Leff lectured at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) full-time from 1973-1986 before becoming coordinator of the Environmental Training Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (1986-2008) and coordinator of the Mexico City office of the Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Environment Programme (2007-2008).
In 2008 he returned full-time as professor of political ecology and environmental politics at UNAM. He is also senior researcher at the Institute of Social Research (Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales) at the same university.
Leff works in Spanish, Portuguese, English and French. In addition to academic work he is an accomplished opera, Lieder and bolero singer.[2] He has a Masters in Voice from the Manhattan School of Music (1983).[3]
He is best known for arguing that environmental problems result from a crisis of Western civilization's ways of knowing, understanding and transforming the world (Eschenhagen 2012). This masks other legitimate ways of thinking and acting in the world, namely forms of 'eco-development' and environmental rationality. His work is largely theoretical but his major books cite positive examples of the ethnobotanic practices of Prehispanic cultures in Latin America, sustainable agricultural practices in tropical ecosystems, etc.[5]
Leff, E. 2000. The scientific-technological revolution, the forces of nature, and Marx’s theory of value. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 11(4): 109-129.
Leff, E. 1999. On the social appropriation of nature. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 10(3): 89-104.
Leff, E. 1998. Murray Bookchin and the end of dialectical naturalism. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 9(4):67-93.
Leff, E. 1998/2002. Saber ambiental. Racionalidad, sustentabilidad, complejidad, poder. México: Siglo XXI Editores.
Leff, E. 1995. Green production. Towards an environmental rationality. New York: Guilford Publications.
Leff, E. 1994. Ciencias sociales y formación ambiental. Barcelona: GEDISA.
Leff, E. 1994. Ecología y capital. Racionalidad ambiental, democracia participativa y desarrollo sustentable. Mexico: Siglo XXI.
Leff, E. 1993. Marxism and the environmental question: from critical theory of production to an environmental rationality for sustainable development. Capitalism, Nature, Socialism 4(1):44-66.
Leff, E. & J. Carabias (eds.) 1993. Cultura y Manejo Sustentable de los Recursos Naturales. 2 volumes. México: CIICH-UNAM/Miguel Ángel Porrúa.
Leff, E. 1990. Medio ambiente y desarrollo en México. Mexico: CIIH-UNAM/Miguel Ángel Porrúa.[6]. México: CIIH-UNAM/Miguel Ángel Porrúa.
Leff, E. 1986. Ecotechnological productivity: a conceptual basis for the integrated management of natural resources. Social science information 25(3): 681-702.
Leff, E. 1986. Ecología y Capital: Hacia una Perspectiva Ambiental del Desarrollo. México: UNAM.
Leff, E. (Ed.). 1986. Los problemas del conocimiento y la perspectiva ambiental del desarrollo. México: Siglo XXI Editores.
Leff, E. (Ed.). 1981. Biosociologia y Articulacion de las Ciencias. Mexico: UNAM.
Leff, E. (Ed.). 1980. Teoría del Valor. México: UNAM.
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