Environmental Movements, NGOs and Grassroots Environmentalism: Changing Forms of Participation and the Politics of Consumption in England

Environmental movements are broad networks of actors who embrace a variety of forms of action. The supporters of high profile campaigning NGOs such as Greenpeace have never been more than a small fraction of those who identify with the movement, and Greenpeace supporters have rarely participated in its actions. Even Friends of the Earth, which is central to the network and has a considerable network of local groups, is a relatively small environmental NGO that, even at local level, offers relatively few opportunities for grassroots participation in its campaigns. ENGO campaigns focused on national policy typically require supporters to participate only by signing petitions. Yet compelling issues such as climate change demand action at local as well as national level. Disappointments over perceived failures to influence policy at national / international level, as well as conviction that tackling climate change requires practical action locally, have stimulated a variety of initiatives from Carbon Reduction Action Groups to the Greening Campaign. The Transitions movement adopts a more holistic approach, appealing to the desire to change the world by living differently. Some of these initiatives are at best loosely networked with environmental NGOs, and for many of their participants, their action is not so much political as it is an alternative to a politics with which they are fundamentally disillusioned. I will examine some of these new strands in environmental movements and consider their implications for political participation more generally. I suggest that though grassroots action is important, the relationship between the state, institutionalised politics and the environmental movement is more symbiotic than is sometimes suggested. To support that argument, I will draw attention to forms of consumption neglected in the focus upon climate change, including consumption of water where, as with waste, state action has led changes in consumer behavior.