Environmentalism from Below

"Many of the activists Dawson writes about risk arrest and retribution in the course of their work; some have been assassinated. International institutions should be pressured, from within and without, to stand with them, and to ensure that environmentalism progresses both from above and from below." —New York Review of Books

"A global account of the grassroots environmental movements on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Scholar and activist Ashley Dawson constructs a gripping narrative of these movements of climate insurgents, from international solidarity organisations like La Via Campesina and Shack Dwellers International to local struggles in South Africa, Colombia, India, Nigeria and beyond. Building on longstanding traditions of anticolonial struggle, Environmentalism from Below is a model for a people’s movement for climate justice — one that demands solidarity." —Green Left

"Ashley Dawson takes us on a wondrous tour of communities working for life after capitalism. These grassroots ecologies are so potent, and their promise so profound, they’ve elicited lethal violence from the state and private sector. For that reason Environmentalism from Below is also an atlas of the world's most important global struggles." —Raj Patel, Research Professor, University of Texas at Austin

"True to its aim, this book celebrates ideas and actions that come from below. It is a book that deserves to be celebrated as it presents clear evidence of active organizing, and resistance by climate victims, and the dispossessed against manifestations of neocolonial and oppressive policies and actions. Environmentalism from Below is a book that fossil fuel tycoons and other purveyors of fictional environmental optimism will hate." —Nnimmo Bassey, author of To Cook a Continent - Destructive Extraction and the Climate Crisis in Africa

"Though debates rage on the climate left about what language or strategy ought to be taken in order to confront the climate crisis, those involved in such conversations frequently seem to have their minds in the clouds and no grounded connection to existing class struggles. Dawson stands these critics on their head by foregrounding the wildly diverse, actually-existing, and ineluctably global people's movements for climate justice. In these scattered movements of urban squatters, migrants, industrial workers, peasant farmers, feminists, and Indigenous nations, one finds more comprehensive strategies for confronting imperialism and capitalism; which are the roots of environmental crises. Environmentalism From Below is a readable, practical and inspiring guide to building ecological counterpower."  —Kai Bosworth, author of Pipeline Populism: Grassroots Environmentalism in the 21st Century

"Environmentalism from Below offers a politically erudite and passionate cacophony of momentum drawing from the world’s variegated yet articulated grassroots, all attempting in solidarity to upend the transgression of key planetary ecological relations. Deploying an intersectional form of analysis and mobilization, the book powerfully examines the interplay among how food is produced, cities inhabited, space enclosed, and energy generated in an effort to abolish the debilitating indebtedness of the majority to capital’s voracious calculations and their entrapment amidst borders. The book embodies the exigencies for the synergies of  multiple movements underway—of people, affordances, collective capacities,  rights, and resources—toward more just dispositions and the prospect of attaining a livable world." —AbdouMaliq Simone

"Ashley Dawson's book focuses on environmentalism from below and enlightens us on all those central issues such as the food model, agroecology, the debates on the just energy transition, the question of the sustainability of life in big cities, and climate debt. Written with commitment and elegance, an indispensable book for understanding the re-existence process and the organizational fabric, especially in the global south." —Maristella Svampa, Ecosocial and Intercultural Pact from the South

"On a global scale humankind faces multiple existential crises as a result of climate change and the systematic environmental degradation that has brought us collectively to the brink. Populations in the global south are most at risk, owing to decades of austerity measures imposed on peasant and indigenous communities by the cruel alliances of neocolonial and neoliberal authoritarian governments, transnational corporations, and a~ host of multilateral NGO's. Ashley Dawson reframes these grim realities to instead emphasize how grassroots communities proactively resist the privatization and toxic exploitation of the natural world in innovative and empowering ways. Altogether, their examples stand as roadmaps for what many more of us will likely face in coming years."  —Dina Gilio-Whitaker

"Environmentalism from Below brims with fresh insights and new approaches to some of the most vexing issue of our time. In lucid, passionate prose, Ashley Dawson charts the global alliances forged from below against unregulated plunder and ecocide. Few scholars can match Dawson’s vast transnational experience as an environmental scholar-activist. His global yet textured understanding of resistance movements from Bolivia, South Africa, India, Brazil, the U.S. and far beyond makes this a profound contribution to our understanding of how common struggles are forged. Environmentalism from Below is sure to become a staple in the environmental classroom as well as a guiding light for activists." —Rob Nixon, author of Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

"Environmentalism from Below is a much-needed and important book.  In it, Dawson goes beyond narrow and technocratic imaginaries rooted in the nation-state, but also takes us past abstract romantic appeals to clearly trace the emancipatory potentials of global peoples' environmental movements.  Carefully researched and accessibly written, the book connects food, cities, energy, conservation, debt and borders in a narrative that manages to be both a sharp wake-up call and an optimistic assessment of what our common liberation can look like.  This book is a must-read for anyone who feels there must be more to environmental justice than climate accords." —Gianpaolo Baiocchi     

Praise for Extinction:

“An elegant, controversial thesis” —The Guardian

“A welcome contribution to the growing literature on this slow-motion calamity.” —Los Angeles Review of Books

“Dawson's searing report on species loss will sober up anyone who has drunk the Kool-Aid of green capitalism.” —Andrew Ross

“Fusing social and ecological challenges to power is the only way forward … a long-awaited, elegant and comprehensive expression of why the time is right to make these links." —Patrick Bond

“A great tool for anti-capitalists, climate change activists, and those still making sense of the intrinsic connections between the two." —Jasbir Puar

“Historically grounded, densely researched, fluidly written … a powerful and painful exploration of human civilization's environmental irrationalities.” —Christian Parenti


Praise for People’s Power:

“For anyone wanting to understand what comes after oil and how we might get there.” —Imre Szeman, author of On Petrocultures

“A gift to activists, providing a clear and accessible history of energy as well as a vision towards the publicly owned, democratically controlled, 100% renewable world we need.” —Aaron Eisenberg, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation

“A brilliant guide to building collective, equitable, and radical energy democracies in the here and now.” —Lavinia Steinfort, Transnational Institute

Praise for Extreme Cities:

Named One of the Top 10 Books of the Year by Publishers Weekly and Planetizen

“Extreme Cities is a ground-breaking investigation of the vulnerability of our cities in an age of climate chaos. We feel safe and protected in the middle of our great urban areas, but as Sandy and Katrina made clear, and as this fine book reveals anew, the massive shifts on our earth increasingly lay bare the social inequalities that fracture our civilization.”—Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org