Proposed Readings

In my study of Antarctica, climate change, & international environmental decision-making, I’ve read a number of good short works critiquing current environmental policy-making & introducing concepts that challenge the current model. For instance, how can we make international restrictions on industrial water pollution when companies have used the infamous Chapter 11 of NAFTA that forbids “non-tariff barriers to trade” to challenge governments that try to enforce these restrictions… and won their cases! I would compile these for the group if everyone chipped in for the price photo-copying ($4-$10??) ahead of time.

Proposed by: Myka

Bell (who came from Braddock, PA) subtitled his pre-war book “A novel of immigrant labor in America.” The novel describes the lives of three generations of Slovak workers in Pennsylvania’s iron & steel industries from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. Similar to Upton Sinclair’s famous story of industrialization The Jungle, except set in our specific area. An easy read, but perhaps a little heart-breaking!

Mike Davis is a leading thinker in the field with an extensive body of work about the sociological & political components of cities not just within the United States, but across the world. Planet of Slums offers a comparison of cities globally as a means to understanding the unequal distribution of wealth under capitalism (i.e. North vs. South) as structured by colonial history & racism. He goes on to consider how this “informal urban proletariat” might develop into a de facto political force in the coming decades.

From versobooks.com:
“Are the great slums, as a terrified Victorian middle class once imagined, volcanoes waiting to erupt? Davis provides the first global overview of the diverse religious, ethnic, and political movements competing for the souls of the new urban poor. He surveys Hindu fundamentalism in Bombay, the Islamist resistance in Casablanca and Cairo, street gangs in Cape Town and San Salvador, Pentecostalism in Kinshasa and Rio de Janeiro, and revolutionary populism in Caracas and La Paz.Planet of Slums ends with a provocative meditation on the “war on terrorism” as an incipient world war between the American empire and the slum poor.”

Proposed by Myka

This book might wander a little from our central theme of urban ecology, yet offers a larger vision of what we observe locally. Ponting explains how the rise & fall of civilizations depends on the constant exploitation of the environment. He begins with an account of Easter Island’s ecological/societal collapse, then continues on through the expansion of agriculture & eventually industry to the modern day. Extremely well-researched, still very readable.

From Kirkus reviews:

A comprehensive assessment of humanity’s assault on the environment across the centuries, by British historian Ponting (University College, Swansea). Examining the interaction between societies and their surroundings from the earliest hunter-gatherer groups on, Ponting describes the first great leap of civilization—the development of crops and agriculture—as the start of a systematic environmental transformation. As groups settled near their fields and as populations grew, the burden on the land increased, and at times the ecological pressure grew too great. Crop irrigation, the author says, led to increased salination and diminished yields, while a loss of forest cover brought erosion and the destruction of precious arable land. The Sumerian civilization in the Middle East and the Mayans of Central America, among others, fell victim to these limits to growth, with the collapse in some cases being precipitous. Other societies survived, however, to participate in the more recent great transition involving the use of fossil fuels for energy. With this step, Ponting says, environmental degradation increased exponentially through pollution at all stages of the industrialization process—and, in addition, the industrialized societies, by their exploitation of others less advanced, created the Third World, with its Pandora’s Box of poverty, overpopulation, and other social ills that continue to worsen today. Ponting suggests no solutions, marking instead the devastating course of human progress and the ruins that serve as its milestones. Few colorful anecdotes, but an impressive accumulation of evidence culled from the annals of recorded history: a sobering view of a planet deeply in peril.

Merchant has written several excellent works that brings a distinctly feminist critique of technological society to the field of ecology. Here, she looks into the history of how we think about the environment & prioritize its well-being, together with the well-being of populations most affected by its destruction.

It’s a little pricey ($25 new) but most likely easy to find used. Also consider Merchant’s most famous book “The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, & the Scientific Revolution.”

From Amazon’s product description:
“In the first edition of Radical Ecology—the now classic examination major philosophical, ethical, scientific, and economic roots of environmental problems—Carolyn Merchant responded to the profound awareness of environmental crisis which prevailed in the closing decade of the twentieth century. In this provocative and readable study, Merchant examined the ways that radical ecologists can transform science and society in order to sustain life on this planet.

Now in this second edition, Merchant continues to emphasize how laws, regulations and scientific research alone cannot reverse the spread of pollution or restore our dwindling resources. Merchant argues that in order to maintain a livable world, we must formulate new social, economic, scientific, and spiritual approaches that will fundamentally transform human relationships with nature. She analyzes the revolutionary ideas of visionary ecologists for a new economy, society, science, and religion, and examines their efforts to bring environmental problems to the attention of the public."

Proposed by Ashley Brickman

Though an older book, Jacobs’ work underlies much of contemporary mainstream thought in the field of urban planning. Her work definitely departs from the city planning that built Pittsburgh & yet guides several “redevelopment” projects currently underway.

From a review posted on the book’s Amazon listing:
“In this ground-breaking work written over 30 years ago, Jane Jacobs not only threw a monkey wrench into conventional thinking on the structure of cities and helped reshape urban planning, but she did so as a non-expert and as a woman-both historical taboos in the world of intellectual analysis. With flowing, descriptive prose, Jane’s work leads us to think about each element of a city-sidewalks, parks, neighborhoods, government, economy-as a synergistic unit both encompassing structure and going beyond it to the functioning dynamics of our habitats.”

Proposed by Myka technically, although really proposed by Jessica

Subtitle: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

An amazing book that outlines the extraction of wealth in the form of natural resources since Europe’s “discovery” of Latin & South America as the basis for the massive inequality between nations that we see today. The military regimes that brutalized Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay throughout the 1970s all banned this book, and Hugo Chavez gave a copy (in Spanish) to President Obama “who may not read it” according to press reports. A classic in radical literature, written with tremendous emotion as well as incisive analysis. Brilliant. I wish I knew of as good a book describing the history of Africa’s exploitation. Says Myka.

Another excellent work from Mike Davis, this book explores state of American cities from an ecological & sociological perspective. He argues that environmental degradation, slums, and even spectacular “disasters” like 9/11 are the normal mode of being for most cities, not exceptions as the media would have it. Davis’ analysis includes obvious victims, but also people & places less visible to the public eye such as the “downwinders” affected years after nuclear testing in their area had ended.

From thenewpress.com:
“In his most brilliantly syncretic writing yet, radical urban theorist Mike Davis explores the combat zone that is contemporary urban America, a ceaseless battle waged both within cities and against nature. Using environmental science as his frame of understanding, Davis examines themes of urban life today—white flight, deindustrialization, housing and job segregation and discrimination, and federal policy—and looks at areas he calls “national sacrifice zones,” military landscapes that simulated warfare and arms production have rendered uninhabitable.”

Proposed by Myka on suggestion of Morgan

Who plans the “planned communities” we call suburbia? And what did they plan to achieve, exactly? Suburban Nation analyzes America’s post-war obsession with pre-fabricated (dare we say “scientific”) communities as opposed to city neighborhoods & small towns that developed without top-down decision-making by alleged experts & city officials.

The book that started the discussion that led to this reading group!

From radicalurbantheory.com:
“This book is a study of two different models of urban growth: the traditional neighborhood and suburban sprawl. They are polar opposites in appearance, function, and character: they look different, they act differently, and they affect us in different ways.”

Proposed by Myka technically, but really by Rachel Ding & Jessica at a birthday party

Kunstler has a confrontational method of investigation & a Gonzo-inspired tone in his writing. He offers a very smart, unapologetic appraisal of the American landscape & its cultural underpinnings. Humorous & hugely influential.

From a review in the Amazon listing:
“In this spirited, irreverent critique, Kunstler spares none of the culprits that have conspired in the name of the American Dream to turn the U.S. landscape from a haven of the civic ideal into a nightmare of crass commercial production and consumption. Kunstler strips the bark off the utopian social engineering promoted by the machine-worshiping Modern movement of Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright and skewers the intellectual camps (e.g., Venturi) that have thrived on making academic glory of the consumer wasteland. With the fervor of an investigative reporter and in the vernacular of a tabloid journalist, Kunstler exposes the insidious “car lobby” and gives case studies of landscapes as diverse as Detroit, Atlantic City, and Seaside, Florida, to illustrate both the woes and hopeful notes."

Proposed by Morgan

David Harvey is a famous geographer who has written about ecology & anti-capitalism in a number of excellent books. This book seems the most relevant to our concerns. Unfortunately it’s also thick, densely-written, & expensive ($45)!! We might consider reading select chapters as photocopies of a library book instead of the entire text.

From wiley.com:
“This book engages with the politics of social and environmental justice, and seeks new ways to think about the future of urbanization in the twenty-first century. It establishes foundational concepts for understanding how space, time, place and nature – the material frames of daily life – are constituted and represented through social practices, not as separate elements but in relation to each other. It describes how geographical differences are produced, and shows how they then become fundamental to the exploration of political, economic and ecological alternatives to contemporary life.”

Proposed by Myka

From the Amazon listing:

“Rogers endeavors to show the inner workings of the waste stream, from the garbage truck to the landfill, incinerator or parts unknown. She points out that recycling, once touted as an environmental lifesaver, “has serious flaws,” and has done little to mitigate garbage’s long history of environmental damage. Rogers also includes chapters on the history of waste removal and disposal, highlighting early sanitation efforts in New York City, as well as the multi-billion-dollar, multinational business of garbage."

Do we know enough about local ecology to act as critical observers of its changes? We need a certain level of “landscape literacy” in order first understand then interact conscientiously with Pittsburgh’s environment. This book describes Leopold’s natural observation as a process that later evolved into a discipline that guides effective advocacy on behalf of the city’s “silent citizens.” Considered a “classic” in the modern environmental movement.

From Wikipedia:
A Sand County Almanac is a combination of natural history, scene painting with words, and philosophy. It is perhaps best known for the following quote, which defines his land ethic: “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”

Proposed by Myka & Jessica