ARENDT,HANNAH AND ECOLOGICAL POLITICS

I argue that Arendt's understanding of ''society'' deepens Green criti ques of productivism. By avoiding subjectivist or objectivist modes of thought, Arendt uncovers hidden links between life-sustaining labor a nd a world-destroying drive to consume. Checking environmentally destr uctive desires to produce and consume requires structuring communities around an optimal configuration of public deliberation, work and labo r. I conclude that an Arendt-inspired ecological politics stresses the interdependence of human values and an all-encompassing natural order .