Customer Reviews

Ecological Resistance Movements: The Global Emergence of Radical and Popular Environmentalism (Suny Series in International Environmental Policy and ... International Environmental Policy & Theory)

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Perhaps the most striking thing about this book is the vastness of Taylor's research. He is succinct with language and description as he evokes accurate depictions of environmental groups and their plight in the recent history of our global demise. While Taylor doesn't always agree with a group, he is committed to letting each group weave their own tale, and he seems to sincerely appreciate the struggle for which many are willing to risk their livelihood. He is fiercely critical of other groups, but not without purpose. In fact, the true brilliance of this work is how Taylor is able to articulate a cohesive vision from the multiplicity of narratives that inspires a new look at our green pursuits.

I teach in an environmental studies program and highly recommend this book. The editor, Bron Taylor, now at the University of Florida, does a wonderful job of bringing coherence to this diverse set of case-studies that range the world. Starting with the Earth First! movement in America, he and his collaborators consider the similarities and differences among grassroots groups struggling (sometimes in radical and even militant ways) to protect nature and defend livelihoods around the world. In the concluding chapter, Taylor uses the research in the volume both to explain the some of the key variables leading to such movements, as well as to challenge some conventional wisdom about them. Although published a decade ago, the questions addressed and the cases analyzed remain as important today as they were then. (Also of note: Taylor has now published an Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, which among other things, continues to scrutinize ecological resistance movements, with special attention to their spiritual and religious dimensions.)