Ethemcan Turhan

A transformation to sustainability calls for radical and systemic societal shifts. Yet what this entails in practice and who the agents of this radical transformation are require further elaboration. This article recenters the role of environmental justice movements in transformations, arguing that the systemic, multi-dimensional and intersectional approach inherent in EJ activism is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of equitable sustainable futures. Based on a perspective of conflict as productive, and a “conflict transformation” approach that can address the root issues of ecological conflicts and promote the emergence of alternatives, we lay out a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations; that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space. Such a framework can help analyze and recognize the contribution of grassroots EJ movements to societal transformations to sustainability and support and aid radical transformation processes. While transitions literature tends to focus on artifacts and technologies, we suggest that a resistance-centred perspective focuses on the creation of new subjectivities, power relations, values and institutions. This recenters the agency of those who are engaged in the creation and recuperation of ecological and new ways of being in the world in the needed transformation.

A transformation to sustainability calls for radical and systemic societal shifts. Yet what this entails in practice and who the agents of this radical transformation are require further elaboration. This article recenters the role of environmental justice movements in transformations, arguing that the systemic, multi-dimensional and intersectional approach inherent in EJ activism is uniquely placed to contribute to the realization of equitable sustainable futures. Based on a perspective of conflict as productive, and a " conflict transformation " approach that can address the root issues of ecological conflicts and promote the emergence of alternatives, we lay out a conceptual framework for understanding transformations through a power analysis that aims to confront and subvert hegemonic power relations; that is, multi-dimensional and intersectional; balancing ecological concerns with social, economic, cultural and democratic spheres; and is multi-scalar, and mindful of impacts across place and space. Such a framework can help analyze and recognize the contribution of grassroots EJ movements to societal transformations to sustainability and support and aid radical transformation processes. While transitions literature tends to focus on artifacts and technologies, we suggest that a resistance-centred perspective focuses on the creation of new subjectivities, power relations, values and institutions. This recenters the agency of those who are engaged in the creation and recuperation of ecological and new ways of being in the world in the needed transformation.

197 ülkenin katılımıyla düzenlenen Marakeş'teki COP22 (22. Taraflar Toplantısı) iklim zirvesi, Aralık 2015'te imzalanan Paris anlaşması'nın iyi niyet beyanlarıyla örülü yolundan Trump'lı dünyanın zorlu realitesine geçişe denk geldi. 4 Kasım'da ışık hızıyla yürürlüğe giren ve 112 ülkenin taraf olduğu Paris Anlaşması'nı henüz onaylamayan Türkiye'nin ısrarlı iklim finansmanı talebiyle tökezleyerek başlayan COP22'den satır başları...

2015 Aralık ayının en önemli hadiselerinden biri Paris İklim Zirvesi'ydi. Dünya matbuatında küresel ısınmaya karşı mücadelede bir dönüm noktası gibi sunulan zirvede fosil yakıtlarin terki, karbom salım beyanlarının beş yılda bir yenilenmesi, ısınmayı 2 derecenin altında tutma gibi hedefler belirlendi. Peki doğayla ilişkimizde, enerjinin üretimi ve tüketiminde bir paradigma değişimi yaşamadan bu hedeflere ulaşılabilir mi? O değişimi mümkün kılan somut modellere yakından bakıyoruz...

The contours of Turkey's climate policy have remained almost intact over the past two decades. Being an Annex I party without any mitigation commitments, Turkey maintains a peculiar position under UNFCCC. Subsequent to 12 years of delay in signing both the Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, Turkey had the highest rate of increase in greenhouse gas emissions among the Annex I countries with 110.4% upsurge in the period 1990 and 2013. Yet with the new climate regime now in place, the country's mitigation pledges fall short of expectations both in terms of realistic projections and its ambition to step up in the post-2020 period. Climate policies in Turkey, an EU candidate and OECD founding member with a growing economy, remain under-investigated. Although the country has a wide range of policies and institutions in place, it shows limited progress in addressing climate change. Based on evidence from the literature, we observe that climate policies operationalize in Turkey insofar as they do not directly confront developmental ambitions, leaving policy diffusion with limited success. To provide a historic overview, we focus on climate policy development, actors, processes, and contemporary trends. Evidence shows that these are highly ridden with the politics of special circumstances: a notion that Turkey employs to refrain from bindings commitments. In order to go beyond special circumstances discourse, we argue the need for a bold policy shift in Turkey, a country subject to adverse impacts of climate change and high-carbon lock-in risk due to development policy preferences.

Paris’teki iklim zirvesi (COP21) kimilerine göre “tarihi”, kimilerine göreyse “fiyasko” olarak nitelendirilebilecek Paris Anlaşması ile 12 Aralık’ta son buldu. 130’dan fazla devlet liderinin katılımıyla açılan ve iki hafta süren müzakereleri yerinde izlediğimiz kadarı ile bu sürece ve sonrasına dair siyah ve beyazın ötesindeki renkleri size aktarmak istiyoruz.

Economic growth, rapid urbanization and high-carbon energy policy preferences in the past two decades placed immense pressure on the society and ecosystems in Turkey. Fossil fuel consumption in Turkey displayed a consistent rise with total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased to 440 MtCO2eq in 2013 from 1990 levels showing a %110,4 increase in this period. In the same timespan, per capita GHG emissions in Turkey increased about two folds from 3,2 tons to 6,04 tons. Most notable contribution to these emissions came from energy sector due to coal-led energy policies. However the coal rush in Turkey could be fully replaced by renewables at the same price tag, as Climate Action Network Europe recently suggested.

Tobacco is arguably one of the most important commodities for individual use traded extensively in the world despite widely recognized health risks associated with it. It is extensively investigated in various disciplines including but not limited to economics, public health, sociology, psychology, public policy and medicine. However even though there exists some literature on the political economy of tobacco, its impacts and its control; these studies are often sporadic and usually either focus on economic benefits or public health aspects with little mention of its power in changing the socio-ecological landscapes. In this sense, there is a need for an in-depth investigation of tobacco production and its impact in changing socio-ecological landscape especially in the developing countries given the comparably lower production costs and the increasing liberalization of international trade; most of tobacco production in this decade is expected to shift to developing countries. This study will aim at providing a political ecology lens with a research agenda when looking at tobacco with two case studies from the developing world, a semi-periphery (Turkey) and a periphery (Malawi) country.

Üç Ekoloji’nin bu ilk özel sayısını hazırlamadan önce 10. sayı için başka planlarımız vardı. Ama onları yazarlarımızın affına sığınarak 11. sayıya ertelemiş oluyoruz. Bu sayımızda Gezi yazıları dışında kalan tek çalışma, Fikret Adaman ve arkadaşlarının ekolojik ihtilaflara dair bir makalesi. Tam da Politik Ekoloji grubunun Çevre İhtilafları Atlası yayınlanırken,
bu yazının bir arka plan olarak değerli olduğunu düşünüyoruz.
Üç Ekoloji’nin 10. yılı geride kalırken toplumsal hareketler tarihinde çok önemli bir dönüm noktası olan Gezi direnişi hakkında yayınladığımız bu ilk özel sayımızın, arşivlenecek bir sayı olacağını umuyoruz.

2018 yılı ekoloji mücadelesi için de hızlı başladı. Bir yanda Çerkezköy’deki termik santralların bölgenin “hava kalitesine olumlu etki edeceğini” öne süren bakanlık yazıları, diğer yanda Eskişehir Alpu’da hızlanan termik karşıtı mücadele. Bir yanda Muğla Akyaka’nın Özel Çevre Koruma statüsünü savunma mücadelesi, diğer yanda “Panama” rüyasıyla gündeme sokulan bir ekolojik yıkım projesi olan Kanal İstanbul ucubesine karşı filizlenen direnişler.  Araştırmacı-yazar Cemil Aksu’yla Ramazan Korkut’la birlikte hazırladıkları 2005-2016 Ekoloji Almanağı vesilesiyle Türkiye’de ekoloji mücadelesinin köşe taşlarını, çıkmazlarını ve imkanlarını konuştuk.

Express 160 - Şubat 2018

İklim Adaleti Mücadelesi İçin 10 Durak, dünyada ve Türkiye'de otoriter popülist iktidarların ahbap-çavuş kapitalizmi ve milliyetçilikle örülü kalkınma telaşının orta yerinde, yerele sırtını yaslayıp uluş-aşırı dayanışma ağlarıyla tabandan eyleme geçen toplumsal hareketlerin mücadelelerine bir omuz verme amacı taşıyor.

100 Temel Maddede Sürdürülebilirlik Rehberi, iklim müzakerelerinden ‘Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Hedefleri’ne, yenilenebilir enerjiden sürdürülebilirlik kavramının yolculuğuna, biyomimikriden endüstriyel simbiyoza ve döngüsel ekonomiye kadar tüm önemli kavram ve köşe taşlarının yer aldığı bir bilgi kaynağı olarak EkoIQ işbirliğiyle hazırlandı.

Sürdürülebilirlik tarihini ve kavramını ayrı ayrı konu başlıkları altında toplayan kitabın temel konu başlıkları şu şekilde sıralanıyor:

    Temel İlkeler ve Prensipler
    Öncelikli Konular ve Alanlar
    Kurumlar, Uluslararası Anlaşmalar ve Standartlar
    Yöntem ve İndikatörler
    Çözüm ve Tedbirler
    Alternatif Yaklaşımlar
    Tartışmalı Konular

The green economy is often defined as an economic configuration that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while reducing (or at least decoupling from) environmental risks. It is elusive, and can be read as a new way of ensuring and maintaining capital accumulation accompanied by neoliberal austerity policies, where a green rationale is required to maintain the structural roots of the global political economy. As such, critics often identify its self-contradictory nature, in giving legitimacy and coherence to a number of public policies. This article critically examines the post-politicisation of the green economy, by tracing its social construction and meaning-making. In doing so, it follows the green economy debate in the post-politicization of the environment in Turkey, a rapidly developing country with significant socio-ecological challenges. The analysis suggests that the green economy will become more important at Turkey tries to meet international environmental agreements. The article sheds light on its preparatory report for the Rio+20 Summit, titled Turkey's sustainable development report: claiming the future 2012. We find that the green economy serves as a useful discursive tool to legitimize a state-facilitated, market-driven, full-frontal assault on ecosystems in Turkey, particularly in the energy sector. We argue that a clear rejection of such framings and the development of alternatives to post-politicization, are the two key challenges facing the environmental movement in the country.

L'économie verte est souvent définie comme une configuration économique qui améliore le bien-être humain et l'équité sociale, tout en réduisant (ou du moins découplant) les risques environnementaux. Elle est insaisissable et peut être lue comme une nouvelle façon d'assurer et de maintenir l'accumulation de capital, accompagnée de politiques d'austérité néolibérales, où si une justification verte est nécessaire pour maintenir les racines structurelles de l'économie politique mondiale. En tant que tels, les critiques identifient souvent sa nature contradictoire, en donnant la légitimité et la cohérence à un certain nombre de politiques publiques. Cet article examine de manière critique la post-politisation de l'économie verte, en retraçant sa construction sociale et sa signification. Ce faisant, elle fait suite au débat sur l'économie verte dans la post-politisation de l'environnement en Turquie, un pays en développement rapide avec des défis socio-écologiques importants. Nous pensons que l'économie verte deviendra plus importante à mesure que la Turquie tentera de respecter les accords internationaux sur l'environnement. L'article fait la lumière sur son rapport préparatoire pour le Sommet Rio + 20, intitulé Rapport sur le développement durable de la Turquie: prétendre à l'avenir 2012. Nous constatons que l'économie verte sert d'instrument discursif utile pour légitimer un assaut frontal sur les écosystèmes en Turquie, en particulier dans le secteur de l'énergie. Il est facilité par l'État et axé sur le marché. Nous soutenons que le rejet évident de ces cadrages-et le développement de solutions de rechange à la post-politisation - sont les deux principaux défis auxquels est confronté le mouvement environnemental dans le pays.

La economía verde a menudo se define como una configuración económica que resulta en mejoras en el bienestar humano y la equidad social, mientras que reduce (o por al menos disgrega) riesgos ambientales. Sin embargo, también es usada en cuando se requiere una lógica para mantener las bases estructurales de la economía política global. Como tal, los críticos de la economía verde aputan a menudo hacia su auto-contradictoria naturaleza al tratar de legitimar y dar coherencia a diversas políticas públicas. La noción de economía verde es imprecisa y puede ser interpretada como una nueva forma para asegurar y mantener la acumulación del capital, de la mano con políticas de austeridad neoliberales. Este artículo hace una revisión crítica de la post-politización de la economía verde siguiendo su construcción social y creación de significado. Para lograrlo, se enfoca el debate de la economía verde en las post-politización de medio ambiente en Turquía, un país de rápido desarrollo con bastantes retos socio-ecológicos. Dicho análisis sugiere que la economía verde se volverá más importante cuando Turquía busque cumplir con los acuerdos ambientales internacionales. El artículo expone el reporte previo de Turquía para la Cumbre de Rio+20, titulado: “Reporte de Desarrollo Sustentable de Turquía: Asegurando el Futuro 2012”. Encontramos que la economía verde sirve como una útil herramienta discursiva para legitimar el asalto frontal a los ecosistemas turcos que se presentan principalmente en el sector energético y que son facilitados por el estado y regulados por el mercado. El argumento es que un evidente rechazo a dichos marcos y el desarrollo de alternativas a la post-politización, son los dos retos claves que enfrenta el movimiento ambiental en el país.

İklim krizinin yıllık muhasebesi 2017'de Pasifik ada ülkesi Fiji'nin donem başkanlığında, ama lojistik sebeplerle Almanya'nın Bonn kentinde gerçekleşti. COP23 olarak bilinen 23. Taraflar Toplantısı'ndan Türkiye eli boş ve yalnız dönmekle kalmadı, çok önemli bir dönemeçte tavır alma fırsatını da kaçırdı.

So we are back to square one: Trump’s withdrawal from Paris Agreement in early June 2017 has raised – quite understandably – many eyebrows around the world. This anticipated, but not entirely expected, move by the Trump administration calls us to question not only the viability of the Paris Agreement in the medium/long-term or the feasibility of commitments from non-state actors bridging the ambition gap, but also the tactics and strategies of global climate justice movements in the face of increasing alt-right populism, xenophobia, climate denialism and economic-political exceptionalism.

So where do we go next? Or better said, what are the prospects for a progressive anti-capitalist political agenda in a world where even the lowest common denominator like the Paris Agreement can’t hold? Can techno-fixes and allegedly apolitical sustainability governance approaches save capitalism from itself in its new authoritarian, post-truth disguise?

We caught up with Patrick Bond, who is in the advisory board of the ISSC-funded Acknowl-EJ project (Academic-activist co-produced knowledge for environmental justice) during a project meeting in Beirut, Lebanon.

Patrick Bond is professor of political economy at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand. He was formerly associated with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he directed the Centre for Civil Society from 2004 to 2016. He held visiting positions in various institutions including Johns Hopkins University and the University of California, Berkeley.

As a leading activist-academic figure, Bond is a familiar face in global climate justice circles. Some of his recent works include BRICS: An Anticapitalist Critique (edited with Ana Garcia, 2015, Haymarket Books), Elite Transition: From Apartheid to Neoliberalism in South Africa (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2014, Pluto Press), South Africa – The Present as History (with John Saul, 2014, Boydell & Brewer) and Politics of Climate Justice: Paralysis above, Movement below (2012, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press).

Paris-Saclay Üniversitesi doktora öğrencisi Cem İskender Aydın ve İsveç Kraliyet Teknoloji Enstitüsü’nde çalışmalarına devam eden Dr. Ethemcan Turhan, Trump’ın Paris Anlaşması’ndan çekilme kararının küresel anlamda iklim değişikliğiyle mücadelede nelere mal olacağını yazdı. Görünen o ki Trump’ın kararı sürpriz olmamakla birlikte, iklim krizinin ana akım politikalar tarafından nasıl evcilleştirilebildiğini göstermesi açısından önemli.