Abstract:
Global systems of production and consumption are damaging the biosphere on which human life depends. We offer four vignettes from a variety of allied disciplines aimed at understanding vibrant "communities of action" for the environment in Aotearoa New Zealand. We outline how they help build, and build on, policies and institutions that regenerate people's relationship to the land and protect natural ecosystems; and their struggles to create resilient, reliable social networks in the fractured, mobile world of an industrialised society. Finally, we reflect on the insights the vignettes offer for a Community Psychology that extends its purview to the biosphere.