ecoalternative movement and the networks of governance in Guipuzkoa (Basque Country): The emergence of a new model

In this collective article we have sought to examine the changes and developments in the Gipuzkoa (Basque Country) ecological spectrum, its emergence and deficiencies, especially during a period in which the armed activity of the ETA has disappeared (2011) and the provincial government passed into the hands of the left-wing coalition Euskal Herria Bildu (2011-2015). In this innovative political and institutional context, we have interviewed, observed and examined the Gipuzkoa ecological movement in its organizational dimensions, alliances and campaigns, its contacts with local organisations and media, and its internal relationships (diversity, age, sexual gender, migrants, languages, etc.). At the beginning of our research, we asked ourselves, in particular, about changes and emergencies occurred in the social movements of Gipuzkoa, and the new ways of thinking and acting on ecology. We started from the hypothesis that there was a hybridization between a classic environmentalism focused on NO to projects developed by companies and institutions and a new one, that we call “eco-alternative”, more oriented to proposing new ways of living, acting and relating inside and outside. Secondly, the arrival of a political group in favour of the ecological postulates in the provincial government does not mean an easy and secure alliance with the organization, but a period in which ecologism has found its weaknesses and problems for institutional work