Encyclopedia of Environment and Society

Editor/Author: Robbins, Paul
Publication Year: 2007
Publisher: Sage Publications

ISBN: 978-1-4129-2761-1
Category: social sciences
Image Count: 354
Book Status: Available

The Encyclopedia of Environment and Society brings together multiplying issues, concepts, theories, examples, problems, and policies, with the goal of clearly explicating an emerging way of thinking about people and nature.

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The editor describes this work as sitting astride the imagined boundary between society and environment, reflecting new knowledge gained through understanding the "intense entanglement" of human and nonhuman spheres, and transcending old dichotomies of "green" and "brown" approaches to legislation, economics, and societal challenges. The 1,200 entries vary in length from one column to several pages. Current, representative bibliographies, including appropriate Web-based resources, compensate for the entries' brevity. Hundreds of entries for geographic and topographic features, nation-states, and political entities appear along with seemingly random terms (e.g., democracy, expertise, fodder, humidity, livelihood, obesity, pragmatism), each of which is significant in socioenvironmental discourse. The comprehensive index includes the names of some 1,000 individuals, agencies, organizations, and seminal book titles, plus 37 feature films noted for representations of nature. Cross-referencing to related entries is generous. A "Reader's Guide" groups entry titles by broad headings ("Geography," "History," "Movements and Regulations," and more), providing helpful context. Inclusion of the complete set's index at the end of each volume is curious, as is the repetition of 19 colored maps at the beginning of each volume. Providing more content and depth would have been preferable to these duplications. Nevertheless, this important work gives a well-focused snapshot of environmentalism in the early 21st century, and it will remain valuable into the future both for its content and as a yardstick to measure progress toward sustainability and conservation.
A. S. Ricker
Oberlin College