Kenneth A. Loparo 
Ecology, Soils, and the Left 
An Ecosocial Approach

Soil degradation is real and global, even if the evidence is not so easy to glean. Degradation poses comparable risks to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and nonhuman animal extinctions. Few have noticed soil degradation as the problem it has become, except most indigenous peoples in their struggles for survival.

Table of Content

1. Muted Everyday Disasters 2. Soils and Their Classification: Ecological Processes and Social Struggles 3. Soil Properties and the Political Aspects of Soil Quality 4. Soil Degradation: Overview and Critique 5. Capitalism-Friendly Explanations of Soil Degradation 6. Leftist Alternatives and Failures 7. Towards an eco-social approach to environmental degradation

About the author

Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro is an Associate Professor of Geography at SUNY New Paltz, where he works, presents, and writes on soil degradation. He received a MSc degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Physical Geography specialising in soils, and a Ph D in Geography at Rutgers University (2000), focusing on the impact of social processes on soil use and quality.