The Eclipse of Environmental Discourse

Abstract

In recent years, sustainability discourse has largely eclipsed e nvironmental discourse. We trace the evolution of this shift, discuss its problematic implications and analyze it in Lacanian and other theoretical terms. We discuss the respective tendencies of environmental and sustainability discourse and argue that the latter, among many other flaws, is more prone to a social fantasy of reconciling ecological, economic, and social problems, and as a consequence, disavows the threat of ecological catastrophe. Since environmental discourse also sometimes slips into social fantasy, one predicated on balance and harmony, we make the case for a revival of an environmental discourse more grounded in concrete ecological problems — an ecological realism inspired by psychoanalytic theory.