One of the most fundamental dilemmas characterizing the end of the twentieth century is the tension between consumerism, on one hand, and the threats to our health and environment on the other. John Buell and Thomas S DeLuca provide a trenchant analysis of the growth of environmentalism during a period of increased conservatism and deregulation. First, they consider the myths that strengthen our understanding of environmental issues and their political ramifications. The authors then probe the intricate relation between economic growth and environmentalism. Finally, they suggest a series of principles and reforms that point to a way out of the bind that threatens to ensnare us.

One of the major dilemmas we face at the end of the century is the seemingly irreconcilable struggle between protecting our environment and economic growth. In Sustainable Democracy authors John Buell and Tom DeLuca show that the contemporary environmental crisis need not be cause for despair. Rather, they contend that environmental concerns can help trigger a needed reappraisal of the quality of our society′s patterns of consumption and growth. They suggest that by placing at center stage the issue of quality of life, through an invigorated, democratic politics--one of our most precious national resources--we stand the best chance of protecting the environment, while also promoting sustainable economic growth, social justice, and individual freedom. Incisive and engaging, Sustainable Democracy provides a fresh outlook and will be widely read in the fields of environmental policy, American politics, and political theory. "Sustainable Democracy is a welcome addition to the literature on the politics of ecology, but it is more than that. Buell and DeLuca seek to explain what it means to be ecologically responsible in the fullest and most complex sense of the term. Unlike other students of ecology, too many of whom either lack philosophical sophistication or are covertly hostile to democracy, they guide us to an understanding of the necessarily integral relationship between responsible environmentalism and democratic practice. Both hardheaded regarding the politics of the environmental movement and excitingly optimistic regarding the future prospects for democracy, Sustainable Democracy offers a refreshing new approach to the study of the politics of ecology." --Thomas L. Dumm, Amherst College and author of Michel Foucault and the Politics of Freedom "This clear-headed, lively, and timely book reveals the links between an ecologically sustainable economy and a democratic politics. Authors John Buell and Tom DeLuca question the sacrosanct status of ′economic growth,′ but also emphasize the need to respond fairly to the impositions that any new, more ecologically-rational order would entail. They explore the limits of both corporate efficiency and its small-is-beautiful alternative, and show how once democratic politics is placed at the center of ecological reflection, a different set of themes, problems, and proposals for reform come to the force. Sustainable Democracy has a distinctive focus, and a sound execution--it will be excellent in undergraduate courses on democratic politics, environmentalism, and political economy." Jane Bennett, Goucher College and author of Thoreau′s Nature: Ethics, Politics, and the Wild