Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health ─ Emerging Crises and Systemic Solutions

In a critical anthropology and a critical medical anthropology of global warming, Baer (development studies, U. of Melbourne) and Singer (anthropology, U. of Connecticut) argue that climate change is ultimately rooted in the capitalist world system, with its orientation to ever-expanding production and consumption, both of which contribute to the emission of various greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Health should not be seen through a narrow medical lens, they furthermore contend, but as an outgrowth of socio-cultural and political-economic systems and thus intertwined with the world system and so with anthropogenic climate change. Among their topics are the impact of global warming on settlement patterns and human perceptions of climate, the spread of waterborne and vector-borne infections, why existing climate regimes and Green Capitalism are not enough to contain global warming, and creating a democratic eco-socialist world system. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Merrill Singer is a Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention at the University of Connecticut.