All We Want Is The Earth

All We Want Is The Earth
by Patrick Bresnihan & Naomi Millner

Sixty years ago, an upsurge of social movements protested the ecological harms of industrial capitalism. In subsequent decades, environmentalism consolidated into forms of management and business strategy that aimed to tackle ecological degradation while enabling new forms of green economic growth. However, the focus on spaces and species to be protected saw questions of human work and histories of colonialism pushed out of view.

This book traces a counter-history of modern environmentalism from the 1960s to the present day. It focuses on claims concerning land, labour and social reproduction arising at important moments in the history of environmentalism made by feminist, anti-colonial, Indigenous, workers’ and agrarian movements. Many of these movements did not consider themselves ‘environmental,’ and yet they offer vital ways forward in the face of escalating ecological damage and social injustice.

“If you think you know what environmentalism is, read this paradigm-changing book. Bresnihan and Millner unearth hidden histories and practices of movements that are not typically considered environmental and yet drive ecological care and repair today.” Dimitris Papadopoulos, University of Nottingham.

“The history from the mid-20th century and critique of ‘environmentalism’ are beautifully structured and carefully argued. The movement examples provide a political backdrop and resonate profoundly with the unpredictable pluriversality of the planet.” Peter Linebaugh, author of The Magna Carta Manifesto and Red Round Globe Hot Burning

“Moves gracefully from Amilcar Cabral to Ken Saro-Wiwa, the 1992 Rio Summit to La Via Campesina, meticulously and ingeniously unearthing an anti-colonial, Indigenous, and Third World-centred environmentalism which has been assassinated or buried alive by neo-colonialism ... vital for anyone concerned with the struggles to make the world big enough for everyone.” Max Ajl, Ghent University

“Both exuberant and carefully crafted, All We Want Is The Earth renders relationships between land, labour and decolonisation crystal clear. A clarion call for resistance and possibility in making just and flourishing futures." Sian Sullivan, Bath Spa University

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