Borioni P., Romano D., La cultura politica ambientalista, Economia&Lavoro, LIX, 2025, 1

Nowadays environmentalism is one of the most significant vectors for mobilising public opinion, especially in advanced capitalist countries, and, demographically, among younger people. Its distinctiveness lies in considering the human being as ineluctably connected with the rest of the environment in a unity whose equilibrium must be respected. Historically, environmentalists believe that human action is not respecting such equilibrium at all, causing major problems in the present and for the future. This article aims to briefly reconstruct both the basic ideas that characterise environmentalism, and its historical development. The analysis will focus on the development path of environmentalism, which was triggered by the reflections of experts and scientists, and then evolved as a grassroots movement in civil society. Today environmentalism is a major player in politics, capable of influencing the manifestoes of all parties, as well as the actions of governments. The final section will illustrate a concrete case of environmentalist action from a recent political experience in Sweden.