Contents
3 Glossary
4 1 Introduction and Approach Ideas and environmental politics Sustainability as emergent and disruptive ideal Sustainability as transformational ideal Notes
5 2 Environmental Change and the Sustainability Imperative Ecological limits and sustainability imperatives Ecological limits: origins and possible responses Ecological limits and their discontents International responses to ecological limits Ecological limits and US politics Business as usual The eco-fortress The just transition Notes
6 3 Freedom Concepts and conceptions Freedom as culprit in commons tragedies Hardin on the tragedy of the commons Freedom and incentive structures Neoliberal freedom and scarcity Classic liberalism and neoliberal freedom Locke’s property theory and provisos Nozick’s entitlement theory and the proviso Prometheanism and the proviso Neoliberal freedom and externalities Individuality, consumerism, and sovereignty Consumerism, consumption, and freedom Neoliberal freedom and harm Conclusions: sustainability and the ideal of freedom Notes
7 4 Democracy Democracy and the environment Democracy as incompatible with sustainability? Environment and democracy Reconciling democracy and sustainability Two kinds of democratic legitimacy Democracy and doughnuts Rights as democratic constraints on democracy Alternatives to democracy Technocracy as alternative to democracy Technocracy as compatible with democracy Reconciling technocracy with democracy Eco-authoritarianism as alternative to democracy Technocracy as antidote to democracy’s failings Reforming environmental democracy Greening democracy Democracy and global governance Conclusions: environmental change and the democratic ideal Notes
8 5 Progress Conceptions of progress within a contested social compass Progress in Western political thought Ancient and medieval conceptions of progress Growth-as-progress in early liberalism Scarcity and modern conceptions of progress Growth as core state imperative Progress reoriented Challenging the growth imperative Wilderness, ecology, and the land ethic Toxic chemicals and the war on nature Rethinking links between growth and progress Toward a post-growth conception of progress The HDI as progress index Sustainable development goals Green growth vs. post-growth conceptions Conclusions: redefining progress to account for ecological limits