ABSTRACT
Wolfgang Sachs (1992) argues that concepts of the environment carry heavy metaphoric loadings and that analysis of environmental issues cannot therefore be dissociated from social and cultural contexts. Furthermore, environmental movements are affected by the power of symbol systems to consolidate or dissipate social consensus and the alliances needed to mount effective political action. If culture is the ideological battleground of the modern world-system (Wallerstein 1991), then attention to the symbolic associations within environmental discourses is a crucial part of developing strategic frameworks for engaging public support and negotiating a political agenda.
