MIT Press Book Series
One Planet
Co-editors:
|
Series Blurb: Today, the Earth’s population exceeds 7 billion people. An ever-increasing number of those people are plugged into globalized technologies, patterns of consumption, and systems of commerce such that the ecological foundations of the planet are being pressured like never before. Our species’ collective impact, especially as it triggers climate change and the destruction of worldwide biodiversity, is stretching the world beyond ecological breaking points. Identifying the problems is not enough; we are in desperate need of humane and insightful guidance.
This new series will feature authoritative voices ready to provide such guidance. No hand wringing or brow furrowing. The point is to provide a forum for leading experts to take their best shot at cutting a path through a particularly thorny thicket. Books in the series will explore and explain how particular expressions of environmental harm have come to be, what has been or is being done in response, and centrally, each monograph will chart pathways for future action. What will it take to move completely away from coal? What is needed to protect the oceans’ dying coral reefs? How can the world halt illegal logging? What does a sustainable food future look like? Is climate engineering a viable option to help alleviate the effects of near-term climate change? What will it take to prevent the poaching of endangered species? Though each book will be actions-oriented, the volumes will not be formulaic. The editors encourage intellectual creativity and invite authors to treat the books as extended essays rather than as academic treatises—to write with boldness and clarity in a voice that’s distinctly their own. Some books will provide comparative assessment of attempts to tackle common problems in different places; others will be rooted in historical or scientific analysis. Some books will have calls for action directed principally at policymakers, others at educators, or even at future generations who must deal with and respond to sets of problems that will be handed to them. Most books should speak to the public at large. All books will play to authors’ strong suits. Expressions of interest from authors should be directed to Sikina Jinnah ([email protected]) and Simon Nicholson ([email protected]). Books will be 50-70,000 words in length and must be written in a style that makes them accessible and appealing to the non-specialist, while simultaneously delivering a clear and cogent normative argument. Proposal instructions can be found here.
|
recent and forthcoming books |
You can find information about books published in the series here.
|