Environmental citizenship in geography and beyond

Abstract

The need for wider action against environmental problems such as climate change has brought the debate about the role of citizen to the political, practical, and scientific domains. Environmental citizenship provides a useful tool to conceptualize the relation between citizenship and the environment. However, there exists considerable variation in the ways environmental citizenship is understood regarding both the aspect of citizenship and the relationship to the environment. In this article, we review the literature on environmental citizenship and investigate the evolution of the concept. The article is based on a literature search with an emphasis on geographical research. The concept of environmental citizenship has moved relatively far from the Ancient Greek or Marshallian conceptualizations of citizenship as rights and responsibilities bearing membership of a nation state. Environmental citizenship literature has been influenced by the relational approach to space, focus on citizenship as acts and processes rather than a status and the broad spectrum of post-human thinking. However, conceptual clarification between different approaches to environmental citizenship is needed especially in relation to post-human approaches. Geographical thinking can provide fruitful ways to develop the understanding of environmental citizenship towards a more inclusive, less individualized, globally responsible, and plural citizenship.

Youth’s everyday environmental citizenship: An analytical framework for studying interpretive agency

“…When we ask how young citizens currently perceive their environmental rights and responsibilities, it is important to consider geographical aspects. The current ideas of environmental citizenship mainly come from the Global North (Huttunen et al, 2020), and reflect individualist approaches and culturally bound social practice perspectives, whereas those in the Global South focus on ways to justly reduce consumption through actions of collective solidarity (Hayward and Roy, 2019). Building on two basic traditional models of citizenship-the liberal model (with emphasis on individual responsibilities) and the republican model (with emphasis on public responsibility and the common good)-the scholarship of environmental citizenship brings ecological content to the discussion, such as new rights and obligations.…”

“…It is not only that rights that have been won through long and hard social struggles (such as freedom of speech or social insurance) would disappear if not performed, but also that such struggles require performing rights that may not exist (for example, sexual rights, animal rights, or ecological rights). (2019: 50) However, a performative view of citizenship may result in new obscurity in terms of defining what becomes political and what does not, especially in the context of ecological rights (Huttunen et al, 2020). Considering only motivated, intentional or oriented actions towards shaping society is therefore an important strategy to clarify what has been politicised (Kallio et al, 2020).…”

“…Building on two basic traditional models of citizenship—the liberal model (with emphasis on individual responsibilities) and the republican model (with emphasis on public responsibility and the common good)—the scholarship of environmental citizenship brings ecological content to the discussion, such as new rights and obligations. Nevertheless, in both models, the citizen is seen as a member of the nation-state or political community (Huttunen et al, 2020). Challenging this view, the existing literature sees citizens ‘as “citizens of the environment” because the causes and impacts of ecological degradation are global’ (Huttunen et al, 2020: 200).…”

“…Nevertheless, in both models, the citizen is seen as a member of the nation-state or political community (Huttunen et al, 2020). Challenging this view, the existing literature sees citizens ‘as “citizens of the environment” because the causes and impacts of ecological degradation are global’ (Huttunen et al, 2020: 200).…”

“…While formal traditional frames have approached environmental citizenship as a legal status (Kettunen, 2021), postcosmopolitan environmental citizenship highlights action in the private sphere and the everyday context (Huttunen et al, 2020; Huttunen and Albrecht, 2021; Kettunen, 2021; Wood, 2017; Wood and Kallio, 2019). For Dobson (2007), both private and public actions have public implications, meaning that private decisions made in cultural and social spaces can have a public environmental impact.…”