Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash

Front Cover
South End Press, 1997 - Nature - 269 pages
Since the early 1990s, activists, corporations, and government officials have battled for the heart and soul of the environmental movement. In Earth for Sale, Brian Tokar examines the economic issues, political divisions, and world views that have shaped this conflict, and their implications for a renewed ecological movement for the 21st century.

Tokar demonstrates how national environmental groups -- from the Sierra Club to the National Wildlife Federation -- have time and time again compromised environmental integrity to become inside players in the corrupt backrooms of Washington politics. From direct corporate contributions to environmental groups, to recent debates over government regulation and the role of the "free market", Earth for Sale probes the simmering struggles behind the headlines.

Tokar uncovers the Clinton administration's insidious cooptation of public support for environmental protection, as it has quietly undermined the safeguards Americans often take for granted. He goes on to take a first-hand look at the growing challenges to corporate-dominated environmentalism posed by environmental justice advocates, grassroots wilderness activists, and emerging ecological movements in the Third World.

Earth for Sale reaches beyond the temporary remedies of survival-under-crisis to showcase a new ecological vision of community and cooperation. This important and revealing book is required reading for those interested in ending environmental devastation and corporate co-optation, and in creating a greener future.

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