Environmentalism: A Challenge to Modernity

Author(s):  
Antimo Luigi Farro

This chapter discusses the environmental movement vis-à-vis modernity in the last century. Starting in the early 70s, the contemporary environmental movement consists of articulated collective action opposing polluting agents in different areas of the world, and pursuing a new planetary natural equilibrium. This movement aims to construct a new more balanced model for natural development by scientific and technical means. This movement doesn’t pursue a romantic project to protect nature against modernity and modernization, nor a denial of modernity, nor modernity as a crisis, but a new way to understand and change the world. The environmental movement produces a critical consciousness of both itself and modernity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Arnošt Novák

Direct actions constitute an important repertoire of action for environmental movements in Western countries. This article differentiates two ideal types of this repertoire of action: the anarchist concept, which understands direct action in terms of values and as a preferred way of doing things; and the liberal concept, which uses direct action in an instrumental way. Based on my empirical research in post-socialist Czech Republic, the article focuses on debates over environmentalism and, to be more precise, on uses of direct actions by environmental organizations. It explains why the liberal concept was very limited and why direct action as a preferred way of doing things has not become a part of the repertoire of collective action. The article argues that the movement was politically moderate due to a combination of reasons: the very specific historical experience of the Czech environmental movement, which inclines it to use dialogue rather than confrontations with power; the fear of political hostility and marginalization by the state; and the internal dynamics of the environmental milieu.


Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Goossen

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the global Mennonite church developed an uneasy relationship with Germany. Despite the religion's origins in the Swiss and Dutch Reformation, as well as its longstanding pacifism, tens of thousands of members embraced militarist German nationalism. This book is a sweeping history of this encounter and the debates it sparked among parliaments, dictatorships, and congregations across Eurasia and the Americas. Offering a multifaceted perspective on nationalism's emergence in Europe and around the world, the book demonstrates how Mennonites' nationalization reflected and reshaped their faith convictions. While some church leaders modified German identity along Mennonite lines, others appropriated nationalism wholesale, advocating a specifically Mennonite version of nationhood. Examining sources from Poland to Paraguay, the book shows how patriotic loyalties rose and fell with religious affiliation. Individuals might claim to be German at one moment but Mennonite the next. Some external parties encouraged separatism, as when the Weimar Republic helped establish an autonomous “Mennonite State” in Latin America. Still others treated Mennonites as quintessentially German; under Hitler's Third Reich, entire colonies benefited from racial warfare and genocide in Nazi-occupied Ukraine. Whether choosing Germany as a national homeland or identifying as a chosen people, called and elected by God, Mennonites committed to collective action in ways that were intricate, fluid, and always surprising.


polemica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-36
Author(s):  
Jaciara Sá Carvalho ◽  
Rita de Cássia Martins da Costa Brito

Resumo: Cerca de 5% da população brasileira possui algum grau de perda de audição (IBGE, 2010). São dez milhões de brasileiros com dificuldades de acesso às informações sobre as realidades de seu país e do mundo, ao conhecimento sistematizado pelas ciências etc. Alguns programas audiovisuais recorrem a legendas em Português e/ou intérpretes da Língua Brasileira de Sinais – Libras, atuando nas chamadas “janelinhas”, sendo exceção os produzidos por profissionais surdos e apresentados por eles em primeiro plano na tela. Sob tal contexto de discussão, e partindo da premissa da formação humana ao longo da vida, este artigo apresenta uma problematização acerca das diferenças entre a transmissão de informações por surdos e por intérpretes a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica. O trabalho sugere que uma informação transmitida de surdo para surdo, em audiovisuais, estaria mais próxima ao conteúdo original da mensagem e ao universo linguístico e cultural das comunidades Surdas. Também expõe uma reflexão sobre a necessidade de ampliação do repertório informacional para o desenvolvimento (permanente) da consciência crítica (FREIRE, 1979) pelos surdos que anseiam “ser mais”.Palavras-chave: Surdez. Libras. Acesso à informação. Abstract: About 5% of the Brazilian population has some degree of hearing loss (IBGE, 2010). There are ten million Brazilians who have difficulty accessing information about the realities of their country and of the world, knowledge drawn up by the sciences, etc. Some audiovisual programs use Portuguese subtitles and/or Brazilian Sign Language interpreters (Libras) acting in their little "windows" as they are called, with the exception of those produced by deaf professionals and presented to them in the foreground of the screen. Under this context of discussion, and based on the premise of human lifelong training, this article presents an examination of the differences between the transmission of information by deaf people and by interpreters, based on bibliographic research. The paper points out that information transmitted from deaf to deaf in audiovisuals would be closer to the original content of the message, and to the linguistic and cultural universe of the deaf community. It also presents a reflection on the need to expand the informational repertoire for the (permanent) development of critical consciousness (FREIRE, 1979) by deaf people who yearn to "be more."Keywords: Deafness. Libras. Access to information.


Author(s):  
James H. Wittebols

This paper synthesizes theory and research on confirmation bias (CB), curiosity, and news/information literacy education with the goal of understanding how helping students critique their tendency to engage in CB spurs curiosity and critical consciousness about learning. Curiosity about the self is spurred when people realize their CB tendencies. Curiosity about the larger social world is spurred when students learn how CB affects the way they look at the world. A flipped classroom approach reflects the work of Paulo Freire, who argued critical education should be experiential with faculty playing a facilitating, rather than an “expert” role.


Author(s):  
Dan McKanan

Anthroposophy, with its alchemical emphasis on the balancing of polarities, brings several gifts to the ongoing evolution of the environmental movement. These gifts include a cosmic holism that challenges us to attend to ever-widening circles of interconnection; a homeopathic model of social change that invites us to use subtle influences to heal the world; an appropriate anthropocentrism that allows us to experience ourselves as fully at home in the world; and a vision of planetary transmutation that can resist climate change while embracing biological and spiritual evolution.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur P. J. Mol

This paper explores what an ecological modernization perspective has to offer in an era marked by globalization. Globalization processes and dynamics are mostly seen as detrimental to the environment. The point that an ecological modernization perspective puts on the research agenda is that, although global capitalism has not been beaten and continues to show its devastating environmental effects in all corners of the world, we are moving beyond the era of a global treadmill of production that only further degrades the environment. More or less powerful, reflexive, countervailing powers are beginning to move towards environmental reform. And these powers are no longer limited to a small environmental movement that only reacts to the constant undermining of society's sustenance base. In analyzing these countervailing forces, the paper also explores the consequences of globalization processes for ecological modernization ideas and perspectives.


2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 1031-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fernandes-Jesus ◽  
Maria Luísa Lima ◽  
José-Manuel Sabucedo

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
NILS C. KÖBIS ◽  
MARLEEN TROOST ◽  
CYRIL O. BRANDT ◽  
IVAN SORAPERRA

Abstract Corruption in the form of bribery continues to be a major societal challenge around the world. The current lab-in-the-field study tested whether dynamic descriptive norms messages on posters can help to reduce bribery. Before, during and after placing posters throughout a medium-sized South African town, incentivized measures of social norms and bribery were assessed in a mobile lab. A total of 311 participants stemming from the general population took part. In line with the pre-registered predictions, the results reveal that people: (1) perceive bribery to be less common; and (b) engage in bribery in a corruption game less frequently when the posters were displayed. The discussion outlines how social norms nudging campaigns can be leveraged to spur collective action against corruption.


Leadership ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suze Wilson

This case study analyses the leadership approach and practices of the New Zealand government, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, in the response thus far to the COVID-19 pandemic. It reports on how a shared sense of purpose has been established, that of minimizing harm to lives and livelihoods, for which the government has sought – and secured – New Zealanders’ commitment. Key leadership practices comprise the government’s willingness to themselves be led by expertise, its efforts to mobilise the population, and to enable coping, all of which serve to build the trust in leadership needed for transformative, collective action such as the pandemic demands. At the time of writing, New Zealand appears well on track to achieve its ambitious goal of achieving rapid and complete control over the COVID-19 outbreak – not just ‘flattening the curve’ as other countries are struggling to do – at least in part due to these leadership contributions. A framework of good practices for pandemic leadership is offered drawn from this case study, in the hope transferable lessons can be taken to aid others in the continuing struggle to limit the harm COVID-19 poses to lives and livelihoods throughout the world.


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