Rethinking the art and craft of green politics: rehabilitating the culture of rhetoric for a more inclusive and inspiring form of ecopolitical practice.

A strong showing for the Greens was the only bright note in the otherwise dismal Australian federal elections of 2001. While the Greens have been able to take advantage of growing public cynicism towards prevailing political practices and discourses, they must also be wary of the same tide of cynicism and seek to build forms of political practice that are both more inclusive and more inspiring. While green political theorists are doing important work on critically reviewing the traditions and institutions of liberal democracies, this paper joins with philosophers such as ValPlumwood (2002) in calling for a more deep-seated cultural renaissance of ecological reason within green political thought. In particular, it suggests a need to adopt a broader conception of 'reason' and a much better understanding of the art of rhetorical political discourse, and it urges greens to celebrate the 'wisdom' of lived experience while working on the neglected skills of eloquence that might enable us to give voice to our experiences of a 'more-than-human' world. It seeks to counterpose a 'poetic politics' to the increasingly discredited 'pragmatic politics' and suggests some projects that might give expression to the form of political practice that the authors adovcate.