Prelims

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ENVIRONMENT, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY

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RESEARCH IN POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY

Series Editor: Barbara Wejnert

Recent Volumes:

Title Page

RESEARCH IN POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY VOLUME 25

ENVIRONMENT, POLITICS, AND SOCIETY

EDITED BY

RAM ALAGAN

Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA

SEELA ALADUWAKA

Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL, USA

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2018

Copyright © 2018 Emerald Publishing Limited

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-78714-776-8 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-78714-775-1 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-78743-932-0 (Epub)

ISSN: 0895-9935 (Series)

List of Contributors

Editorial Advisory Board

• Patrick Akard

  Kansas State University, KS, USA

• Paul Almeida

  University of California Merced, CA, USA

• Robert Antonio

  University of Kansas, KS, USA

• Alessandro Bonanno

  Sam Houston State University, TX, USA

• Barbara Brents

  University of Nevada Las Vegas, NV, USA

• David Brown

  Cornell University, NY, USA

• Kathleen Kost

  University at Buffalo, NY, USA

• Rhonda Levine

  Colgate University, NY, USA

• John Markoff

  University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA

• Scott McNall

  California State University Chico, CA, USA

• Susan Olzak

  Stanford University, CA, USA

• Harland Prechel

  Texas A&M University, TX, USA

• Adam Przeworski

  New York University, NY, USA

• William Roy

  University of California Los Angeles, CA, USA

• David A. Smith

  University of California Irvine, CA, USA

• Henry Taylor

  University at Buffalo, NY, USA

Preface

Our interest in political sociology is influenced by a background in geography, an integrative discipline using a holistic approach to understand the human–environmental relationship. A key aspect of geography focuses on people and their environments and how people’s activities/decisions shape the environment and subsequently impact the relationship between people and the environment. As geographers focusing on development, we welcome the opportunity to edit this special volume of Research in Political Sociology devoted to Environment, Politics, and Society. Human activities and decision-making have enormous impacts on the natural environment transforming it and human ability to prosper. This volume provides an opportunity to engage in critical conversations on Environment, Politics, and Society and how their inter-connectedness and outcomes shape and impact natural environment and human activity.

In the midst of vigorous discussions on environmental sustainability and environmental crises that make global communities vulnerable more than ever before to environmental degradation on local, regional, and global scales, the papers in this volume offer a much-needed challenge. A better understanding of the depletion of natural resources, pollution, deforestation, and the impact of global warming and climate change on human existence is an important priority for all countries and all governments. Concerned citizens demand the undivided attention of politicians, policy makers, planners, and scientists to restore ecological balance and avoid further destruction of the planet.

Ensuring environmental sustainability is one of the 17 sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030. Three dimensions of sustainable development including social, economic, and environmental pay special attention to the relations of environment to peace, justice, and effective institutions (United Nations, 2015). Meeting these goals eventually depends on the political and policy agenda adopted by individual nations as well as on collective approaches and cross-national solidarity. Considering the current political climate in the United States of America and around the world, concurrent examination of environment, politics, and society make this volume pertinent and noteworthy. Adger et al. (2017) argue that analyses of environmental decision-making require interdisciplinary and a “more holistic” approach because of the complexities involved in the interaction of environment, politics, and society. It has been recognized as “a broad social scientific approach to environmental decision-making which builds upon and combines perspectives from a number of disciplines and seeks to overcome the deficiencies of a narrow approach based on a single discipline” (Adger et al., 2017, p. 1097). The adverse outcome of any one of the three issues could jeopardize social, economic, political, and environmental sustainability. Consequently, this volume focuses on the shifting societal and political environment in the United States, Africa, South and Central Americas, South, Southeast and East Asia, and the Middle East. Mostly, the current environmental politics and policies are driven by long-term trends in economic growth, demographic change, and the degradation of natural systems. According to Brulle (2010) the response to the deterioration of the environment tends to be incremental and disconnected and a traditional explanation that has been advanced for environmental policy shifts is the classic “grievance.” Currently, around the world there are numerous environmental movements defining distinct communication of environmental and political problems, strategies and methods of organization (Brulle, 2000; Brulle & Jenkins, 2005).

Though progress has been made in environmental, political, and societal sustainability, numerous other areas require urgent attention in the center of a biased political atmosphere in “environmental policies, planning, management” and “sustainable society” around the globe. They are the familiar concerns such as a decrease in environmental research funds, and shrinking environmental regulations at the same time as the build-up of greenhouse gases, acid rain, deforestation, population growth, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, depletion of the stratospheric ozone layers, increased CO₂ production, coastal erosion, mining and urban pollution, and soil loss. Meantime, events and issues threaten social stability by increasing tension over nuclear proliferation, separation in regional cooperation, intensifying transnational terrorism, hunger and food security, gender disparity, and income inequality and poverty. Addressing these unprecedented and staggering challenges requires firm commitment from citizens, leaders, and organizations from the local to global scale. Yet, lack of confidence of facts-based scientific evidence of environmental crisis among groups, politicians, and individuals could hinder the ability to act promptly. Thus, it is more important than ever to address environmental crises taking responsibility at the political and societal level.

This volume initiates a broad conversation on a series of themes in environment, society, and politics. Two chapters discuss politics and environment in the US context. Dana R. Fisher and her co-authors of University of Maryland contributed a timely discussion and debate on current political polarization around the issue of climate change in the United States. Kate Pride Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology discusses a dynamic and current dialogue on the relationship between multilevel governance and urban water conservation policy in the United States. Two chapters examine governance over resource management and policy formulation from international perspectives. Eric Spears from Columbus State University discusses a catastrophic failure of a dam in Brazil and social and environmental issues. Yashpal Malik, Nirupama Prakash, and Ajay Kapoor explore a green transportation as a way forward for environmental sustainability in India.

From a societal, education, and policy perspective, this volume provides three research studies. Sharon Lindhorst Everhardt of Troy University and Brenda Gill of Alabama State University provide a solid contribution in engaging school children in sustainable projects such as food security and green school gardening in Alabama. Marcia Rossi of Alabama State University studies how college students comprehend behavior under environmental conditions which are detrimental day by day due to increased human influences. Rossi’s chapter explores African-American college students’ attitudes and beliefs about pro-environmental behavior using environmental psychology perspective. Yew Wah Chow and Lorena Mathien of Buffalo State provide a dual (US and international) focus on policy, brain drain, and dual citizenship aspects of discussion in the United States. This chapter argues the recognition of dual citizenship as an appropriate prescription in reducing the “great brain drain” problem afflicting the local labor market with a special focus on the Malaysian example.

While environmental, societal, education, and policy perspective engagements are underscored, other substantial contributions encompassed in this volume focus on civil rights struggles, gender, and politics. Ram Alagan, Robert White, and Seela Aladuwaka of Alabama State University underline the usefulness of Civil Rights Geographic Information Systems for understanding the African-American social struggles and assessing the critical needs of the disempowered population of Alabama’s “Black Belt.” The final two chapters investigate gender, politics, and land resources. Mohammed Bani Salameh studies the features and characteristics of feminist elites as well as their circulation rate in official political positions in Jordon while Deborah Naybor in the other chapter examines the role of gender in the changing use of hukou in the development of China, focusing on the impact of women’s patterns of migration on land tenure.

Ram Alagan

Seela Aladuwaka

Editors