corporate level and hopefully inspire the reader to dig deeper into the issues. There has been far too little teaching in the church about the state of the environment and too much conflict with those outside the church, and it is nice to see a leader taking a stand and trying to help others along in the process.

Kindle edition is awful
The Kindle version is a mess. It's obviously machine scanned with so many egregious errors that it's difficult to read. The Kindle version is not worth paying money for.

This book is a good for Christians who are unaware of the important Christian teaching about care for the environment and/or who think environmentalism is a leftist political agenda. Robinson teaches an important lesson about separating the political rhetoric from the message of Scripture regarding Christian environmental consciousness. So for some Christian readers this is an important contribution. But beyond that, it is weak in substance.

Turning Over a New Leaf
I have never read a book quite like this one. I expected a quasi-Christian tree hugging manifesto, but instead got a balanced biblical view of environmental stewardship. In a time in which environmentalism is connected with a liberal political agenda, the author does a terrific job of calling the church back to an appreciation of God's world. Two of his personal stories (finding Jesus in the eyes of a deer and the Holy Spirit in a canyon wind) could have been omitted, but the premise of the book is still challenging. The environment is not a political issue, and Christian conservatives can be environmentalists, too.

The author correctly asserts that Christians can reach people with the Gospel by being involved in environmental causes. One recent example is Ted Turner's softening toward the Christian faith after realizing how the Lutheran and Methodist churches are fighting malaria in Africa; the man who once called Christianity "a religion for losers" regrets the remarks he has made in the past because of this practical demonstration of God's love.

Like "Small Footprint," this book is of no use to the environmental movement
The book might make some people feel good about being a green curious Christian, but the problem is, in order to be pro environment, you have to actually contribute to positive environmental change.Recycling more and turning off the lights may be, for some, practical advice, but it's about as watered down as you can get as an advocate of "God's Green Earth." Without addressing the hand that corporations and governments have had in environmental disaster, the Pastor plays it safe in the most destructive way possible.With such a hopeful title, he is positioned to make money off of people's fears and passions, without making any bold statements that could potentially alienate the members of his church and wider Evangelical community.The message one gets from this book is a sadly cynical one. ... Read more

Product Description

This brief but ambitious book explores our relationship with nature through the imagery we use when we talk about Mother Nature. Employing the critical tools of religious studies, psychology, and gender studies, Catherine M. Roach examines the various manifestations of nature as "mother" and what that idea implies for the way we approach the natural world. Part One, "Nature as Good Mother," discusses the notion that nature is, or is like, a beneficent and nurturing mother who provides and maintains life. In studying the "green" slogan "Love Your Mother," Roach questions the effects -- for women and for the environment -- of imputing female gender to nature. She asks us to look at the associations that "motherhood" and "mothering" carry within a culture still shaped by patriarchy. She notes the danger of such an apparently pro-environmental slogan if "mother" evokes the bountiful, self-sacrificing provider who herself requires no care.

Part Two, "Nature as Bad Mother," looks at the contrary notion of nature as a violent, threatening, and wrathful mother. This image arises most often when humans and technology are depicted as masters of unruly nature. Here Roach draws on theological reflection to analyze this ambivalence toward nature manifested in a fantasy that casts humans as gods. She explores the contributions of eco-theology and eco-psychology to a "heart of darkness" perspective. Finally, Part Three, "Nature as Hurt Mother," looks at possibilities and pitfalls of environmental healing inherent in the image of nature as a mother we have wounded and now seek to heal.

Product Description
An overview of the major voices and the major schools of thought in contemporary environmental ethics: deep ecology; ecofeminism, animals' rights; environmental "holism," liberation ecotheology; and various approaches to eco-ethical questions. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Internet Bookwatch, published by Midwest Book Review on August 1, 2010. The length of the article is 393 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Environmental Studies Shelf.(Boundaries: A Casebook in Environmental Ethics)(Coal Country: Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining)(The Wolf's Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity)(Book review)
Author: Unavailable
Publication: Internet Bookwatch (Newsletter)
Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Midwest Book Review
Page: NA

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
This collection explores a wide variety of questions, both of a theoretical and a practical nature, raised by teaching environmental ethics. The essays consider general issues such as the place of environmental advocacy in the environmental ethics classroom; using outdoor environments to prompt reflection on environmental ethics; and handling student responses – such as pessimism – that may emerge from teaching environmental ethics. The essays also consider practical issues, including successfully teaching environmental ethics to students without a background in philosophy; promoting the development of interdisciplinarity; useful ways to structure syllabi; and teaching and learning techniques. This book will be particularly useful to anyone teaching environmental ethics or environmental studies, or interested in the theoretical issues that teaching environmental ethics raises. ... Read more

Product Description

Winner of the John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, 2009

This book argues that the Christian doctrine of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing) sets up a support system for a "logic of domination" toward human and earth others. Conceptually inspired by the work of theologian Catherine Keller and feminist philosopher of the environment Val Plumwood, it follows a genealogical method in examining how the concept of creation out of nothing materializes in the world throughout different periods in the history of the Christian West.