American Environmental Politics Research Articles

Overcoming hopelessness in the classroom: A Policy-Entrepreneur approach to teaching American environmental politics in the age of climate crisis

The rollback of several environmental policies in the US at the federal level over the last couple of years often evokes a heavy sense of cynicism in our students toward environmental politics and has exacerbated their anxiety for the future of our planet. In this article, I argue that it is important to acknowledge our students’ emotional distress toward complex environmental issues like climate change or biodiversity loss and suggest a policy-entrepreneurial approach to teaching environmental politics and policy that aims to offer students greater agency over the political system that has shown to inspire optimism and action. This approach involves moving beyond critical analyses of environmental policies and guiding undergraduates through systemic studies of the larger policy-making process to find possible leverage points to influence environmental politics. This potentially allows students to view policies in a continuum that can be actively shaped and channels their negative emotions on the failure of addressing environ- mental problems toward constructive hope and positive environmental behavior.

Darren Speece, Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics

Darren Speece, <i>Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics</i>

American environmental politics in historical perspective: introduction to the symposium

American environmental politics in historical perspective: introduction to the symposium

Darren F. Speece, Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics

Darren F. Speece, <i>Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics</i>

Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics. By Darren Frederick Speece. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016. xix + 354 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $29.95.

<i>Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics</i>. By Darren Frederick Speece. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016. xix + 354 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $29.95.

Darren Frederick Speece. Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics.

Darren Frederick Speece. Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics.

Environmental public opinion in U.S. states, 1973–2012

ABSTRACTPartisan polarization of public opinion is a major trend in American environmental politics. While the national pattern is widely recognized, scholars know much less about the polarization of public opinion over time at the state level. This lack of knowledge is unfortunate because geographic variation in the polarization of opinion is essential for explaining the origins of partisan polarization and evaluating its consequences for policy. To fill the gap, the multilevel regression and poststratification technique is applied to provide credible estimates of state-level environmental public opinion for both Democrats and Republicans, 1973–2012. It appears that the growing partisan gap reflects increased pro-environmental opinion among Democrats across many states, whereas Republican state-level public opinion is converging toward a much lower baseline. Cross-state variation among both parties has decreased over time, contributing to greater partisan polarization in the aggregate. Changes in the sorting of voters in and out of political parties cannot explain these patterns of polarization.

Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics. Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books. By Darren Frederick Speece

Defending Giants: The Redwood Wars and the Transformation of American Environmental Politics. Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books. By Darren Frederick Speece

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics SarahMittlefehldt. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013.

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics Sarah Mittlefehldt. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2013.Sarah Mittlefehldt's Tangled Roots is ostensibly a history of Appalachian Trail as told through various people, public organizations, and private groups that worked across nearly a one hundred years in order to secure, build, and maintain its nearly 2,200 miles. However, Mittlefehldt also uses Trail's story as a way to argue path for modern American environmentalism within current political structure.In her introduction, she explains her goal is to show that the tangled political roots of Appalachian Trail were frustrating and difficult to navigate at times but were ultimately an essential part of broader system they (4). The frustration of dealing with new partners, such as private companies and trusts, was worth trouble because the trail's diverse political structure provided foundation for trail-building efforts and made Appalachian Trail one of most successful land stewardship projects of twentieth and a model for environmental protection in twenty-first century (4). Within her introduction, she lays foundation for her argument, which comes in three parts: environmental movement has evolved beyond simple conservatory; private partners have become invaluable to sustaining public works; and this complex navigation between public and private organizations has created a more robust and sustainable model for environmentalism that is more in line with population.She traces Trail development through three distinct phases, which began with Benton MacKaye's call to revitalize America's natural resources through civic engagements built around conservation, moved through inevitable federalization of ever-growing project and its negative impact in various communities along Trail, and ended with New Right's desire to reduce government's role in management while incentivizing private corporate engagement. As both an accident of history and a deft narrative framing device, Mittlefehldt placed MacKay's original vision of environmentalism on Appalachian Trail as a project that should be driven by smart, governmental science but managed by private citizens and organizations.The narrative then picks up story through work of Myron Avery, whose vision of Trail involved building it first and then using that to recruit support for it later. …

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics by Sarah Mittlefehldt (review)

Tangled Roots: The Appalachian Trail and American Environmental Politics by Sarah Mittlefehldt (review)

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964 by James Morton Turner (review)

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964 by James Morton Turner (review)

Tangled roots: the Appalachian Trail and American environmental politics

Tangled roots: the Appalachian Trail and American environmental politics

MARK FIEGE. The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States. JAMES MORTON TURNER. The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964.

First proposed by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge in 1972, the theory of “punctuated equilibrium” holds that evolutionary change tends to happen rapidly at rare moments rather than gradually and steadily through the ages. Looking at the earth's fossil record, the two scientists found long periods of species stasis interrupted by comparatively brief moments of species divergence, what others (meaning to be funny) later called “evolution by jerks.” These days, pondering environmental history, I wonder if the field's change over time (or lack of it) might also be explained this way. From its formal founding in the mid-1970s to the turn of the new century, environmental historiography exhibited fairly unremarkable variation in standard periodization, favored topics, key figures, and dominant perspectives. During the last few years, however, there have been signs of a creative burst starting to happen. Several recently published articles and books seem to embody truly fresh approaches to conceptualizing and understanding people's past relationship with nature.

From politics to prophecy: environmental quiescence and the ‘peak-oil’ movement

Adherents of the ‘peak-oil’ theory believe that resource depletion will cause an imminent social collapse that will lead to a simpler and more environmentally balanced world. Although American ‘peakists’ are extremely concerned with environmental issues, their awareness of the scale of ecological crises (such as climate change), gloomy evaluation of the state of American environmental politics, and vision of a post-apocalyptic future lead them to retreat from politics. Their beliefs, inaction, and impact on American environmental politics are explored.

Review: The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics Since 1964, by James Morton Turner

Review: <i>The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics Since 1964</i>, by James Morton Turner

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics since 1964

The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics Since 1964. By James Morton Turner. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2012, xviii + 520 pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $39.95.

<i>The Promise of Wilderness: American Environmental Politics Since 1964</i>. By James Morton Turner. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2012, xviii + 520 pp. Illustrations, maps, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. Cloth $39.95.

The promise of wilderness: American environmental politics since 1964

Foreword Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction Part One Wilderness and the Origins ofModern Environmentalism, 1964-1976 1 Why a Wilderness Act? 2 Speaking for Wilderness 3 Popular Politics of Wilderness 4 New Environmental Tools for an Old Conservation Issue 101 Part TwoThe Polarization of American Environmental Politics, 1977-1994 5 Alaska: The Last Chance to Do It Right the First Time 6 National Forests: Polarization of Environmental Politics7 Public Domain: Environmental Politics and the Rise of the New Right Part Threewilderness and a New Agenda for the Public Lands, 1987-2009 8 From Wilderness to Public Lands Reform 9 New Prophets of Wilderness 10 Paths to Public Lands Reform Epilogue: Rebuilding the WildernessMovement Notes Bibliography Index

Terra Incognita: The Neglected History of Interwar Environmental Thought and Politics

William Deverell and Greg Hise, eds. Eden By Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. ix + 314 pp. Figures, maps, notes, and index. $48.00 (cloth); $17.95 (paper).