Ecologically Unequal Exchange: Environmental Injustice in Comparative and Historical Perspective [Paperback]

At a time of societal urgency surrounding ecological crises from depleted fisheries to mineral extraction and potential pathways towards environmental and ecological justice, this book re-examines ecologically unequal exchange (EUE) from a historical and comparative perspective. The theory of ecologically unequal exchange posits that core or northern consumption and capital accumulation is based on peripheral or southern environmental degradation and extraction. In other words, structures of social and environmental inequality between the Global North and Global South are founded in the extraction of materials from, as well as displacement of waste to, the South. This volume represents a set of tightly interlinked papers with the aim to assess ecologically unequal exchange and to move it forward. Chapters are organised into three main sections: theoretical foundations and critical reflections on ecologically unequal exchange; empirical research on mining, deforestation, fisheries, andthe like; and strategies for responding to the adverse consequences associated with unequal ecological exchange. Scholars as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students will benefit from the spirited re-evaluation and extension of ecologically unequal exchange theory, research, and praxis.
Introduction: Ecologically Unequal Exchange in Comparative and Historical Perspective; R. Scott Frey, Paul K. Gellert, and Harry F. Dahms.- Part I: Theoretical Foundations of Ecologically Unequal Exchange.- 1. Toward a Theory of Ecologically Unequal Exchange; Stephen G. Bunker.- 2. Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Raw Materialism: The Material Foundations of the Capitalist World-Economy; Paul Ciccantell.- 3. Ecologically Unequal Exchange and Ecological Imperialism: Conceptualizing their Relation and Distinction; Mariko Frame.- 4. Bunker's Ecologically Unequal Exchange, Foster's Metabolic Rift and Moore's World-Ecology: Distinctions with or without a Difference?; Paul K. Gellert.- PalÓè