Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia: Bioregionalism, Permaculture, and Ecovillages

The book is well structured, engaging and highly topical; it brings together a range of academics and practitioners-itself a potentially interesting and seldom examined dialogue-around three main areas which form the book's structure: Bioregionalism; Permaculture; Ecovillages. · Malcolm Miles, University of PlymouthThis is an excellent and timely collection of essays by ecological and environmental anthropologists and other scholars and activists who, together, are redefining the field of human ecology as a contribution to the cultural revolution the world needs, if we are to achieve the transition to sustainability. · Laura M. Rival, University of Oxford...a fascinating and significant anthology. The integration in this book of theory and practice, scholar and activist, reprinted classics and new essays, is very creative and admirable. It deals with three contemporary subjects that have been rather neglected by researchers...It is current and futuristic in many respects [and] deserves a wide readership. · Leslie E. Sponsel, University of Hawai'iIn order to move global society towards a sustainable ecotopia, solutions must be engaged in specific places and communities, and the authors here argue for re-orienting environmental anthropology from a problem-oriented towards a solutions-focused endeavor. Using case studies from around the world, the contributors-scholar-activists and activist-practitioners- examine the interrelationships between three prominent environmental social movements: bioregionalism, a worldview and political ecology that grounds environmental action and experience; permaculture, a design science for putting the bioregional vision into action; and ecovillages, the ever-dynamic settings for creating sustainable local cultures.Joshua Lockyer is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Arkansas Tech University where he is co-creating a bioregionally-based undergraduate anthropology program.James R. Veteto is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Texas. He is the director of the Laboratory of Environmental Anthropology and the Southern Seed Legacy project and is currently president of the Culture and Agriculture section of the American Anthropological Association and Research Associate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.