The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing From Crisis to Sustainability

An excerpt from James Gustave Speth's The Bridge at the Edge of the World.

"The new environmental politics must be broadened now so that environmental concern and advocacy extend to the full range of relevant issues. Efforts within the framework of today's environmentalism must continue; indeed, they must be strengthened. But the environ­mental agenda should expand to embrace a profound challenge to consumerism and commer­cialism and the lifestyles they offer, a healthy skepticism of growth-mania and a redefinition of what society should be striving to grow, a challenge to corporate dominance and a redefinition of the corporation and its goals.

"The new agenda should also incorporate advocacy of human rights as a central con­cern. Though environmental justice has gained a foothold in American environmentalism, it is not yet the priority it should be. Across much of the world social justice concerns and environ­mental concerns are fused as one cause, and many environ­mental leaders have been perse­cuted, jailed, and murdered. They are brothers and sisters, and their rights to life, speech, and democracy should be vigorously defended. Many established envi­ronmental issues must be seen as human rights issues."