Destabilizing Environmentalism: Epiphanal Change and the Emergence of Pro-Nuclear Environmentalism

Abstract

George Monbiot, the prominent British radical journalist and environmentalist, shocked his readers and contemporaries by responding to the nuclear power station accident at Fukushima in March 2011 by becoming actively supportive of nuclear energy. In this paper we present a discourse analysis of Monbiot's published articles which document this epiphanal transformation in his identity from orthodox to pro-nuclear environmentalist. Using a narrative theoretical approach which draws on Charles Taylor's conceptualization of identity as arising from the telling of (moral) stories, we show how an individual can actively draw on the complexity of existing discourses in a given field to create new discourses and so recreate their own, and potentially others', identities. Monbiot's story matters because of his role, as an environmental 'movement intellectual', in shaping environmental discourse to a greater degree than most individuals, as well as being an example of how any individual can make new sense of even deeply held convictions. We suggest that a new environmentalism is developing, painfully born from and through conflicts within the orthodoxy, embodied in and shaped by the personal struggles of the movement's own intellectuals.

Climate Change Denial and Public Relations

“…The most prominent of all, James Lovelock, published the article "Nuclear Power Is the Only Green Solution" in 2004, which can be considered the point when the nuclear renaissance campaign took off in the media. Other environmental celebrities that changed their opinion about nuclear power were Tom Wigley (BAS, 2014), one of the world's top climate researchers at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and George Montbiot (McCalman & Connelly, 2015), a world-famous British environmental writer. While the latter two have adopted similar stances, supporting nuclear energy as the least worst option to avoid particular threats (geo-engineering, in the case of Wigley, and economic collapse, for Montbiot) and omitting (or ignoring) the impracticability of a rapid upscaled nuclear power program to advert a global warming crisis (Abbot, 2011), Lovelock has a long history of ties with the nuclear industry, big business, security services, and the anti-green movement (Sourcewatch, n.d.).…”

Climate concerned but anti-nuclear: Exploring (dis)approval of nuclear energy in four European countries

“…Among environmentalists, advocates of nuclear energy see it as a "necessary evil" in the fight against anthropogenic climate change, while others strictly rule it out because of its potential environmental risks, particularly those associated with radioactive waste disposal (see e.g. [2]).…”

“…This survey polled all member states of the then European Economic Community (EEC) 2. The survey was limited to the then Federal Republic of Germany, excluding the former German Democratic Republic, as Germany was still a divided state in 1982.…”

Exploring the Factors Influencing Expansion of Nuclear Energy in Croatia

“…A number of experts consider the application of fission nuclear energy for electricity generation as a technology with a minimal CO 2 footprint [1,2]. Even green activists known for negative attitudes toward nuclear technology in the past are now expressing opposite beliefs and supporting the nuclear option as a strong tool for combating climate changes [3]. However, in the eyes of the public and consequently in the response of the policy-makers, nuclear technology experiences frequent ups and downs.…”