What is critical environmental politics?

Luigi Pellizzoni, Scuola Normale Superiore
Emanuele Leonardi, Università di Bologna
Viviana Asara, Università di Ferrara
What is critical environmental politics?

Abstract
The expression “critical environmental politics” features three terms each of which is controversial on its own, let alone if brought together. The recent publication of a Handbook so entitled offers an opportunity to dwell on what it means today to be critical about the politics of the environment. Featuring contributions from over 60 established and emerging international scholars, the Handbook provides an up-to-date view of a field of ever increasing academic and public significance, vis-à-vis climate change and an array of seemingly wicked socio-ecological problems. It interrogates what is taken for granted in current institutions and social and power relations, highlighting the issues preventing meaningful change in the relationship between human societies and their biophysical underpinnings.  In the seminar the editors will discuss the way the conceptual triplet has been understood and the ensuing rationale of the Handbook, focusing on some of the topics addressed.