- Department of Politics
Humboldt State University
1 Harpst St.
Arcata, CA 95521 USA - 707-826-4497
John M Meyer
Humboldt State University, Politics, Faculty Member
- Environmental Studies, Political Science, Sustainability Discourses, Environmental political theory (Philosophy), Sustainable Communities, Environmental Political Theory, and 17 morePolitical Theory, Democratic Theory, Ethics & Social Sustainability, Green Political Theory, Environmental Politics and Philosophy, Environmental Politics, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Sustainability, Ecological Humanities, Politics, Environmental Philosophy, Liberalism, Environmental Justice, Political Ecology, Philosophy Of Climate Change, Environmental Humanities, and Depoliticizationedit
- My primary interests lie at the intersection of political theory and environmental politics. My current research focuses upon the ways in which environmental concerns can become the basis for effective social criticism. This has led me in several directions, including a critical analysis of the l... moreMy primary interests lie at the intersection of political theory and environmental politics. My current research focuses upon the ways in which environmental concerns can become the basis for effective social criticism. This has led me in several directions, including a critical analysis of the liberal concept of property; reflection upon the possibilities -- and limitations -- of a democratic conception of sacrifice; and the tension between populist and paternalist appeals within environmental argument.edit
This book addresses a central dilemma facing efforts to promote environmental sustainability: while environmental challenges including climate change threaten the very fabric of our lives, ambitious efforts to address these rarely... more
This book addresses a central dilemma facing efforts to promote environmental sustainability: while environmental challenges including climate change threaten the very fabric of our lives, ambitious efforts to address these rarely resonate with the everyday concerns and ideas most pressing to citizens. The book analyzes both the opportunities and constraints facing such efforts to promote environmental sustainability. I first theorize an approach to “contested materiality” and then draw upon this to engage values embedded in everyday practices – including land use, automobility, and householding – in affluent postindustrial societies. The aim is to open up new ways of thinking about property, freedom, and citizenship that might foster a more resonant and expansive political imagination.
Research Interests: Political Theory, Liberalism, Environmental Political Theory, Environmental Politics, Environmental Sustainability, and 12 moreEnvironmental political theory (Philosophy), Social Practice, Material Practice, Social Criticism, Everyday Life, Automobility, New Materialism, Land Use, Postmaterialism, Private Property, Political Science/ Environmental Poiltics, and Sustainability Studies
Our editorial team has commissioned over forty authors, most internationally prominent. We anticipate a volume that will become both a standard reference and an exploration of the directions that the field might pursue in the future. As... more
Our editorial team has commissioned over forty authors, most internationally prominent. We anticipate a volume that will become both a standard reference and an exploration of the directions that the field might pursue in the future. As a whole, the handbook will reflect environmental political theory’s interdisciplinary character, its engagement with canonical theorists and contemporary political problems, its diversity of theoretical approaches, and its attention to the intersection of the environmental and the political from the local to the global.
Research Interests: Environmental Philosophy, Political Theory, Environmental Studies, Environmental Political Theory, Environmental Politics, and 6 moreEnvironmental Sustainability, Environmental political theory (Philosophy), Political Ideology, New Materialism, Green Political Theory, and Environmental Politics and Philosophy
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This article examines the relation between political theory and environmental policy. It describes characteristics that seem to distinguish contemporary environmental political theory and evaluates how the project of environmental... more
This article examines the relation between political theory and environmental policy. It describes characteristics that seem to distinguish contemporary environmental political theory and evaluates how the project of environmental political theory might be usefully construed in the future. It suggests that the work of contemporary environmental political theory is to grapple with the relative merits of a wide variety of potential strategies for reconciling forms of democracy and environmentalism. It explains that the question of democracy's relationship to environmental concern is a multifaceted one that has no easy, self-congratulatory answers.
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Critical analysis of Shellenberger and Nordhaus' *Break Through* book. Originally prepared for edited book that was never published. An revised and updated version of my analysis of postmaterialism appears as Chapter 3 in Engaging the... more
Critical analysis of Shellenberger and Nordhaus' *Break Through* book. Originally prepared for edited book that was never published. An revised and updated version of my analysis of postmaterialism appears as Chapter 3 in Engaging the Everyday.
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The shifting relationship between environmental political theorists and liberalism is examined, moving from a total critique to an increasingly nuanced engagement. The argument here is neither for nor against the possibility of ‘greening'... more
The shifting relationship between environmental political theorists and liberalism is examined, moving from a total critique to an increasingly nuanced engagement. The argument here is neither for nor against the possibility of ‘greening' liberalism per se. Instead, it is argued that the preoccupation with ‘liberalism' in this context is a category mistake based upon the reification of liberalism as not just a political philosophy, but a characterisation of citizen values and practices in contemporary liberal democratic societies. A different way of thinking about the role and task of environmental political theory and social criticism is proposed. The key is to ask whether a theoretical argument resonates with citizens, not whether it can be reconciled with liberalism.
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This article examines the challenges and opportunities faced by US environmental movements, in light of contemporary efforts to address climate change. The author identifies and describes two discourses, which he terms paternalism and... more
This article examines the challenges and opportunities faced by US environmental movements, in light of contemporary efforts to address climate change. The author identifies and describes two discourses, which he terms paternalism and populism. These need not describe distinct movements, but reflect differing impulses and ways of engaging the public that are available to environmentalists of various stripes. Discourses are explored through their divergent notions of both environmentalist identity and the relation of environmental concern to the experiences of everyday life.
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Research Interests: Property, Environmental Political Theory, John Locke, WTO Dispute Settlement, Ecolabelling, and 6 moreInternational Trade Law and Environment, Green Process and Production Methods, Biotrade, Environmental Goods and Services, Consumer Right to Know and GMOs, and Animal Welfare Standards and Trade Restrictive Measures
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Later interpreters have usually described Gifford Pinchot and John Muir as defining two different conceptions of nature: "conservationism" and "preservationism." While the difference between these conceptions is significant, it plays a... more
Later interpreters have usually described Gifford Pinchot and John Muir as defining two different conceptions of nature: "conservationism" and "preservationism." While the difference between these conceptions is significant, it plays a much less central role in guiding practical proposals than is typically assumed. This article highlights the independent influence and importance of contrasting conceptions of politics, and of the appropriate division between public and private worlds, to shaping the arguments and proposals of these two early environmentalist leaders. This new understanding permits a reinterpretation of the commonalities and disagreements between Muir and Pinchot and raises a new set of questions for environmentalism and American political thought.
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Short video from the Rachel Carson Center, Munich, Germany