In order to move global society towards a sustainable "ecotopia," solutions must be engaged in specific places and communities, and the authors here argue for re-orienting environmental anthropology from a problem-oriented towards a solutions-focused endeavor.

List of Tables, Figures, and Maps Acknowledgements Contributors Prologue E.N. Anderson Introduction: Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia: An Introduction Joshua Lockyer and James R. Veteto   PART I: BIOREGIONALISM Chapter 1. Growing a Life-Place Politics Peter Berg    Chapter 2. On Bioregionalism and Watershed Consciousness James J. Parsons Chapter 3. Growing an Oak: An Ethnography of Ozark Bioregionalism Brian C. Campbell Chapter 4. The Adirondack Semester: An Integrated Approach to Cultivating Bioregional Knowledge & Consciousness Steve Alexander and Baylor Johnson Further Readings on Bioregionalism PART II: PERMACULTURE Chapter 5. Environmental Anthropology Engaging Permaculture: Moving Theory and Practice Toward Sustainability James R. Veteto and Joshua Lockyer Chapter 6.  Weeds or Wisdom? Permaculture in the Eye of the Beholder on Latvian Eco-Health Farms Guntra Aistara Chapter 7.  Permaculture in the City: Ecological Habitus and the Distributed Ecovillage Randolph Haluza-Delay and Ron Berezan Chapter 8.  Culture, Permaculture and Experimental Anthropology in the Houston Foodshed Bob Randall Chapter 9.  Putting Permaculture Ethics to Work: Commons Thinking, Progress and Hope Katy Fox Chapter 10. Permaculture in Practice: Low Impact Development in Britain Jenny Pickerill Chapter 11. In Search of Global Sustainability and Justice: How Permaculture Can Contribute to Development Policy Aili Pyhälä Further Readings on Permaculture PART III: ECOVILLAGES Chapter 12. From Islands to Networks: The History and Future of the Ecovillage Movement Jonathan Dawson Chapter 13. Creating Alternative Political Ecologies through the Construction of Ecovillages and Ecovillagers in Colombia Brian Burke and Beatriz Arjona Chapter 14. Globalizing the Ecovillage Ideal: Networks of Neighborliness, Seeds of Hope Todd LeVasseur    Chapter 15.  Academia’s Hidden Curriculum and Ecovillages as Campuses for Sustainability Education Daniel Greenberg   Chapter 16. Ecovillages and Capitalism: Building Sustainable Communities within an Unsustainable Context Ted Baker Further Readings on Ecovillages

“The contributors look beyond techno-fixes to ask deep questions about underlying cultural ontologies that…will undoubtedly resonate with and inspire students; [this volume] is highly recommended for use in both undergraduate and graduate courses in anthropology and environmental studies…Because it takes an important step toward developing the kind of direct engagement between academia and the public that will be necessary if we are to realize our ultimate objective of reinhabitation and all it implies, this volume will be important for years, perhaps decades, to come.”  ·  Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment “The book is well structured, engaging and highly topical; it brings together a range of academics and practitioners—itself a potentially interesting and seldom examined dialogue—around three main areas which form the book’s structure: Bioregionalism; Permaculture; Ecovillages.”  ·  Malcolm Miles, University of Plymouth “This is an excellent and timely collection of essays by ecological and environmental anthropologists and other scholars and activists who, together, are redefining the field of human ecology as a contribution to the cultural revolution the world needs, if we are to achieve the transition to sustainability.”  ·  Laura M. Rival, University of Oxford “…a fascinating and significant anthology. The integration in this book of theory and practice, scholar and activist, reprinted classics and new essays, is very creative and admirable. It deals with three contemporary subjects that have been rather neglected by researchers…It is current and futuristic in many respects [and] deserves a wide readership.”  ·  Leslie E. Sponsel, University of Hawai’i