Peter Dauvergne

Peter Dauvergne is an author, environmentalist, and professor of international relations at the University of British Columbia. His 13 books and more than 50 journal articles and book chapters have been translated into Arabic, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, and French, among other languages.^[1] His 1997 book, Shadows in the Forest, has been described as the first to explain "in intricate and devastating detail" the role of Japanese corporations and trade in the politics of deforestation in Southeast Asia.^[2] This book won the International Studies Association's 1998 Sprout Award for the best book in international environmental affairs.^[3] Dauvergne's 2001 book, Loggers and Degradation in the Asia-Pacific, includes case studies from the Philippines, Indonesia, Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, and according to a review, the "account is at once both scholarly and muckraking."^[4]

Dauvergne went on to research the consequences of consumption for global environmental change, as in his 2005 book with Jennifer Clapp, Paths to a Green World. He followed this with The Shadows of Consumption, which won the 2009 Gerald L. Young Book Award in Human Ecology. This book developed the metaphor of "ecological shadows" to discuss the global harm caused to the environment by high levels of consumption in the developed world, and rising levels of consumption in the developing world.^[5]

After serving as an associate dean at UBC (2006-2008) and then as senior advisor to UBC President Stephen Toope (2008-2009), Dauvergne became director of the Liu Institute for Global Issues (2009-2014).^[6] He subsequently wrote Eco-Business (MIT Press, 2013, coauthored with Jane Lister) and Protest Inc. (Polity Press, 2014, coauthored with Genevieve LeBaron), which addresses the contradictions of "eco-business' models, which on the one hand remain businesses dedicated to making money and ultimately increasing consumption, but on the other hand claim to, and sometimes do, seek to be less wasteful.^[7][8] One review noted that "reading this book feels like being at the Mad Hatter’s tea party; confusing in terms of the argument at least, although I think that this is probably for the best of reasons, namely that the authors themselves are grappling with the conundrum that is eco-business."^[7] Another noted, "The reader’s response to this book will no doubt hinge on the question of his or her attitude toward capitalism: if capitalism is seen as the least worst alternative to which humankind can aspire, then the imbrication of activism in business processes will perhaps be seen as a positive good, or at least an inevitability. If, on the other hand, the reader upholds the possibility of a more just and humane alternative to capitalism, then the picture painted by the authors—of a growing together of business and activism to the benefit of the former and the diminution of the latter—will be profoundly troubling."^[8]

Along with his academic work, Dauvergne also has written and given talks for the general public.^[9]

In 2016 the Environmental Studies Section of the International Studies Association presented Dauvergne with its Distinguished Scholar Award.^[10]

He is a chess master with an international FIDE rating of 2232.^[11] He is also the author of a popular article on why studying and playing chess can increase intelligence.^[12]

Books

• Dauvergne, Peter; LeBaron, Genevieve (2014), Protest Inc.: The Corporatization of Activism, Cambridge, UK: Polity, ISBN 978-0745669496 .
• Dauvergne, Peter; Lister, Jane (2013), Eco-Business: A Big-Brand Takeover of Sustainability, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0262018760 .
• Dauvergne, Peter, ed. (2013), Environmental Politics, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, ISBN 978-1781009017 .
• Dauvergne, Peter; Lister, Jane (2011), Timber, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, ISBN 978-0745649283 .
• Dauvergne, Peter (2008), The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0262042468 . Recipient of the 2009 Gerald L. Young Book Award in Human Ecology.
• Dauvergne, Peter (2009), Historical Dictionary of Environmentalism, Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow, ISBN 978-0810858046 . Published in paperback as Dauvergne, Peter (2009), The A to Z of Environmentalism, Lanham, Mayland: Scarecrow, ISBN 978-0810871526 .
• Dauvergne, Peter; Clapp, Jennifer (2005), Paths to a Green World: The Political Economy of the Global Environment, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0262532716 . Second Edition in 2011. Japanese Translation in 2008.
• Dauvergne, Peter, ed. (2005), Handbook of Global Environmental Politics, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar . Second edition, 2012.
• Dauvergne, Peter (2001), Loggers and Degradation in the Asia-Pacific: Corporations and Environmental Management, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521001342 .
• Dauvergne, Peter, ed. (1998), Weak and Strong States in Asia-Pacific Societies, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, ISBN 978-1863739832 .
• Dauvergne, Peter (1997), Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, ISBN 978-0262540872 .

References