Environmentalism of the poor and the political ecology of prophecy: a contribution to liberation ecotheology

Ecological theology has too often relied on Creation, Sabbatical and other accounts potentially of Priestly origin, or else has employed a hermeneutic of suspicion derived from ecocentric speculative philosophy. These approaches risk the error of reflecting current or biblical ruling class ideologies. It is argued here that a more appropriate approach to ecological theology is the prophetic tradition read from the critical materialism of political ecology. The relationship between society and environment is both socially constructed and material and political ecology uses dialectical materialist methodology in interpreting this. Such analysis emerges from, and contributes to, a preferential option for the victims of environmental injustices, and a political praxis of environmentalism of the poor alongside environmental justice struggles. The starting point of this theology of liberation is the author’s context as an activist in, and action researcher with, environmental justice movements. Three contrasting case studies are interrogated with respect to this theology: environmental justice campaigns associated with Friends of the Earth Scotland; the Bhopal survivors’ movement; and a working group on environmental justice within the Iona Community. Insights are derived from this praxis which make a contribution to historic projects which are neither reformist nor utopian but radically prophetic

Review: Laurence Cox and Alf Gunvald Nilsen (2014) We Make Our Own History: Marxism and Social Movements in the Twilight of Neoliberalism

This is a book about social movements. Unlike most such books, it seeks to understand the phenomenon of social movements with a view to assist them (us) in discerning a way forward in the current political context of neoliberalism. The authors, who are both movement activists and academics, argue that neoliberalism is mortally wounded and seemingly unable to reinvent capitalism. This presents an opportunity for social movements. What they provide is not a blueprint or road map but rather a tool kit - a set of analytical resources which movement activists can use collectively to consider how to act, and which strategies might help to deliver another world

Community Development Journal Special issue: Practising Solidarity: Challenges for Community Development and Social Movements in the 21st Century Vol. 52 No. 3 July 2017

Review of - Community Development Journal Special issue: Practising Solidarity: Challenges for Community Development and Social Movements in the 21st Century Vol. 52 No. 3 July 201

Knowledge and Valuation in Environmental Justice Struggles

The paper draws on the experience of adult education with community activists who are campaigning against environmental injustice. In common with environmental justice struggles throughout the world, all the communities experience negative economic externalities of capitalist development which is incommensurate with their own environmental valuation. The course uses methodologies derived from Paulo Freire and popular education to seek to maximise the relevance of the curriculum to the political struggles in which the communities are engaged. Such methodologies generate knowledge of environmental justice derived from dialogue between the experiences of communities of struggle, the strategic campaigning of an environmental organisation, and the traditions of academic rigour of a university. This produces a discourse which contrasts with the policy discourse based on positivist research. This paper draws on my experiences as coordinator of the course, analysed through liberation theology, which depends on the theologian's participation in political struggle as a precursor to theological reflection. Much ecological theology in the Christian tradition focuses on Creation narratives originating from Biblical texts whose ideological function seems to have been the justification of ruling class practices. Incommensurable valuation is an economic question which enables an alternative ecological theology to be developed from Prophetic narratives.div_MCaPAAgents for Environmental Justice and Scandrett, E. (2003) Voices from the Grassroots. Redressing the Balance Handbook 4. Friends of the Earth Scotland. Edinburgh Brown and Downie 1999 'Community Development Agents in Scotland - Quick Fix or Long Term Future?' Scottish Journal of Community Work and Development Vol 5 pp 17-30 Brueggemann W. 1993 'Trajectories in Old Testament Literature and the Sociology of Ancient Israel'. In The Bible and Liberation: Social and Political Hermeneutics ed by Norman K. Gottwald and Richard A. Horsley London, SPCK Brueggemann W. 2001 The Prophetic Imagination (2 nd edition) Minneapolis; Fortress Carley, M and Spapens, M (1998) Sharing the world. Earthscan, London Chaney, M. L 1993 'Bitter Bounty: the dynamics of Political economy critiqued by the Eighth-Century Prophets'. In The Bible and Liberation: Social and Political Hermeneutics ed by Norman K. Gottwald and Richard A. Horsley London, SPCK Crowther, J. Martin, I. and Galloway, V. Popular Education: Engaging the Academy. Leicester, NIACE Duchrow, U and Hinkelammert, F.J. (2004) Property for people, not for profit: Alternatives to the global tyranny of capital. London: Zed Books in association with CIIR Dunion, K. (2003) Troublemakers: the struggle for environmental justice in Scotland. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh Eyerman, R. and Jamison, A 1991 Social Movements: a Cognitive Approach Cambridge: Polity Ireland, T.D. (1979) Gelpi's view of lifelong education. Manchester: Dept. of Adult and Higher Education, University of Manchester Freire, P (1972) Pedagogy of the Oppressed Penguin, London Friends of the Earth Scotland (1999) 'The campaign for environmental justice' http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/nation/ej1.html accessed June 2007 Gnanadason, A. 2005 Listen to the Women! Listen to the Earth Geneva: WCC Publications John, V.J. 2003 The ecological vision of Jesus: nature in the parables of Mark. Thiruvalla: CSS books and Bangalore: BTTBPSA McLaren, D, Bullock, S, and Yousuf, N (1998) Tomorrow's World: Britain's share in a sustainable future Earthscan, London Martinez-Alier, J (2003) Environmentalism of the poor. Edward Elgar, Basingstoke Maschewsky, W (2005) Environmental justice in Scotland - just words?: A view from outside www.foe-scotland.org.uk/nation/ej_a_view_from_outside.pdf accessed 30/1/07 Moltmann, J 1985 God in Creation: an ecological doctrine of creation. London: SCM Press Nalunnakkal, G.M. 1999 Green Liberation: Towards an Integral Ecotheology, Delhi: NCCI/ISPCK Primavesi A. 2000 Sacred Gaia London: Routledge Ruether, R.R. 1992 Gaia and God: an Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing. London, SCM Press Scandrett, E., O'Leary, T and Martinez, T 2005 'Learning environmental justice through dialogue' in Procedings of PASCAL conference: Making Knowledge Work. NIACE Scandrett, E. 2007 Environmental justice in Scotland: policy, pedagogy and praxis Environmental Research Letters (in press) Scottish Executive (2002a) First Minister's speech on environmental justice www.scotland.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/57 accessed 30/1/07 Scottish Executive (2002b) Environmental Justice speech in South Africa www.scottishexecutive.gov.uk/News/News-Extras/101 accessed 30/1/07 Scottish Executive (2004) A Smart, Successful Scotland: Strategic direction to the Enterprise Networks and an enterprise strategy for Scotland www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/11/20246/46555 accessed 30/1/07 White, L. 1967 'The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis' . Science 155: 1203- 1207 Wilkinson, M. and Scandrett, E. (2003) 'A popular education approach to tackling environmental injustice and widening participation', Concept, vol. 13, no. 1&2.submitted346submitte

Editorial

editoria

Community, development and popular struggles for environmental justice

Scandrett, Eurig - ORCID 0000-0002-0932-8817 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0932-8817https://policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/environmental-justice-popular-struggle-and-community-developmentpubpu

History and contexts of municipal solid waste management in Aba – Recounting the stories of residents

Stanley Nwankpa - ORCID 0000-0002-5393-0426 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-0426Replaced AM with VoR 2020-10-12.To review the history of MSW management in a place, authors often review the development drivers of MSW management and or how such drivers have affected MSW management policy or practice in the place. This study focuses on the lived experiences of the residents. The researchers believe that a phenomenological review of the lived experiences of long term residents of the city of Aba, provide unique and more useful account of the development of MSW management in the city especially in the absence of any significant development in the methods and or processes of managing MSW. It is also recommended that similar methods be utilised in reviewing the development of MSW management in similar cities in Nigeria and other cities in Sub Saharan Africa. The study finds that over the period in review, the process of MSW management in Aba has remained rudimentary, primarily consisting of evacuation of refuse from one point to another without any form of treatment or processing. Responses from participants of this study – drawn from an extended peer community of long-term residents of the city, suggest that except for a period between 2013 and 2014, the overall MSW management situation in the city have worsened. From post-independence in 1960 to 2017, four distinct eras characterised mainly by the leadership and clarity of purpose was identified by analysing the responses from participants. There are widespread accusations of nepotism, corruption, ineptitude and high handedness levelled against the current leadership of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) - the agency responsible for managing MSW in Aba. However, most of the current problems and challenges can be traced back to several years of negligence and subsequent dilapidation of infrastructure. For a sustainable progress to be made and maintained, MSW managers in the city must find a way to involve the wider community of stakeholders in the design, implementation and evaluation of the city’s waste management policies and processes.https://doi.org/10.7176/JEES/10-9-0610pubpub

Open Letter to the Environmental Movement

The environmental movement is one of the most successful social movements in the 21st century. In the 50 years since Rachel Carson published her iconic book Silent Spring, environmental concerns have moved from the marginal fringes to the mainstream of social policy in most countries throughout the world. The impact which our everyday lives have on the environment is widely acknowledged. While major real achievements in the wider world have yet to be achieved (stopping climate change; turning around biodiversity loss; a moratorium on nuclear power; food security without chemical or genetic pollution), nonetheless, as a social movement it has made a bigger impact on the consciousness of policy makers and the public alike than most other social movements of the same period. With this success it is perhaps not surprising that the environmental movement is at risk of being infiltrated. I am not referring here to the infiltration of environmental activist groups by police and other security agents - that is clearly widespread. But the infiltration is from groups who wish to pass themselves off as environmentalists when in fact their objectives are contrary to the values of environmentalism. Their environmentalism is a mask, behind which is the objective of ethnic cleansing, colonial occupation and complicity in racist massacres. This is what is happening with the Jewish National Fund.div_MCaPAi http://www.jnf.org/about-jnf/. ii For example, Walid Khalidi (ed.) 1992 All that remains: The Palestinian villages occupied and depopulated by Israel in 1948, Washington: Institute for Palestinian Studies; Hussein Abu Hussein and Fiona McKay 2003 Access Denied. Palestinian land rights in Israel. London: Zed Books; Ilan Pappe 2006 The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Oxford: Oneworld. See also the JNF ebook series. iii Pappe 2006 p. 132. See also: Blumenthal, this volume. iv JNF in action 1944 pamphlet, London, UK. v World Wildlife Fund, 1961 Switzerland; Environmental Defense Fund, 1967 USA; Friends of the Earth, 1969 USA; Greenpeace 1971 Canada. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Stockholm, 1972. vi See Ramachandra Guha's summary of the relationship between Nazism and environmentalism in Guha 2000 Environmentalism: a Global History Harlow: Longman pp 17-19. vii Garrett Hardin, in his notorious essay 'The tragedy of the Commons' (1968) Science 162 pp 1243-8 laid a strong foundation for a supremacist interpretation of population control: Confronted with appeals to limit breeding, some people will undoubtedly respond to the plea more than others. Those who have more children will produce a larger fraction of the next generation than those with more susceptible consciences. The differences will be accentuated, generation by generation.- viii Guha 2000, Environmentalism: A Global History.ix Agyeman, Bullard and Evans 2003 Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World. London: Earthscan Southern People's Ecological Debt Creditors Alliance http://www.ecologicaldebt.org/. x www.wwf.org.uk. xi www.greenpeace.org. xii www.greenpeace.org.uk. xiii www.climatecamp.org.uk. xiv Vision and mission statement of Friends of the Earth International. Annual Report 2009. xv Schlosberg, D 1999, Environmental justice and the new pluralism Oxford: Oxford University Press xvi Martinez Alier, J 2002, Environmentalism of the poor: a study of ecological conflicts and valuation Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. xvii Harvey, D. 1997, Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference Oxford: Blackwell; O'Connor, J. 1998 Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism London: Guilford Press. xviii PENGON - Friends of the Earth Palestine, http://www.pengon.org/. xix Zafrir Rinat, Last one standing Haaretz December 17th 2010. xx Yoram Bar-Gal 2003 Propaganda and Zionist Education: the Jewish National Fund 1924-1947 New York: University of Rochester press. xxi JNF in action. xxii Jerusalem Bible. xxiii Borowski, O. 2002, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel. American Schools of Oriental Research. xxiv Zohary, M 1982, 'Vegetation of Israel and Adjacent Areas'. Beiheftezum Tubinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients. Reike A (Naturwissenscheaften) No. 7. xxv See photos of British Park in the Correspondence section of this Volume, below. xxvi See Chapter 9 in this volume, by Ismail Zayid, for more information and photographic evidence.JNF eBpub2302pu

Climate justice: Contested discourse and social transformation

Purpose: This paper aims to argue that climate justice constitutes a contested discourse reflecting the material interests of social groups that contribute to its production. For climate justice to have integrity, it must be rooted in the material interests of those social groups negatively affected by, and engaged in struggles against, the hydrocarbon economy. The paper locates contestation of discourse production in an understanding of social movement processes. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is a theoretical contribution to the debate about climate justice, drawing on data (published and unpublished) from Scotland. Findings: The paper concludes that scholars engaged in climate justice work should have consideration to the material interest embedded in the discourse. The pedagogical and dialogical work of engagement with the militant particularism of local struggles against the hydrocarbon industry is an important contribution to discourse construction, and ultimately social transformation is required to achieve climate justice. Research limitations/implications: This is primarily a theoretical paper, although it draws on limited case study data from environmental conflicts in Scotland. Practical implications: The argument has practical implications for work in climate justice, including research, policy development and social movement mobilisation. Social implications: This is intended as a contribution to the social transformation required to achieve climate justice. Originality/value: The paper draws on existing theoretical frameworks, especially Marxian approaches to discourse and social movement studies, to critique and contribute to the newly developing field of climate justice.div_PaS8pub4315pub