O’Lear presents a cohesive, valuable analysis of the role geopolitics plays in discourse about the environment and environmental problems. She asserts that the Western world’s dialogue about environmental problems fails to carefully define the environment, to understand the role of human power systems, and to understand the role of human geography. Through four in-depth case studies, O’Lear demonstrates the West’s tendency to oversimplify risks, underplay political power struggles, and ignore the context of cultural and political geography. Her case studies focus on overpopulation, slow violence and resource scarcity, climate change security, and the role of science in policy making. Her cases provide a wealth of examples of the limitations in Western modes of environmental dialogue, drawing on a wide range of media coverage. Furthermore, though her four cases offer distinct pieces of supporting evidence for her research, O’Lear also integrates the cases well, connecting them for her overarching argument about linking geopolitics to environmental discourse. Ultimately, she presents a strong case for recognizing and challenging the West’s existing framework for environmental discourse by bringing in a stronger role for science and a clearer understanding of security and risk.

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

This well-written text powerfully links environmental matters and geopolitics in an accessible style. The theoretical lens of critical geopolitics is clearly articulated for students without daunting the uninitiated reader. Nicely done!

Simon Dalby, Chair in the Political Economy of Climate Change at Balsillie School of International Affairs

What will shape the planet’s geopolitical future? How will observers make sense of profound changes in environment and politics in the Anthropocene? Shannon O’Lear’s book makes a compelling case that humanity’s relationship with the natural world—whether in the crops we grow, the resources we extract, the climate change we are responsible for and must adapt to, or the struggles over uneven access to food and water we must confront—is and will continue to be at the center of geopolitics. Building on long-standing critical geopolitical approaches, O’Lear richly illustrates environmental geopolitics as an emerging field of inquiry and engagement that can help us make sense of a rapidly changing world.

Corey Johnson, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Building on more than a decade of work, Shannon O'Lear provides a deep reflection on the representations of key environmental issues and their impacts on geopolitics. The massive consequences of human activities on the planet are putting these issues at the core of a new 'geopolitics'—the politics of the earth itself. But how do we make sense of this shift and its effects on power relations? O'Lear will help students, activists, and policymakers to make better sense of the puzzle and open up new alternatives for relations with, and representations of, environmental issues.

Philippe Le Billon, University of British Columbia; author of Wars of Plunder