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The Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Sociology serves as a repository of insight on the complex interactions, challenges and potential solutions that characterize our shared ecological reality. Presenting innovative thinking on a comprehensive range of topics, expert scholars, researchers, and practitioners illuminate the nuances, complexities and diverse perspectives that define the continually evolving field of environmental sociology. Entries provide clear and concise explanations of complex concepts and theories on the relationship between material, ecological and social progress and barriers to progress, contributing to a wealth of thought-provoking research designed to encourage critical thinking and reflection. This authoritative Encyclopedia will serve as a comprehensive research tool for students, researchers and scholars of environmental sociology, environmental studies and sustainability studies. Key Features: 99 enlightening entries authored by an impressive collective of contributorsAn accessible and engaging format designed to cater to a wide audience of students, researchers and expertsTimely insights on contemporary issues and developments in the field of environmental sociology, from climate adaptation and degrowth to the carbon intensity of well-being and Rights of Nature

Despite living and working in California, one of the county's most environmentally progressive states, environmental justice activists have spent decades fighting for clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and safe, healthy communities. Evolution of a Movement tells their story—from the often-raucous protests of the 1980s and 1990s to activists'growing presence inside the halls of the state capitol in the 2000s and 2010s. Tracy E. Perkins traces how shifting political contexts combined with activists'own efforts to institutionalize their work within nonprofits and state structures. By revealing these struggles and transformations, Perkins offers a new lens for understanding environmental justice activism in California. Drawing on case studies and 125 interviews with activists from Sacramento to the California-Mexico border, Perkins explores the successes and failures of the environmental justice movement in California. She shows why some activists have moved away from the disruptive'outsider'political tactics common in the movement's early days and embraced traditional political channels of policy advocacy, electoral politics, and working from within the state's political system to enact change. Although some see these changes as a sign of the growing sophistication of the environmental justice movement, others point to the potential of such changes to blunt grassroots power. At a time when environmental justice scholars and activists face pressing questions about the best route for effecting meaningful change, this book provides insight into the strengths and limitations of social movement institutionalization.