The Amazon fires are Bolsonaro’s political crimes and call for urgent action

By "Political Ecology from the South/Abya Yala" Working Group of the Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO) (scroll down for translations into Español, Portuges, Français, e Italiano; you can add your signature here) The recent images of fires in the Amazon, in Pantanal, Cerrado and Chaco as well as the smoke clouds hovering over São …

Political ecologies of urban nature in Bogotá, Colombia

by Germán A. Quimbayo Ruiz In Bogotá, urban nature suffers from pressures for urban development, profit-making and corruption. But it has also been mobilised as a legitime vehicle in pursuit of a more just city-region. Bogotá is facing several environmental challenges, from air pollution and public transport to continuous pushes for profit-driven urban development, contested …

New Master’s in Degrowth

The activist-academic collective Research & Degrowth has announced a new master's in Political Ecology, with a specialization in Degrowth and Environmental Justice.

Are there alternative trajectories of technological development? A political ecology perspective

by Vasilis Kostakis* Alternative technological systems could develop through the confluence of digital commons, peer-to-peer relations and local manufacturing capacity - but we need the integration of a political ecology perspective to face and overcome the challenges this transition implies Humans do not control modern technology: the technological system has colonized their imagination and it …

Commons and Contradictions: The Political Ecology of Elinor Ostrom

By Derek Wall* Elinor Ostrom (1933-2012) won a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for her work on the commons.  Her work is hugely inspiring but difficult to fit into established categorized. Some political ecologists have criticized her as too conservative or managerial. Here, I will attempt here to outline why, despite these criticisms, I …

Climate politics in the long run

By Romain Felli*.  Stephen Schneider’s 1976 book The Genesis Strategy offers a stunning preview of contemporary debates over climate policies.   According to philosopher of science Bruno Latour, the rise of climate scepticism in public debates reflects the lack of political engagement from climate scientists. He argues that, having restrained themselves to a discourse of …

UniverSSE 2017: “From resisting (a world) to creating (a new one)”

By Bengi Akbulut * The 4th Congress of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS)-Europe, UniverSSE, took place in Athens last month--with plenty of food for thought for political ecologists.  “We are experiencing the derailing of globalised neoliberalism”, read the framework of UniverSSE— a feeling shared by many political ecologists. And it …

Thinkery on water, anti-privatization struggles and the commons

By Patrick Bresnihan * Throughout the globe a revolution is taking place as people organise to resist the privatisation of water. In a spirit of shared struggle against privatisation (in its many forms), on 23rd June a day-long 'Thinkery' at the University College Cork, Ireland, will explore differences in approach and attitude in anti-privatisation struggles …

Struggles over urban greenspace in San Juan, Puerto Rico: Reconnecting ecology and democracy

The story of how a small group of neighbors in the suburbs of San Juan, Puerto Rico, came together to beautify their neighbourhood and restore a small remnant of forest by planting trees; and how in the process of their struggle, they become ‘politicized’ and integrated into a larger movement challenging the political economy of urban …

Campania grassroots movements: lessons from 15 years of environmental struggle

Social mobilizations in Campania are changing the political, economic, cultural and ecological landscapes of the region. Their strategies and practices draw a path of resistance and reappropriation that can inspire environmental movements in Italy and elsewhere. The 15 year-long grassroots mobilizations, which emerged in reaction to waste (mis)management and illegal disposal in the Campania region of Southern Italy, represent …