The concept of natural resources as 'commons' has been with us since 1968, when Garrett Hardin used that metaphor to draw attention to the human tendency towards overconsumption. In Environmental Politics in Canada McKenzie examines Canada's efforts to avert the tragedy that Hardin foresaw. At the same time she offers a broader perspective on the ways in which 'environmental issues' are viewed and managed. In addition to addressing specific issues--diminishing natural resources, genetically modified foods, water contamination, global warming, endangered species protection--McKenzie presents detailed overviews of green political thought and the evolution of environmentalism, as well as the complex political and economic contexts, both domestic and international, within which Canadian environmental policy is made.

Judith McKenzie's profile page

Prior to attending graduate school at the University of Toronto, McKenzie practised for eight years as an urban planner in both the public (municipal and provincial) sector and private sector. This practical experience has informed McKenzie's work as an academic writing in the field of environmental politics.

"Environmental Politics in Canada, which has been designed as an undergraduate course text, poses a number of important questions in the book's preface including: Why are governments reluctant to legislate on behalf of the environment? Why have some groups and individuals been listened to at the expense of others? In attempting to answer these questions, Judith McKenzie seeks to explain the roots of natural resources and environmental mismanagement by reference to the domination of liberal economic and political thought over the greener political visions. In this ideational context, she argues, environmental groups have been unable to wrest control of the politival agenda from economic interests, often with regrettable results in terms of the environment and public health." --Debora L. Vannijnatten (Wilfrid Laurier University), Canadian Journal of Political Science, issue 36:3