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The new environmentalism of everyday life: Sustainability, material flows and movements
Schlosberg, David Coles, Romand
Schlosberg, David
Coles, Romand
Author
Abstract
This article analyzes recent developments in environmental activism, in particular movements focused on reconfiguring material flows. The desire for sustainability has spawned an interest in changing the material relationship between humans, other beings, and the non-human realm. No longer willing to take part in unsustainable practices and institutions, and not satisfied with purely individualistic and consumer responses, a growing focus of environmental movement groups is on restructuring everyday practices of circulation, for example, on sustainable food, renewable energy, and making. The shift to a more sustainable materialism is examined using three frameworks: a move beyond an individualist and value-focused notion of post-materialism, into a focus on collective practices and institutions for the provision of the basic needs of everyday life; Foucault’s conceptions of governmentality and biopolitics, which articulate modes of power around the circulation of things, information, and individuals; and a new ethos around vibrant and sustainable materialism with an explicit recognition of human immersion in non-human natural systems. These frames allow us to see and interpret common themes across numerous, seemingly disparate initiatives focused on replacing unsustainable practices and forging alternative flows.
Keywords
environmentalism, social movements, new materialism, governmentality, post-materialism, sustainability
Date
2016
Type
Journal article
Journal
Contemporary Political Theory
Book
Volume
15
Issue
2
Page Range
160-181
Article Number
ACU Department
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
File Access
Open
Notes
© 2016 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. The online version of this article is available Open Access.