'Green politics' or 'Green ideology' is a
political ideology which places a high importance on
ecological and
environmentalist goals, and on achieving these goals through broad-based,
grassroots,
participatory democracy and a
consensus decision-making. Green politics is advocated by supporters of the
Green movement, which has been active through
Green parties in many nations since the late 1970s and early 1980s. The political term ''Green'', a translation of the
German ''Grün'', was coined by
die Grünen, the first successful Green party, in the 1970s.
"Greens" claim that their ideology represents a fundamentally new way of addressing societal and political problems, and that green politics is therefore not classifiable along the traditional
left-right political spectrum. While green parties are often characterized as
left-wing parties, this is not always the case. In fact, different currents within green politics can be described as variously left-wing or
right-wing. In addition to ecological issues, green politics is concerned with issues of
social justice,
civil rights and
nonviolence.
Influences
Adherents to green politics consider it to be a moral point of view and not simply a political ideology. Green politics draws its ethical stance from a variety of sources, from the values of
indigenous peoples, to the ethics of
Mohandas Gandhi,
Spinoza and
Crick. These people influenced green thought in their advocacy of long-term "seven generation" foresight, and on the personal responsibility of every individual to make moral choices.
Green platforms draw terminology from the science of
ecology, and policy from
Environmentalism,
Ecosophy,
Eco-socialism,
Progressivism,
Feminism,
Pacifism,
Centrism,
libertarian socialism,
Social Ecology and even sometimes
libertarian survivalists. In the 1970s, as these movements grew in influence, green politics arose as a new philosophy which synthesized their goals.
Statements of principles
Since green politics emerged as an ideology, it has been defined by a few key statements of green principles. The German Greens drafted the earliest and most influential statement of this kind, called the
Four Pillars of the Green Party. The Four Pillars have been repeated by many green parties worldwide as a foundational statement of the green ideology:
#
Ecology ("Sustainability")
#
Social justice (sometimes "Social and Global Equality and Economic Justice")
#
Grassroots democracy
#
Non-violence
In
2000, the
Green Party of the United States expanded the Four Pillars into its "Ten Key Values". In addition to the Four Pillars mentioned above, the GPUS states that green politics also includes:
#
Decentralization and local control of many decisions now made at the national level
#"Community-based economics", defined as offering "meaningful work with dignity" to all members of the community
#
Feminism
#
Respect for diversity
#Personal and global responsibility
#
Sustainability and future focus
In 2001, the
Global Greens were organized as an international Green movement. The
Global Greens Charter identified six guiding principles, all of which echo the Four Pillars and the Ten Key Values:
#
Ecological wisdom
#Social justice
#Participatory democracy
#Non-violence
#Sustainability
#Respect for diversity
Together, these similar lists of principles have come to define the relatively young ideology of green politics.
Green issues
Economics
Green economics focuses on the importance of the health of the
biosphere to
human well-being. Consequently, most Greens distrust conventional
capitalism, as it tends to emphasize
economic growth while ignoring ecological health; the "
full cost" of economic growth often includes damage to the biosphere, which is unacceptable according to green politics. Green economics considers such growth to be "
uneconomic growth"— material increase that nonetheless lowers overall quality of life.
Some Greens refer to
productivism,
consumerism and
scientism as "grey", as contrasted with "green", economic views. "Grey" implies age, concrete, and lifelessness.
Therefore, adherents to green politics advocate economic policies designed to safeguard the environment. Greens want governments to stop
subsidizing companies that waste resources or pollute the natural world, subsidies that Greens refer to as "
dirty subsidies". Some currents of green politics place
meat and
dairy subsidies in this category, as they may harm human health. On the contrary, Greens look to a
green tax shift that will encourage both producers and consumers to make ecologically friendly choices.
Green economics is on the whole
anti-globalist. Economic
globalization is considered a threat to well-being, which will replace natural environments and local cultures with a single trade economy, termed the
global economic monoculture.
Since green economics emphasizes biospheric health, an issue outside the traditional left-right spectrum, different currents within green politics incorporate ideas from
socialism and
capitalism. Greens on the Left are often identified as
Eco-socialists, who merge
ecology and
environmentalism with
socialism and
Marxism and blame the capitalist system for environmental degradation, social injustice, inequality and conflict.
Eco-capitalists, on the other hand, believe that the
free market system, with some modification, is capable of addressing ecological problems.
Participatory democracy
Since the beginning, green politics has emphasized local,
grassroots-level political activity and decision-making. According to its adherents, it is crucial that citizens play a direct role in the decisions that influence their lives and their environment. Therefore, green politics seeks to increase the role of
deliberative democracy, based on direct citizen involvement and
consensus decision making, wherever it is feasible.
Green politics also encourages political action on the individual level, such as
ethical consumerism, or buying things that are made according to environmentally ethical standards. Indeed, many green parties emphasize individual and grassroots action at the local and regional levels over
electoral politics. Historically, green parties have grown at the local level, gradually gaining influence and spreading to regional or provincial politics, only entering the national arena when there is a strong network of local support.
In addition, many Greens believe that governments should not levy taxes against strictly local production and trade. Some Greens advocate new ways of organizing authority to increase local control, including
urban secession and
bioregional democracy.
Other issues
The
sunflower is an internationally recognized symbol of Green politics.
Green politics on the whole is opposed to
nuclear power and the buildup of
persistent organic pollutants, based on a strict adherence to the
precautionary principle, by which technologies are rejected unless they can be proven to not cause significant harm to the health of living things or the
biosphere. In
Germany and
Sweden programs have been initiated to shut down all nuclear plants (known as nuclear power phase-out).
In the spirit of nonviolence, Green politics opposes the
War on Terrorism and the curtailment of
civil rights, focusing instead on nurturing
deliberative democracy in war-torn regions and the construction of a
civil society with an increased role for women.
Greens are ambivalent about the
War on Drugs in the
United States and
Europe. The USA GP's platform advocates something other than drug peace: a "firm approach" against the "trafficking in hard drugs", although it notes that drug crimes have "too much emphasis".
It is rare for a Green platform to propose lower fossil fuel prices, unlabelled
genetically modified organisms,
tax,
trade, and
tariff liberalizations that remove protections for
ecoregions or
communities.
In keeping with their commitment to the preservation of diversity, greens are often committed to the maintenance and protection of indigenous communities, languages, and traditions. An example of this is the
Irish Green Party's commitment to the preservation of the
Irish Language.
[1]
Currents
Green politics is usually said to include the
green anarchism,
eco-anarchism,
anti-nuclear and
peace movements - although these often claim not to be aligned with any party. Some claim it also includes
feminism,
pacifism and the
animal rights movements. Most Greens support special policy measures to empower women, especially mothers; to oppose war and de-escalate conflicts and stop proliferating technologies useful in conflict or likely to lead to conflict, and such radical measures as
Great Ape personhood.
Greens on the Left adhere to
Eco-socialism, an ideology that combines
ecology,
environmentalism,
socialism and
Marxism to criticise the capitalist system as the cause of ecological crises, social exclusion, inequality and conflict. Many Green Parties are avowedly eco-socialist but most Green Parties around the world have or have had a large
Eco-socialist membership. This has led some on the right to refer to Greens as "watermelons" — green on the outside, red in the middle.
[2]
Despite this stereotype, some centrist "right" Greens follow more
geo-libertarian views which emphasize
natural capitalism — and shifting taxes away from value created by labor or service and charging instead for human consumption of the wealth created by the natural world. For example, the
Independent Green Party of Virginia is fairly
conservative on fiscal matters, while supporting the use of rail transportation to reduce traffic and pollution. That said, Greens may view the processes by which living beings compete for mates, homes, and food, ecology, and the cognitive and political sciences very differently. These differences tend to drive debate on ethics, formation of policy, and the public resolution of these differences in leadership races. There is no single ''Green Ethic''.
Critique of green policy
Critics sometimes claim that the universal and immersive nature of
ecology, and the necessity of converting some of it to serve humanity, predisposes the movement towards authoritarian and intrusive policies, particularly with regard to the means of production, as these sustain human life.
Skeptics point out that industrial nations are in the best position to adopt state-of-the-art
clean energy and corresponding high pollution standards — and that Green Parties advocate going against
economic progress. However, Greens respond that industrial nations are still those which use the most resources, and contribute most to
climate change, and that as the poor world develops, we must help it develop with renewable rather than finite/carbon-based energy sources.
A further criticism is that Green parties are strongest among the well educated in the developed world, while many policies could be seen as operating against the interests of the poor both in rich countries and globally. For example, some Greens support increases in the indirect taxation of goods ("
ecotax") which they perceive to be polluting. This can result in the less well off paying a higher share of the tax burden because more of their income goes to purchasing essentials. Green defenders of the Green Tax shift respond that the poor are often the first and greatest victims of environmental degradation and do not have the resources to adapt or move away. Protecting ecosystems therefore protects the poor even more than the rich who can better adapt or move. Furthermore, equity positive tax or refund adjustments can be made to the progressive income tax system to compensate for any socially regressive consequences of the green tax shift. Globally, Green opposition to heavy industry is seen by critics as acting against the interests of rapidly industrialising poor countries such as
China or
Thailand. A counter view is that emerging nations from the South would benefit environmentally and economically given the rising cost of fossil fuels by leap-frogging the industrial stage and moving directly to the post-industrial stage. Green participation in the
anti-globalisation movement, and the leading role taken by Green parties in countries such as the
United States in opposing free trade agreements, also leads critics to argue that Greens are against opening up rich country markets to goods from the developing world, although many Greens would argue that they are in favour of trade justice - Fair trade over Free Trade. Contrary to the above view, Greens in Europe advocate the lowering of trade barriers and argue for the elimination of export subsidies for agricultural products in the industralised nations.
Critics argue that Greens have a
Luddite view of technology, opposing technologies such as
genetic modification which their critics see as positive. Greens have often taken the lead in raising concerns about
public health issues such as
obesity which critics see as a modern form of
moral panic. Whereas a technophobic point of view can be found in the early Green movement and parties, Greens today reject the accusation of Luddism, countering that their policies of sustainable growth encourage 'clean' technological innovation like renewable energy and anti-pollution technology.
References
1. http://www.greenparty.ie/library/discussion_documents/gaeilge_staidph_ip_ar
2. [1]
See also
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Activism
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Eco-socialism
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Ecological humanities
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Environmentalism
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Green economics
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Green liberalism
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Green syndicalism
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Republicans for Environmental Protection
External links
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Global Greens Charter, Canberra 2001
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California Green Archives
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''Ecology and Society'' - book on politics and sociology of environmentalism
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Dark green politics
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