Ecologists in Action
Encyclopedia
Ecologists in Action is a confederation
of over 300 Spanish
ecological
groups, founded 9 December 1998.
Ecologists in Action is aligned with the philosophy of social ecology
, which views environmental problems (and many other social problems) as having their origin in an ever more unsustainable
and globalized
model of production and consumption, a model that must be changed to resolve the ecological crisis. To that end, they conduct campaigns to publicize ecological problems, such as public denunciation of actions that damage the environment. They publish a magazine, El Ecologista and have an Internet
presence as Proyecto EcoSpip.
. The objective was to create a common organization with a single name, which would have a comparable public recognition to existing groups such as Greenpeace
, World Wildlife Fund
, Friends of the Earth
or SEO/BirdLife
. In the event, several large groups chose not to join; these included Grupo Ornitológico Balear in the Balearic Islands
, Acció Ecologista - Agró in the Valencian Community
and the majority of Catalan
groups, already integrated into Ecologistes de Catalunya.
has determined which sectors of the population are likely to be drawn to it. The common denominator of its activists and associates is the defense of the environment in line with social ecology. Their actions center on publicizing and denouncing what they see as actions counter to the interests of the environment, and in taking legal action on behalf of the environment, as well as conducting awareness campaigns. They also engage in elaborating viable alternatives in the various areas where they work.
s organized based on the autonomous communities of Spain
. However, not all autonomous communities are represented in the confederation. Also, in the autonomous communities that contain multiple provinces
and where Ecologists in Action is active, the federations at the level of autonomous communities further subdivide into provincial federations. Each federation is, in turn, composed of local groups. These groups—independently of the number of their associates or activists—each have one vote at the annual confederal assembly of Ecologists in Action.
As of February 2009, Ecologists in Action is active in Andalusia
(with the largest number of local groups, over 100), Aragón
, Asturias
, the Canary Islands
, Cantabria
, Castile and León
, Castile-La Mancha
, Catalonia
, the Community of Madrid, the Basque Country
, Extremadura
, La Rioja
, Navarre
, the Valencian Community
and the Region of Murcia
, as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta
and Melilla
.
Functionally, the structure is the same as this in the different areas of work, focused on different environmental problems. Depending on the size of the groups, work in a given area is assigned to a particular "commission"; obviously, the smaller groups do not break down into commissions. These groupings along lines of areas of work are also important in bringing proposals to the confederal assembly.
Confederation
A confederation in modern political terms is a permanent union of political units for common action in relation to other units. Usually created by treaty but often later adopting a common constitution, confederations tend to be established for dealing with critical issues such as defense, foreign...
of over 300 Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
ecological
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
groups, founded 9 December 1998.
Ecologists in Action is aligned with the philosophy of social ecology
Social ecology
Social ecology is a philosophy developed by Murray Bookchin in the 1960s.It holds that present ecological problems are rooted in deep-seated social problems, particularly in dominatory hierarchical political and social systems. These have resulted in an uncritical acceptance of an overly...
, which views environmental problems (and many other social problems) as having their origin in an ever more unsustainable
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
and globalized
Globalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
model of production and consumption, a model that must be changed to resolve the ecological crisis. To that end, they conduct campaigns to publicize ecological problems, such as public denunciation of actions that damage the environment. They publish a magazine, El Ecologista and have an Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
presence as Proyecto EcoSpip.
History
Ecologists in Action was established in 1998 as a coalition of ecologically oriented groups, many of them already grouped under Aedenat (Asociación Ecologista de Defensa de la Naturaleza) or CODA (Coordinadora de Organizaciones de Defensa Ambiental), as well as other groups on the political leftLeft-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
. The objective was to create a common organization with a single name, which would have a comparable public recognition to existing groups such as Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
, World Wildlife Fund
World Wide Fund for Nature
The World Wide Fund for Nature is an international non-governmental organization working on issues regarding the conservation, research and restoration of the environment, formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States...
, Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth
Friends of the Earth International is an international network of environmental organizations in 76 countries.FOEI is assisted by a small secretariat which provides support for the network and its agreed major campaigns...
or SEO/BirdLife
Spanish Ornithological Society
The Spanish Ornithological Society is Spain’s main bird conservation charity. It was founded in 1954 and has 8,000 members and 50 staff...
. In the event, several large groups chose not to join; these included Grupo Ornitológico Balear in the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
, Acció Ecologista - Agró in the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
and the majority of Catalan
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
groups, already integrated into Ecologistes de Catalunya.
Ideology
The organization is composed of member groups of various political origins and is not linked to any one political movement or party. Nonetheless, its internal operation through direct democracyDirect democracy
Direct democracy is a form of government in which people vote on policy initiatives directly, as opposed to a representative democracy in which people vote for representatives who then vote on policy initiatives. Direct democracy is classically termed "pure democracy"...
has determined which sectors of the population are likely to be drawn to it. The common denominator of its activists and associates is the defense of the environment in line with social ecology. Their actions center on publicizing and denouncing what they see as actions counter to the interests of the environment, and in taking legal action on behalf of the environment, as well as conducting awareness campaigns. They also engage in elaborating viable alternatives in the various areas where they work.
Structure
The confederation is structured along territorial lines, with a different federationFederation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...
s organized based on the autonomous communities of Spain
Autonomous communities of Spain
An autonomous community In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . The second article of the constitution recognizes the rights of "nationalities and regions" to self-government and declares the "indissoluble unity of the Spanish nation".Political power in Spain is...
. However, not all autonomous communities are represented in the confederation. Also, in the autonomous communities that contain multiple provinces
Provinces of Spain
Spain and its autonomous communities are divided into fifty provinces .In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian , sing. província.*Galician , sing. provincia.*Basque |Galicia]] — are not also the capitals of provinces...
and where Ecologists in Action is active, the federations at the level of autonomous communities further subdivide into provincial federations. Each federation is, in turn, composed of local groups. These groups—independently of the number of their associates or activists—each have one vote at the annual confederal assembly of Ecologists in Action.
As of February 2009, Ecologists in Action is active in Andalusia
Andalusia
Andalusia is the most populous and the second largest in area of the autonomous communities of Spain. The Andalusian autonomous community is officially recognised as a nationality of Spain. The territory is divided into eight provinces: Huelva, Seville, Cádiz, Córdoba, Málaga, Jaén, Granada and...
(with the largest number of local groups, over 100), Aragón
Aragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, Asturias
Asturias
The Principality of Asturias is an autonomous community of the Kingdom of Spain, coextensive with the former Kingdom of Asturias in the Middle Ages...
, the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, Cantabria
Cantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
, Castile and León
Castile and León
Castile and León is an autonomous community in north-western Spain. It was so constituted in 1983 and it comprises the historical regions of León and Old Castile...
, Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha
Castile-La Mancha is an autonomous community of Spain. Castile-La Mancha is bordered by Castile and León, Madrid, Aragon, Valencia, Murcia, Andalusia, and Extremadura. It is one of the most sparsely populated of Spain's autonomous communities...
, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, the Community of Madrid, the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
, Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
, La Rioja
La Rioja (Spain)
La Rioja is an autonomous community and a province of northern Spain. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and Nájera.-History:...
, Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
, the Valencian Community
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community is an autonomous community of Spain located in central and south-eastern Iberian Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Valencia...
and the Region of Murcia
Region of Murcia
The Region of Murcia is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the country, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast....
, as well as in the autonomous cities of Ceuta
Ceuta
Ceuta is an autonomous city of Spain and an exclave located on the north coast of North Africa surrounded by Morocco. Separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar, Ceuta lies on the border of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta along with the other Spanish...
and Melilla
Melilla
Melilla is a autonomous city of Spain and an exclave on the north coast of Morocco. Melilla, along with the Spanish exclave Ceuta, is one of the two Spanish territories located in mainland Africa...
.
Functionally, the structure is the same as this in the different areas of work, focused on different environmental problems. Depending on the size of the groups, work in a given area is assigned to a particular "commission"; obviously, the smaller groups do not break down into commissions. These groupings along lines of areas of work are also important in bringing proposals to the confederal assembly.
Areas of work
Areas of work, often overlapping, are identified as:- AgroecologyAgroecologyAgroecology is the application of ecological principles to the production of food, fuel, fiber, and pharmaceuticals. The term encompasses a broad range of approaches, and is considered "a science, a movement, [and] a practice."...
: fighting against genetically modified organismGenetically modified organismA genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
s and promotion of ecological agriculture - Water: sustainable use of water resources, especially of continental waters; in particular, the campaign against the Spanish National Hydrological Plan (Plan Hidrológico Nacional, PHN)
- Animals: Ecologists in Action denounces activities it considers as constituting cruelty to animalsCruelty to animalsCruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with...
- Antiglobalization: campaigns against economic globalizationEconomic globalizationEconomic globalization refers to increasing economic interdependence of national economies across the world through a rapid increase in cross-border movement of goods, service, technology and capital...
(and other activities of international scope) - Climate changeClimate changeClimate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...
: alert campaigns regarding global warmingGlobal warmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades... - ConsumptionConsumption (economics)Consumption is a common concept in economics, and gives rise to derived concepts such as consumer debt. Generally, consumption is defined in part by comparison to production. But the precise definition can vary because different schools of economists define production quite differently...
: denouncing the wasted caused by a productivist economy. Particularly dedicated in this area is the collectiv ConsumeHastaMorir ("ConsumeUntilYouDie"), with their satiricSatireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
campaigns. - PollutionPollutionPollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
: denouncing various forms of pollution, from air pollutionAir pollutionAir pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
to light pollutionLight pollutionLight pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excessive or obtrusive artificial light.The International Dark-Sky Association defines light pollution as:...
, among others. - EducationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
: denouncing the anti-environmental content in numerous textbooks and organizing environmental awareness campaigns. - EnergyEnergyIn physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...
: denouncing the environmental impacts ocf various forms of obtaining energy; this is, of course, linked to the area of climate change. - Marine environment: promotes the sustainable exploitation of the marine environment and denounces episodes of danger of marine contamination, such as involved in the oil industry or inappropriate coastal development.
- NatureNatureNature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
: promotes the protection of natural spaces, including the vías pecuarias (the routes in Spain used for transhumanceTranshumanceTranshumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...
, seasonal movement of people with their livestock) and denouncing aggressions against protected areas - Heritage: denouncing aggressions against what in Spain is known as patrimonio histórico, the physical artifacts of the country's artistic and cultural traditions (historic buildings, landscapes, etc.).
- ResiduesWasteWaste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
: promoting the reduction of waste materials in modern production systems and denounces bad practices in the management of waste, including lack of interest in and support for recyclingRecyclingRecycling is processing used materials into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution and water pollution by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse...
or uncontrolled disposal of hazardous wasteHazardous wasteA hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment. According to the U.S. environmental laws hazardous wastes fall into two major categories: characteristic wastes and listed wastes.Characteristic hazardous wastes are materials that are known...
. - Transportation: denouncing the unsustainability of the current system of transport, based on private transportPrivate transportPrivate transport, as opposed to public transport, is transportation service which is not available for use by the general public. Private transport is the dominant form of transportation in most of the world. In the United States, for example, 86.2% of passenger miles traveled occur by passenger...
and the construction of high-speed railHigh-speed railHigh-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
or airportAirportAn airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
s, and promoting sustainable means of transport such as public transportPublic transportPublic transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
and bicycleBicycleA bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
s. - Urban planningUrban planningUrban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
: denouncing urbanistic abuses and the unsustainability of the modern urbanistic model. - Legal defense: dedicated to supporting different groups in denouncing aggression against the environment, as well as elaborating normative proposals and training members of the organization.