Environmentalism from Below

A global account of the grassroots environmental movements fighting for the future of the planet. Environmentalism from Below offers readers a hopeful alternative to the gridlock of UN-based climate negotiations, taking readers to the heart of popular struggles for a radical, global green new deal. These groups - those most vulnerable to but also least responsible for the climate crisis - are at the frontlines of the fight for environmental reconstruction. Drawing on accounts from Cuba to Nigeria to India to Colombia, scholar and activist Ashley Dawson constructs a multi-layered narrative of those fighting climate imperialism across the globe. Taking up the four critical challenges we face in a warming world--food, urban sustainability, energy transition, and conservation--Environmentalism from Below details the alternatives developed by grassroots movements that chart a path forward, from the practice of agroecology to urban insurgency. Along the way, Dawson offers an urgent case for environmental reconstruction and a global, decolonial Green New Deal. Environmentalism from Below offers a much-needed reminder that the fight against ecocide and for environmental liberation is already being waged worldwide. It's time we all start paying attention.