A New Green Horizon

The author calls for Green political movements to shift their approach from focusing on prohibitions to promoting a positive vision of societal well-being. This involves reinventing democracy to counter authoritarianism, transitioning the welfare state into a 'social-ecological state' capable of functioning without economic growth, and building strategic alliances with non-Green entities to mainstream ecological discourse and overcome public resistance to lifestyle changes.

• The author argues that political ecology must shift from a negative tone to a positive one to effectively engage the public and counter the rise of populism and the extreme right in Europe.
• There is a need to transition the traditional welfare state, which was designed around 2% economic growth, into a 'social-ecological state' to address the financial pressures of a no-growth or negligible-growth scenario.
• The document suggests that a failure to take swift action on environmental problems may lead to the intervention of authoritarianism.
• Green parties face an internal impasse where entering governing coalitions is sometimes viewed as 'treachery' by ecological movements, which undermines the ability to implement sustainable policies.
• Ecological discourse struggles to become mainstream because it often focuses on asking the population to give up lifestyles and consumption patterns they have worked to build, leading to a 'resistance to change'.
• The author advocates for the 'purification' of traditional concepts like prosperity and progress, refocusing them on well-being rather than economic growth.

APA

Piron, J. (2016). A New Green Horizon. Green European Journal. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-new-green-horizon/

Chicago

Piron, Jonathan. A New Green Horizon. Green European Journal, 2016. https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-new-green-horizon/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Piron |first1=Jonathan |title=A New Green Horizon |publisher=Green European Journal |date=28 January 2016 |url=https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-new-green-horizon/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{piron2016new, author = {Piron, Jonathan}, title = {{A New Green Horizon}}, publisher = {Green European Journal}, year = {2016}, month = jan, url = {https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/a-new-green-horizon/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }