Abstract Political ecology examines the interconnectedness of social, political, and ecological processes, offering critical insights into power dynamics, environmental governance, justice, and inequality. We examine the discipline of political ecology and its relevance in understanding the impacts of environmental changes, economic and colonial exploitation, and socioeconomic inequalities. We present an in-depth critical analysis of key debates and themes in contemporary political ecology: decolonial approaches and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, climate justice and uneven distribution of climate vulnerabilities, posthumanism and more-than-human governance, and Anthropocene and Capitalocene. This paper discusses the economic drivers and structural solutions to climate adaptation. By highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of political ecology, this study illustrates how recent advancements in the field contribute to the development of more equitable environmental governance and global sustainability initiatives. The study discusses the implications and future directions of political ecology, emphasising the need to decolonise the field, address intersecting social categories, apply Indigenous knowledge and knowledge co-production, engage with environmental justice movements, and critically examine AI-mediated climate governance and decision-making.

This paper explores the concept of self-realization, the basic norm of deep ecology, and argues that it can be understood as an epistemic virtue. In the tradition of the deep ecology movement, self-realization has been portrayed as a lifelong process through which one can expand one's identity and realize a deep connection with all human and non-human entities of nature. However, the moral status of self-realization remains controversial. Existing literature on deep ecology has largely focused on whether self-realization is morally neutral or inherently moral. However, it overlooks the epistemic dimension of self-realization. In order to address this gap, this paper draws insights from virtue epistemology. Using such insights, it conducts a conceptual and critical analysis of the existing literature to determine whether the norm of self-realization can be considered as a character-based epistemic virtue. Through this analysis, this paper argues that self-realization qualifies as an epistemic virtue. In addition, this paper demonstrates that the virtue of self-realization promotes the cultivation of other epistemic virtues and the eradication of ecological ignorance. IUBAT Review—A Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 8(2): 205-216

The idea of rewarding individuals and institutions for environmentally responsible behavior has evolved gradually alongside global concerns over environmental degradation. Green Credit Programs represent a policy innovation that links ecological conservation with economic incentives. This paper traces the historical development of green credit concepts, examining their roots in early environmental movements, economic theories of incentives, and evolving models of sustainable governance. It highlights how green credit programs emerged as tools to balance development with environmental protection and discusses their growing relevance in contemporary climate policy frameworks.

ABSTRACT Amid intensifying climate crises and the politicization of environmental issues, cross-national evidence on self-reported trust in environmental protection movements remains scarce. Scholarship on the gendered politics of social movements shows that women are often cast as pro-environmental and symbolic actors in environmental justice, frequently mobilized through frames of care and anti-violence. Yet whether framing translates into patterns of trust in the civic actors leading environmental advocacy is unclear. This study addresses the gap by centering environmental protection movements within institutional-trust research and analyzing how gender shapes trust alongside national conditions (GDP per capita and carbon emissions). Using five waves of the World Values Survey from 89 countries, 175 country-waves, and 127,967 respondents, multilevel models show that women report higher trust than men, with small magnitude effects across countries. These findings extend institutional-trust research, illustrating how gendered contexts in social movements activism shape complex interactions within global environmental protection advocacy. Additionally, taken-for-granted magnitude effects on assumptions about the relationship between feminization of environmental activism, behaviours and participation need to be reconsidered.

The climate crisis is coming with such severe consequences that it is no longer possible to escape responsibility. Considering that the stage of “let the polluter pay” has long passed and no serious steps have been taken in this regard, humanity is at a decision point in the face of environmental crises. Either a balance will be established in the relationship between society and ecology, or we will surrender to the climate crisis and other deepening crises. The climate movements include a strong call to action to re-establish the balance between society and ecology in this dilemma. This article examines the development of global environmental policies, the inadequacies of states in combating the climate crisis, and the alternative transformation strategies poposed by new wave environmental movements such as Fridays for Future, Extinction Rebellion, and Blockadia. It also explores the connection between these movements and Ernst Bloch's concept of “concrete utopia”. Methodologically, this descriptive study is grounded in the theoretical framework of environmental movements, international environmental conferences, and Bloch’s utopian thought, using literature review and document analysis as its primary methods. The study concludes that these movements approach the climate crisis on the basis of scientific reality, critically address the structural problems of the current system, and propose concrete, actionable alternatives. Inspired by Bloch’s concrete utopia, they focus on real solutions that can create change today, rather than imagining distant ideals. With inclusive structures that unite people of different identities and generations, these movements go beyond protest and act as powerful forces for social and ecological transformation.

This research article, titled "Marxism and Capitalism in the 21st Century: A Comparative Study", critically analyzes the continued dominance of capitalist structures in the contemporary world and the significances associated with them. The research shows that while capitalism has made remarkable achievements in technology, production, and economic expansion, it has institutionalized inequality, worker insecurity, environmental crises, and capitalist control over the democratic process. Methodologically, the manuscript adopted a qualitative, descriptive, and comparative approach, relying exclusively on secondary sources such as books, journal articles, and credible academic reports. The dominance of multinational corporations and international financial institutions in developing countries has created new forms of dependency and inequality, which Marxists understand as neo-colonialism. In addition, the profit-oriented nature of capitalist structures has accelerated climate change and the depletion of natural resources, which poses serious challenges to environmental justice. Marxists view these problems as impossible to solve through reformist or technological means alone, and point to the need for structural change. The labor movement, alternative politics, and environmental justice movements have intensified the ideological and practical challenge to capitalism. This research concludes that while capitalism is still dominant, its internal contradictions have made the search for alternative models inevitable. It argues that social justice, equality, participatory democracy, and long-term solutions to environmental challenges can be found.

Environmental issues, particularly plastic waste pollution in marine ecosystems, have become a global concern. This study explores the transformation of Pandawara, a local environmental movement in Indonesia, into a transnational advocacy initiative. Pandawara has effectively utilized digital platforms, particularly social media, to raise awareness, mobilize public participation, and establish collaborations with international environmental organizations. Using the concepts of productive power by Barnett and Duvall, as well as the Transnational Advocacy Network (TAN) and Transnational Social Movement (TSM) approaches in International Relations, this research analyzes how Pandawara has evolved beyond its local context. The study employs a descriptive-analytical method based on literature review and digital content analysis. Findings indicate that Pandawara's strategies—comprising field actions, community education, and digital campaigning—have successfully engaged a global audience. Collaborations with foreign NGOs and participation in international environmental programs highlight the movement’s growing transnational impact. However, challenges remain in policy advocacy, as Pandawara has yet to influence governmental regulations. This study contributes to understanding how grassroots environmental movements can leverage digital activism to achieve transnational influence. Strengthening policy engagement and expanding global partnerships are recommended to enhance Pandawara’s long-term sustainability as a transnational environmental movement.

This paper examines how Serbia’s anti-lithium environmental protests, centred on opposition to Rio Tinto’s Jadar lithium mine, are situated within the country’s broader history of civic mobilisation and democratic struggle for change. As part of the methodology, this study draws upon social movement theory (particularly the concepts of political opportunity structures and cultural framing) alongside cultural resistance scholarship, which explores the relationship between protest music and contemporary socio-political events. It also engages with environmental democracy frameworks, focusing on public participation rights. Together, these theoretical perspectives are useful in demonstrating how protest music operates as both a cultural and political resource in processes of social and political transformation. Furthermore, drawing on qualitative discourse analysis of news reports, non-governmental organisations’ (NGO) statements, activist interviews, and two popular protest songs, “Fire in Darkness” and “March Out of My Yard” (Vatra u mraku and Marš iz moje avlije), the study investigates the role of cultural expression, such as music, in sustaining activism. It also considers the fusing impact of the November 2024 Novi Sad railway station tragedy, which catalysed a broader pro-democracy coalition by linking environmental grievances to systemic governance failures. The paper argues that the Serbian case illustrates how environmental movements in post-socialist contexts can evolve into multi-issue campaigns for democratic accountability, with protest music and popular cultural production acting as a unifying force across social divides.

The public's “Right to Know” has been a motivating refrain for the environmental movement from its modern origins. While these policies may be an important component of environmental progress, it is critical to acknowledge the history and ongoing impacts of informating environmentalism. For example, how may information disclosures normalize ongoing harms to communities? How much energy is devoted to tracking the obvious (industries are producing pollution), and how much energy is spent on solutions to those predictable problems? How do data structures replicate power structures and continue to favor industry? Once data are “available,” whose burden is it to use it to clear a burden of proof? Alongside the Right to Know, should we also codify an Obligation to Know? In posing this question, we ask: Who is shielded from knowing about the environmental impacts of their behaviors, and how do patterns of unknowing perpetuate injustices? In this practice-based project report, we detail our process in developing Obligation to Know principles for the cocreation of environmental data justice communication tools through community partnerships in Boston, MA and Denver, CO. We draw lessons from these worked examples and identify limits to using a relational approach for environmental justice communication and datafication.

The rapid development of social media has changed the way individuals obtain information, form opinions, and take action, including on environmental issues. This study examines the influence of digital campaigns on social media on increasing environmental awareness and environmentally friendly behavior. Through an analysis of digital campaign content and a survey of active social media users, it was found that social media plays a significant role in environmental education and advocacy. Creative, interactive, and evidence-based campaign content has been shown to be more effective in influencing attitudes and actions, such as reducing the use of single-use plastics, managing waste, and choosing environmentally friendly products. The results show that active participation in digital campaigns not only increases knowledge but also strengthens social norms that encourage collective behavioral change. However, campaign effectiveness is influenced by trust in the information source, digital literacy levels, and the consistency of the message. This study underscores the significance of collaboration among communities, environmental activists, and social media platforms in expanding the reach of campaigns and fostering sustainable behavioral change. Thus, social media can be a strategic tool in strengthening environmental movements in the digital era.

As a subgroup of the environmental movement “Extinction Rebellion,” “Extinction Rebellion Buddhists” are a unique religious community in the United Kingdom. While at first glance the group might seem to align with broader trends occurring in the religious landscape, where Buddhists are increasingly involving themselves in political issues, they in fact encapsulate a distinct phenomenon in contemporary Buddhism: participation in direct-action activism. Through public, collective meditation, the group brings a distinctive emphasis to “mass civil disruption.” Built on nearly two years of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper explores the ways in which Extinction Rebellion Buddhists challenge the perceived limits of Buddhism’s involvement in social concerns, pushing the boundaries of how “engaged” an “engaged Buddhist” can be. This paper aims to situate the group’s practices within the ongoing dialogue surrounding the limits and parameters of engaged Buddhism, arguing that XRB exemplify the ever-diversifying relationship between Buddhism and social change.

Drinking water pollution, climate change, soil pollution, resource depletion and other environmental issues are serious concerns worldwide. Many countries implement policies and educational programs to enhance environmental awareness in society aiming to achieve environmental sustainability. Developing countries, including Yemen, face significant challenges in raising environmental awareness, and ongoing wars contributed to political instability, economic hardships, weak enforcement of environmental regulations, and limited educational programs causing environmental concerns to be frequently overlooked. The environmental effects of the ongoing war in Yemen are a major concern. Assessing individual’s knowledge of environmental issues possess regarding the environment is essential for establishing the sustainability of a community. This will foster a robust national environmental movement aimed at conserving the environment through the resolution of environmental issues. The present study intends to assess the students’ awareness level toward national environmental issues including “environmental impacts of wars in Yemen” and global environmental issues. The study was conducted among undergraduate and postgraduate students of the University of Science and Technology (USTY), Sana’a, Yemen. The survey covered 407 students from 7 faculties having 30 undergraduate programs and 10 postgraduate programs. The questionnaire consisting of 25 questions to measure the students’ knowledge and awareness level of national and global environmental issues. The study reveals that, around 42.71% of students being aware about national environmental issues while only 29.70% for global environmental issues. The study findings expose that the students' mean awareness level regarding national and global environmental issues falls within level 3, classified as, ‘limited awareness’ indicating that students may be aware of the problem but not aware of its causes and effects. The students’ average awareness level toward national environmental issues are higher than that in global environmental issues. The students’ awareness level for most of the national environmental issue including ‘environmental effects of war’ falls within level 4, classified as ‘moderated awareness’ indicating that students may be aware of the problem and its causes but not aware of its effects while, awareness of global environmental issue varies, with an average fall within level 3, classified as, ‘limited awareness’. On the other hand, female shows higher awareness than male and the students from the Faculty of Medicine shows highest awareness, followed by those from Engineering. As for the academic level, third year students exhibit the highest awareness, followed by second year student. In terms of degree level, postgraduate students show highest awareness than undergraduate students. The results of the study are consistent with related studies pertaining to environmental awareness in Yemen and other developing countries. These findings highlight the necessity of improving environmental education and awareness programs at universities, where environmental understanding empowers students to respond to global environmental challenges and participate in sustainable efforts.

This study investigates the online communicative practices of the grassroots environmental movement #SaveHasdeoForest, in order to investigate their stylistic traits and communicative strategies. Through an integrated approach comprising ecostylistics, ecolinguistics, multimodal studies and postcolonial studies, the analysis shows that background knowledge about (post)colonial policies against the Indigenous peoples of India is necessary to fully decode the texts analysed; that multimodality, oppositions and translinguistic practices are major stylistic traits in the digital communication of this movement; and that engagement and persuasion are its main communicative functions.

The global environmental movement has suffered greatly from the negative impacts of greenwashing, which is the act of misleadingly deceptively marketing and advertising environmental promises that a product, service, or company does not fulfil. India has started to gain increasing levels of green consumerism, but the concept greenwashing poses a double threat because it both creates an illusion of being environmentally friendly while side-lining the actual environmental protection efforts. The market is distorted because corporations that greenwash gain an unreasonable competitive edge while eroding customer trust and reducing the market sustainability economically friendly practices. This paper examines the impacts of greenwashing on Indians consumers by studying the environmental claims and their impact on purchasing and sustainability perception. As well as, analyzing how the legal Indian mechanisms such as the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, Competition Act of 2002, and SEBI ESG Disclosure Guidelines put forth by SEBI address greenwashing claims. Regardless of such regulations, many firms still take advantage of vague sustainability promises and face no consequences. This study exposes the marketing deception regulation loopholes that allow such practices while also determining the effectiveness of government bodies tasked with eliminating greenwashing. Examining international legal structures, such as the Federal Trade Commission Green Guides in the US and the EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, reveals how India could improve its policies to combat greenwashing. The research emphasizes the need for increased corporate responsibility alongside stronger systems of consumer protection, thus encouraging the adoption of a more holistic legal and regulatory framework. A comprehensive legal approach not only defends consumers from false environmental claims, but also fosters better sustainability. Increasing greenwashing regulation will guarantee that a commitment to the environment is maintained as a genuine corporate value and not a strategic marketing objective.

Over the past decade, women in post-socialist cities have significantly expanded their influence in grassroots environmental initiatives. This paper examines different forms of women’s advocacy for nature protection in cities. Interviews with women involved in grassroots initiatives targeting environmental justice issues in four Polish metropolitan areas identified motivations and the tools they use in their fight. The study also explores the outcomes of women’s involvement in environmental protection activities. The results are summarised in the form of a model of women’s engagement towards a better urban environment. Moreover, the manuscript addresses the lack of empirical, gender-sensitive research on women’s experiences and roles in grassroots environmental justice movements in post-socialist urban environments. The analysis reveals multiple dimensions of environmental justice addressed in women’s activism, including access to green and blue areas, participation in decision-making, advocacy for legislative change and public awareness-building. While the motherhood narrative remains present, participants primarily frame their engagement through the ethics of care and a perception of nature as an equal partner. Women’s involvement emerges as a manifestation of agency and strategic action rather than victimhood, with a key role played by affective strategies, such as invoking empathy and emotional attachment to nature. The study contributes to ecofeminist debates by demonstrating a coexistence in the post-socialist women’s environmental activism of cultural, deep-green, and anarcho-ecofeminist strands. It also advances the theory of environmental justice by showing how distributive and procedural claims intersect with the ethics of care, producing an intersectional model of justice adapted to post-socialist urban conditions.

Abstract This article is an environmental history of Anaconda Copper Company’s disposal of hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic waste from its Potrerillos and El Salvador mines into Chile’s Río Salado and Bahía de Chañaral. First, it uncovers a long history of disputes between copper companies and workers who panned the river for tailings. This early water war in Chile was shaped by competing understandings of water’s legal status. While workers claimed rights under the water law’s definition of water as a bien nacional de uso común , mining companies invoked the mining code and contended that the river’s water and waste were private property under civil law. Mining companies claimed rivers’ water by treating rivers in legal terms as mines and property of the state, bienes fiscales , that could be conceded as private property. They argued that human engineering of rivers in dams and canals, and through pollution, made rivers into a commodity and a form of property akin to subsoil minerals. Second, the article describes how, during the social reformist government of Eduardo Frei (1964–1970) and the revolutionary government of Salvador Allende (1970–1973), the state asserted control over Chile’s waterways while balancing centralized state management of water in the name of development with local users’ claims of long-standing riparian use rights. Third, the article traces the long history of the state and mining companies treating water as an economic commodity, often superseding local use rights, and argues that this history built the foundation for the later privatization of water during the Pinochet dictatorship. The article demonstrates that the privatization of water in Chile under Pinochet had its origins in the resolution of the tension between water and civil law in favor of extending property rights to water and building as a subsidy to transnational mining companies. This meant rolling back state management of rivers and often eroding local users’ water rights. Finally, the article concludes by examining the town of Chañaral’s successful 1987 lawsuit against the El Salvador mine to win an injunction against further pollution of the Salado as part of a moment of broader Latin American “environmental constitutionalism” during the 1980s. While this legal victory reflected a significant change in environmental law and an emergent environmentalist movement in Chile and across Latin America, it struck a blow to hundreds of workers who depended on extracting tailings from the river for their livelihood and who responded with unsuccessful protests.

ABSTRACT Using a case of labour-environmental conflicts, this paper aims to understand how generative understandings of class at once aid and limit inquiries into the nature and dynamics of inter-movement relationships between trade unions and grassroots environmental movements in the Eloor-Edayar industrial region in Kerala. Drawing on a combination of the extended case method and constructionist grounded theory, the article employs a postcolonial ethnographic approach to study the intersection of structural and micromobilization processes discussed here. The analysis delves deeper into the fragmented formation of the working-class, both in terms of economic interests and identities, and how that manifests in collective social action. In doing so, the paper underscores the need to move beyond traditional class analysis to conceive the working class as a heterogeneous category to amplify the possibilities of forming broader coalitions and solidarity networks among workers to battle environmental crises. However, the analysis shows that such an exercise is often thwarted by the hegemonic coalitions existing between the state, institutionalized trade unions, and industrial capital.

ABSTRACT This paper intends to revisit some of the environmental movements in India to examine how environmental exploitation intersects with the social locations of those affected, drawing on insights from prominent environmentalists and historians like Madhav Gadgil and Ramachandra Guha. Their work underscores that environmental movements in India often come from the grassroots, driven by the poor. In countries like India, socio-economic marginalisation and poverty intensify the impact of environmental degradation on the poor. Moreover, the concept of development in India remains largely detached from social welfare. Similarly, the compensations for the displacement and other damages caused by unsustainable development are also highly influenced by social hierarchies like caste. The significant involvement of participant protesters from socially and economically marginalised communities in both historical and ongoing environmental movements highlights their vulnerability and underscores the deep-seated inequalities they confront. Their active participation reflects not only their struggle against environmental degradation but also their fight to reclaim and protect their lost land.

The politics of the coming ecological catastrophe has been widely debated within recent sociology. There is within this context an urgent need to develop more critical and pedagogic forms of theoretical reflection that are connected to radical social movements, education and more critical intellectual movements for change. In this respect, I explore an approach drawn from critical theory and critical pedagogy centred on the philosophical contributions of Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse’s critique of one-dimensional forms of thinking, ecological destruction and the need for more resistant sensibilities remains significant in a world over-run by consumerism and the destructive logic of capitalism. Despite Marcuse’s location within the radical 1960s, many of these elements have strong connections to current intellectual positions and radical ecological movements including ideas around de-growth, the need to question Western rationality and engage in oppositional movements. Marcuse’s emphasis on negative reason, political economy and what I call a civilisation-based politics continues to ask many of the important questions faced by a critical sociology in the early twenty-first century. While these points are all well made by Marcuse, I also seek to point to some of his shortcomings and suggest that inevitably our times are also constituted somewhat differently.

This article examines the persistent problem of environmental injustice and degradation in Iran from a peripheral and subaltern perspective. The systematic extraction of oil, gas, water, and various minerals from peripheral regions has reached a critical juncture. Despite the marginalization of non-Persian national communities, exploitation of their natural resources, and regional destruction, the environmental justice movement has fostered civic activism, empowering minorities such as Kurds and Arabs to articulate their grievances regarding state policies in their regions.