Ecologism and Basic Income

Abstract

As we enter the next century, ecological thought resembles a theoretical infant who possesses a wordly sense of urgency about what needs to be done to save (post-)industrial society from itself. Whereas feminism now has one foot inside the mainstream, ecological thought remains very much an outsider. Its position as a relative newcomer is a potential source of strength and weakness. The strength derives from ecologism’s ability to pull the rug out from under the feet of mainstream ideologies by detecting a common denominator, e.g. a joint commitment to environmentally destructive growth, which only it, ecologism, is capable of identifying and curtailing. The weakness relates to the possibility that ecologism might well remain an outsider: by refusing to make connections with like-minded thinkers in other ideological camps, by being too utopian or by failing to follow feminism’s lead in gaining a degree of ‘rebellious respectability’. If ecologism is to succeed in its project then the development of Green social policies is going to be of crucial importance.

In this chapter we shall not be discussing issues concerning the Third World although I am aware of how important this subject is to ecological critiques. As in the previous chapter, I shall assume that ecologism is not ‘beyond Left and Right’ and that it is most profitably associated with the political Left, as well as with feminist ideas. For a more detailed discussion see Fitzpatrick (1998a).