The Proceedings of Ecopolitics V
Edited by Ronnie Harding
University of NSW Centre for Liberal and General Studies
$40 ($45 to non-registrants)
Reviewed by Carolyn Beecham
The proceedings of the Ecopolitics V conference, held at the University of New South Wales from April 4 to 7, 1991, are now available for purchase by postal order.
The edited proceedings make a very weighty volume — almost 700 pages — and they will fascinate anyone with any involvement in the green movement — academic, electoral, scientific, philosophical or anything else.
Ronnie Harding writes in her preface: "the principles of eclecticism ... seemed responsible for so much of the special character of Ecopolitics. Given the unique role of (Ecopolitics) conferences in bringing together so many disparate backgrounds, interests and philosophies amongst the participants to discuss pressing environmental issues at a very dynamic time in the history of environmentalism, it seemed important to retain as complete a record as possible of the proceedings of the conference for future environmental historians, a record of what were the important issues of the day and how we responded to them."
The key public lecture and main panel discussion of the conference were both on the topic of "Green Politics", in recognition, Harding says, of the intensified discussion at the time about a Green Party for Australia. It is interesting to look back upon the text of the public lecture delivered by Jonathan Porritt, former Director of Friends of the Earth in England, and reflect upon how influential his perspective became in later events, particularly his views on the reasons for the decline of die Grünen in Germany. One especially telling comment stands out:
"... they [the German Greens] don't know whether they are a mainstream party or an extra-parliamentary movement, building a political alternative from the grassroots up. You cannot be both."
Many people in the green movement, some of whose comments appear in the report of the panel discussion which follows Porritt's paper, appear to have swallowed this line whole and have set about the impossible task of conjuring up a "mainstream" party, as though it was the only option available, other than neighbourhood recycling programs or consciousness-raising groups.
I found the section on green politics, my particular interest, clarifying and historically significant, and it is only one of the 21 "thematic Â鶹´«Ã½" reported in the document. Other Â鶹´«Ã½ deal with Tasmanian Green Politics, Alternative Economics, The Private Sector, Sustainable Development, Indigenous Peoples, International Law, Gender, The Media and more. Something for everyone. The Proceedings of Ecopolitics V may be ordered from Dr Ronnie Harding, Centre For Liberal and General Studies, University of New South Wales, PO Box 1, Kensington NSW 2033. Further inquiries to Ronnie Harding on (02) 697 2433.