Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis

by Arran Gare

Postmodernism and the Environmental Crisis is the only book to combine cultural theory and environmental philosophy. In it, Arran Gare analyses the conjunction between the environmental crisis, the globalisation of capitalism and the disintegration of the culture of modernity. It explains the paradox of growing concern for the environment and the paltry achievements of environmental movements. Through a critique of the philosophies underlying approaches to the environmental crisis, Arran Gare puts forward his own, controversial theory of a new postmodern world view. This would be the foundation for the environmental movement to succeed.
Arran Gare's work will be a vital reading for advanced students of environmental studies, as well as for environmental philosophers and cultural theorists.

Genres: Environment

200 pages, Hardcover

First published July 6, 1995

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

very confused but also provocative, perhaps its sole redeeming value

- but what a redeeming value!
I like the idea of flows, structures as relatively slower flows, and the concept of emergence as ontological metaphors (while I retain my poststructuralist sensitivities). As some cultures (Tonga?) think stones are alive, they whither in time - and recombine in other objects (a spiritually powerful idea itself), so too can (human) evolution be seen in such terms. I like the idea, by Richard Dawkins (I don't like him much otherwise), that the planet has grown a nervous system: humanity, its emergent property, a global consciousness. Now does this not make you want to take care of the earth, our global body?