What is the importance of social ecology

When we speak of social ecology we are referring directly to Murray Bookchin , an American historian and philosopher to whom we owe the coinage of the term. Social ecology, also called green anarchism or eco-anarchism, is a philosophical current that arises from the union of classical environmentalism and the postulates of the anarchist current .

According to Bookchin’s own vision, nature regulates itself autonomously and without the need for an authority to govern it. In the same way, all the living beings that comprise it, establish local and interconnected relationships, which leads to a holistic vision (global vision in which everything is connected) and that defines the success of nature and biological life. In herself.

Continuing with the same argument, when the human being establishes relationships between its members or between man and nature, these types of relationships are based on a relationship of power and authority. That is, the holistic and interconnected vision of each of the parts that makes up the whole is broken. Consequently, not only the natural balance that allows the successful development of nature is destroyed, but the very survival of human beings is endangered.

Faced with this situation of rupture of the natural balance that human action entails in nature, social ecology proposes a series of technical and political aspects aimed at redefining the man-nature relationship with the aim of restoring the broken holistic balance.

Technical aspects

The human being must make use of his intelligence to transform his civilizing and industrial action into a sustainable civilizing and industrial action, that is, that man’s action does not lead to the destruction of nature. This is achieved through sustainable development, sustainable biotechnology, sustainable architecture , etc.

Political aspects

Social ecology redefines the political structures in which human communities are grouped in order to minimize the impact that human actions have on ecosystems. In this way, social ecology denies the classic structures of the nation-state and even the very concept of the State. Instead he proposes to reinforce the more localist structures in what is known as libertarian municipalism.

Returning to the need to reform social structures to protect nature, social ecology proposes what is known as libertarian municipalism , which is a territorial organization system that abandons the classic nation-state in favor of a model of human communities where the municipality it would have the highest authority when regulating the social life of citizens. Naturally, municipalities must adopt the necessary actions to create human communities that are in balance with nature .

In this way, there would be a social structure similar to that of the ancient Greek polis (autonomous cities) that would act together as a federal organization , with the ultimate objective of preserving the man-nature relationship in the holistic and interconnected relationship defended by the social ecology.

The importance of social ecology, eco-anarchism or green anarchism does not come so much from the possibility or not of establishing a large-scale federalist model as from the proposal that, ultimately, it is small-scale actions that can make a difference. in the way we relate to the environment. If we think of individual cities, municipalities that take environmental initiatives at the local level , we will be facing a model of sustainable development that is much easier to implement, both in practice and in short periods of time, than if we limit ourselves to large projects that require alignment and cooperation of States and international authorities.

This by no means means that the most ambitious objectives proposed by the most relevant political authorities should be renounced. However, it does constitute an example of the importance of the ordinary citizen and local governments when it comes to converting our immediate ecosystem (the environment in which we live every day), in a sustainable place and in connection with nature . What would be carried out thanks to the implementation of sustainable alternatives and projects that respect the environment and recover the holistic model in which the human being forms another part of nature and not a fierce enemy of it in the that the interests of one and the other are irreconcilable.

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