Environment and Citizenship : Integrating Justice, Responsibility and Civic Engagement

A book that outlines the debates on environmental and ecological citizenship that have emerged out of the concern with environmental justice since the 1990s. It demonstrates how awareness of environmental hazards, injustices and new forms of risk is only useful when it generates strategies for political change.

Citizenship and the environment are hotly debated, as climate change places more responsibility on individuals and institutions in shaping policy. Using new evidence and cases from across the globe, Environment and Citizenship explores the new vocabulary of ecological citizenship and examines how successful environmental policy-making depends on the responsible actions of citizens and civil society organizations as much as on governments and international treaties. This accessible and thought-provoking book:- provides a comprehensive and timely guide to the debates on environmental and ecological citizenship, expertly combining examples of practice with theory;- examines how environmental movements have become increasingly involved in governance processes at the local, national, regional and intergovernmental levels;- explores the increasing importance of corporations and transnational networks through examples of stakeholding processes and participatory research in environmental decision-making;- calls on researchers, policy-makers and activists to face a new challenge: how to effectively link environmental justice with social justice. Breaking new ground, Smith and Pangsapa address how environmental responsibility operates through politics, ethics, culture and the everyday experiences of ctivists, as well as how awareness of environmental and social injustice only leads to responsible actions and strategic change through civic engagement.