世界范围内的环境保护主义:一种不同的观点
比较其他类型的运动,环境保护主义者已经表现出对历史只有很少的兴趣。大部分环境保护主义者,在最好的情况下将讨论历史视为娱乐,最坏的情况下将其视为一种负担,尤其是在拥有棘手历史问题的国家更是如此。如德国,任何一个对历史的探寻都要包括对环境保护运动亲善纳粹政权的讨论②。然而,历史是第一的,也是最重要的经验宝库,环境保护主义者显然能够而且也应该更多地、更经常地从历史中学习经验。从这个意义上说,本文已经提出了很多建议,但是最明显的一点是,环境保护主义是一个脆弱的事物。它不是已经存在过的那样,而且将来也不会一直那样,但是它现在是近35年来西方社会完成的最重要的成就。全球的社会已经进入了环境时代,但是并没有人担保它在将来的某个时候不会离开环境时代。毕竟,环境保护主义依赖于那些在每个社会都稀缺的事物:理想主义、承担义务、有远见、耐性、随时准备向权利说真话等等。从世界范围内的环境保护主义历史所得到的最基本的教训是,它是一种值得保持活力的激情。
____________________________
①For the author’s take on these tendencies, see Frank Uek6etter, "Confronting the Pitfalls of Current Environmental History: An Argument for an Organisational Approach", Environment and History 4,1998, pp.31—52, and "The Old Conservation History — and the New: An Argument for Fresh Perspectives on an Established Topic", Historical Social Research 29,3,2004, pp.171—191.
②Cf. Ueköetter, The Green and the Brown.
Environmentalism in the World A Different Views
Abstract:Joachim Radkau is not only Germany’s foremost environmental historian but also a representative of a generation that took up the environmental cause in the 1970s. This article seeks to complement his perspective with the views of a member of a younger generation. While environmentalists of the 1970s often took their own agenda as self—evident, younger environmentalists tend to take a more critical look;past environmental agendas often look constrained or ill—directed in hind- sight. Environmentalists are always selecting a few problems worthy of special attention from a broad range of environmental issues, and historians need to study carefully what is guiding the environmentalists choice. In doing so, it is often rewarding to see environmentalism not only as an intellectual enterprise but also as a way of life, and to look how environmental agendas relate to what environmentalists were doing on a daily basis. Furthermore, environmental historians need to pay attention to the national peculiarities of environmental debates. Many countries developed a distinct national style of environmentalism, and in spite of convergence in recent years, these national paths have not faded into oblivion. Finally, this article calls for more attention to the shifts in environmental awareness from one generation to the next. Future environmentalism may differ considerably from today’s environmentalism — or it may not exist at all. Looked upon closely, environmentalism is a precariously fragile thing.
Key words:Environmentalism;Environmentalists;Environmental historians