Section Intro by Soenke Zehle

The notion of 'network ecologies' is introduced to explore ways in which debates on creativity and the economy of culture resonate and connect with ecopolitical concerns, especially those developed in the context of an (emergent) transnational network of organizing around environmental and social justice issues in the global networks of electronics production. A reappropriation of 'sustainability' as conflictual dynamics giving rise to alternative forms of agency serves as point of departure. Building on earlier work on environmental justice as a minority social movement signalling the rise of new forms of organizing, these explorations draw on a variety of approaches (environmental debt, environmental/resource rights, social ecology and resource conflict, but also occupational health and safety, approaches to a 'just transition', etc.) to bring into views actors and agendas often considered separately, and thus deprived analytically of possible encounters that could facilitate a joining of forces on the organizational level.