Environmentalism

Environmentalism can be defined as a social construct supporting the preservation and conservation of nature, its habitats, resources and wildlife. However, as a modern social movement, it is an abject failure, as no meaningful legislation or policy has made any significant progress toward combating climate change. The result of these environmentalism movement failures are the continued burning of fossil fuels and the resultant climate crisis. What is the path forward for environmentalism, when it’s no longer taken seriously and the climate crisis is on a path to irreversibility? The answer is to leave the climate crisis largely out of the discussion (we’re doomed anyway), and focus on redefining environmentalism as a blend of economic, industrial, social and natural interests, intertwined to, ultimately, benefit everyone.

Environmentalism, as a social movement, can be classified as a failure, as its approach to problems and policies hasn’t worked particularly well for nearly 30 years (Shellenberger, 125). Environmentalism no longer has the moral superiority of conserving the pristine, natural world, as those ideas have come to be associated with stifling social, economic and even cultural necessities. Environmentalism still relates to nature and how humans can best interact with nature, but now has to contend with ‘the reality that nature is not a single realm with a universalized meaning but instead an ideational canvas on which people project sensibilities, cultural attributes, economic conditions, and social necessities’ (Wapner, 126).  

The redefining of environmentalism fuels opportunities in green technologies, as is the case of electric scooters, representing trends in smart mobility and showing consumer preference away from “less green” forms of transportation (Sestino, 2024). It also means developments and opportunities in energy creation, distribution and consumption. This is all highlighted by communities in the EU reevaluating how energy is shared among community members, where the aim of local municipalities is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for everyone. By implementing decentralized renewable energy systems, creating “energy clusters”, where the energy is focused on meeting the needs of the “energy communities” (Lowitzsch, 2024), these innovations highlight the redefining of environmentalism as less a preservation of nature, but more a leveraging of technology with shared communal-economic benefits. By realizing technological innovation, combined with a balanced set of governmental policies and consumer preferences, environmentalism can mean serving social, natural, industrial and economic necessities.

A key concept in redefining environmentalism is also ensuring we no longer improve the environmental conditions of one demographic, while at the expense of another. While well-intended activists seek to pressure the US Government to regulate carbon emissions (see Figure 1), they fail to include the implications of shifting away from carbon emitting energy solutions. Their aim is to turn to renewable energy solutions, such as photovoltaics and wind power, but this increases demand for minerals such as copper (see Figure 2). With mines such as the Escondida mine in Chile (Gupta, 2024), it means environmental impacts to the surrounding communities and them having to compete for clean water provided by local desalination plants like Punto Chungo (see Figure 3). It is environmental justice being confined to its country of origin, but nothing for the poor who struggle against environmental impacts (Alier, 12). This disparity highlights the need for the redefining of environmentalism to ensure it’s not just environmentalism and opportunity for the developed world, but also accommodating the third world with social, economic and environmental benefits.

In summary, with the death of traditional environmentalism due to its ineffectiveness and narrow focus, there is room for a new definition to emerge which includes technological opportunities, along with advancements in smart mobility, energy creation and distribution, and a new reality that nature is no longer a single idealized realm, but the canvas in which we project our social, cultural and economic necessities. It also means creating the awareness that these opportunities and advancements might not include social, cultural and economic benefits for everyone, but may inadvertently only benefit their country of origin. It is through this awareness we can begin to ensure this new definition of environmentalism is much broader in scope, and ensures benefits to more of humanity than ever before.