Joan Martínez-Alier. 2023. Land, Water, Air and Freedom: The Making of World Movements for Environmental Justice. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Abstract

Land, Water, Air and Freedom by Joan Martínez-Alier covers global, comparative political ecology and delves into the intricate web of environmental justice movements unfolding across the globe. As a distinguished Professor of Economics and Economic History and author of a plethora of texts on topics such as social metabolism, environmentalism, environmental justice, environmental conflicts, and movements, Martínez-Alier brings a wealth of expertise to the table. In this book, he challenges the notion that the environmental struggle is the reserve of the white, middle-class of core countries and shows a growing number of environmental movements initiated by poor and indigenous peoples. These movements came into existence via struggles for access to clean air, land, and water amid the ever-expanding, extractive nature of capitalism, which relies on constant growth to sustain itself.