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Collective Action and the Eco Subpolitical
Revisiting Bill McKibben and The End of Nature
Timothy W. Luke
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
This essay reappraises the importance of Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature in the developing canon of important environmental political and social theory. The End of Nature was published at an opportune moment in the development of advanced industrial society that saw the collapse of the Soviet bloc, the opening of many nations to globalization, and a rapid increase in middle-class populations around the world. This essay provides a critical appreciation of McKibben’s project while at the same time highlighting the power of intrinsic technological and institutional forces in the subpolitical organization of production and consumption that make it very difficult to make environmental improvements through individual moral resolutions and actions.
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Organization & Environment, Vol. 18, No. 2,
202-206 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1086026605276014
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