Human history has often been described as a progressive relinquishment from environmental constraints. Now, it seems, we have come full circle. The ecological irrationalities associated with industrial societies have a lengthy history, and our purpose in the proposed book is not to catalogue this litany of wrongs. Rather, this book is about political responses to global environmental crisis at a crucial turning point in history, by focusing on the political discourses surrounding the tar sands in Alberta, Canada.

Look Who's Talking.- Observing Global Flows.- Visualizing the Tar Sands Through Time.- Capital, Labour, and the State.- Ecological Disruption.- Energy Matters.- Lessons from the Study.- A View from the Future.- Index.