Ecocritique Contesting the Politics of Nature, Economy, and Culture Timothy W. Luke		$25.00 paper ISBN: 0-8166-2847-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-8166-2847-6
A critical analysis of environmental organizations and discourses. Ecocriticism, whether coming from "back to nature" conservatives, Nature Conservancy liberals, or Earth First! radicals, is familiar enough. But when we listen do we really hear what these groups are saying? In a book that examines the terms of ecocriticism, Timothy W. Luke exposes how ecological critics, organizations, and movements manipulate our conception of the environment. Ecocritique rereads ecocriticism to reveal how power and economy, society and culture, community and technology compete over what are now widely regarded as the embattled ecosystems of nature. Luke considers in particular how the meanings and values attached to the environment by various groups—from the Worldwatch Institute, the Nature Conservancy, and Earth First! to proponents of green consumerism, social ecology, and sustainable development—articulate new visions of power and subjectivity for a post-Cold War era. With its critical analysis of many contemporary environmental discourses and organizations, Ecocritique makes a major contribution to ongoing debates about the political relationships among nature, culture, and economics in the current global system. "Ecocritique offers fresh and lively insights of contemporary environmental discourses. The result is an engaging account of the different 'environments' imagined by such divergent ecological critics as Earth First!, the Nature Conservancy, and Murray Bookchin." —Environment and Planning A "Ecocritique provides a stimulating dialogue on the status of current and future environmental policy in industrialized societies." —Rhetoric and Public Affairs "Adroit students of environmental issues and lost fans of Marxist analysis should read this book for several reasons. First, Luke offers relief from paralyzing inertia of contemporary analyses of sky-is-falling: pollution is replete: resource are inexorably deplete: fatalism of so called 'crackpot, limousine liberals willing to put the existence of snail-darters before modern humanitie's material progress. Ecocritique offers full histories, complete organizational models, and refreshing, pithy analysis directed toward constructing an effective environmental agenda." —Theory and Event "Luke utilizes critical theory in a powerful way, exposing the failures of apolitical and liberal environmental discourses to deal with the institutional roots of the environmental crisis that lie in a capitalist economy predicated on insatiable growth imperatives." —Terra Nova "I had been waiting for this book. Long a fan of Luke's inspired interventions into ecological politics, I have sought out his writings. This book is an excellent record of Luke's theoretical breadth and prolonged commitment to critically interrogating the received wisdom of ecopolitical thought." —Environmental Ethics "This book is extremely stimulating for discussion. It would be very well-suited for any group that would like to discuss issues involved with nature conservation and ecological politics." —The Prairie Naturalist "Tim Luke has emerged as one of the most exciting writers on global politics today. Shifting registers from the sociality of cyberspace, in Ecocritique Luke addresses the natural realm. Luke's book is an ecocritique of the ecological critics: both of the thinkers and the social movements. Challenging notions of biosystemic equilibrium, Luke reexplores ecology through recasting the aggregate of human/machine, human/animal and human/plant relations. Luke is the green movement's deep technophile." —Scott Lash Timothy W. Luke is professor of political science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 272 pages | 5-7/8 x 9 | 1997 Contents Introduction: Contesting the Politics of Nature, Economy and Culture Deep Ecology as Political Philosophy Ecological Politics and Local Struggles: Earth First! as an Environmental Resistance Movement The Nature Conservancy or the Nature Cemetery: Buying and Selling "Perpetual Care" as Environmental Resistance Worldwatching at the Limits of Growth Environmental Emulations: Terraforming Technologies and the Tourist Trade at Biosphere 2 Green Consumerism: Ecology and the Ruse of Recycling Marcuse and the Politics of Radical Ecology Developing an Arcological Politics: Paolo Soleri on Ecology, Architecture, and Society Community and Ecology: Bookchin on the Politics of Ecocommunities and Ecotechnology Conclusion: New Departures for Ecological Resistance