Author: José E. Martínez-Reyes Forests are alive, filled with rich, biologically complex life forms and the interrelationships of multiple species and materials. Vulnerable to a host of changing conditions in this global era, forests are in peril as never before. New markets in carbon and environmental services attract speculators. In the name of conservation, such speculators attempt to undermine local land control in these desirable areas. Moral Ecology of a Forest provides an ethnographic account of conservation politics, particularly the conflict between Western conservation and Mayan ontological ecology. The difficult interactions of the Maya of central Quintana Roo, Mexico, for example, or the Mayan communities of the Sain Kaan Biosphere, demonstrate the clashing interests with Western biodiversity conservation initiatives. The conflicts within the forest of Quintana Roo represent the outcome of nature in this global era, where the forces of land grabbing, conservation promotion and organizations, and capitalism vie for control of forests and land. Forests pose living questions. In addition to the ever-thrilling biology of interdependent species, forests raise questions in the sphere of political economy, and thus raise cultural and moral questions. The economic aspects focus on the power dynamics and ideological perspectives over who controls, uses, exploits, or preserves those life forms and landscapes. The cultural and moral issues focus on the symbolic meanings, forms of knowledge, and obligations that people of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and classes have constructed in relation to their lands. The Maya Forest of Quintana Roo is a historically disputed place in which these three questions come together.

Author: Kenneth T. Palmer Remote and thinly populated, Maine was long insulated from many of the demographic and economic trends of states to the south. Maine Politics and Government traces recent changes in the states system as agriculture, manufacturing, and maritime trades have ceded dominance to high-tech businesses, extensive commercial development, and an expanding governmental sector.This compact overview of Maine politics and government describes how the states history and political culture have shaped its political processes, its governing institutions, and its public-policy priorities. It also highlights the shift in the role of Maines governments in the past half centuryfrom low-service entities to administrators of a broad range of public policies. The authors consider the impact of the influx of newcomers along the southern Maine coast, serious financial issues involving burdensome taxation, the pressing need to make the nearly five hundred units of local government more efficient, and problems attending the spread of suburbs throughout the state.Fully updated and expanded, this second edition provides a wealth of new materialmaps, case studies, updated demographic information, treatment of new policies and health-care plans, and an overview of the administrations of the two most recent governors.