Evolution of Environmental Activism: From Radicalism to Eco-Justice
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In the past, radical direct actions and “no-saying” protests were the main instruments in raising public environmental awareness. However, as public trust and support for radical environmentalism declined, NGOs have increasingly turned toward moderate, solution-oriented strategies that seek to address the underlying causes of environmental degradation. Nevertheless, the days of radical hard-hitting protests by groups such as Earth First! which take direct, sometimes even violent, actions against those abusing the environment are far from over. Often, such actions remain the only effective means of resisting oppressive governments or corrupt corporations, particularly in developing countries. Yet, to resist corporate power, buttressed by the WTO rules and the ever-creative corporate green wash strategies, radical environmental activism strategies have to be toughened by new communication tools and stronger alliances with social justice activities. For example, in India the founder of the Save Narmada Movement, Medha Patkar, was able to exploit global media coverage of her hunger strikes, allied to the cause of poor people threatened with displacement by the Narmada dam.
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Social justice issues come to the fore in local campaigning. Over recent years, local communities have become increasingly active in finding their own solutions to their immediate environmental and social problems. However, typically lacking financial muscle and awareness of their rights, local activists all too often face prosecution by corrupt governments and businesses. The fight for the environment, especially at grassroots level, is inseparable from the fight for the human rights. The eco-justice movement links the goal of environmental protection to the goals of social justice, peace, and the recognition of the rights of all marginalized and underprivileged people. Environmental action has to be driven by a strong understanding of what is just and fair, and be delivered through democratic institutions, such as representative grassroots organizations which have an immediate stake in the local environment.
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Although a proven mechanism for monitoring the international system, the increasing presence of environmental NGOs in national and international arenas had created difficult conflicts of interests. It is undeniable that the complexity of negotiations on multilateral environmental agreements demands the resources of highly qualified scientists and campaigners; yet the typical northern-based centralized organization necessary to sustain such resources can be accused of lacking legitimacy to represent the interests of grassroots activists, marginalized societies and those seeking eco-justice. Such uncertainties are seized upon by those politicians who feel threatened by the new pluralism and who are quick to draw attention to any shortcomings in transparency and accountability within the non-profit sector.
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Climate change will be the issue on which the current generation of environmental activist will be judged. The years 2006 and 2007 have seen an astonishing transformation in the attitude of governments and corporations towards the desperate need for action, most remarkable of all in the US. The jury is still out in assessing whether this tipping point was reached through years of intrepid climate change campaigning or simply the impact of Al Gore’s power point presentation timed neatly in the aftermath of one or two particularly nasty hurricanes. Never before have the political winds been so favourable for climate change campaigners but there is a sense that the agenda is being seized by corporations and sub-national levels of government. Environmental groups are floundering with dilemmas presented by the era of cheap aviation, nuclear power and the headlong rush for bio fuels. Many people are abandoning faith in established campaign groups and turning instead to individual actions in the home, often finding a sense of community through online networking and blogging in preference to traditional formal memberships. There is talk in the US, of a new civil rights movement to address global warming. Active citizenship may be the only hope for overcoming the impotence of world governments and corporations to act in the face of imperatives.
