Liberal Environmental Citizenship

‘Environmental citizenship’ is, like other forms of ‘adjectival citizenship’, a recent invention. The environmental citizen’s life may be rather different from that of the ‘average’ citizen. For example, she will ‘turn off the tap when brushing [her] teeth or washing her face’; ‘walk, ride [her] bike, carpool or use public transport when possible’; ‘shop at second-hand stores and garage sales ... instead of purchasing brand new items’; ‘help protect and conserve that part of the local ecosystem where ... she belongs ... and participate actively in local environmental affairs in cooperation with government and others’. Indeed, a list of things that the environmental citizen might (or should) do is likely to be very long. As it is commonly used, the idea of environmental citizenship makes demands on people to act differently for the sake of the environment. It is ‘an attempt to make environmental conservation and sustainability an important duty of citizenship that citizens all over the world should be aware of’ (UNEP 2002).