Just Transformations: Grassroots Struggles for Alternative Futures

The climate crisis is the greatest existential threat humanity faces today. The need for a radical societal transformation in the interests of social justice and ecological sustainability has never been greater. But where can we turn to find systemic alternatives?

From India, Turkey, and Bolivia, to Venezuela, Canada, and Lebanon, Just Transformations looks to local environmental struggles for the answers. With each case study grounded in the social movements and specific politics of the region in question, this volume investigates the role that resistance movements play in bringing about sustainable transformations, the strategies and tools they utilize to overcome barriers, and how academics and grassroots activists can collaborate effectively.

The book provides a toolkit for scholar-activists who want to build transformative visions with communities. Interrogating each case study for valuable lessons, the contributors develop a conceptualization of a just transformation that focuses on the changes that communities themselves are trying to produce.

What People Are Saying

"A hugely important book, setting a radical agenda for societal transformation. Drawing on grassroots alternatives from across the world, the book offers a vital guide for both scholars and activists. Everyone committed to just transformations for sustainability should read this book now!" Ian Scoones, Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

"A fantastic collection that illustrates that just transformations are already being imagined and implemented on the ground. The authors offer an important, creative example of genuine scholar-activism keenly focused issues of justice, power, and the transformative potential of EJ." David Schlosberg, Professor of Environmental Politics and Director, Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney

"A splendid collective book co-produced by an impressive international group of twenty-five socio-environmental academics and activists ... focusing both on the alternatives that are born from the resistance to extractivism or pollution, and on sustainable practices such as community textile production. Building on detailed knowledge of the local protagonists and issues, this optimistic, inspiring book jumps scales to national and international dimensions." Joan Martinez-Alier, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona

"This is an indispensable book that brings together the theory and practice of environmental justice. The contributions offer different ways for the concrete materialization of the changes needed for just transformations for alternative futures and make a rich account of methods for mutual learning between social movements and academia. A valuable resource for those committed to achieving environmental justice in the 21st century." Gabriela Merlinsky, Instituto Gino Germani, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

About the Editors