New book out! Foundations of Socio-Environmental Research: Legacy readings with commentaries

[Bill Burnside]

Dear EESG community,

I am writing to share the announcement of our new book out from Cambridge University Press:

Foundations of Socio-Environmental Research: Legacy readings with commentaries.

        News about our interactions with the environment hits us daily, from pandemics following zoonotic transmission to community displacement due to climate change to species extinctions after deforestation.  It’s always topical and always seems new. In scale, it often is: never before has a pandemic spread this far or this fast. Never before have our actions increased temperatures this much. But the interactions themselves and reflections about them have long precedents. 

        This canonical reference provides an informed history of socio-environmental change and research through legacy readings and expert commentaries, and it links that history to a range of current research approaches.  The volume convenes 53 foundational readings—spanning centuries, continents, and disciplines—that showcase key strains and ideas in socio-environmental research. For current research teams, the volume can serve as a springboard for advancing collaborative, interdisciplinary projects.  As a resource in the classroom, the book provides scholars and students with a landscape view of the past and present of socio-environmental research. 

       This effort grew out of a continuing education program at the National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), during which co-editors met and coalesced around this idea. We hope this anthology provides a useful, accessible, and stimulating reference and teaching resource. 

Edited by:

William R. Burnside

Simone Pulver, University of California, Santa Barbara

Kathryn J. Fiorella, Cornell University

Meghan L. Avolio, Johns Hopkins University

Steven M. Alexander, University of Waterloo

Contributors:

Richard York, Emilio F. Moran, Richard B. Norgaard, Patricia Balvanera, J. Baird Callicott, and Marina Fischer-Kowalski

Table of Contents

Introduction. Foundations of Socio-Environmental Research. Simone Pulver, William R. Burnside, Kathryn J. Fiorella, Meghan L. Avolio, and Steven M. Alexander

Part I. Early Classics of Socio-Environmental Research. Commentary. Richard York

Part II. The Roots of Socio-Environmental Research in Geography and Anthropology. Commentary. Emilio J. Moran

Part III. Socio-Environmental Research in Economics, Sociology, and Political Science. Commentary. Richard B. Norgaard

Part IV. Socio-Environmental Research in Ecology. Commentary. Patricia Balvanera

Part V. Ethical, Religious and Historical Approaches to Socio-Environmental Research. Commentary. J. Baird Callicott

Part VI. Technology, Energy, Materials, and Socio-Environmental Research. Commentary. Marina Fischer-Kowalski

Conclusion. Looking Forward: Legacy Readings and Contemporary Socio-Environmental Research. William R. Burnside, Kathryn J. Fiorella, Meghan L. Avolio, Steven M. Alexander, and Simone Pulver

The editors forewent profits to keep the book as accessible as possible.  As well, the Press is offering a 20% discount good until 30 September 2023. For more information and to order with this discount, visit: www.cambridge.org/9781009177849 and enter the code FSER2022 at the checkout. 

Please feel free to share this notice and the discount code widely.

Thank you, and with best wishes,

Bill Burnside