PR Watch editors Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber are among the contributors to a new book from MIT Press titled Reclaiming the Environmental Debates: The Politics of Health in a Toxic Culture.

"An expanding array of hazardous substances poses an increasing threat to public health," notes the book's editor, Richard Hofrichter. "But what makes our society a toxic culture are the social arrangements that encourage and excuse the deterioration of human health and the environment. Elements of toxic culture include the unquestioned production of hazardous wastes, economic blight, substandard housing, chronic stress, exploitative working conditions, and dangerous technologies. Toxic culture is also a metaphor for the ways our language, concepts, and values frame debates, ignoring the political conflicts and power relations that influence public health."

Contributors to the book include academics, political activists and artists. Essays range from critiques of the status quo to strategies for shifting public consciousness to create healthy communities. Topics covered include "The Social Production of Cancer," by Sandra Steingraber; "The Ecological Tyranny of the Bottom Line: The Environmental and Social Consequences of Economic Reductionism," by John Bellamy Foster; "The Globalization of Culture and Its Role in the Environmental Crisis," by Joshua Karliner; and "Green Living in a Toxic World: The Pitfalls and Promises of Everyday Environmentalism," by Marcy Darnovsky.

Peter Montague, the editor of Rachel's Environment & Health Weekly, describes Reclaiming the Environmental Debates as "a little gem . . . filled with startling perspectives, innovative thinking, and good ideas for fixing what's gone wrong."

For ordering information, contact MIT Press.