Abstract
From the 1980s onward, environmental concerns became part of the international political agenda with sustainable development turning into one of the pillars of contemporary sociocultural, political, and economic programs. This chapter analyses the two main approaches that made it possible, i.e., the realist and the constructivist one. The former (adopted by UN agencies, large NGOs, government, and business companies) prescribes the acquisition of as much as possible accurate and reliable data, which can provide tangible evidence of the pervasiveness of the problems. The latter is advanced by critical scholars to unveil the social construction of nature. Despite their differences, both of them grant the experts with the authority and legitimacy to combine nature, politics, and science in frameworks for action. This brings about, together with the search for a wise and efficient management of natural resources, also a number of normalized environmental discourses operating on people’s opinions and behaviors.
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Notes
- 1.
Amongst the proto-ecologists, the Danish botanist Eugenius Warming (1841–1924) and the US botanist Frederic Edward Clements (1874–1945) advanced the idea of nature stability, as did the early ecologist Arthur Tansley (1935).
- 2.
See, for instance, the report by Nicolas Stern’s review The Economics of Climate Change, available at the HM Treasury web page, http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/independent_reviews/stern_review_economics_climate_change/sternreview_index.cfm.
- 3.
There are several definitions of political ecology proposed as alternatives to environmental politics or environmentalism; the supporters of political ecology usually interpreted it as able to subvert the apolitical conception of environmentalism. Eder adopted this last version and defined political ecology as realism in green politics.
- 4.
Eder proposes the Deep Ecology movement as an example of a reaction to economic accumulation and obsession with growth. This movement increases the potential for self-expression and creativity. Deep Ecology (or Ecosophy) is a philosophy of the 1980s, based on a shift from the so-called anthropocentric bias of established environmental movements, which are censured for having a utilitarian and anthropocentric attitude toward nature. It is defined as deep because it asks complex and spiritual questions about the role of human life in the ecosphere, seeks to end authoritarianism through decentralization, and espouses a less dominating and aggressive posture toward nature. In fact, Deep Ecologists support decentralization and the creation of ecoregions, the breakdown of industrialism in its current form and the end of authoritarianism. Arne Naess, Bill Devall, and George Session are some of the principal inspirers.
- 5.
This is the ecological alternative advanced by environmental economists, whose proposal for greening politics is mainly based on market solutions, including eco-taxes for polluters, emissions trading to control pollution, and economic incentives. Both the solutions are developed from neoclassical economic theory and are based on the belief that private corporations and public authorities, thanks to market mechanisms, would be able to manage environmental restoration.
- 6.
In formulating this paradox, Castree is influenced by Klaus Eder’s work (1996b).
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Certomà, C. (2016). At the Edge of Environmental Thinking. In: Postenvironmentalism. Palgrave Pivot, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50790-7_2
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