Ecology and the World-System

Integrating environmental and world-systems analyses in chapters ranging from the ancient to the contemporary, from the global to the local, from West to East, and from North to South, this book is the first collection to analyze environmental issues from the world-systems perspective. The introduction provides Immanuel Wallerstein's fullest explication of the role of ecological constraints in the world-system. Early chapters diagnose the increasing environmental threats to global sustainability and suggest ways to arrive at an integrated theoretical understanding of those threats. The work then shows the historical and geographical range necessary to do justice to ecological considerations in chapters considering ancient civilizations, capitalism, the circumpolar North, the dam-builders of Asia, and the polluters of East Central Europe. The final chapters analyze the successes and limits of environmental movements in the United States, South Africa, and South Korea.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Ecology and Capitalist Costs of Production: No Exit by Immanuel Wallerstein The Horsemen and the Killing Fields: The Final Contradiction of Capitalism by Peter E. Grimes Ecosociology and Toxic Emissions by Albert Bergesen and Laura Parisi Extending the World-System to the Whole System: Toward a Political Economy of the Biosphere by J. Timothy Roberts and Peter E. Grimes Ecological Relations and the Decline of Civilizations in the Bronze Age World-System: Mesopotamia and Harappa 2500 B.C.-1700 B.C. by Sing C. Chew Economic Ascent and the Global Environment: World-Systems Theory and the New Historical Materialism by Stephen G. Bunker and Paul S. Ciccantell The Development of the Risk Economy in the Circumpolar North by Ilmo Massa Modernism, Water, and Affluence: The Japanese Way in East Asia by Gavan McCormack Wastelands in Transition: Forms and Concepts of Waste in Hungary since 1948 by Zsuzsa Gille Success and Impasse: The Environmental Movement in the United States and around the World by Robert K. Schaeffer Globalization, Democratization, and the Environment in the New South Africa: Social Movements, Corporations, and the State in South Durban by Christine Root and David Wiley with Sven Peek The Emergence of South Korean Environmental Movements: A Response (and Challenge?) to Semiperipheral Industrialization by Su-Hoon Lee and David A. Smith Index

About the Author :
WALTER L. GOLDFRANK is Professor of Sociology at the University of California—Santa Cruz. DAVID GOODMAN is Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of California at Santa Cruz. ANDREW SZASZ is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Review :
?The essays that appear in Ecology and the World-System provide a wealth of factual information on large-scale ecological processes and offer unapologetic opinions and forecasts regarding the ways in which ecological considerations are changing humankind's patterns of production, consumption, and surplus accumulation....Ecology and the World-System is an important read for students, teachers, or professionals interested in evironmental science or policy issues. The authors provide abundent evidence on a global scale that environmental quality is tightly linked to contemporary economic activity.?-FORUM "The essays that appear in Ecology and the World-System provide a wealth of factual information on large-scale ecological processes and offer unapologetic opinions and forecasts regarding the ways in which ecological considerations are changing humankind's patterns of production, consumption, and surplus accumulation....Ecology and the World-System is an important read for students, teachers, or professionals interested in evironmental science or policy issues. The authors provide abundent evidence on a global scale that environmental quality is tightly linked to contemporary economic activity."-FORUM