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Paper short abstract:

I will consider the context that frames the activities of climate aware people in post-socialist Estonia.I aim to synthesise the material from studying the processes triggered by responses to and expectations of post- and pre-collapse realities,and propose potential new methods of researching this.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation will consider the context and processes that frame the activities of climate aware people in post-socialist Estonia. The realities that formed after the collapse of the Soviet rule included fragmentations and breakdowns of existing systems and structures holding and/or bringing people together; the persistence of certain "zombies of socialism", limiting the political choices of both the populations as well as the elites; vulnerability to populist, right-wing politics; and socioeconomic realities driving materialist attitudes with reduced capacity for communal values. It is within this context that the Estonian environmental movements have had to evolve along with the shifts to neoliberal capitalism, as well as the increasing "crisis-mode" and green turn.

I would like to discuss what in this context has happened with the environmental movement, including the nationalist dimensions in environmentalism, but also, how has the global shift from localised environmentalism to the focus on climate change affected the already existing environmental groups. I would like to ask whether the new climate groups have merged with the "old environmentalists", given their seeming affinities. I would try to add to the mix the emerging phenomena of self-help communities, some of which have a long history of crisis awareness, keeping an eye on the climate-driven collapse on the horizon. I will consider also the potential methods of addressing such changes, including collecting "memories of the future" and "prospective interviewing" to understand the juxtapositions and contrasts of post-and pre-collapse socialities and the sensibilities of those living such periods.