Ecological Citizenship (outside reading 2)

This article describes an argument for ecological citizenship as a way to integrate environmentally-friendly ideals into the civil society seen today. One section details the importance of an ecological citizenship and what exactly this entails. It says, “since we are able to think and act independently, we are individuals; but because we are necessarily interconnected, we are also members of both cosmos and community.” This reminds me of deep ecology and what it aims to recognize the self as. Madiraju and Brown’s notion is different, but it has the same root idea as deep ecology in that everything is connected and interdependent. However, deep ecologists’ aim is to have people recognize their “self” as one and the same as other beings. It seeks to eliminate the separation between “us” and “them.” I think Madiraju and Brown’s concept of how people should think of the “self”—there is still separation, but we recognize the connections—is more likely to catch on on a large scale because it is not too drastic of a change of our current views. I’m skeptical of deep ecology’s ability to become widespread because it requires a very different view of the world and our role in it. But, Madiraju and Brown’s notion of ecological citizenship could help more people to act environmentally friendly.

Madiraju, K. S., & Brown, P. G. (2014). Civil Society in the Anthropocene: A paradigm for localized ecological citizenship. Power, Justice and Citizenship: The Relationships of Power, 135-148.