Creating the Countryside : The Politics of Rural and Environmental Discourse

What does it mean to save nature and rural life? Do people know whatthey are trying to save and what they mean by "save"? As the answers tothese questions become more and more unclear, so, too do the concepts of"environment," "wilderness," and "country."From the abuse of the Amazon rain forest to how Vermont has beenmarketed as the ideal rural place, this collection looks at what thecountryside is, should be, or can be from the perspective of people whoare actively involved in such debates. Each contributor examines theunderlying tendencies-and subsequent policies-that separate country from city, developed land from wilderness, and human activity from natural processes. The editors argue in their introduction that these dualisticcategories limit our ability to think about environmental and rural problems and hamper our ability to formulate practical, realistic, and just solutions.This book's interpretive approach to the natural world explores why people make artificial distinctions between nature and culture, and how people can create new forms of sustainable development in terms of real problems and real places. Author note: E. Melanie DuPuis is Economic Development Policy Analyst covering environmental policy at the New York State Department of Economic Development. >P>Peter Vandergeest is Senior Fellow on the Faculty ofEnvironmental Studies at York University, and Assistant Professor of Pacific and Asian Studies at the University of Victoria.