PLANNING FOR A SUSTAINABLE EUROPE? - TU Berlin

90
scarcity, environmental risk and pollution are major themes in such environmental
conflicts. Interpreted anthropologically as a discourse that is intrinsically trans-cultural,
environmentalism also has been looked at as a positive form of globalization (e.g. Milton
1995). The internationalization and institutionalization of environmentalist arguments
into most relevant political and social spheres can also be viewed as a major success of
global activism, fuelled by both governmental and non-governmental actors. The
international arena of environmental protection now has its own dynamic, developed
thanks to such diverse factors such as global policy-learning, a proliferation of nongovernmental
actors, increased coverage of environmental issues in the global media, an
overall tendency towards policy convergence as well as a periodic appearance of socalled
leading-edge countries (Vorreiterländer) (Jänicke and Weidner 1997). 11
It is
noticeable that, while the potential of environmentalist narratives in forging grassroots
coalitions and in bringing together and empowering non-governmental activists from a
wide variety of ethnic and political backgrounds has been widely documented (e.g.
Lipshutz 1996), the same discourses are now increasingly employed by scientific,
governmental and corporate bodies. These institutions are sometimes accused of coopting
the grassroots interests that were more genuinely working to protect the natural
environment (Harper 2001). Harré et al. (1999:vii) coined the catch-all term
“Greenspeak” to signify “all the ways in which issues of the environment are presented.”
They posit it as a new environmental “lingua franca,” and suggest that the globalized
media industry played a pivotal role in formulating a new environmental discourse that is
new in both its universality and its quality. Harré et al also assume a “globalization of
11 Despite their positive assessment, however, Jänicke and Weidner nevertheless acknowledge the
continued difficulties of translating the developed environmental potential into action. A mere consensus