ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters I outlined the key parameters of post-ecologist thinking and politics, and I tried to anticipate the most important ecologist objections against the post-ecologist model. In order to complete the theory of post-ecologist politics, I finally need to explore how contemporary society practically manages its transition to a politics of nature which – from the ecologist perspective – can only be described as completely unacceptable or even barbaric. As I pointed out above, post-ecologist politics is not an option or a prophecy, but a political reality, an ongoing societal practice. The transition to post-ecologist politics must therefore not simply be understood as the introduction of a new (post-ecologist) type of environment-related policies, but first and foremost as the psychological process (at the individual as well as the societal level) of coping with the decline of the modernist and ecologist ideals, and naturalising social attitudes and societal structures which have so far widely been regarded as unacceptable. Even though ecologist values and beliefs have factually never been more than regulative ideals, their abdication marks a significant cultural shift, and the adoption of new normative standards and new ways of perceiving social relations can only be a gradual process. Managing the transition to post-ecologist politics therefore also means framing and interpreting ongoing post-ecologist developments and eco-political practices in such a way that they become socially acceptable. Beyond that, managing the transition towards a post-ecologist politics implies finding means to control ecologist reflexes of rejection and defence against the post-ecologist tide.
