engleski

Degrowth-compatible social attitudes in Eastern Europe: Did socialism kill ‘ecology’, and transition finish ‘the political’?

This essay intends to provoke a change of perspective: what would European populations look like if we sought for environmentalists of dgrowth rather than consumerist type. It supposes we can begin to map, though not as yet cogently argue for, single out and predict future trends from, the appearance of such environmentalists among different European populations and indicate some contextual factors herding them into different regions. We begin with questioning the ideal-type environmentalist assumed to stand behind the index leading to prosperity hypothesis, according to which the richer individuals and nations exhibit a greater environmentalist potential than poorer ones. A closer look at the environmental risk perception and the development optimism-caution balance indicates that there are commonalities across European nations irrespective of their affluence. When we try to think of a degrowth-supportive environmentalist rather than a politically activated green consumer, then Eastern Europe no longer appears comparatively short-served in political ecology. This could be an indication of the turning point inviting a different perspective on political ecology per se to permit a functional unification of Eastern and Western Europe around a common and urgent goal.

environmentalism, degrowth, Eastern Europe, development, prosperity hypothesis

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