The Dark Green World. Radical environmentalism in Czech republic after 1989 Arnošt Novák ABSTRACT Since 1970' environmental movement has been an important social actor. However it never has been an homogeneous and monolithic movement, but it has represented conglomerate of different approaches and currents, strategies and tactics which they were often in mutual contradictions too. This thesis focus on czech environmental movement after 1989 and especially on the radical ecologist activities. By using qualitative research it tries to map and to re-construct radical ecologist activites within a framework of international radical environmentalism. The thesis strives to open critical discussion about radical ecology in the czech context.

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This dissertation sought to develop a grounded theory explaining how ENGOs assess the environmental performance of firms, select target industries and firms, and influence those targeted industries and firms. A preliminary model based on research in the fields of social movements, neo-institutional theory, stakeholder theory, and corporate social performance was developed. The model contained 21 propositions: seven regarding assessment, nine regarding targeting, and five regarding influencing. Interviews were conducted with 33 representatives of five ENGOs: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Greenpeace, Environmental Defense (ED), World Resources Institute (WRI), and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). NRDC and WRI served as pilot studies. NRDC, Greenpeace, and ED were considered case studies for the purpose of drawing inferences about the propositions. Insufficient interviews were conducted at WRI and UCS to draw inferences from them; however, data from these interviews was included in the dissertation to the extent it provided additional support for the inferences drawn. Qualitative methods were used to analyze the data. Results regarding the propositions were presented, as well as additional findings going beyond the propositions. A grounded theory of how ENGOs assess, target, and influence firms was developed based on the results; a model to accompany the grounded theory was also developed. / Ph. D.

The Appalachian Power Company is an operating company of the American Electric Power Company, the largest electricity producing private electric system in the United States since 1953. The Appalachian Power Company held almost exclusive development rights along the New River since its 1911 charter. From then until the 1940s, it built a few small dams, a very large hydroelectric dam with the highest generating capacity of its time, and the largest steam plant in Virginia on the New River. Besides a few navigation issues, conflicting developments, and brief clashes with the federal government, seen in Chapter Two of this thesis, the Appalachian Power Company's developments along the New River went largely unchallenged until the late-1960s. The Blue Ridge Project was the utility's next large hydroelectric project on the New River. It was slated to impound the waters of the upper New River in Grayson County, Virginia, with two reservoirs extending into the river's headwaters in the counties of Ashe and Alleghany in northwestern North Carolina. Though the initial project met no serious opposition, environmental lawyers and the State of North Carolina defeated a considerably enlarged version of the proposal after a legal battle lasting over a decade. Why was this double impoundment not successfully constructed? What had changed in the last decades to influence Appalachian Power's previously unchallenged right to generate electricity along the New River? The purpose of this thesis is to answer these questions. / Master of Arts

Nas últimas décadas do séc. XX, mais precisamente a partir do final da década de 80, uma questão fundamental começa a ser discutida multisetorialmente na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP): Como lidar com as questões relacionadas à infra-estrutura urbana e aos limites do crescimento, considerando a necessidade de preservar o Cinturão Verde da RMSP? O objetivo principal desta dissertação de mestrado é descrever e analisar as ações coletivas e o movimento socioambiental, tomando como estudo de caso o movimento liderado por moradores do entorno da Cantareira que culminaram no reconhecimento internacional do Cinturão Verde da Cidade de São Paulo como Reserva da Biosfera pela UNESCO em 1994. Após mais de 20 anos de resistência, ainda hoje, este movimento persiste na forma de abaixo assinados, passeatas e ações judiciais, o que o transforma em uma das mais expressivas formas de ativismo ambiental em favor da preservação de uma floresta urbana. Ao traçarmos um panorama histórico, até os dias de hoje, das ações coletivas e do movimento ambiental em prol da Cantareira temos como objetivo investigar as razões pelas quais as populações urbanas participam de arenas políticas que decidem o futuro e a preservação de uma grande floresta dentro de uma cidade / In the last decades of the twentieth century, more precisely from the end of the decade of the eighties, a key issue started being discussed multisectorally in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MASP): how to deal with the issues related to urban infrastructure and the limits of growth considering the need to maintain the green belt around the metropolitan region of São Paulo. The main objective of this master thesis is to describe and analyze the collective actions and the environmental movement taking as case study of the movement led by the Cantareira Park`s entour inhabitants, which resulted in the in international recognition of the Green Belt of the City of São Paulo as a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 1994. After more than 20 years of resistence, still today, this movement continues in the form of undersigned, parades, lawsuits, which makes it one of the most expressive forms of environmental activism in favor of preserving an urban forest. When we draw a historical overview, until today, of collective action in environmental movement in favor of Cantareira, we have as objective to investigate the reasons for which the urban populations participate in policies that decide the future and the preservation of a great forest within a city

<p>This study is a comparative historical analysis of the link between environmental activism and state-society relations in 20th century Russia and Mexico. It explores the three main currents of environmentalism that originated in these two countries under non-democratic political systems that originated in the social revolutions of 1910 (Mexico) and 1917 (Russia) and the roles that each current has played in the process of democratization that began in the 1980s. It is based on critical evaluation and synthesis of the following theoretical fields: collective action, social movements, political regime change and democratic transition. Scholarly literature and press sources are used to corroborate and evaluate findings from in-depth qualitative interviews with environmental activists, researchers, lawyers, and journalists as well as data from participant observation conducted by the author in Russia and in Mexico. The main findings of the study are two-fold. 1) Environmental activism affects social rather than political democratization. 2) The type of environmental activism that has the most significant impact on social democratization is social environmentalism - the current that emphasizes the synergy between the struggles for social justice and civil rights on the one hand and against environmental degradation on the other.</p> / Dissertation

This research provides a sociological analysis of skiing as a form of outdoor recreation and nature tourism in British Columbia, Canada. A qualitative multi-method approach is used, combining discourse analysis, interviews with skiers, and unobtrusive field observation at Whistler Blackcomb and Whitewater ski resorts. Through a focus on discourse, embodied interactions among humans and non-humans, and flows of power, this research describes an environmental ambiguity at the centre of skiing. There is a tension between interpretations of skiing as an environmentally-sustainable practice and notions of skiing as an environmental and social problem. Skiing is based on the symbolic consumption of nature and is understood by many participants as a way of entering into a meaningful relationship with the non-human environment. However, interpretations of skiing as a non-consumptive use of non-human nature are too simple. Social movement groups disrupt pro-environmental discourses of skiing by challenging the sport’s ecological and social legitimacy. Many skiers also articulate a self-reflexive environmental critique of their sport. In these instances, skiing is brought into the realm of politics. Recreational forms of interaction with the non-human environment tend to be at the periphery of environmental sociology. At the same time, sport sociologists tend to focus on the social dimensions of outdoor recreation, while bracketing out non-human nature. This research brings these two fields of inquiry into dialogue with each other, thereby addressing this double lacuna.

This research provides a sociological analysis of skiing as a form of outdoor recreation and nature tourism in British Columbia, Canada. A qualitative multi-method approach is used, combining discourse analysis, interviews with skiers, and unobtrusive field observation at Whistler Blackcomb and Whitewater ski resorts. Through a focus on discourse, embodied interactions among humans and non-humans, and flows of power, this research describes an environmental ambiguity at the centre of skiing. There is a tension between interpretations of skiing as an environmentally-sustainable practice and notions of skiing as an environmental and social problem. Skiing is based on the symbolic consumption of nature and is understood by many participants as a way of entering into a meaningful relationship with the non-human environment. However, interpretations of skiing as a non-consumptive use of non-human nature are too simple. Social movement groups disrupt pro-environmental discourses of skiing by challenging the sport’s ecological and social legitimacy. Many skiers also articulate a self-reflexive environmental critique of their sport. In these instances, skiing is brought into the realm of politics. Recreational forms of interaction with the non-human environment tend to be at the periphery of environmental sociology. At the same time, sport sociologists tend to focus on the social dimensions of outdoor recreation, while bracketing out non-human nature. This research brings these two fields of inquiry into dialogue with each other, thereby addressing this double lacuna.

Submitted by Clebson Anjos (clebson.leandro54@gmail.com) on 2016-02-17T19:08:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1929243 bytes, checksum: 7028847e061d7f790d2707c7e35f27f9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-17T19:08:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1929243 bytes, checksum: 7028847e061d7f790d2707c7e35f27f9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Communication technologies that are part of everyday life are creating new ways to interact and even rearrange old society demands. Inside the collective actions context, specifically in environmental activism, mediated communication is presented as a source of considerable importance, but the consequences and ramifications are still little known. In this context, this research aims to analyze the appropriation of the Internet and New Technologies of Information and Communication (NTIC) thru environmental activism, based on the trajectory of the movement “Floresta Faz a Diferença” – FFD - on Facebook. We try to verify how cyberactivism is developed by the Environmental Movement - MA, whereas the FFD was conducted by the Committee in Defense of Brazil Forests and Sustainable Development which brought together nearly 200 civil society organizations to mobilize people against the adoption of the “Projeto de Lei Complementar” (PCL 30/2011) with proposed changes to the forest Code of the country. The north of our reflections relies on the concept of mediatization as the process by which society has transformed the basis of its organization, incorporating new media values to the individual and collective social practices. We look forward to understand how the making process of activist generated by NICT works, discussing the supposed loss of its Brazilian MA roots, as Alexander Agrippa (2000) argues. The research highlights the mobilizing potential of social media networks generated by media ecology that orchestrates the interaction and relationship of mutual influence which has established itself among the most new media (transmitter / individual) and traditional media (capitalist corporations). We identify a strong presence of the media capital in the cyber activists FFD practices in social media networks as we emphasize the status of cooperation in the proceedings on the cultural dynamics of appropriation of the internet as the ambience in which new practices thrive in a culture of constant training . The MA represented by FFD follows an activist role that excels in media coverage of their actions in favor of mobilization that strengthens, in the online world, building a multiple sensorial identity (VIOLA, 1992). Thus, reinforces the importance of distinguishing this strong mobilizer character of network communication, the power of political transformation on the complexity brand that involves communication in contemporary society and matters concerning some risks on emptying the content of environmentalist message caused by discursive adaptations among different sectors that compose it, especially with the media coverage of its activism. / As tecnologias de comunicação que fazem parte do nosso cotidiano propiciaram novos modos de interagir e mesmo, realizar antigas demandas da vida em sociedade. No âmbito das ações coletivas, especificamente no ativismo ambiental, a comunicação mediada se apresenta como recurso de notável relevância, mas de consequências e desdobramentos ainda pouco conhecidos. Nesse contexto, a presente pesquisa objetiva analisar a apropriação da internet e das Novas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (NTICs) pelo ativismo ambientalista, tendo por base a trajetória do Movimento Floresta Faz a Diferença - FFD no Facebook. Verificamos como o ciberativismo é desenvolvido pelo Movimento Ambiental - MA, considerando que o FFD foi realizado pelo comitê Brasil em Defesa das Florestas e do Desenvolvimento Sustentável que reuniu cerca de 200 organizações da sociedade civil para mobilizar pessoas contra a aprovação do Projeto de Lei Complementar (PCL 30/2011) com propostas de alterações para o código florestal do país. O norte de nossas reflexões será o conceito de midiatização como o processo pelo qual a sociedade vem transformando as bases de sua organização pela incorporação dos valores midiáticos nas práticas sociais individuais e coletivas. Buscamos a compreensão acerca do fazer ativista propiciado pelas NTICs discutindo a suposta perda de radicalidade do MA brasileiro, conforme defende Alexandre Agripa (2000). A pesquisa evidencia o potencial mobilizador das redes sociais como fruto da ecologia midiática que orquestra o convívio e a relação de mútua influenciação que vem se estabelecendo entre as mídias mais novas (emissor/indivíduo) e as mídias tradicionais (corporações capitalistas). Identificamos a forte presença do capital midiático nas práticas ciberativistas do FFD nas redes sociais, ao mesmo tempo em que, enfatizamos o status da cooperação no processo referente à dinâmica cultural de apropriação da internet, como a ambiência onde medram novas práticas de uma cultura em constante formação. O MA representado pelo FFD segue uma atuação ativista que prima pela midiatização de seus atos em prol da mobilização que reforça, no mundo online, a construção de uma identidade multissetorializada (VIOLA, 1992). Aponta para a importância de distinguirmos este forte caráter mobilizador, marca da comunicação em rede, do poder de transformação política diante da complexidade que envolve a comunicação na contemporaneidade e os riscos concernentes ao esvaziamento de conteúdo da mensagem ambientalista diante das adaptações discursivas para a convivência entre os diferentes setores que o compõem, sobretudo, com a midiatização de seu ativismo.