Planting Nature: Trees and the Manipulation of Environmental Stewardship in America

Cohen, Shaul E.

ISBN 10: 0520237706 / ISBN 13: 9780520237704

Published by University of California Press, 2004

Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0520237706I5N00

Synopsis:

Trees hold a powerful place in American constructions of what is good in nature and the environment. As we attempt to cope with environmental crises, trees are increasingly enlisted with great fervor as agents of our stewardship over nature. In this innovative and impassioned book, Shaul E. Cohen exposes the way that environmental stewardship is undermined through the manipulation of trees and the people who plant them by a partnership of big business, the government, and tree-planting groups. He reveals how positive associations and symbols that have been invested in trees are exploited by an interlocking network of government agencies, private timber companies, and nongovernmental organizations to subvert the power of people who think that they are building a better world.

Planting Nature details the history of tree planting in the United States and the rise of popular sentiment around trees, including the development of the Arbor Day holiday and tree-planting groups such as the National Arbor Day Foundation and American Forests. Drawing from internal papers, government publications, advertisements, and archival documents, Cohen illustrates how organizations promote tree planting as a way of shifting attention away from the causes of environmental problems to their symptoms, masking business-as-usual agendas. Ultimately, Planting Nature challenges the relationships between a "green" public, the organizations that promote their causes, and the "powers that be," providing a cautionary tale of cooperation and deception that cuts across the political spectrum.

About the Author: Shaul E. Cohen is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Oregon and author of The Politics of Planting: Israeli-Palestinian Competition for Control of Land in the Jerusalem Periphery (1993).

Bibliographic Details

Title: Planting Nature: Trees and the Manipulation ...
Publisher: University of California Press
Publication Date: 2004
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fair
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket