Episode 1: Ecologist Green Party of Nicaragua

- Ecologist Green Party of Nicaragua

- The ​Ecologist Green Party of Nicaragua​ is a ​political party​ in ​Nicaragua​.
- It was founded on November 23, 2003.
- The president of the organization is Edward Martín Salazar Cruz.
- Since 2003, the ​Ecologist Green Party of Nicaragua​ is a full member of the ​Federation of the
Green Parties of the Americas​ (Federación de los Partidos Verdes de las Américas).
- The Federation of the Green Parties of the Americas is also known as the Global Greens.
- The ​Global Greens​ (​GG​) is an international network of political parties and
movements which work to implement the ​Global Greens Charter​. It consists of
various national ​Green political parties​, partner networks, and other
organizations associated with ​green politics​.
- The Global Greens Charter is the guiding document that establishes the
principles and "core values" to which member parties and associated
organizations should attempt to adhere.​[7]​ It sets out global principles that cross
boundaries to bind Greens from around the world together:
- Participatory Democracy
- Nonviolence
- Social Justice
- Sustainability
- Respect for Diversity
- Ecological Wisdom
- Priorities outlined in the Charter include reforming the dominant economic model,
tackling climate change, ending the hunger crisis, promoting vibrant democracy, working
for peace, protecting biodiversity.
- The Global Greens have five networks designed to enable global collaboration,
communication, and community among member parties and organizations:
- Friends of Global Greens
- This network is composed of Green parties, parliamentarians, and
activists who make recurring donations of any amount to the Global
Greens.
- Global Greens LGBT+ Network
- This network aims to:
- "Support LGBT+ groups within Green Parties around the world to
work together and support each other; Support Green Parties looking to
set-up LGBT+ groups, and; Promote LGBT+ equality as outlined in the
Global Greens Charter."
- Global Greens Parliamentarians Network
- This network is composed of Green Members of Parliament from
Global Greens member parties and works to fulfill the following
objectives:
- "To be active, in a coordinated manner, in our parliaments on
issues of identified global concern, in order to influence the
governments of our countries, and the public whom we
represent, to the goals specifically identified by the Global
Greens;
- To develop a mutually-reinforcing and mutually-supportive
network of MPs, as individuals, to help us each to become
 most effective in our parliamentary action, and realize our
potential as movers of positive global change, and;
- To achieve positive change for Green goals at the global and
regional levels through the strengthening of international
institutions, including more parliamentarian representation and
decision-making influence in those bodies."
- Global Greens Women's Network
- This network supports the participation of Green women worldwide in
democratic political processes, by focusing on:
- "Capacity building and empowerment: training and
developing skills, such as public speaking and leadership;
- Governance and participation: confronting inequalities at the
organizational level and exchanging best practices to tackle
them and promote participation;
- Campaigning about major topics relevant to women: such as
gender justice and climate change, and;
- Carrying out formal functions as part of global Greens
governance: e.g. nominating women to the Asia-Pacific
Greens Federation (APGF) Council."
- Global Young Greens
- This network is a "youth-led organization supporting and uniting the
efforts of young people from a green-alternative spectrum around the
world. It works towards (1) ecological sustainability, (2) social justice,
(3) grassroots democracy, and (4) peace."
- On May 9, 2006, the ​Ecologist Green Party of Nicaragua​ signed an alliance with the ​Sandinista
Renovation Movement​.
- The Sandinista Renovation Movement is defined as a democratic and progressive party,
made of women and men, which promotes the construction of Nicaragua with
opportunities, progress, solidarity, democracy, and sovereignty.
- The Sandinista Renovation Movement was born to political life in the struggle to rescue
democracy and public institutions currently discredited and without legitimacy in
Nicaragua. Likewise, to propose real solutions to the poverty that afflicts the majority of
the Nicaraguan people.
- The Sandinista Renovation Movement Alliance was made up of the Sandinista
Renovation Movement and the following parties and movements:
- Citizen Action Party (PAC)
- Movement for the Rescue of Sandinismo
- Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN​)
- Social Christian Party
- Green Ecologist Movement (GP-Nicaragua).
- Women's Autonomous Movement
- Movement Change Reflection Ethics Action (CREA)

Episode 2: History of Green Politics

- Green politics​, or ​ecopolitics​, is a ​political ideology​ that aims to foster an ecologically sustainable society
rooted in ​environmentalism​, ​nonviolence​, ​social justice​, and ​grassroots democracy​.
- The term ​political ecology​ is sometimes used in academic circles, but it has come to represent an
interdisciplinary field of study as the academic discipline offers wide-ranging studies integrating ecological
 social sciences with ​political economy​ in topics such as degradation and marginalization, environmental
conflict, conservation and control, and environmental identities and social movements.
- Supporters of green politics share many ideas with the ​conservation​, ​environmental​, ​feminist​, and ​peace
movements​.
- In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green politics is concerned with ​civil liberties​, social
justice, nonviolence, sometimes variants of ​localism​, and tends to support ​social progressivism​.
- Green party platforms are largely considered left in the ​political spectrum​. The green ideology has
connections with various other ecocentric political ideologies, including ​ecofeminism​, ​eco-socialism​, and
green anarchism​, but to what extent these can be seen as forms of green politics is a matter of debate.
- As the ​left-wing​ green political philosophy developed, there also came into separate existence unrelated
and polar opposite movements on the ​right-wing​ that include ecological components such as ​eco-capitalism
and ​green conservatism​.
- Guiding Principles of Green Politics:
- Ecological wisdom
- Social justice
- Participatory democracy
- Nonviolence
- Sustainability
- Respect for diversity
Episode 3: ​Green Economics
- Green economics focuses on the importance of the health of the ​biosphere​ to ​human well-being​.
Consequently, most Greens distrust conventional capitalism, as it tends to emphasize ​economic growth
while ignoring ecological health; the "​full cost​" of economic growth often includes damage to the
biosphere, which is unacceptable according to green politics. Green economics considers such growth to be
"​uneconomic growth​"— a material increase that nonetheless lowers the overall quality of life. Green
economics inherently takes a longer-term perspective than conventional economics, because such a loss in
quality of life is often delayed.
- Some Greens refer to ​productivism​, ​consumerism​, and ​scientism​ as "grey", as contrasted with "green",
economic views. "Grey" approaches focus on behavioral changes.​[24]
- Therefore, adherents to green politics advocate economic policies designed to safeguard the environment.
Greens want governments to stop ​subsidizing​ companies that waste resources or pollute the natural world,
subsidies that Greens refer to as "dirty subsidies". Some currents of green politics place automobile and
agribusiness subsidies in this category, as they may harm human health. On the contrary, Greens look to a
green tax shift​ that is seen to encourage both producers and consumers to make ecologically friendly
choices.
- Many aspects of green economics could be considered ​anti-globalist​. According to many left-wing greens,
economic globalization​ is considered a threat to well-being, which will replace natural environments and
local cultures with a single trade economy, termed the ​global economic monoculture​. This is not a universal
policy of greens, as ​green liberals​ and ​green conservatives​ support a regulated ​free-market​ economy with
additional measures to advance ​sustainable development​.
- Since green economics emphasizes biospheric health and ​biodiversity​, an issue outside the traditional
left-right spectrum, different currents within green politics incorporate ideas from socialism and capitalism.
Greens on the Left are often identified as ​Eco-socialists​, who merge ecology and environmentalism with
socialism and ​Marxism​ and blame the capitalist system for environmental degradation, social injustice,
inequality, and conflict. ​Eco-capitalists​, on the other hand, believe that the ​free market​ system, with some
modification, is capable of addressing ecological problems. This belief is documented in the business
experiences of eco-capitalists in the book, ​The Gort Cloud​ that describes the ​gort cloud​ as the green
community that supports eco-friendly businesses.
Episode 4: Participatory Democracy
- Since the beginning, green politics has emphasized local, ​grassroots​-level political activity and
decision-making. According to its adherents, it is crucial that citizens play a direct role in the decisions that
influence their lives and their environment. Therefore, green politics seeks to increase the role of
deliberative democracy​,​ ​based on direct citizen involvement and ​consensus decision making​, wherever it is
feasible.
- Green politics also encourages political action on the individual level, such as ​ethical consumerism​, or
buying things that are made according to environmentally ethical standards. Indeed, many green parties
emphasize individual and grassroots action at the local and regional levels over ​electoral politics​.
Historically, green parties have grown at the local level, gradually gaining influence and spreading to
regional or provincial politics, only entering the national arena when there is a strong network of local
support.
- In addition, many greens believe that governments should not levy taxes against strictly local production
and trade. Some Greens advocate new ways of organizing authority to increase local control, including
urban secession​, ​bioregional democracy​, and co-operative/local stakeholder ownership.

Episode 5: Other Issues in Green Politics

- Although Greens in the ​United States​ "calls for an end to the '​War on Drugs​'" and "for the decriminalization
of ​victimless crimes​", they also call for developing "a firm approach to law enforcement that directly
addresses violent crime, including trafficking in hard drugs".​[28]
- In Europe, green parties tend to support the creation of a democratic ​federal Europe​.​[​citation needed​]
- In the spirit of nonviolence, green politics oppose the ​war on terrorism​ and the curtailment of ​civil rights​,
focusing instead on nurturing ​deliberative democracy​ in war-torn regions and the construction of ​civil
society​ with an increased role for women.
- In keeping with their commitment to the preservation of diversity, greens are often committed to the
maintenance and protection of indigenous communities, languages, and traditions. An example of this is the
Irish Green Party​'s commitment to the preservation of the Irish Language.​[29]​ Some of the green movement
has focused on divesting in fossil fuels. ​Academics Stand Against Poverty​ states "it is paradoxical for
universities to remain invested in fossil fuel companies". ​Thomas Pogge​ says that the ​fossil fuel divestment
movement can increase political pressure at events like the international climate change conference
(COP).​[30]​ Alex Epstein of Forbes notes that it is hypocritical to ask for divestment without a boycott and
that a boycott would be more effective.​[31]​ Some institutions that are leading by example in the academic
area are ​Stanford University​, ​Syracuse University​, ​Sterling College​, and over 20 more. A number of cities,
counties, and religious institutions have also joined the movement to divest.​[32]​[33]
- Green politics mostly ​oppose nuclear fission power​ and the buildup of ​persistent organic pollutants​,
supporting adherence to the ​precautionary principle​, by which technologies are rejected unless they can be
proven to not cause significant harm to the health of living things or the ​biosphere​.
- Green platforms generally favor tariffs on ​fossil fuels​, restricting ​genetically modified organisms​, and
protections for ​ecoregions​ or ​communities​.
Episode 6: Currents of Green Politics
- Green politics is usually said to include the ​green anarchism​, ​eco-anarchism​, ​green libertarianism​, ​green
liberalism​, ​anti-nuclear movements​, and ​peace movements​, although these often claim not to be aligned
with any party.
- Some claim it also includes ​feminism​, ​pacifism​ and the ​animal rights​ movements. Some Greens support
policy measures to ​empower women​, especially mothers, ​great ape personhood​; to ​oppose war​, to
de-escalate conflicts, and to stop proliferating technologies useful in conflict or likely to lead to conflict.
 - Some Greens on the ​Left​ adhere to e​ co-socialism​, an ideology that combines ecology, environmentalism,
socialism, and ​Marxism​ to criticize the capitalist system as the cause of ecological crises, ​social exclusion​,
inequality​, and conflict. Green parties are not solely eco-socialist, but some Green parties around the world
have or have had a significant eco-socialist membership.
- Despite this stereotype, some ​centrist​ Greens may subscribe to a more c​ lassical liberal​Georgist​ or
geolibertarian​ philosophy emphasizing individual ​property rights​ and ​free-market environmentalism​ – and
shifting taxes​ away from the value created by labor or service and charging instead for human consumption
of the wealth created by the natural world (see ​land value tax​ and ​ecotax​).
- Greens may view the processes by which living beings compete for mates, homes, and food, ecology, and
the cognitive and political sciences very differently. These differences tend to drive debate on ethics, the
formation of policy, and the public resolution of these differences in leadership races. There is no single
"Green Ethics".

Episode 7: Outline of Green Politics

- The following ​outline​ is provided as an overview and topical guide to ​green politics​, a ​political ideology
that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in ​environmentalism​, ​social
liberalism​, and ​grassroots democracy​.[1]​
​ It began taking shape in the western world in the 1970s; since then
Green parties have developed and established themselves in many countries across the globe, and have
achieved some electoral success.
- Nature of Green Politics
- Green politics can be described as:
- Activism
- an ​ideology
- a ​political ideology
- a ​social movement
- a ​political movement
- part of the ​environmental movement
- The essence of Green Politics
- Green Party
- A ​Green party​ is a formally organized ​political party​ based on the principles of ​green
politics​, such as ​social justice​, ​environmentalism​, and ​nonviolence​.
- Green State
- Green state​ or ​green democratic state​, a government where the ​regulatory​ ideals and
democratic​ procedures of the democratic ​state​ are informed by ​ecological democracy​.
The ​sovereign state​ is recast in the role of ​ecological steward​ and facilitator of
transnational​ democracy. The green democratic state is proposed as an ​evolutionary
alternative to the ​liberal democratic​ state, the ​welfare state​, and the ​neoliberal​ state.
- Contributing Philosophies
- Agragiarisnim
- Agrarianism as a ​political​ and ​social philosophy​ relates to the ownership and use of land
for ​farming​, or to the part of a society or economy that is tied to ​agriculture​. Agrarianism
and agrarians will typically advocate on behalf of farmers and those in rural
communities.​[1]​[2]​ While many schools of thought exist within agrarianism, historically a
recurring feature of agrarians has been a commitment to ​egalitarianism​, with agrarian
political parties​ normally supporting the rights of ​small farmers​ and poor ​peasants against
the wealthy in society.
- Environmentalism or environmental rights
- Are a broad ​philosophy​, ​ideology​, and ​social movement​ regarding concerns for
environmental protection​ and improvement of the health of the ​environment​, particularly
 as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the impact of changes to the
environment on humans, animals, plants, and non-living matter.
- While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of
green ideology and politics​, ​ecology​ combines the ideology of ​social ecology​ and
environmentalism.
- Environmentalism advocates the preservation, restoration, and improvement of the
natural environment and critical ​earth system​ elements or processes such as the ​climate​,
and may be referred to as a movement to control ​pollution​ or protect plant and animal
diversity.​[1]​ For this reason, concepts such as ​land ethic​, ​environmental ethics​,
biodiversity​, ​ecology​, and ​biophilia hypothesis figure​ predominantly.
- Localism
- Localism describes a range of political philosophies that prioritize the local. Generally,
localism supports local production and ​consumption of goods​, local control of the
government, and promotion of ​local history​, local culture and local identity. Localism can
be contrasted with ​regionalism​ and ​centralized government​, with its opposite being found
in the ​unitary state​.
- Social Liberalism
- Is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses a regulated market
economy and the expansion of civil and political rights.
- Overlapping Movements
- Green politics shares many ideas with the following movements:
- Animal rights movement
- Anti-globalization movement
- alter-globalization movement
- Climate movement
- Conservation movement
- Environmental movement
- Feminist movement
- Local food movement
- Peace movement

Episode 8: Green School of Thought

- Bright Green Environment
- Bright green environmentalism is an ideology based on the belief that the convergence of
technological change​ and ​social innovation​ provides the most successful path to ​sustainable
development​.
- Car-free movement
- Climate movement
- Conservation movement
- Eco-modernism
- Positive environmentalism
- Deep Green Environmentalism also known as deep ecology
- Deep ecology is an ​environmental philosophy​ that promotes the inherent worth of all living beings
regardless of their instrumental utility to human needs, plus the restructuring of modern human
societies in accordance with such ideas.
- Deep ecology argues that the ​natural world​ is a complex of relationships in which the existence of
organisms is dependent on the existence of others within ​ecosystems​. It argues that non-vital
human interference with or destruction of the natural world poses a threat therefore not only to
humans but to all organisms constituting the natural order.
 - Deep ecology's core principle is the belief that the living environment as a whole should be
respected and regarded as having certain basic moral and legal ​rights to​ live and flourish,
independent of its instrumental benefits for human use. Deep ecology is often framed in terms of
the idea of a much broader sociality; it recognizes diverse communities of life on Earth that are
composed not only through biotic factors but also, where applicable, through ethical relations, that
is, the valuing of other beings as more than just resources. It is described as "deep" because it is
regarded as looking more deeply into the actual reality of humanity's relationship with the natural
world arriving at philosophically more profound conclusions than those of mainstream
environmentalism
- Anti-consumerism
- Degrowth movement
- Anti-globalization movement
- alter-globalization movement
- Global justice movement
- Anti-nuclear movement
- Bioregionalism
- Ecoauthoritarianism
- Ecocentrism
- Eco-fascism
- Green anarchism
- Anarcho-naturism
- Anarcho-primitivism
- Rewilding
- Communalism
- Eco-communalism
- Back-to-the-land movement
- Democratic confederalism
- Green municipalism
- Libertarian municipalism
- Social ecology
- Inclusive democracy
- Radical environmentalism
- Animal rights movement
- Deep Green Resistance
- Earth liberation movemen​t
- Light Green Environmentalism also is known as Sustainable Development
- Sustainable​ development is the ​organizing principle​ for meeting ​human development goals​ while
simultaneously ​sustaining​ the ability of natural systems to provide the ​natural resources​ and
ecosystem services​ on which the economy and society depend. The desired result is a state of
society where living conditions and resources are used to continue to meet human needs without
undermining the ​integrity​ and stability of the natural system. Sustainable development can be
defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainability goals address global challenges,
including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice.
- Free-market environmentalism
- Eco-capitalism
- Sustainable capitalism
- Georgism
- Geolibertarianism
 - Green libertarianism
- Green conservatism
- Fiscal environmentalism
- Green liberalism

Episode 9: Green Politics Ideologies and Anti -Green

- Eco-feminism
- Ecofeminism is a branch of ​feminism​ that sees ​environmentalism​, and the relationship between
women and the earth, as foundational to its analysis and practice. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the
concept of ​gender​ to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world.
- Eco-nationalism
- Eco-nationalism ​(also known as ecological nationalism or green nationalism) manifests as a
desire to eliminate reliance on foreign sources of fuel and energy by promoting alternative ​energy
sources​ that can be adequately created and maintained with a nation's boundary.
- Green Zionism
- Green Zionism is a branch of ​Zionism that​ is primarily concerned with the ​environment
of Israel​. It mostly fuses Israeli-specific environmental concerns with support for the
existence of Israel as a ​Jewish state​.
- Green left
- Eco-socialism
- Eco-socialism, green socialism, or socialist ecology is an ​ideology​ merging aspects of
socialism​ with that of ​green politics​, ​ecology​, and ​alter-globalization​ or
anti-globalization​. Eco-socialists generally believe that the expansion of the ​capitalist
system​ is the cause of ​social exclusion​, ​poverty​, ​war​, and ​environmental degradation
through ​globalization​ and ​imperialism​, under the supervision of repressive ​states​ and
transnational structures.
- Localism
- Queer ecology
- The term queer ecology refers to a series of practices that reimagine nature, biology, and ​sexuality
in the light of ​queer theory​. Queer ecology disrupts ​heterosexist notions​ of nature, drawing from a
diverse array of disciplines, including ​science studies​, ​ecofeminism​, ​environmental justice​, and
queer geography.​ ​This perspective breaks apart various "​dualisms​" that exist within the human
understanding of nature and culture.
- Green syndicalism
- Green syndicalism is a synthesis of ​anarcho-syndicalism​ and environmentalism, arguing that
protection of the environment depends on decentralization, regionalism, direct action, autonomy,
pluralism, and federation.
- Anti-Environmentalism
- Anti-environmentalism​ is a movement that favors loose environmental regulation in favor of
economic benefits and opposes strict environmental regulation aimed at preserving nature and the
planet. Anti-environmentalists seek to persuade the public that environmental policy impacts
society negatively. The movement's goals include to counter the effects of ​environmental ideology
and movements​, to redirect and diminish public concern about the environment, to discredit
left-leaning​ ​environmentalists​, and to persuade politicians against increased environmental
regulation.

Episode 10: Nicaragua Environmental Problems

 - Nicaragua is the largest (geographical area) country in Central America, but has the lowest population per
hectare. For the last half-century its rich natural resources—timber, fruits, and minerals—were exploited by
North American and European corporations without any regard for basic ecological principles.
Furthermore, early in the 1950s, cotton was introduced and became the main source of foreign exchange.
This led to the massive use of pesticides, and construction of pesticide manufacturing plants, causing
disastrous pollution by mercury of Nicaragua. It also forced the migration of thousands of local subsistence
farmers from the lowland cotton-producing areas to the hills where the farmers' ‘slash and burn’ techniques
exacerbated the damage already done to the forests by foreign companies.

Episode 11: Radical Ecology in Nicaragua

- Historically, land conflict has been at the heart of revolutionary movements in Nicaragua. The
US-supported Somoza regime (1937-1979) supported policies that favored export commodities, continuing
the system that had been integral to Spanish settler colonialism.
- By the start of Nicaragua’s 1979 revolution, 1 percent of the population owned 50 percent of the land.
- Inequality in land distribution ensured poverty and environmental degradation, prompting social unrest.
Despite bountiful harvests, land-poor peasant farmers and workers struggled to subsist on the low wages of
the export industry and faced hunger and malnutrition.
- As large landholders continued to purchase and consolidate prime agricultural properties, many farmers
colonized marginal agricultural land for subsistence crops from hillslopes and forests.
- Intense cultivation in fragile environments caused land degradation and compounded problems of land
tenure and subsistence.
- It was in this context that debates over land use and distribution became a major platform of Nicaragua’s
current president, José Daniel Ortega, who announced an Agrarian Reform law in 1981 that aimed to
redistribute arable land to a third of the Nicaraguan ​farmers.
- Ortega’s efforts towards land redistribution arose from the ideas of ‘revolutionary ecology’ – one of Latin
America’s first environmental ideologies aimed towards acknowledging and addressing the social, political,
and ecological causes of environmental degradation.
- The impetus for this movement grew from similar concerns about the welfare and autonomy of Nicaragua’s
farmers who had been systematically displaced and disenfranchised by the Somoza dictatorship.
- The revolutionary government attempted to simultaneously address four pillars of environmentalism – 1)
social and environmental justice, 2) national sovereignty and self-determination, 3) sustainable
development, and 4) ecological democracy.
- This has been read as, “an attempt to reorient society, the economy, and the ecology along more equitable
lines after the Somoza dictatorship had dominated Nicaragua’s financial, social and ecological capital for
the benefit of the minority”.
- In short, Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution was accompanied by an environmental ideology that merged
revolutionary struggles with environmentalism to address unequal access to land and land degradation,
promote ‘sustainable’ land use and development, and reverse social inequality.
- This platform emboldened the Ortega administration to pursue environmental measures that included
environmental policy reforms, to create and expand protected areas and natural reserves, to create the
Nicaraguan Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA), and to establish the
government’s constitutional obligation to maintain all Nicaraguans’ rights to a ‘healthy environment’
- . This ethos was modified and carried forward by future presidents and through additional increases in
protected lands, the establishment of new land designations, and major overhauls to Nicaragua’s
environmental institutions.
- At the center of these reforms, and opposition to them, were appeals to national identity, heritage, and
revolutionary reform. The interoceanic canal project, for instance, has been presented as a ‘sustainable’
nation-building project to complete the second stage of the revolution (CTGC 2006). Yet a former leader of
 the FSLN has rebuked it as anti-revolutionary and ‘contra-agrarian’ because “it will re-concentrate land in
the hands of the few”.
- Thus in the context of Nicaragua’s history, even ‘revolutionary’ Sandinista projects must pass a social
litmus test reaffirming their commitment to healthy lands and healthy people.
- The creation and maintenance of national parks fit particularly well within the revolutionary ecology
movement. Nicaragua endorsed the idea of tropical forests as “natural patrimony for future generations”
that justified establishing new protected areas.
- The Sandinista government-designated the Biological Reserve on April 17, 1990 – almost exactly 28 years
prior to the start of the current protests – as part of this movement to maintain natural patrimony, direct
settlement patterns, and “contribute to a socially just and environmentally healthy model”.
- Presently, it is one of the largest protected areas in Nicaragua and is internationally recognized for its rich
biodiversity.
- The Biological Reserve has also become a symbol of national and regional identity, representing a
governmental promise to maintain national and natural resources for the benefit of all Nicaraguans and
Central Americans.
- The former president at the time called the Ortega government’s failure to respond to the fires at the
Biological Reserve “a neglect on the part of the central government, in not having a precaution [for] what is
considered the lung of Nicaragua and Central America" (Trillions Business Network 2018). Similarly, the
proposed pension reform was considered an assault on Nicaragua’s elderly. Videos and images of burning
forests followed by those of bloodied elders and dead youth represented an assault on the past, present, and
future of Nicaragua. In this sense, it is not surprising that protests against the neglect of the reserve merged
with protests against the failure of the government to meet other social responsibilities. The biological
reserve wildfire was not the primary or even a salient cause of the current unrest. But its symbolic and
cultural significance, contextualized with historical and current events, suggests it influenced Nicaragua’s
trajectory in ways we have yet to fully comprehend.
- Although the forest fires are out and an agreement to cease social security reforms has been reached, their
embers ignited long-simmering dissatisfactions in Nicaragua. There is cause for concern based on
Nicaragua’s very recent revolutionary struggles.
- Urbanites continue to take to the streets, tearing down the trees of life, and sequestering themselves in
churches.
- Farmers are bracing for another revolution, collecting arms in preparation for a defense of the land and life
they cultivate, as they more recently did with protests against the Interoceanic canal.
- Whether tearing out metal roots or defending organic ones, the historically ingrained causes of these
conflicts are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon.
Notes:
A Revolution in Environmental Justice and Sustainable Development: The Political Ecology of Nicaragua (From
Environmental Justice International Discourses in Political Economy)
- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351311687/chapters/10.4324/9781351311687-3

Environmental Justice Research Collaborative

- https://web.northeastern.edu/nejrc/what-we-do/publications/

Lecture on Nicaragua Revolutionary Ecology

- https://www.coursehero.com/file/10390331/lecture-on-Nicaragua-revolutionary-ecology/

Environmental Justice @ UConn

- https://spark.adobe.com/page/xNgukWjyqEnYi/#defining-environmental-justice

Political Ecologists in Solidarity with Nicaragua

- https://politicalecologynetwork.org/2018/08/02/essay-political-ecologists-in-solidarity-with-nicaragua/