front cover of Underdeveloping the Amazon
Underdeveloping the Amazon
Extraction, Unequal Exchange, and the Failure of the Modern State
Stephen G. Bunker
University of Chicago Press, 1988
Underdeveloping the Amazon shows how different extractive economies have periodically enriched various dominant classes but progressively impoverished the entire region by disrupting both the Amazon Basin's ecology and human communities. Contending that traditional models of development based almost exclusively on the European and American experience of industrial production cannot apply to a regional economy founded on extraction, Stephen G. Bunker proposes a new model based on the use and depletion of energy values in natural resources as the key to understanding the disruptive forces at work in the Basin.
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front cover of Understanding Environmental Administration and Law
Understanding Environmental Administration and Law
Susan J. Buck
Island Press, 1996

More than any other field of public administration, environmental administration is defined by its legal content. Federal legislation has a direct and immediate impact on state and federal bureaucrats, and citizen groups must constantly adjust to changing standards for environmental protection and regulation.

In Understanding Environmental Administration and Law, Susan J. Buck examines the use of environmental law by exploring the policy process through which such law is made, the political environment in which it is applied, and the statutory and case laws that are critical to working within the regulatory system. The book provides an analytic framework for the legal context of environmental administration and familiarizes readers with the development and implementation of the federal regulatory structure.

A revised and expanded edition of this book was published by Island Press in 1996.

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front cover of Understanding Environmental Administration and Law, 3rd Edition
Understanding Environmental Administration and Law, 3rd Edition
Susan J. Buck
Island Press, 2006
Understanding Environmental Administration and Law provides an engaging, introductory overview of environmental policy. Author Susan J. Buck explores the process through which policy is made, the political environment in which it is applied, and the statutory and case laws that are critical to working within the regulatory system. This revised and expanded third edition adds case studies that help bring the subject to life and includes new material on:
  • the Bush Administration and its approach to administering environmental laws
  • the continuing evolution of environmentalism and the changing role of environmental regulation in the United States
  • the development and implementation of environmental agreements at the international level
  • the impacts and implications of globalization
Understanding Environmental Administration and Law provides a framework for understanding the law as a managerial tool.
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front cover of The Upside of Down
The Upside of Down
Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization
Thomas Homer-Dixon
Island Press, 2006
Environmental disasters. Terrorist wars. Energy scarcity. Is this the world's fate, a downward spiral that ultimately spells the collapse of society? Perhaps, says acclaimed author Thomas Homer-Dixon—or perhaps these crises can actually lead to renewal for ourselves and planet earth.
The Upside of Down takes the reader on a mind-stretching tour of societies' management, or mismanagement, of disasters over time. From the demise of ancient Rome to contemporary climate change, this spellbinding book analyzes what happens when multiple crises compound to cause what the author calls "synchronous failure." But crisis doesn't have to mean total calamity. Through catagenesis, or creative, bold reform in the wake of breakdown, it is possible to
reinvent our future.
Drawing on the worlds of archeology, poetry, politics, science, and economics, The Upside of Down is certain to provoke controversy and stir imaginations across the globe. The author's wide-ranging expertise makes his insights and proposals particularly acute, as people of all nations try to grapple with how we can survive tomorrow's inevitable shocks to our global system. There is no guarantee of success, but there are ways to begin thinking about a better world, and The Upside of Down is the ideal place to start thinking.
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front cover of Upstream/Downstream
Upstream/Downstream
Issues in Environmental Ethics
Donald Scherer
Temple University Press, 1993


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