Save bees, plant trees, shoot refugees: the ascendent terror of far-right ecologism and ecofascism

Abstract

My own work sits at the nexus of the climate and ecological crises and antiblackness. There is ample scientific literature examining how these crises catalyse environmental discourse across political ideologies. While environmentalism has been traditionally associated with progressive movements, far-right actors are increasingly adopting green rhetoric. This shift gives rise to ecofascism, an ideological fusion of environmental concerns with authoritarianism, racism, antisemitism, and nationalism. In this paper, I synthesise narratives across the conceptual terrain, contrasting the narrow framing of ecofascism with Balša Lubarda’s (2020) preferred term far-right ecologism (FRE) to highlight political risks. As Macklin (2022) shows, far-right actors now engage with climate change in violent, racist, and apocalyptic ways. Ecofascism is not an anomaly but part of a historical continuity of racialised, reactionary politics. While mainstream right-wing politics may still deny climate change, the extreme right promotes a blood-and-soil environmentalism rooted in Nazi ideology. The crux I argue, is that ecofascism is now part of a historical continuity of reactionary politics responding opportunistically to the ecological crisis.

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ORCID for Michael Lomotey: orcid.org/0009-0006-7481-6426

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