Environmentalism and modernity, hand in hand. Della Seta’s bold book

Roberto Della Seta has long been involved in the environmental movement. He was president of Legambiente and a senator for the PD. But he is also a historian by training, and this is evident in his latest book, "Il paradosso verde", published by Edizioni Laterza. There are not many people in Italy who reflect on the historical and cultural roots of the environmental movement. From its initial ‘protectionist’ approach, dating back to the nineteenth century and driven mainly by elite nature-loving circles, right through to its politicisation and its intermingling, primarily with left-wing movements.

Della Seta’s work is invaluable from both a historical and a political perspective. Tracing things back to their roots – which are sometimes very diverse – is a way of better understanding the present and the many problems facing the environmental movement, which has now secured an important place on political agendas and in the minds of the public. Whilst defending the ‘line’ – according to the author, only the Green Deal can save Europe and global warming is the mother of all battles – there are quite a few points that are rather thorny for a certain green orthodoxy. Starting with the historically dual nature of environmentalist thought. Predominantly left-wing since the 1970s, when it was influenced by theorists such as Barry Commoner and the Marxist theory that identifies the capitalist model of development as the root of environmental problems. Yet it also has strong right-wing roots that identify modernity itself as the cause of these problems. These views are therefore accompanied by calls for a ‘return to nature’, ‘degrowth’ and birth control. In short, a nostalgia for the good old days, extending even to racist and supremacist undertones, inspired by blood ties to the land. Della Seta is a left-wing activist, but this does not prevent him from warning against the excesses that often permeate the movement. Starting with a certain ‘nature-centrism’, which overlooks Darwin’s lesson and the amoral nature of the laws of nature. Our planet has experienced five major extinctions – the ‘Big Five’ – in the course of its evolution, with the disappearance of an average of 75 per cent, but peaking at 90 per cent, of all living species, exclusively due to natural causes (climate change, meteorites, volcanic eruptions) hundreds of millions of years before Homo sapiens made their appearance. Nature is neither good nor just, and it is only by placing the human species at the centre that we can find the right path. It must be a healthy species-based self-interest that drives us to preserve the ecological balances which have enabled the human species to thrive. Then, of course, one has to stretch the truth a little to defend Pope Francis’s Encyclical, which is steeped in these clichés – that nature is good because it is a gift from God. The third unorthodox consideration is the recognition that technological innovation is the product of the pursuit of profit and is driven by selfish motives. “Capitalism,” writes Della Seta, “is not an ideology, nor even a social model: it is an economic mechanism that fuels the creation of material wealth.” There is even a relatively positive assessment of globalisation, usually the bête noire of environmentalists: “Reality contradicts the idea that economic growth and globalisation impoverish countries that are already poor.” He also criticizes the way environmental policies have often been framed: due to their uncompromising and largely exclusive nature, they have ended up alienating broad sections of the population—particularly among the most vulnerable social groups—from the green cause. It is, however, an interesting book and, even if the attempt to reconcile green orthodoxy with innovative proposals sometimes clashes with logical consistency, it makes a significant contribution to a debate that often descends into clichés.