Twenty Lessons in Environmental Sociology introduces undergraduates to the topic in an innovative way. Instead of compiling articles from professional journals, this reader presents twenty classroom-tested "lessons" from dedicated, experienced teachers and researchers in the field. Building the collection on the model of a successful undergraduate classroom experience, the coeditors asked the contributors to choose a topic, match it with their favorite lecture, and construct a lesson to reflect the way that they teach it in the classroom. The result is an engaging and versatile volume that presents the core ideas of environmental sociology in concise, accessible chapters.

Kenneth A. Gould is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Professor of Sociology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Tammy L. Lewis is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and Professor of Sociology and Earth and Environmental Sciences at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Gould and Lewis are coauthors of Ten Lessons in Introductory Sociology (OUP, 2013) and Thirty Readings in Introductory Sociology (OUP, 2012).

Part 1: Theory

Lesson 1: The Social Construction of Nature: Of Computers, Butterflies, Dogs, and Trucks, Stella M. Capek

Lesson 2: Theories in Environmental Sociology, Luiz C. Barbosa

Part 2: Systemic Causes of Environmental Destruction

Lesson 3: The State and Policy: Imperialism, Exclusion, and Ecological Violence as State Policy, David Naguib Pellow

Lesson 4: Labor Productivity and the Environment, Allan Schnaiberg

Lesson 5: Corporate Power: The Role of the Global Media in Shaping What We Know About the Environment, Elizabeth H. Campbell

Lesson 6: The Science of Nature and the Nature of Science, Richard York

Lesson 7: Technological Change and the Environment, Kenneth A. Gould

Lesson 8: Population, Demography, and the Environment, Diane C. Bates

Lesson 9: Energy, Society, and the Environment, Shannon Bell

Part 3: Some Social Consequences of Environmental Disruption

Lesson 10: Environmental Inequality and Environmental Justice, Michael Mascarenhas

Lesson 11: The Sociology of Environmental Health, Sabrina McCormick

Lesson 12: Producing and Consuming Food: Justice and Sustainability in a Globalized World?, Jason Konefal and Maki Hatanaka

Lesson 13: From Farms to Factories: The Environmental Consequences of Swine Industrialization in North Carolina, Adam Driscoll and Bob Edwards

Lesson 14: Understanding Disaster Vulnerability: Floods and Hurricanes, Nicole Youngman

Lesson 15: Normalizing the Unthinkable: Climate Denial and Everyday Life, Kari Norgaard

Part 4: Some Social Responses to Environmental Disruption

Lesson 16: U.S. Environmental Movements, Robert J. Brulle

Lesson 17: Labor and the Environment, Brian K. Obach

Lesson 18: Environmental Movements in the Global South, Tammy L. Lewis

Lesson 19: Indigenous Cultures: Environmental Knowledge, Practice, and Rights, Bahram Tavakolian

Lesson 20: The Paradoxes of Sustainable Development: Focus on Ecotourism, Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis

Conclusion: Unanswered Questions and the Future of Environmental Sociology, Kenneth A. Gould and Tammy L. Lewis