Living with Nature: Environmental Politics as Cultural Discourse

The environmental politics of sustainable development has reached an impasse, despite the optimism that attended the ‘Earth Summit’ held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Notwithstanding wide recognition of the environmental crisis, environmental protection continues to be regarded as less important than economic competitiveness. Because of the failure of governments to reach a consensus on appropriate policy action, sustainable development has in practice served mainly to extend the technocratic approaches and solutions that have failed in the past. By examining this failed discourse of environmental policy, the contributors to this book call attention to our neglect of the underlying cultural dynamics of ecological politics. In providing a critical assessment of the ways in which today's economic and political institutions address environmental policy, this book brings into focus the socio–cultural dimensions of the environmental debate. How is our way of life implicated in the crisis? Are there implicit cultural politics at work in policy‐making? What role can science play in finding acceptable solutions? This book calls for a new balance between theoretical‐analytic assessment of the environmental crisis and a practical approach to policy that takes account of local circumstances, norms, and knowledge. The political challenge is to find ways of addressing humanity's wish to live together with nature.