Environmentalism: It’s Complicated…

 

Extracts from Peter Dauvergne’s Environmentalism of the Rich (Part 3)

I would encourage you not to disregard Peter Dauvergne’s ‘Environmentalism of the Rich’ offhand based on the title. I will admit, the title does sound quite antagonistic, even to me (I probably wouldn’t have used such a title myself were I in his position. I have the same concern with how Paul Frijters and Cameron Murray frame their book ‘Game of Mates: How Favours Bleed the Nation’...it sounds antagonistic and off-putting, but that doesn't invalidate their arguments).

But as he says himself in the introduction of the book, environmentalism can’t be reduced to a simple dichotomy of rich and poor…

Note: the asterisk's are my own comments and references, shown below the quotes from the book. 

Environmentalism: Diverse, Fluid & Dynamic

“The defining feature of environmentalism of the rich is not the degree of affluence of the activists. It’s much more about the loss of a ‘spirit of outrage’* at the underlying structures of exploitation, inequality, and over-consumption that are causing the global sustainability crisis,** and by a spirit of compromise with solutions those at the World Economic Forum in Davos can live with, perhaps even give a standing ovation.

 
  

Nor in any way am I suggesting that all poor people or organisations in poor countries are opposing environmentalism of the rich. The ideas, values, and campaigns of environmentalism are too diverse – and the interactions across groups too fluid and dynamic – to capture in a simple dichotomy of rich and poor...”

 

 

“...the beliefs and actions of an individual or organisation [will not] always fit neatly into the category of environmentalism of the rich. The views and lifestyles of individual environmentalists naturally change over the years. So do the strategies and tactics of activist organisations. A few organisations have stayed on a strong course of resistance against the world order, such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Earth Liberation Front, and the Animal Liberation Front. But far more have been evolving – sometimes under new names, new leadership, and new offshoots – toward more moderate, cooperative organisations.

 

 

Over time the local chapters of international NGOs can end up all over the map of environmentalism. WWF, also known as the World Wildlife Fund and the World Wide Fund for Nature, is one of the more prominent NGOs advancing environmentalism of the rich, not only under it’s own brand, but also by partnering with industry to launch certification bodies, such as the Forest Stewardship Council and the Marine Stewardship Council.

 

 

Yet even here there’s considerable variation across its scores of offices around the world, with the US branch of WWF taking a particularly strong pro-market and pro-business stance. On the other hand the network of organisations under the umbrella of Friends of the Earth is more critical of environmentalism of the rich – and Friends of the Earth International has opposed free trade deals and called for stricter regulation of multinational corporations – but, again, there’s considerable diversity across branches, with shifts over time.”
~Peter Dauvergne, Environmentalism of the Rich

Notes:

*Some actively mock ‘outrage culture,’ and have a tendency of Rights Scolding (see my previous post Rights Scolding) those who show such outrage.

**Keith Payne, in his book ‘The Broken Ladder’ points out how inequality increases status competition, which in turn increases consumption in an attempt to “keep up with the Joneses”. Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett make similar observations in their book ‘The Inner Level’.

You can find some quotes from Keith Payne's 'The Broken Ladder' here:

https://nathaniel-opinion.blogspot.com/2020/02/inequality-makes-everyone-act-strange.html

And from Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett's book here:

https://nathaniel-opinion.blogspot.com/2020/02/inequality-meritocracy-and-status.html

https://nathaniel-opinion.blogspot.com/2019/12/absolute-poverty-vs-relative-deprivation.html

https://nathaniel-opinion.blogspot.com/2019/12/absolute-poverty-vs-relative-deprivation.html