ecology

Based on an analysis of semi-structured biographical interviews with participants in the Green Movement, conducted between 2005 and 2015, the article shows a typological portrait of the Bulgarian environmental activist. The main focus of the analysis is the motivation for participation. This is examined in the light of the interaction between the motivation and the political and civic culture of the interviewees, their views on politics, democracy, participation, the meaning of life, as well as their outlook on nature and their surrounding environment. This typology highlights important political and ideological cleavages within the environmental community, and it reveals the diversity and complexity of the tendencies, motivations and values that the environmental movement encompasses. The green citizen is an ambiguous and yet a monolithic persona: He/ She could simultaneously be a Patriot and a Cosmopolite, a Traditionalist and a Pioneer, a Radical and a Reformer, a Leftist and a Rightist, Formal and Informalbut in any case – he/she is an opponent of the status quo, a witness and a participant in the overcoming of the traditional models and oppositions which are characteristic for the 20th century. Additionally, the green citizen is a co-creator of new value syntheses, but also of new oppositions.