Practicing Social Ecology:From Social Movements to Democratic Transformation

Eleanor Finley

SEMINAR DESCRIPTION

How can we harness society’s potential to change the trajectory of the climate crisis? So many of us feel helpless in the face of corporate environmental destruction, however, in Practicing Social Ecology (2025, Pluto Press) Eleanor Finley shows that there is an amazing well of untapped power in our communities, we just need to know how to use it. Looking to history, she maps out how social ecologists, such as Murray Bookchin, have led inspirational struggles around climate and energy, agriculture and biotechnology, globalisation and economic inequality.  In this Seminar, Eleanor draws from the book and her experiences in democratic ecology movements from the revolution in Rojava to Barcelona’s municipalist movement and beyond to show how activists have developed assemblies, confederations, study groups, and permaculture projects in order to transform their worlds. 

Facilitator:  Eleanor Finley has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, an associate of the Institute for Social Ecology (ISE), and an affiliated researcher at George Mason University, Next System Studies. She has published numerous articles on social ecology and related themes, such as Kurdish democratic confederalism, energy and environmental justice, and degrowth, and conducted dozens of workshops, talks, and lectures to diverse audiences in North America and Europe. She lives in Fairfax, Virginia.