Environment and society : human perspectives on environmental issues / Charles L. Harper.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE ENVIRONMENT, HUMAN SYSTEMS, AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 1
Ecocatastrophe or ecohype?
Environments and Ecosystems
Ecosystem Change and Evolution
The Relevance of Ecological theory for Human-Environment Interaction
Horticultural Systems
Culture
Social Institutions
Social Strucure
Population Size and Characteristics
The Duality of Human Life
Worldviews and Cognized Environments
Ecosystem and sociocultural evolution: human ecology
Industrial Societies
Human-Environment Relations in Industrial Societies
Dominant Worldviews in Industrial Societies
Environmental Social Sciences
Economic Thought
Emerging Ecological Economics
Sociological
Thought
The Greening of Social Theory and Sociology
Conclusion: environment, ecosystems, and human systems
The Human Driving Forces of Environmental and Ecological Change
System Connections 50 / Intellectual Paradigms about Human-
Environment Relations 50
Personal connections

CHAPTER TWO HUMANS AND THE RESOURCES OF THE EARTH: SOURCES AND SINKS
Land and soil
Soil and Food
Addressing Soil Problems
Economic and
Ecosystem Services: Pricing Soil Degradation
Water resources
Growing Water Use and It's Problems
Water and Political Conflicts
Freshwater Economic and Ecosystem Services
Biodiversity and forests
Forest Resources
Tropical Deforestation
Forest Economic and
Ecosystem Services
Declining Biodiversity
The Human Causes of Declining Biodiversity
Declining Biodiversity: Who Cares about
Wild Creatures?
Addressing Deforestation and Declining Biodiversity
Wastes and pollution
Chemical Pollution from Agriculture
Addressing Solid Waste
Problems
Municipal Pollution
Pollution Trends
Conclusion: resources of the earth
Personal connections

CHAPTER THREE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE
Ozone depletion and ultraviolet radiation
Destroying the Ozone Layer
A Cautionary Tale: Technology,
Progress, and Environmental Damage
A Happy Ending?
Turning up the heat: global warming
General Circulation Models
Some Ambiguities in the Evidence
Evolving Science and Consensus
Impacts on Society
Do we know enough to act?
Policy options: what could be done about global warming?
Strategies, Social Change, and Inequality
Greenhouse Diplomacy:
Kyoto and Beyond
Can We Afford the Costs?
Personal connections

CHAPTER FOUR ENERGY AND SOCIETY
A historical detour: recent energy crises
Energy problems: environmental and social
Source Problems: Energy Resource Supplies
Population Growth,
Economic Development, and Distribution Problems
Policy and Geopolitical Problems
Sink Problems: Energy and Environment
The energetic s of human societies
Low- and Hi-energy Societies
Industrialization and Energy
Social Science and Energetic
Macrolevel Studies of Low-Energy Societies
Macrolevel Studies of High-Energy Societies
Microlevel Studies: Personal and Household Energy Consumption
The present energy system and its alternatives
Fossil Fuels
Nuclear Energy
Renewable Energy Sources
Barriers, transitions, and energy policy
Barriers to Change
Transitions and Policy
The Present and Foreseeable Future
In summary: energy and the risks we take
Personal connections

CHAPTER FIVE POPULATION, ENVIRONMENT, AND FOOD 224
The dynamics of population change
The Demographic Transition Model
The Demographic Divide: More Developed Nations and Less Developed Nations
Population Redistribution: Urbanization and Migration
How serious is the problem of population growth?
Neo-Malthusian Arguments
Economics Arguments
Inequality
Arguments
Making sense out of this controversial
Population, food, and hunger
Change and the Contours of World Hunger
Explaining World Hunger
Feeding eight billion people in the next 50 years?
Biotechnology?
Sustainable Agriculture: Agroecology and Low-input Farming?
Stabilizing world population: policy options
Conclusion
Personal connections

CHAPTER SIX GLOBALIZATION, GROWTH, AND SUSTAINABILITY
Globalization
Political-economy Perspective I: Neo Liberalism
Political-economy
Perspective II
Globalization and Social Inequality
Inequality and Environmental Impact
Measuring Environmental Impact:I = PAT
Sustainability
Growth and sustainability: two perspectives
Limits to Growth: Outbreak-Crash
Ecological Modernization: Prosperity while protecting the Environment
Understanding the Controversy
Promoting More Sustainable Consumption
Growth, Well-Being, and Happiness
Sustainable societies?
Transformations and sustainability: social change
Functionalism and Change
Conflict Perspectives and Change
Interpretive Theories and Change
Integrating
Perspectives?Agency, Structure, and Time Horizons
Time
Horizons,
Conclusion: a transformation to sustainability?
Personal connections

CHAPTER SEVEN TRANSFORMING STRUCTURES: MARKETS AND POLITICS
Markets
Market Failures
Environmentally Perverse Subsidies and Market
Incentives
Transforming Market Incentives: Green Taxes
New Measures of Social and Economic Progress
Rational-Choice and Human-Environment Problems
Markets Alone are Not "the Answer"
Politics and policy
Strategies for Public Policy
Policy and the Economic Production Cycle
Policy and Social Structure
Politics and the Limits of Policy
Possible levers for progress
The Environmental State and Regulatory Policy
Ecological Modernization
Community Management of Commons Resources
Tradable Permits
Comparing Tradable Environmental Allowances and Community Resource Management
The global political-economy and the environment
Organizations, Trade, Treaties, and the Environment
Transnational Corporations
Protesting Globalization: Trouble with the WTO
International Treaties and Regimes for Environmental Protection
Conclusion
Personal connections

CHAPTER EIGHT ENVIRONMENTALISM: IDEIOLOGY AND COLLECTIVE ACTIONS
American environmentalism
Early American Environmental Movements,
More Contemporary Environmental Movements
Reform Environmentalism and the Environmental Lobby
Reform Environmentalism, Public Opinion, and Legislation
Environmental Justice and Grass Roots Movements
Other Voices: Deep Ecology and Ecofeminism
Other Voices: Ecotheology and Voluntary Simplicity
Antienvironmentalism: Manifest Destiny and Countermovements
Global environmentalism
Environmentalism and change
People and Environment: Attitudes, Commitments, and Behaviors
Environmentalism: how successful?
In conclusion
Personal connections

Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-336) and indexes.