Inhabiting the Earth : Anarchist Political Ecology for Landscapes of Emancipation

Over the last several decades, scholars and practitioners have progressively acknowledged that we cannot consider cities as the place where nature stops anymore, resulting in urban environments being increasingly appreciated and theorized as hybrids between nature and culture, entities made of socio-ecological processes in constant transformation. Spanning the fields of political ecology, environmental studies, and sociology, this new direction in urban theory emerged in concert with global concern for sustainability and environmental justice. This volume explores the notion that connecting with nature holds the key to a more progressive and liberatory politics. Exported through PES_v1.3 by kannans Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 Preface 8 Reinhabiting the Land and the Earth 8 Overcoming Dualism 9 The Eco-Anarchist Critique of Domination 10 From Denial and Disavowal to Emancipatory Praxis 11 Introduction 14 From a Bounded Ecology of Place to a Global Landscape, and Back 14 Political Ecology as Emancipation 18 Structure of the Book 21 Inhabiting the Earth Differently 26 References 28 Chapter 1: An Effective Approach to Circular Economy within the Domain of Social Ecology 32 Social Ecology 33 Circular Economy 35 Corporation vs. De-growth 40 De-growth 40 Corporation 42 Conclusion 46 Notes 47 References 48 Chapter 2: Heritage as a ‘Common’: Exploring Alternative Approaches for De-growth 54 Defining Alternative Models for Urban and Rural Territories 56 Fostering Emancipation and Citizenship in Changing Cities 59 Co-constructing Heritage Policies 62 Conclusion 66 Notes 67 References 68 Chapter 3: Local Resistance to Mega Infrastructure Projects as a Place of Emancipation: Land Use Conflicts, Radical Democracy and Oppositional Public Spaces 72 The Post-Political Situation and the De-politicization of the Environment 73 The ‘Unnecessary and Imposed Mega-Projects’ Resistance Movement 75 Radical Democracy, Oppositional Public Space and Place-based Struggles 78 Conclusion 86 Acknowledgement 87 Notes 87 References 88 Chapter 4: Agri(Cultural) Resistance: Food Sovereignty and Anarchism in Response to the Sociobiodiversity Crisis 92 The Sociobiodiversity Crisis via the Conquest of Indigeneity 93 Food Sovereignty and Anarchist Praxis in Response to the Sociobiodiversity Crisis 97 Synergies in Spaces of Resistance 102 Conclusion 106 References 106 Chapter 5: Our Graves above the Timberline: Urban Green Commons, Intergenerational Justice and Diachronic Environmental Politics 112 Towards an Anarchist Space 114 Urban Green Commons 117 Towards Anarchist Spaces 118 Places to Live in the City 120 Emerging Models of Governance and Stewardship 122 The Social Impact of Urban Green Commons 123 Conclusion 124 References 125 Chapter 6: An Anarchist Landscape? : Rethinking Landscape and ‘Other’ Geographies 128 The Anarchist Horizon, the Anarchist Difference 131 Darkened Landscapes 135 Becoming a Darkened Dream 140 Notes 140 References 141 Chapter 7: Kenneth Rexroth and Paul Goodman: Poets, Writers, Anarchists and Political Ecologists 144 Paul Goodman 144 Goodman, Culture and Place 146 Goodman and Society 147 Goodman’s Place 148 Kenneth Rexroth 149 Rexroth and Environmentalism 150 Rexroth and Culture 151 Rexroth, Anarchism and Urban Political Ecology 153 Rexroth and Goodman 155 Acknowledgements 157 References 157 Chapter 8: The Prefigurative Politics of Going Off-Grid: Anarchist Political Ecology and Socio-material Infrastructures 160 The Enduring Pessimism of Academic Political Ecology 162 Anarchist Political Ecology 163 Earthships: Building and Dwelling in the Refuse of Capitalism 165 The Infrastructural State and Its Discontents 168 Conviviality: Making Peace between Humans, Non-Humans and Things 169 ‘Do-It-With’: Off-gridders Overcoming Specialization 170 Autonomy: A Practice of Responsibility and a Territory of Freedom 173 Conclusion 175 Notes 177 References 177 Chapter 9: Escape from Ecology: Necrophilia and the Left’s Internalized Green Scare 180 Green Scare in the United States 181 Pink Tide and Criminalization of Anti-Extractivists 185 Greenwashing the Status Quo 188 Towards Biophilous Revolution 191 References 193 Chapter 10: Are the State and Public Institutions Compatible with De-growth?: An Anarchist Perspective 200 The Matter of the State: An Obligatory challenge for De-growth 200 Opening up Insights and Critical Approaches around the State for De-growth 204 Bridging the Gap between Anarchism and De-growth: An Inevitable Dialogue in Theory and in Practice 210 Reforms and Proposals for a Non-statist De-growth: Keeping a Quota of the Public 211 Conclusion 213 Notes 214 References 215 Index 218 About the Contributors 228 Introduction: The political inhabiting the Earth / Simon Springer, Martin Locret-Collet, and Jennifer Mateer -- An effective approach to circular economy within the domain of social ecology / Andrej Fideršek -- Heritage as a 'common' : exploring alternative approaches for degrowth / Elizabeth Auclair -- Local resistance to mega-infrastructure projects as a place of emancipation : land use conflits, radical democracy and oppositional public spaces / Jérome Pélenc, Anahita Grisoni, Julien Milanesi, Léa Sébastien and Manuel Cervera Marzal -- Agri(cultural) resistance : food sovereignty and anarchism in response to the socio-biodiversity crisis / Cassidy Thomas and Leonardo E. Figueroa-Helland -- Our graves above the timberline : urban green commons, intergenerational justice and diachronic environmental politics / Martin Locret-Collet -- An anarchist landscape? Rethinking landscape and 'other' geographies / Gerónimo Barrera de la Torre -- Kenneth Rexroth and Paul Goodman : poets, writers anarchists and political ecologists / Gregory Knapp -- The prefigurative politics of going off-grid : anarchist political ecology and socio-material infrastructures / Ryan Alan Sporer and Kevin Suemnicht -- Escape from ecology : necrophilia and the left's internalized green scare / Dan Fischer -- Are the state and public institutions compatible with degrowth? An anarchist perspective / Francisco J. Toro