Neither Poor Nor Rich But "Malcontent": An Anotomy of Contemporary Environmentalisms

Proliferation of environmental movements, both in number and in geographical-spatial scope, has certainly been one of the markers of contemporary times. The analytical frameworks within which the wealth of issues posed by contemporary environmental movements are to be addressed, however, have largely lagged behind. This paper problematizes, in particular, the ability of the existing literature to accurately capture the underlying motivations of environmental movements. It illustrates, by utilizing a case study of a resistance against a coal plant in Gerze, Turkey, that a type of environmental activism that cannot be explained by livelihood concerns or post-materialist values is emerging and becoming increasingly common.