The Palgrave Handbook of Environmental Labour Studies

by Nora Räthzel (Editor), Dimitris Stevis (Editor), David Uzzell (Editor)

Overview

In this comprehensive Handbook, scholars from across the globe explore the relationships between workers and nature in the context of the environmental crises. They provide an invaluable overview of a fast-growing research field that bridges the social and natural sciences. Chapters provide detailed perspectives of environmental labour studies, environmental struggles of workers, indigenous peoples, farmers and commoners in the Global South and North. The relations within and between organisations that hinder or promote environmental strategies are analysed, including the relations between workers and environmental organisations, NGOs, feminist and community movements.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030719098
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	08/30/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Nora Räthzel is Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Umeå (Sweden). Her main research areas are environmental labour studies, transnational corporations and gender and ethnic relations in the everyday. Publications include:  Marxist-Feminists Theories and Struggles Today with Khayaat Fakier and Diana Mulinari (eds.); Transnational Corporations from the Standpoint of Workers with Diana Mulinari and Aina Tollefsen; Trade Unions in the Green Economy. Working for the Environment (with David Uzzell, eds.).
Dimitris Stevis is Professor of Politics at Colorado State University (USA). His research focuses on global labour and environmental politics, with particular attention to labour environmentalism and social and ecological justice. He is a founder of the Center for Environmental Justice and recently published (with Dunja Krause and Edouard Morena) Just Transitions: Social Justice in the Shift Towards a Low-Carbon World(Pluto Press 2020).
David Uzzell is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey and Visiting Professor, Grupo de Investigación Persoa-Ambiente, University of A Coruna, Spain. His research interests include critical psychological approaches to changing consumption and production practices. He edited (with Nora Räthzel) Trade Unions in the Green Economy: Working for the Environment (Routledge, 2013).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:Introduction: Expanding the Boundaries of Environmental Labour Studies.- Part I: Histories.- Chapter 2: Labour and the Environment in India.- Chapter 3: Energy Transitions in the Global South: the Precarious Location of Unions.- Chapter 4: The New Struggles to be Born: The Difficult Birth of a Democratic Ecosocialist Working-Class Politics.- Chapter 5: The Green New Deal and Just Transition Frames within the American Labour Movement.- Chapter 6: Working-Class Environmentalism: The Case of Northwest Timber Workers.- Chapter 7: Trade Unions and Environmental Justice.- Part II: Seeking Common Ground.- Chapter 8: ‘Beware of the Crocodile’s Smile’: Labour –Environmentalism in the Struggle to Achieve a Just Transition in South Africa.- Chapter 9: Fighting in the Name of Workers: Exploring the Dynamics of Labour-Environmental Conflicts in Kerala.- Chapter 10: Trade Union Politics for a Just Transition: Towards Consensus or Dissensus?.- Chapter 11: Climate Jobs Plans: A Mobilising Strategy in Search of Agency.- Chapter 12: The Role of Ecuadorian Working-Class Environmentalism in Promoting Environmental Justice: an Overview of the Hydrocarbon and Agricultural Sectors.- Chapter 13: A Just Transition for All? A Debate on the Limits and Potentials of a Just Transition in Canada.- Part III: Farmers, Commoners, Communities.- Chapter 14: Labouring the Commons. Amazonia’s ‘Extractive Reserves’ and the Legacy of Chico Mendes.- Chapter 15: Connecting Individual Trajectories and Resistance Movements in Brazil.- Chapter 16: Whose Labour, Whose Land? Indigenous and Labour Conflicts and Alliances over Resource Extraction.- Chapter 17: Commoning Labour, Labouring the Commons: Centring the Commons in Environmental Labour Studies.- Chapter 18: Agroecological Farmer Movements and Advocacy Coalitions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Between De-Politicisation and Re-Politicisation.- Chapter 19: Working-Class Environmentalism in the UK – Organising for Sustainability Beyond the Workplace.- Part IV: Trade Unions and the State.-  Chapter 20: A Just Transition Towards Environmental Sustainability for All.- Chapter 21: Labour Resistance against Fossil Fuel Subsidies Reform: Neoliberal Discourses and African Realities.- Chapter 22: Challenges and Prospects for Trade Union Environmentalism.- Chapter 23: From ‘Just Transition’ to the ‘Eco-Social State’.- Chapter 24: Environment, Labour and Health: The Ecological-Social Debts of China’s Economic Development.- Part V: Organic Intellectuals.- Chapter 25: Trade Union Environmentalists as Organic Intellectuals in the US, UK, and Spain.- Chapter 26: Embedding Just Transition in the USA: The Long Ambivalence.- Chapter 27: Caring for Nature, Justice for Workers: Worldviews on the Relationship Between Labour, Nature, and Justice.- Chapter 28: Individuals Transforming Organisations: Spanish Environmental Policies in Comisiones Obreras.- Part VI: Rethinking and broadening Concepts.- Chapter 29: The Commodification of HumanLife: Labour, Energy, and Money in a Deteriorating Biosphere.- Chapter 30: Workers, Trade Unions and the Imperial Mode of Living. Labour Environmentalism from the Perspective of Hegemony Theory.- Chapter 31: André Gorz’s Labour-Based Political Ecology and its Legacy for the Twenty First Century.- Chapter 32: Rethinking Labour/Work in a Degrowth Society.- Chapter 33: Labour and Societal Relationships with Nature. Conceptual Implications for Trade Unions.- Chapter 34: Society - Labour - Nature. How to Think the Relationships?.- Chapter 35: Labour Centred Design for Sustainable and Just Transitions.- Chapter 36: Technology and the Future of Work: The Why, How and What of Production.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This pathbreaking, impressive collection presents and defines the crucially important emerging discipline of environmental labour studies. A sustainable future for our planet cannot be achieved without engaging workers. Its wide-ranging and thought-provoking essays showcase the interdisciplinary, international, engaged research that focuses on the ecological agency of working people: rural and urban; waged and unwaged; subsistence, service, industrial and extractive. It is an excellent guide to assist effective efforts to mitigate climate change.” (Verity Burgmann, Monash University, Australia, author of Green Bans, Red Union)

“Inspiring reading for trade unionists and all activists engaging in struggles against climate catastrophe, and building transformative models for social, economic and climate justice. This book challenges us to think about Just Transition in radical ways, contesting existing unequal power relations and laying the foundations for new forms of democratic control.” (Alana Dave, International Transport Workers Federation, Urban Transport Director)

“What an impressive and invaluable resource, providing major theoretical insights into the relation between labour, the environment and ‘nature’, on the basis of detailed studies of historical developments and current struggles across the globe. The book is remarkable for its range of international coverage and offers a striking contribution to this emerging field.” (Miriam Glucksmann, Department of Sociology, University of Essex, author of Women on the Line)

“I highly recommend this nuanced and engaging Handbook that analyses in-depth how capitalism produces nature and nature produces capitalism. It brings together a remarkable range of theoretical approaches and experiences that embraces Marxism, feminism, post-materialism, environmentalism as well trade unionism making this a truly cutting-edge collection. It is a landmark in the field of environmental labour studies.” (Wendy Harcourt, International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, editor of: Feminist Political Ecology and the Economics of Care – In search of Economic Alternatives)

“The global pandemic has revealed a gaping wound at the centre of capitalism – a systemic insecurity in the lives of those whose work matters more than we ever imagined. This timely collection of impassioned essays does more than simply archive the ongoing struggle. It paints a rich narrative of the many possibilities for change: providing a colourful canvas of ‘real utopias’ from communities across the world.” (Tim Jackson, University of Surrey, UK, author of Post Growth, Life after Capitalism)

“Climate change and the loss of biodiversity pose existential threats for our species, but the transformation needed to address these environmental challenges poses major tests for our movement of organised labour and social justice around the globe. Just as no country can address environmental degradation alone, neither can one trade union solve the conundrums posed. We need to learn from each other’s experiences within the global labour movement and find common collective responses. Only in this way, can we ensure that social justice and worker participation is at the centre of our response to cleaning our planet. I hope this collection of essays will contribute to that common endeavour.” (Judith Kirton-Darling, Deputy General Secretary, IndustriAll European Trade Union)

“In the course of colonial and neo-colonial economic globalisation, founded on structures of statism, capitalism, patriarchy, racism, and anthropocentrism, both workers and the environment have been marginalised and exploited. Yet, there has been extremely insufficient attention given to the interface between the two, and indeed often they have been seen as opposed to each other due to narrow notions of environmentalism or of labour rights. This book does an enormous service by collating an impressive range of essays analysing these aspects, and the possibilities of integrating worker and ecological interests and rights, towards fundamental transformation towards a just society.” (Ashish Kothari, Co-founder of the Environmental Action Group Kalpavriksh, author of: Alternative Futures: India Unshackled)

“When the late Tony Mazzocchi, a leader of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers, introduced the idea of just transition to labor and environmental activists in the late 1970s, very few took him seriously. This stunning compendium of research and analysis shows just how far this idea has traveled and how richly it has developed around the globe. Clearly, now more than ever, we need to study and pursue the paths outlined in this book to sustain both the planet and its working people.” (Les Leopold, Executive Director of the Labor Institute, author of: The Man Who Hated Work and Loved Labor: The Life and Times of Tony Mazzocchi)

“This handbook is an outstanding intellectual and political tool. It contains a remarkable collection of essays on the multiple dimensions of, the labour environmental struggles against the destructive logic of, the (capitalist) system, including not only trade-unions, but also, among others, farmers, indigenous communities and intellectuals, both in the Global North and the Global South - as well as a discussion of various anti-systemic alternatives, from the Green New Deal to Ecosocialism.” (Michael Löwy, CNRS (National Centre of Scientific Research), Paris, France, author of Ecosocialism. A Radical Alternative to Capitalist Catastrophe)

“Compared to indigenous and other rural peoples at the vanguard of socio-environmental resistance against mining, fossil fuel extraction, hydropower and oil palm plantations, the industrial trade unions are not often counted among the environmentalists. They are sometimes reluctant to accept the “decarbonization” of the economy. We know however that the industrial and rural working class has long fought against asbestosis, pneumoconiosis and other occupational illnesses. This impressive and magnificent book analyses many kinds of labour, waged and unwaged, and its variety of experiences in India, South America, the United States, Europe, Africa, in a new research field on “environmental labour studies” uncovering many practical opportunities for “red-green” alliances.” (Joan Martinez-Alier, ICTA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, author of The Environmentalism of the Poor)

“A comprehensive exploration of the struggles, conflicts, achievements and potential of working class, indigenous, gender and other grassroots movements in relation to ecological sustainability that re-thinks conventional notions of labour to embrace unpaid, social and nonmarket work.” (Mary Mellor, Northumbria University, UK, author of: Money: Myths, Truths and Alternatives)

“The editors have delivered to us an essential resource in the midst of unprecedented planetary crisis. After decades of being told we must choose between ”jobs” and ”environment,” this collection points towards an extraordinary alternative synthesis: of planetary justice and the work of humans and the rest of nature. Revealing the historical, geographical, and economic tissues that bind class, labor, and webs of life, the handbook reminds us that, when it comes to the ”proletariat” and "biotariat,” an injury to one is an injury to all.” (Jason W. Moore, Binghamton University, USA, author of: Capitalism in the Web of Life)

“As somebody who pioneered the incorporation of the environment into the trade union movement and of the social dimension into the international environmental and climate agenda, which culminated in the incorporation of the ‘just transition’ demand into the Paris Agreement, I see this work as essential in order to understand one of the most creative transformations of our time.” (Joaquín Nieto, Director of the Spanish Office of the International Labour Organisation)

“A pioneering and valuable international study. Shows how trade unions are advancing just transition, environmental justice and a future of work that is fair for all. A thought-provoking read for everyone who wants to build a greener, more equal global economy.” (Frances O'Grady, General Secretary, Trades Union Congress, UK)

“In outlining the emerging trans-discipline of Environmental Labour Studies, a complex global field of lived tensions and structural contradictions, the editors have assembled a pioneering anthology. Not least, their innovative inclusion of essays builds on the materialist ecofeminist argument that relations between gender, labour, and nature, are sociologically entangled.” (Ariel Salleh, activist, Australia, author of: From Eco-Sufficiency to Global Justice)

“Environmental Labour Studies help us to understand a way forward towards our common future. This globe-spanning volume marks the coming-of-age of this crucial theoretical and empirical field. The original and insightful contributions gathered here dramatically expand our understanding of how work, workers, and trade unions interact with the environment, nature, and environmentalists.” (Victor Silverman, Pomona College, Department of History, USA, Emmy-winning filmmaker and author of: Imagining Internationalism)

“Capitalism and its international corporations know no limits in their quest to put profit above life and nature. The Movement of Landless Workers (MST) in Brazil, along with Via Campesina all over the world, have defended what is urgent and necessary now: land, water, forest and minerals must be used in harmony with nature to protect biodiversity and for the common good. This volume brings together timely reflections on these serious problems that our planet is facing.” (João Pedro Stédile, leader of the Brazilian Movement of Landless Workers)

“In order to win the fight to address our manifold sustainability challenges we need the labor and environmental movements to come up out of their silos and work together. The editors have offered a pathway for a greater confluence of these movements in this first Handbook of Environmental Labour Studies. They have assembled a great group of authors who explore the pitfalls and possibilities and show us how we can expand the boundaries of our movements and begin to take down the forces that keep us apart. So long as humanity views the planet as something for us to dominate, we will continue to destroy it. When we realize that living in harmony with nature is first and foremost, then we can begin to repair the damage we've done.” (Joe Uehlein, Founder and President of the Labour Network for Sustainability (USA))

“In this timely handbook, leading scholars and practitioners from around the world engage in key issues of environmental labour studies. The handbook is an invaluable contribution with its intellectual depth, breadth of issues, and geographical spread of cases. It’s the first of its kind and should be read widely not only by labour and environmental activists and scholars, but also anyone interested in understanding the challenges and possibilities of overcoming the tensions between labour and the environment.” (Michelle Williams, Chairperson of the Global Labour University, and Wits University, South Africa, author of: The Roots of Participatory Democracy: Democratic Communists in South Africa and Kerala, India)

“The environment must be protected and sustainable industries must create decent, safe and healthy work. The perspectives in this Handbook can dispel the notion that environmental protection and decent work are in conflict with each other: we must have both, or we will have neither. To build a bridge to the future we need a "Just Transition" for workers, their families, and their communities. Integrating labour and environmental studies is a crucial step forward on that bridge.” (Brian Kohler, Director - Health Safety and Sustainability (retired), IndustriALL Global Union)