In every era, scientific interest is shaped by contemporary issues. In the 21st century, we are clearly facing an ecological crisis, as reflected in concerns such as global warming, overpopulation, water scarcity, biodiversity loss, waste issues, and unsustainable large-scale industrial food production. The root of these environmental problems lies in overconsumption in capitalist societies. The issues are complex and interconnected, making it challenging to address the crisis, especially as academic research tends to be specialized and focused on narrow research domains. To solve the problems, the different academic disciplines need to collaborate and adopt a holistic approach.
Understanding and addressing the ecological crisis requires a transdisciplinary approach that incorporates insights from the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts, in addition to scientific knowledge. The environmental humanities approach aims to provide comprehensive answers and move beyond academic research to applied and civic action.
Environmental humanities integrates disciplines that focus primarily on ecological issues in order to improve understanding of the contemporary environmental crisis — its causes, current status, and future trajectories, as well as potential responses to it. It emphasizes that meaningful change requires us to internalize our scientific insights and adjust our worldview and mindset. The crisis demands new ways of thinking, new communities, and new ways of knowing, and environmental humanities is a response to that demand.
Environmental humanities is not just an academic discipline but also a field of research, a worldview, and a method that values applicability and activism. It is this openness to activism that makes it particularly relevant today. It also rejects the anthropocentric mindset of the past and is critical of the separation of nature and humanity. It advocates for environmental justice and challenges the exploitation of natural resources for narrow interests. The emergence of environmental humanities has been influenced by human geography, history, literature, and cultural anthropology, and these disciplines have also influenced its methodological repertoire, which includes participant observation, discourse, narrative analysis, and visual ethnography. In some cases, these methods are complemented by artistic projects.
The book Environmental Issues – Community Answers is the first of its kind in Hungary in terms of its focus on environmental humanities. A compilation of texts serves as an introduction to the field. The goal is to offer readers an insight into environmental humanities and to familiarize them with its areas of research. The volume covers a variety of topics related to environmental humanities, including environmental philosophy, environmental anthropology, nature art, nature conservation, and the relationship between religion and ecology.
The book includes contributions from sixteen Hungarian authors, tailored to the Hungarian context. The editor, Judit Farkas, is well versed in the environmental humanities and has extensive experience in responding to environmental crises in ecological, social, and religious communities. Farkas has also authored comprehensive accounts of the topics covered in the volume. As described by Farkas, the discipline of environmental humanities is both a product and a mediator of knowledge (re)creation, and her aim is to present research results to the scientific community and introduce them into public discourse.
By challenging the traditional separation between academic research and environmental activism, the book promotes an open-minded approach to participatory research. It aims to transform research conclusions into sociocultural discourses accessible to local agents, civil society organizations, and policy makers. The volume is divided into two main sections: environmental issues and community responses. The first section explores the consequences of the separation of nature and society, emphasizing that environmental problems have been ongoing for more than fifty years. It delves into the theoretical aspects of environmental studies and examines the relationship between the environment and humanity from various disciplinary perspectives, including philosophical, economic, religious, historical, social, legal, anthropological, and artistic.
The first chapter, “Introduction to the Environmental Humanities,” provides a concise overview of the historical and conceptual framework of the field, including its roots, history, approach, and purpose, focusing on Hungarian aspects. The next chapter, “Environmental Philosophy,” also by Judit Farkas, presents the powerful impact of environmental philosophy on the development of the environmental humanities. This chapter introduces readers to three prominent environmental philosophical movements of the twentieth century: deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism. The goal of these movements was to address contemporary environmental and social crises and advocate for a fundamental social and cultural transformation in order to avoid long-term ecological catastrophe.
The next chapter, “Schools of Economic Thought on Environmental Sustainability,” written by Tamás Kocsis, explores the historical perspectives of economists on the relationship between humanity and nature. It also compares two present-day economic trends focusing on environmental sustainability: environmental economics and ecological economics. The author concludes that humanity is in dire need of more environmentally sustainable forms of economic development.
The following chapter reviews the role of religions in the relationship between humanity and nature and tackles questions of religion and ecology. It emphasizes the potential for religion to play an essential role in fostering an environmentally conscious ethic and promoting a sustainable future. The author, Judit Farkas, highlights the significance of religions and churches in encouraging environmental responsibility and framing environmentally friendly behavior as a religious duty.
Róbert Balogh takes a historical approach in his chapter “Green History? What is the Role of Historians' Work on Environmental Problems of the Past, and What Should It Be?” He argues that the changing relationship between humanity and the environment will soon impact the work of historians. In the Anthropocene era, history should focus not only on political power, or society and culture. Instead, historians should explore new areas, such as energy usage, food production and supply, environmental protection, interactions with materials and living things, and even ideas about the human body and its capabilities. Balogh expresses disappointment that environmental history has not been integrated into the work of historians and advocates for a shift from the anthropocentrism of existing historiography to a hybrid representation of natural and cultural features. He concludes that the most intriguing question in environmental history is how to capture both the natural and cultural character of a given phenomenon.
In the chapter “Environmental Conflicts, Social Responses,” Viktor Glied approaches environmental issues as a political scientist. He stresses that, in the 21st century, almost all conflicts involve an environmental factor. Armed conflicts mostly revolve around energy sources or the acquisition and possession of natural resources that have become scarce due to ecosystem degradation. Glied distinguishes between large-scale, long-term, systemic environmental conflicts and those at the local level. In both categories, economic and political decision makers often prioritize economic and state interests over environmental and social interests. Glied presents three existing methods for avoiding environmental conflicts: the involvement of the local communities in investment decisions; the payment of compensation by the developer for problems caused by investments; and collaboration between developers and local communities/non-governmental organizations to create alternative plans.
Attila Pánovics's chapter focuses on environmental law and looks at the basic issues of legal regulation in environmental protection. He points out that law is inherently anthropocentric, as it regulates human behavior in legal contexts but does not currently recognize the rights of trees or of future generations. Pánovics emphasizes the need for effective international cooperation to address global environmental issues. However, in recent decades, developed countries have primarily used non-binding international environmental law, mainly to address symptomatic problems related to the environment and nature.
Cultural anthropology has always focused on the relationship between human beings and nature, making it a leading contributor to the field of environmental humanities. Judit Farkas's chapter “The Environment and Anthropology” reviews anthropological trends related to the environmental humanities and aims to define the role of anthropology in contemporary environmental issues.
Szilvia Nyers's chapter “Eco-social Work. New Challenges on the Horizon of Social Work” highlights how experts working in social welfare in Hungary do not currently consider environmental aspects in the course of their practical activities, while the civil sector has been empowering vulnerable groups for years through environment-focused initiatives such as communal gardens. Nyers emphasizes the need for the social sector to address escalating environmental problems through green or eco-social work that takes a holistic approach to helping, encompassing all living beings and promoting egalitarian values.
Anna Varga's chapter “Nature Conservation and Traditional Ecological Knowledge” discusses the shift in ecological science and modern conservation practices, recognizing the influence of human activities, cultural heritage, and local communities on natural values and ecological processes.
In András Takács-Sánta's chapter “The Tragedy and Comedy of the Commons,” he illustrates the competing exploitation of natural resources and offers strategies for a solution. He emphasizes the need for a shift in societal responses to environmental problems, urging a move towards more community-focused approaches.
In their chapters, written from the perspective of social geography and landscape studies, Gábor Máté and Gábor Pirisi address problems of global overpopulation in terms of the concept of landscape. They stress the importance of balancing ecological, economic, social, and political realities for sustainable development. Pirisi questions whether the planet's climate can sustain the consumer demands of a growing population, while Máté emphasizes that landscape studies are influenced by subjective perceptions and evaluations, as well as ethnic, religious, economic, and political interactions.
Environmental issues have a significant impact on our basic needs, including our need for food. Dorottya Mendly and Melinda Mihály's chapter, “Food Supply as a Global Challenge,” critically examines attempts to reform the current food system. The study emphasizes the importance of the spatial proximity of food production and consumption and the adoption of greener production technology. However, the authors argue that these attempts do not address the underlying issues of capitalist market conditions. They advocate for food sovereignty and agroecology to address the systemic challenges created by globalized food systems.
In the next chapter, on environmental justice, Gyula Nagy explores the less visible but all the more severe consequences of environmental problems on certain social groups. Nagy emphasizes that perceptions of injustice are influenced by sociocultural and income factors in the context of both individuals and communities. Such injustices are caused by technological and equity deficits within societies that fail to appropriately distribute resources and benefits.
In the environmental humanities, art is seen both as a vital tool for communicating ecological problems and as a step towards solving them. Judit Farkas's chapter “Nature, Art, Activism” provides an introduction to environmental art or ecoart. It explores the creative responses of contemporary art to environmental issues and the role it plays in understanding and addressing those issues.
The second section of the book focuses on community responses to contemporary environmental, social, economic, and ethical problems. It presents case studies of specific initiatives and communities in Hungary that have implemented a collaborative response to such problems. These grassroots groups are advocating for local solutions and degrowth, offering alternatives to the apocalyptic vision of the Anthropocene. This section includes case studies from both urban and rural contexts in Hungary, highlighting responses to both ecological and social problems.
The chapter “The Kóspallag Old House Project as Participatory Action Research and Ecological Local Development,” written by Pál Géza Balogh, Luca Kaszás, and Rebeka Márta Kiss, presents the potential of a youth-led ecological local development program. It includes ethnographic data collection and community development, focusing on using local knowledge closely linked to place to create a community that lives in harmony with the local natural environment. The study discusses the rise of ecovillages as unconventional solutions to environmental and social problems. Judit Farkas's research provides an insight into the history and current state of the ecovillage movement in Hungary and abroad, emphasizing the intersection of ecological thinking and community life.
Farkas also examines urban community responses, highlighting the significant impact of cities on the natural environment. Her chapter on urban initiatives focuses on grassroots urban communities and projects, including communal gardens and the Transition Towns movement, using examples such as “Transforming Wekerle” in Budapest and the Green Spot Communal Garden in Pécs.
The volume ends with a presentation by András Takács-Sánta on the community initiatives he has launched, including the Small Community Program and the “Új Koma Háló” (New Buddies Network). Takács-Sánta emphasizes the importance of creating ecological communities as a way out of the ecological crisis and presents practical examples of facilitating efforts in the Small Community Program, which involves both research and activism and which ultimately led to the formation of the “Új Koma” network.
This book is intended for researchers, students, and interested readers. It includes a wealth of notes and recommended reading at the end of each chapter to aid orientation and promote an understanding of the environmental humanities and related ideas.
