The Environmental Turning Point: Transcending a Movement to the Fourth Wave & Beyond
University of Toronto at Scarborough, Bachelors of Arts (Honors)
Undergraduate Major Paper (July 29, 2011)
ANTD31 Advanced Research in Anthropology, Dr. Thembela Kepe
Are traditional environmental politics at it’s end? Throughout the environmental movement’s two hundred year history, numerous victories have been won and the tactics have evolved to tackle the crises of those times. However, today critics argue traditional environmental activism is no longer effective in the face the most challenging environmental issue humans have ever faced – climate change. The question must be asked: How must the environmental movement itself be challenged?
Emily Hunter argues in her thesis that a rebirth is taking place, transforming environmentalism past its own limitations and interconnecting with so-called “separate movements,” such as economic and social justice movements. This “movement of movements,” as Naomi Klein calls it, is being lead by youth with particularly Generation Y. To support her argument, this paper dives into the history, present and future of the environmentalism, suggesting that the movement is morphing into an entirely new animal.
