Introduction: What is critical environmental politics

This chapter scrutinises critical environmental politics by discussing the meaning of each of the three terms. It argues that a critical approach should involve the questioning of institutions and social/power relations, and the framework whereby problems are identified and solutions devised, with particular attention to the transformative potential of alternative practices and social struggles. Such attitude foregrounds the importance of an immanent critique, namely a constant process of questioning its own boundaries - which have been mostly framed by Western standards - and a consideration of dominative assumptions which may be hidden within one’s intellectual posture. A critical approach to the environment is thus intimately tied to a critical take on politics, which entails a post-foundationalist framework and a critique of those instituted forms of conventional politics that contribute to mark the present socio-ecological crisis. Among such forms are the green economy and global climate governance based. The chapter proposes a conjunctural analysis of its rise in the early 1990s and its contemporary crisis, focussing on climate justice as a viable future scenario based on political ecology.