“Shades of Green”: Environmental discourses

1. “Shades of Green”: Environmental discourses Media, Politics and the Environment Miklos Sukosd March 28, 2012

2. Discourses – what are they? • Large worldviews, concepts, ideologies, including frames, agendas and metaphors in political and media language • The need for reflection of the language we use in environmental journalism and communication • “What kind of environmental discourse?” “Shades of green”

3. Dryzek’s logic • Making sense of Earth's politics: a discourse approach • Looming tragedy: survivalism (tragedy of the commons) • Growth forever: the Promethean response • Leave it to the experts: administrative rationalism • Leave it to the people: democratic pragmatism • Leave it to the market: economic rationalism vs • Environmentally benign growth: sustainable development • Industrial society and beyond: ecological modernization • Changing people: green consciousness • Changing society: green politics • Ecological democracy

4. 1. Sustainable development • SD never an accomplished fact, except in small hunter-gatherer and agricultural societies with low level of economic and technological development • Origins: Report by Brundtland Commission (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987) • UN report to reconcile environmental and development issues  (environmental damage, population, peace and security, social justice both within and across generations) that had been competitive or antagonistic

5. SD: “Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable -- to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (1987:8). • In essence, SD is a process of change in which “exploitation of resources, the direction of investment, the orientation of technological development, and industrial change are all in harmony and enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations” (1987:46). • Deeper history: resource management concept in maximum sustainable yield (fishery, forest, game animals that can be sustained indefinitely) • Intelligent operation of natural systems and human systems in combination

6. Sustainable development--discourse • Discourse: no limits to growth, capitalist economy (competition de-emphasized though), anthropocentric, „think globally, act locally”, self-conscious improvement, open-ended learning of humankind (like lifetime learning), progress in the environmental era

7. Criticisms of sustainable development • Contestation over essence of SD • Actors: many agents at many levels, international (IGO + global civil society) and sub-national (NGO) • Elasticity of concept: different meanings and interpretations • Environmentalist critique: intrinsic notions of nature are missing • Developing countries: stress on global redistribution • Western countries: developing countries cannot follow same path of industrialization • Business: sustained economic growth + „green-painting” • Real life results? Miniscule compared to liberalization of global trade and capital

8. 2. Ecological modernization (or green capitalism) • Central concept in environmental discourses like SD + bandwagon • Common interest of public policy makers, businesses, and citizen-consumers

9. Most successful environmental policy performances: “clean and green five” (Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden) • High energy efficiency of national income • Low per capita emissions of pollutants • Low per capita generation of household garbage and solid waste • Rate of change of going green also leading • Origins: precautionary principle (Germany and EU), dependence on imported energy (imported oil, Japan)

10. Corporatist policymaking, including green NGOs • Conscious and coordinated efforts • Pollution prevention pays • Much sharper focus than SD on what to be done, especially within the nation state • Green capitalism as “Practical” SD

11. Discourse: economic development and environmental protection can go hand in hand and reinforce each other, systems approach (production, consumption, resource depletion, pollution interrelated), limits ignored, partnership of government, business, reformist NGOs and scientists, capitalist restructuring of political economy, anthropocentric, focus on human desires and calculations, nature as waste treatment plant, Oikos (household): economics and ecology, social progress, reassurance, optimism. • Technological vs. radical ecological (democratic, risk society-Ulrich Beck) modernization • Critical point: green business aspects not emphasized enough

12. 3. Green consciousness • Change not institutions, but human sensitivities, empathy, insight, experiences vs. reason • Romanticism? • Change starts with ourselves

13. Deep ecology • Ecological sensibility, self-realization and biocentric equality • Deep consciousness and awareness of organic unity between humans, flora, fauna and the Earth • Biocentric equality: no species, including the human species, is regarded as more valuable in any sense than other species vs. “anthropocentric arrogance” • Diversity is intrinsic value irrespective of human interests

14. Human population should be reduced „in the interests of the non-human community” • Misanthropist extremes welcome famine and disease: humankind as a cancer of the Earth • What to do? Wilderness: preserve and protect it • Lack of policy visions • Discourse: people should change first, not institutions, realm of culture and society, Earth First! how to convince others, and change institutions? 

15. Eco-feminism • Not anthropocentrism, but androcentrism is the problem • Patriarchy, male domination subjugating both nature and women • Nature and women, nature in women: fertility—give birth and nurture children • Male rationality took the world to the edge of destruction • "Feel it” (“feel nature”)

16. Bioregionalism • Sense of place emphasized • Ecosystem boundaries (watershed, vegetation) vs. political or ethnic boundaries • Economic autarchy (self-sustaining regions)

17. Lifestyle greens • Green consumerism (prefers cosmetics without animal testing, local food, biodegradable cleaning products, recycled paper, Fair Trade, etc.) • Vegetarianism on environmental grounds

18. Eco-theology • Spiritual roots of environmental problems: “be more humble” • Environmental degradation: failure of Enlightenment project • Christian: man as shepherd of the Earth, Book of Genesis • Buddhist: karma, dependent origination, emptiness • Hindu (Hare Krishna): karma, vegetarianism on religious grounds

19. Conclusions • Discourses are larger, more general units of thought than frames • Identification of different environmental discourses in media and communication • Comparisons between environment. discourses • SWOT analysis of environmental discourses (strengths and weaknesses)