Environmentalism, Ethical Trade, and Commodification : Technologies of Value and the Forest Stewardship Council in Chile

This ethnographic study documents the competing ideas about how to manage a forest - or even what a forest is - and considers the role of ethical trade initiatives in creating sustainable, survivable global futures. Through a case study of the global connections between Chilean landscapes and Northern consumers embodied in the Forest Services Council, the book explores what knowledges and values are expressed or silenced when sustainability is defined and pursued through market mechanisms.

This book explores the global connections between Chilean landscapes and Northern consumers embodied by the Forest Stewardship Council logo, the green seal of approval for certified sustainably-produced "good wood." How do we decide what makes good forestry? What knowledges and values are expressed or silenced when "good" is defined with a market mechanism like certification? Henne''s ethnographic study documents the new forms of labor and the new expectations about sustainability and responsibility that certification generates, in the context of the competing ideas about how to manage a forest – or even what a forest is – that constitute forest certification in Chile. A critical analysis of certification’s practices helps understand the role of ethical trade initiatives in creating sustainable, survivable global futures.