Encountering Global Environmental Politics: Teaching, Learning, and Empowering Knowledge - Softcover

Michael F. Maniates

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847695425 ISBN 13: 9780847695423

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003

Recognizing that many undergraduate courses on global environmental ills, though well intentioned, erode students' sense of the possible, this collection of essays (all by teacher-scholars in the field) draws students and teachers of global environmental politics into classroom conversation about the overwhelming nature of global environmental threats, the tenuous and sometimes counterproductive links between knowledge and power, and ways of acting powerfully in the world in service of 'sustainability.'

About the Author:

Michael Maniates is associate professor of political science and environmental science at Allegheny College.

Review:

Encountering Global Environmental Politics illuminates controversial environmental issues by linking them to everyday experience. This is the foundation of high quality teaching and learning. (Mitchell S. Thomashow)

We need not shield ourselves from the bleak news of planetary decline nor guilt trip ourselves and others to act. We have only to create environments in which educators and students alike can trust their own yearning for effectiveness in the larger world. As we face environmental and social crises of unprecedented magnitude, nothing could be more important--and Encountering Global Environmental Politics rises to the challenge. (Frances Moore Lappé from the Foreword)

A veritable 'who’s who' of scholar-teachers of global environmental politics, this book . . . will inspire students and teachers alike. (Elizabeth R. DeSombre)

This book makes explicit the obstacles that prevent teachers from teaching effectively and students from learning effectively and provides the tools needed to overcome them. From simulations to service learning to 'theory plays,' the book offers a range of ways to transform 'schooling' into 'education.'. . . Anyone who teaches global environmental politics, whether at the college or high school level, should buy this book! (Ronald Mitchell)

All the academic speechifying around environment and development will get us nothing if our students are not inspired to learn, and then to act. This book shows how to make a real difference, at a time when making a difference is crucially important. Use it in the classroom, use it in the field, and slap a few policy makers with it too. (Peter Gleick)

Very creative, stimulating. and thought provoking . . . numerous intriguing ideas for classroom innovations that I would love to try. (Soroos, Marvin S.)

Rare is it that a book deserves to be widely read because of its intrinsic value to the educational process. By any measure, Encountering Global Environmental Politics meets that test. (Christopher C. Joyner)

This book is an antidote to the burn-out educators often experience in the face of large issues and long-odds. For teachers in international relations and global studies it is simply essential reading! (David Orr)

This book boldly envisions both students and teachers as genuine citizens, collaborators, and creative agents of change. If a positive future is ever to be realized, we need exactly this kind of approach to teaching and learning--as if education truly mattered. (Karen Litfin)

Innovative and challenging, this superlative collection of articles greatly advances our ability to teach and understand global environmental politics. (Peter Dauvergne)