Green Radicalism is the type of discourse that rejects the basic structure of an industrialised society and how the environment is being perceived, hence proposing rather different way of how we should view humans, our society and how we place ourselves in this world. For this particular discourse specifically, there is a wide variety of debate and discussions that go on about how this change change be achieved. There are generally two categories of green radicalism: the first being green consciousness and the other being green politics.

(There is another post on green politics on this blog, click here to view it!)

Green Consciousness is the discourse whereby there is a stress in creating change of how people experience and perceive the world around them. This is aimed at changing the human’s consciousness: the state of how aware they are about things around them. It is then believed that other more tangible actions such as policies, change in social structure and institutions would naturally change once the human consciousness has been altered.

Varieties of Green Consciousness

Within the discourse of green consciousness itself, there are also other varieties that people may subscribe to. These varieties are represented in the infographic below:

Linguistic Devices Employed

• Use of metaphors that link humans and their inner selves to nature

Through this, speakers will try to relate by using parallels of nature such as ‘imagine the tranquility of the flowing river in your heart’, giving a sense of calmness and oneness with nature.

The video below could aid you in your understanding of how humans can link to nature.

• Appeal to emotions

In this discourse, it might be more effective for participants to appeal to others using their emotions. Some of the concepts in this discourse might seem hard to grasp because it can be seen as something that is not quantifiable. Questions such as how do you change know how to change your deeper levels of consciousness when it is something intangible?  Hence, appealing to emotions might seem more natural!

Despite the varieties, the idea behind them all go back to learning how to reposition ourselves and learning our place in society. This sort of discourse goes back to a more intrinsic change of needing to change yourself first before any other change can occur. Simply said, the change starts within you!