Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
Sustainability Inverted : How Environmental Policies Control People - Jin Sato

Sustainability Inverted

How Environmental Policies Control People

By: Jin Sato

Paperback | 19 May 2026

At a Glance

Paperback


$84.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $21.19 with

 or 

Available: 19th May 2026

Preorder. Will ship when available.

What environmental policies do to people, beyond what they do to the climate, forests, air, or water.

Sustainability Inverted explores the hidden politics of environmental policy and the unintended consequences of "inversion" policy-policies that turn potential local collaborators into adversaries, thus creating relationships that undermine the very objectives the policies seek to achieve. Jin Sato argues that the key to addressing inversion lies in rebalancing the disrupted relations of interdependence and empowering individuals and organizations closer to the ground. The result is a more sustainable policy direction, the wisdom of which has been overlooked in favor of self-reliance and independence in developmental goals.

Based on extensive fieldwork in Southeast Asia, this book vividly illustrates how the state exploits the most lucrative resources while local communities are left with what are deemed "communal resources." Consequently, these local people, who are supposedly partners in conservation efforts, become adversaries of the state. The book offers a fresh perspective on fostering interdependency among communities and challenges the conventional wisdom in the Global North that excessively prioritizes technology as a solution to environmental problems.

More in Climate Change

Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
The Breath of the Gods : The History and Future of the Wind - Simon Winchester
The Ministry for the Future - Kim Stanley Robinson

RRP $22.99

$20.75

10%
OFF
The Book of Hope : A Survival Guide for an Endangered Planet - Jane Goodall
Is a River Alive? - Robert Macfarlane

RRP $55.00

$42.75

22%
OFF
How to Blow Up a Pipeline : Learning to Fight in a World on Fire - Andreas Malm
Less is More : How Degrowth Will Save the World - Jason Hickel

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
The Burning Earth : An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years - Sunil Amrith
Urban Climate Change and Heat Islands - Braxton Stewart
Urban Climate Change and Heat Islands - Braxton Stewart
Weather, Climate and Climate Change - Dale Sullivan
Who Rules the World? - Noam Chomsky

RRP $26.99

$17.75

34%
OFF
How the World Works - Noam Chomsky

RRP $29.99

$24.99

17%
OFF
Brave New Wild : Can Technology Really Save the Planet? - Richard King