Civic Environmentalism

Civic Environmentalism PDF Author: DeWitt John
Publisher: C Q Press College
ISBN: 9780871879547
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 347

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Book Description
As federal cutbacks in the 1980s created a gap in environmental policy, a new brand of policy -- civic environmentalism -- emerged as states and communities stepped up their efforts to protect the environment. Three case studies illustrate civic environmentalism: Iowa's protection of groundwater from agricultural pollution -- the Everglades cleanup -- and energy conservation in Colorado.

Civic Ecology

Civic Ecology PDF Author: Marianne E. Krasny
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262028654
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
Offer stories of ... emerging grassroots environmental stewardship, along with an interdisciplinary framework for understanding and studying it as a growing international phenomenon.--Back cover.

Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement

Urban Environmental Stewardship and Civic Engagement PDF Author: Dana R. Fisher
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317934156
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
Once considered the antithesis of a verdant and vibrant ecosystem, cities are now being hailed as highly efficient and complex social ecological systems. Emerging from the streets of the post-industrial city are well-tended community gardens, rooftop farms and other viable habitats capable of supporting native flora and fauna. At the forefront of this transformation are the citizens living in the cities themselves. As people around the world increasingly relocate to urban areas, this book discusses how they engage in urban stewardship and what civic participation in the environment means for democracy. Drawing on data collected through a two-year study of volunteer stewards who planted trees as part of the MillionTreesNYC initiative in the United States, this book examines how projects like this can make a difference to the social fabric of a city. It analyses quantitative survey data along with qualitative interview data that enables the volunteers to share their personal stories and motivations for participating, revealing the strong link between environmental stewardship and civic engagement. As city governments in developed countries are investing more and more in green infrastructure campaigns to change the urban landscape, this book sheds light on the social importance of these initiatives and shows how individuals’ efforts to reshape their cities serve to strengthen democracy. It draws out lessons that are highly applicable to global cities and policies on sustainability and civic engagement.

The Landscape of Reform

The Landscape of Reform PDF Author: Ben A. Minteer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262134616
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
In The Landscape of Reform Ben Minteer offers a fresh and provocative reading of the intellectual foundations of American environmentalism, focusing on the work and legacy of four important conservation and planning thinkers in the first half of the twentieth century: Liberty Hyde Bailey, a forgotten figure in the Progressive conservation movement; urban and regional planning theorist Lewis Mumford; Benton MacKaye, the forester and conservationist who proposed the Appalachian Trail in the 1920s; and Aldo Leopold, author of the environmentalist classic A Sand County Almanac . Minteer argues that these writers blazed a significant "third way" in environmental ethics and practice, a more pragmatic approach that offers a counterpoint to the anthropocentrism-versus-ecocentrism—use-versus-preservation—narrative that has long dominated discussions of the development of American environmental thought. Minteer shows that the environmentalism of Bailey, Mumford, MacKaye, and Leopold was also part of a larger moral and political program, one that included efforts to revitalize democratic citizenship, conserve regional culture and community identity, and reclaim a broader understanding of the public interest that went beyond economics and materialism. Their environmental thought was an attempt to critique and at the same time reform American society and political culture. Minteer explores the work of these four environmental reformers and considers two present-day manifestations of an environmental third way: Natural Systems Agriculture, an alternative to chemical and energy-intensive industrial agriculture; and New Urbanism, an attempt to combat the negative effects of suburban sprawl. By rediscovering the pragmatic roots of American environmentalism, writes Minteer, we can help bring about a new, civic-minded environmentalism today.

Grassroots to Global

Grassroots to Global PDF Author: Marianne E. Krasny
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501714988
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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Book Description
Addressing participatory, transdisciplinary approaches to local stewardship of the environment, Grassroots to Global features scholars and stewards exploring the broad impacts of civic engagement with the environment. Chapters focus on questions that include: How might faith-based institutions in Chicago expand the work of church-community gardens? How do volunteer "nature cleaners" in Tehran attempt to change Iranian social norms? How does an international community in Baltimore engage local people in nature restoration while fostering social equity? How does a child in an impoverished coal mining region become a local and national leader in abandoned mine restoration? And can a loose coalition that transforms blighted areas in Indian cities into pocket parks become a social movement? From the findings of the authors’ diverse case studies, editor Marianne Krasny provides a way to help readers understand the greater implications of civic ecology practices through the lens of multiple disciplines. Contributors: Aniruddha Abhyankar, Martha Chaves, Louise Chawla, Dennis Chestnut, Nancy Chikaraishi, Zahra Golshani, Lance Gunderson, Keith E. Hedges, Robert E. Hughes, Rebecca Jordan, Karim-Aly Kassam, Laurel Kearns, Marianne E. Krasny, Veronica Kyle, David Maddox, Mila Kellen Marshall, Elizabeth Whiting Pierce, Rosalba Lopez Ramirez, Michael Sarbanes, Philip Silva, Traci Sooter, Erika S. Svendsen, Keith G. Tidball, Arjen E. J. Wals, Rebecca Salminen Witt, Jill Wrigley

Civic Innovation in America

Civic Innovation in America PDF Author: Carmen Sirianni
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520926004
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
In this book, two leading experts on community action provide the first scholarly examination of the civic renewal movement that has emerged in the United States in recent decades. Sirianni Friedland examine civic innovation since the 1960s as social learning in four arenas (community organizing/development, civic environmentalism, community health, and public journalism), and they link local efforts to broader networks and to the development of "public policy for democracy." They also explore the emergence of a movement for civic renewal that builds upon the civic movements in these four arenas. In contrast to some recent studies that stress broad indicators of civic decline, this study analyzes innovation as a long process of social learning within specific institutional and policy domains with complex challenges and cross-currents. It draws upon analytical frameworks of social capital, policy learning, organizational learning, regulatory culture, democratic theory, and social movement theory. The study is based upon interviews with more than 400 innovative practitioners, as well as extensive field observation, case study, action research, and historical analysis.

Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice

Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice PDF Author: Julian Agyeman
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814707106
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
Julian Agyeman once again pushes us all to think more critically about how to integrate two important political and intellectual projects.

Grassroots to Global

Grassroots to Global PDF Author: Marianne E. Krasny
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501714996
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
"This edited volume presents diverse case studies about the implications of civic ecology practices worldwide. It answers how civic ecology practices emerge, the role the practices play in the ability of communities and individuals to address social-ecological stresses, and given climate-associated disturbances, what strategies can be used to expand impacts of community driven practices to foster large-scale resilience and sustainability"--

The Land That Could Be

The Land That Could Be PDF Author: William A. Shutkin
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262264587
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Environmentalist and lawyer William Shutkin describes a new kind of environmental and social activism spreading across the nation, one that joins the pursuit of environmental quality with that of civic health and sustainable local economies. In this book, environmentalist and lawyer William Shutkin describes a new kind of environmental and social activism spreading across the nation, one that joins the pursuit of environmental quality with that of civic health and sustainable local economies. In the face of challenges posed by often corrosive market forces and widespread social disaffection, this civic environmentalism is creating nothing less than a new public discourse and dynamic social vision grounded in environmental action. Shutkin points the way to vibrant, sustainable communities through four inspiring examples of civic environmentalism in action: the redevelopment of contaminated urban land for agriculture in inner-city Boston, mass-transit-based development and waterfront restoration in Oakland, protection of open space and conservation-based development in rural Colorado, and smart-growth and sustainability strategies in suburban New Jersey. The book's underlying message is that the nation's environmental health is a critical factor in its success as a vital democracy. Social health, democratic community, and environmentalism, Shutkin shows, are one. From the author's preface :"This book asserts that environmentalism is as much about protecting ordinary places as it is about preserving wilderness areas; as much about promoting civic engagement as it is about pursuing environmental litigation; and as much about implementing sound economic development strategies as it is about negotiating global climate change treaties. Ultimately, I believe, environmentalism is nothing less than about our conception of ourselves as a social and political community—what the bald eagle, our national symbol, really means."

Environment and Citizenship

Environment and Citizenship PDF Author: Mark J. Smith
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848136617
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
Citizenship and the environment are hotly debated, as climate change places more responsibility on individuals and institutions in shaping policy. Using new evidence and cases from across the globe, Environment and Citizenship explores the new vocabulary of ecological citizenship and examines how successful environmental policy-making depends on the responsible actions of citizens and civil society organizations as much as on governments and international treaties. This accessible and thought-provoking book: - provides a comprehensive and timely guide to the debates on environmental and ecological citizenship, expertly combining examples of practice with theory; - examines how environmental movements have become increasingly involved in governance processes at the local, national, regional and intergovernmental levels; - explores the increasing importance of corporations and transnational networks through examples of stakeholding processes and participatory research in environmental decision-making; - calls on researchers, policy-makers and activists to face a new challenge: how to effectively link environmental justice with social justice. Breaking new ground, Smith and Pangsapa address how environmental responsibility operates through politics, ethics, culture and the everyday experiences of ctivists, as well as how awareness of environmental and social injustice only leads to responsible actions and strategic change through civic engagement.