Hijacking Sustainability
In this intelligent but unnecessarily obtuse exploration of ecological and cultural crisis, Parr (Deleuze and Memorial Culture) examines the "new culture of sustainability" and how it challenges "our current historic condition... of global climate change, multinational and financialized capitalism, increased religious fundamentalism, and rising militarism." She looks at the positives and negatives of ecobranding and the power of celebrities to bring change; compares and contrasts the "militarism," segregation and Disneyfication of gated communities with the ecological approach, with its embrace of conflict and effort to "empower people and communities" in ecovillages. Parr argues that while action is necessary to alter our social course, that action must be based on thoughtful questioning of status quo economics; she claims that a sustainability culture will bring art and science together, based on local conditions yet remaining open to the world. Unfortunately, the academic writing style is so difficult to read that it may discourage all but the most committed readers.(Mar.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.