Scholars, politicians, and activists worldwide are finally recognizing the severity of the global environmental crisis, yet serious threats to the environmental movement remain. Anti-environmentalists dismiss the very idea of a "crisis" as a mirage. Much less obvious, however, is the more subtle threat masquerading under the mantle of environmentalism itself. It is this threat that Green Delusions addresses. Writing from the standpoint of a committed environmentalist, Martin W. Lewis contends that many of the most devoted and strident "greens," those who propose a radical environmentalism, unwittingly espouse an ill-conceived doctrine that has devastating implications for the global ecosystem. In this book he distinguishes the main variants of eco-extremism, exposes the fallacies upon which such views ultimately flounder, and demonstrates that the policies advocated by their proponents would, if enacted, result in unequivocal ecological disaster. At once polemic and prescriptive, Green Delusions is an impassioned attempt to defend the environmental movement against extremist ideas that would lead to self-defeating political strategies.
| Acknowledgments | ||
| Introduction | 1 | |
| 1 | The Varieties of Radical Environmentalism | 27 |
| 2 | Primal Purity and Natural Balance | 43 |
| 3 | A Question of Scale | 82 |
| 4 | Technophobia and Its Discontents | 117 |
| 5 | The Capitalist Imperative | 150 |
| 6 | Third World Development and Population | 191 |
| Conclusion | 242 | |
| Appendix | 253 | |
| Notes | 257 | |
| Bibliography | 261 | |
| Index | 283 |
Overview
Scholars, politicians, and activists worldwide are finally recognizing the severity of the global environmental crisis, yet serious threats to the environmental movement remain. Anti-environmentalists dismiss the very idea of a "crisis" as a mirage. Much less obvious, however, is the more subtle threat masquerading under the mantle of environmentalism itself. It is this threat that Green Delusions addresses. Writing from the standpoint of a committed environmentalist, Martin W. Lewis contends that many of the ...