UDTR Global Rights of Nature Radar

Toward a postapocalyptic environmentalism? Responses to loss and visions of the future in climate activism

Identification

Public canonical key

doi:10.1177/2514848618793331

Authors

Carl Cassegård · Håkan Thörn

Reported year

2018

Reported language

en

Source type

article

First detected

2026-11-09T19:07:01.668843+00:00

Last metadata observation

2026-11-09T19:14:08.179422+00:00

Last HTTP verification

Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of Gothenburg

Documentary abstract — original language

The environmental movement has stood out compared to other movements through its future-oriented pessimism: dreams of a better or utopian future have been less important as a mobilizing tool than fear of future catastrophes. Apocalyptic images of future catastrophes still dominate much of environmentalist discourse. Melting polar caps, draughts, hurricanes, floods, and growing chaos are regularly invoked by activists as well as establishment figures. This apocalyptic discourse has, however, also been challenged—not only by a future-oriented optimism gaining ground among established environmental organizations, but also by the rise of what we call a postapocalyptic environmentalism based on the experience of irreversible or unavoidable loss. This discourse, often referring to the Global South, where communities are destroyed and populations displaced because of environmental destruction, is neither nourished by a strong sense of hope, nor of a future disaster, but a sense that the catastrophe is already ongoing. Taking our point of departure in the “environmentalist classics” by Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner, we delineate the contours of apocalyptic discourses in environmentalism and discuss how disillusionment with the institutions of climate governance has fed into increasing criticism of the apocalyptic imagery. We then turn to exploring the notion of postapocalyptic politics by focusing on how postapocalyptic narratives—including the utopias they bring into play, their relation to time–space, and how they construct collective identity—are deployed in political mobilizations. We focus on two cases of climate activism—the Dark Mountain project and the International Tribunal for the Rights of Nature—and argue that mobilizations based on accepting loss are possible through what we call the paradox of hope and the paradox of justice.

Identifiers

DOI

10.1177/2514848618793331

OPENAIRE

doi_dedup___::c353a1ed32e85ce4fec0150dc83ee318

OPENALEX

W2887062485

Documentary context

Documentary family

Scholarship

Source-reported types

Article · article

Natural entities mentioned

Mountain

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAIRE · Record 1

OpenAlex · Record 1 · Record 2

• DOI · https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618793331
• OpenAlex · https://openalex.org/W2887062485

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

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5 incoming references within the detected corpus

Documentary status

Relevance pending

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