What Kind of Depolarization Should We Aim For? Making Communication Transformative

Social aspects of the waste management system in Zagreb

Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecology

This guide accompanies the following article(s): Religious Environmentalism in the West I: a Focus on Christianity, Religion Compass 3/4 (2009) pp. 717–737, 10.1111/j.1749‐8171.2009.00161.x Religious Environmentalism in the West. II: Impediments to the Praxis of Christian Environmentalism in Australia, Religion Compass 3/4 (2009) pp. 738–751, 10.1111/j.1749‐8171.2009.00162.x Author’s Introduction Religious environmentalism (also termed, amongst others, ‘religion and ecology’) is a growing field of academic study that encompasses disciplines such as ecological theology, ecopsychology, environmental education, political science, environmental sociology and applied ecology. This field of research is of particular political significance as it is argued that the rise of religious environmentalism in the West has been and continues to be a factor in promoting an alliance of socially conservative religion and socially progressive environmentalism. Growing concern about climate change is a factor in the rise of religious environmentalism, in part because the impacts of climate change are seen to be significant for people as well as non‐human Nature. Religious groups who have long been concerned with human welfare, often to the exclusion of any form of environmentalism, are increasingly seeing that human welfare and ecological well‐being are inextricably linked. Similarly, secular environmentalists and scientists are acknowledging the potentially powerful role that religion and spirituality can play in changing human behaviours for the better. Author Recommends The following recommended works are specific to Christian environmentalism. Hessel, D.T. and Ruether, R.R. (eds.), (2000). Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well‐Being of Earth and Humans . Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press/Centre for the Study of World Religions. This is a large volume of work written by a range of authors. It is a core resource in the field of Christian environmentalism, and provides good coverage of this broad field. Habel, N. (2000). Introducing the Earth Bible. In: N. Habel (ed.), Readings from the Perspective of Earth (Earth Bible Vol. 1) , pp. 1–25. Sheffield, Sheffield Academic Press. The Earth Bible is a series of theological texts that amount to an ecologically oriented reinterpretation of biblical texts. Kearns, L. (1996). ‘Saving the creation: Christian environmentalism in the United States’, Sociology of Religion , 57 (1), pp. 55–59. http://users.drew.edu/lkearns/creation.pdf Whilst written in a USA context, this relatively short work (which is freely available on‐line) provides a classification of religious environmentalism that is useful more widely. It provides some particularly useful background information to important works and events in the development of Christian environmentalism. McDonagh, S. (1990). The Greening of the Church . Quezon City: Claretian Publications. This is a potent earlier work on religious environmentalism in the Catholic Church. The author, himself a Catholic, points out the many contradictions and deficiencies in the Vatican’s then environmental policies and proclamations, including a failure to deal with the issue of human population growth. This publication is a powerful insight into the development of institutional Catholic Church environmentalism. It even addresses the anti‐environmentalist views of then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, who has since promoted a ‘greener’ view. McFarland Taylor, S. (2007). Green Sisters: A Spiritual Ecology . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. This text and associated articles in the journals ‘Worldviews’ and ‘Ecotheology’ explores the growing movement of environmentally activist Roman Catholic nuns in North America and the implications of this movement for theorising new directions in religion and culture. Northcott, M.S. (1996). The Environment and Christian Ethics . Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press. The author argues that the ‘natural tradition law’ within Christianity ‘provides significant resources for an ethical response to the environmental crisis of modern civilisation, but only if the humanocentric revision of this tradition by Finnis, Grisez and the Vatican is rejected in favour of an ecologically informed reappropriation of the pre‐Enlightenment natural law tradition, focused as it was not just on human life and human moral goods but on the moral significance and moral goods of the natural created order’ p137. Palmer, M. (1992). Dancing to Armageddon . London: Aquarian/Thorsons. An important text dealing with the history of Christianity in relation to environmental thought, differences between Western and Eastern Christianity, and the fact that other faiths are linked to environmental harm i.e. Christianity is not solely or even primarily to blame. Palmer explores some of the ecologically problematic aspects of Christianity, capitalism and Western culture. He recognises that ultimately the ecological and social crises are crises of the mind. Scharper, S.B. (1997). Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment . New York: Continuum. </jats:list

Theories across sciences and humanities posit a central role for musicking in the evolution of the social, biological and technical pat- terns that underpin modern humanity. In this talk I suggest that contemporary computer musicking can play a similarly critical role in supporting us through contemporary existential, ecological, technological and social crises, by providing a space for reworking our relationships with each other and the world, including the technologies that we make. Framed by Gregory Bateson’s analysis of the fundamental epistemological error which leads to interrelated existential, social and ecological crises, I will draw upon a range of personal projects to illustrate the value of computer music practices in learning to think better: from cybernetic generative art, through ecosystemic evolutionary art and feedback musicianship to the need for interactive approaches to algorithm interpretation in ma- chine listening to biodiversity. I will illustrate how computer musicking can help in three ways: firstly by developing complexity literacy, helping us to better understand the complex systems of the anthropocene; secondly by providing a space to explore other modes of relation through learning to let others be; and thirdly to clarify the importance of aligning technologies with and not against, the biosphere. As pre-historic musicking made us human, so contemporary computer musicking can help us learn to think through the challenges we face today and be better humans tomorrow.

This chapter presents a crucial part of leaders’ journey towards wholeness: their deep awareness of the various levels of crises happening in their life, in their social contexts, and in the life of the world. The word “crisis” does not connote here impending catastrophe; instead, it is accepted as a necessary turning point, a crucial moment when the development moves one way or another, marshaling the resources for growth, recovery, and more profound transformation. Thus, the crisis becomes a crucible for learning and change. The experience of existential spiritual crises can be categorized into two major types: internal crisis and external crisis. The various aspects of internal crisis can be described as identity crisis, value crisis, meaning crisis, and the various aspects of external crisis can be categorized into social crisis and ecological crisis. These crises provoked questions of meaning, trust, and purpose at the internal level and questions of justice, freedom, and responsibility at the external level. The internal crises manifested as identity crisis, value crisis, and meaning crisis are intrinsically connected. The leaders also identified the experience of spiritual crisis manifested externally as social crisis and ecological crisis. These external crises also reinforce the internal crisis as well.

Nutrition, as a fundamental human need as well as a manifestation of a social and cultural function, has always been the focus of ethnographic and anthropological research. Various concepts – sometimes radically different and at odds with each other – have emerged in modern societies to define food that can be considered safe. These include various nutritionrelated movements. Like all social movements, these movements also act as a signaling system: they emerge as a reaction to a societal problem, and the problems they reflect as well as the attempts to formulate solutions also indicate the social dilemmas of the era. Such is the thematization of ecological crisis in recent times. The ecovillage is a specific type of settlement created in response to an ecological, economic and social crisis. The pursuit of an environmentally friendly way of life and self-sufficiency is also reflected in the food culture of ecovillagers, providing an interpretation of safe food deeply embedded in the ecological discourse. The study presents the considerations that govern the foodways of ecovillagers and how these manifest in practice (from farm to table), analyzing it in a framework of interpretation that places the ecovillages in a broader social context. First, the author briefly presents the ecovillages and the specific community being studied. Next, she sets forth the risk and crisis concept providing the framework of interpretation, and outlines the food movements that respond to it. Finally, she turns to the description and analysis of the specific ethnographic material, the modalities of preparing for an ecological crisis, the relationship and significance of biodiversity and gastrodiversity, and demonstrates the role attributed to the community as an institution in this process.

Vittorio Hosle faced a population of Moscow students, contemporaries of the USSR collapse in 1990. He was expected to discuss the process of designing and achieving environmental sustainability, not only within the immediate socio-political context of his audience, but also within the context of a global reshaping of existing development patterns. In the paper Hosle's template of understanding and proposing solutions for the ecological crisis is transposed into a broader historical and social context and continuity, especially one that chronologically followed his Moscow lectures. The purpose of this article is to assess and evaluate the quality and relevance of Hosle's template considering the realistic circumstances of social development and the application of environment protection principles. The selected framework is developed through the following thematic options: historical and social conditioning of ecological crisis; ethical framework of society affected by ecological crisis; conditioning system of economy and ecology in society affected by ecological crisis; and political circumstances and consequences of ecological crisis. The goal is to follow and analyze what has happened after Hosle's 'Philosophy of Ecological Crisis' and whether this is consistent with his reasoning. The conclusion is that Hosle's template is confirmed as fully applicable, credible and relevant.

Indonesian economics growth was height in three decades lately, but nature resources and environment were decreasing. When Indonesia was hit by severe monetary crisis, the situation got worst in 1997. This situation was followed not only by massive economics meltdown, but also serious socio-political and ecological crisis. Indonesia has revised and enacted several laws and regulation in attempt to provide policy basis for sustainable development, among others it enacted Law No. 23 of 1997 on Environmental Management. The National Agenda 21 Provided a reference to mainstream sustainable development principles into the country’s national development planning. The PROPENAS is national development programs that contains the three pillars of sustainable development i.e. economic, socio-culture and environmental management although their integration needs to be strengthened. Their implementation was not integrated yet and development in Indonesia was unsustainable. Shifting from a situation of environmental, social, economics and political crisis towards sustainability will be very difficult and take time. But if action is delayed, the problems will become greater than before and sustainable development will be beyond the grasp of present or future generation.

This paper examines Cultural Studies from a historical perspective, emphasizing its role as an intellectual project that emerges from social crises and structural antagonisms. Spanning its development from the 1960s to the contemporary period (1990–2025), the paper shows that neoliberal capitalism is not merely an economic project, but one that has also permeated education, healthcare, religion, art, and everyday life, forming circuits of commodification and capital accumulation. In response to discourses on global ecological crisis, Cultural Studies is framed not as a passive academic discipline, but as an interdisciplinary practice that thrives on contradiction, understanding “apocalypse” not as a singular event but as a historical, simultaneous, and rhizomatic condition that shapes human experience in the era of globalization and platform capitalism. Introducing “transapocalyptic” as a term for a comprehensive crisis produced by neoliberalism’s penetration into all spheres of life, this paper rejects the notion of a “post-apocalypse” by positioning it as a utopia construct. Accordingly, Cultural Studies functions as a tool for reflection and critique that enables survival amid contemporary social, ecological, and symbolic crises while reminding us that the journey toward a fully emancipatory order is always “not yet”, for beyond utopia, a truly “post-apocalyptic” world does not exist.

The ecological crisis is a problem that plagues the entire planet, which shows the existence of a kind of solidarity that can not be ruled out, the environmental solidarity. As a result of this, it is clear that the first step towards the foundation of any environmental guidelines is the establishment of an international cooperation between states. The principle of sustainability is one of these guidelines, finding place today in all jurisdictions that demonstrate a minimal concern for the environment. From the handling of the bibliographic research method, this article aims to demonstrate that the need for protection of the environment is enough to legitimate the effects of sustainability and environmental solidarity on the concepts of state sovereignty and development today.

The urgency of fundamental socio-ecological transformation is scientifically uncontested, yet institutions – including spatial planning – predominantly act sluggishly, reinforcing existing paths of unsustainability. Despite normative orientations such as the sustainability principle within the German spatial planning law, planning practice has so far struggled to enable and accelerate socio-ecological transformations towards sustainability. This comment highlights the tensions between planning’s ambitions and its realities, emphasizes the importance of exnovation and unlearning as key dimensions of socio-ecological change, and argues for a reflexive reorientation of spatial planning. Only by critically examining its own role between stabilization and transformation can spatial planning become an active agent of change.

Faced with climate change and other ecological crises, sustainability has become an inescapable normative framework for organizations and societies worldwide. However, it conceals very different practices and imaginaries of a sustainable future. Firstly, this article introduces the three imaginaries of modernization, transformation, and control and explores what chances of implementation these trajectories have. Modernization is the dominant path driven by governments and corporations, transformation efforts by civil society actors are marginalized, and control is currently becoming more influential as a trajectory in the wake of a renaissance of strong nation-states. Secondly, this article works out the idea that sustainability, in the sense of an open future, is no longer achievable. Too many ecological burdens already exist, or can no longer be averted, so much so that one should be speaking instead about the politics of post-sustainability. It is highly probable that catastrophes and social collapses can no longer be prevented, and a rapid decarbonization of economies and societies in the coming years is so unlikely that the question thus arises as to how positive visions of the future for living together can still be derived from this. Finally, using the example of the rights of nature, it is discussed how there can, nevertheless, be forms of conviviality that could (albeit slowly) grow out of the multiple social and ecological crises and which are based on an amalgam of modernization, transformation, and control.

Disintegration and discourse: Cross-sectoral story-lines in the German water and forest debates

21. yüzyıl kimi iktisadi, siyasi ve toplumsal krizlere gebe olduğu gibi insanlık ve dünya için çok daha büyük bir tehdit olarak ekolojik krizle de karşı karşıyadır. Bu krizin atlatılması için bilim insanları çeşitli teknik ve uzmanlık gerektiren çalışmalar yapmaktadır. Oysa, krizin kökeni çok daha temelde, politik bir zeminde tartışılmalıdır. Bu makale bu savdan hareketle, ilk olarak gölgeli olarak nitelendirdiği çağdaş liberal demokrasinin temel dayanaklarını toplumsal ve siyasal yönden eleştirel olarak incelemektedir. Gölgeli demokrasilerin kavramsal ve fonksiyonel bir kriz içinde olduğunu göstermektedir. Bu suretle de çalışma, ekolojik kriz ile gölgeli demokrasi anlayışı arasında ilişkiler kurmaktadır. En nihayetinde çalışma Murray Bookchin'in toplumsal ekoloji kuramı perspektifinde gölgeli demokrasiden ideal bir demokrasiye geçiş için gerekli anlayış değişimine vurgu yapmaktadır.

Ecological crisis facing humanity began to emerge while entering the historical stage of capitalist development. Today's ecological problems are caused by the logic of capital gains. The capital's mercenary nature and the unlimited expansion trend of capitalist production will not only inevitably lead to the outbreak of the cyclical crisis of capitalism, but also to tremendous consumption and destruction of the natural environment and ecosystem. With the development of history, the capitalist system has been farther away from the natural historical process of human society, and put the development of human society into a horrific and dangerous situation, which, if neglected and unresolved, will ultimately destroy human civilization in the dual contradictions and conflicts of nature and man. The essence of socialism makes it a system possessing forces beyond capitalism. It can go beyond immediate interests and local interests, overcoming both the social crisis and ecological crisis of capitalism. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}