Pathways of ecological transitions in crisis. Investigating (un)sustainability, precariousness and everyday life

Ecological transitions are coming to the forefront of post-pandemic recovery agendas, as instruments of response to economic, ecologic, sanitary and social emergency. Crisis might therefore appear as an opportunity for pro-environ- mental change. Nevertheless, in the context of increasing precariousness and inequalities, it is important to critically inquire into this scenario, questioning differential distributions of responsibility, damage and loss. Albeit sometimes invisible and apparently residual, everyday life is a key dimension of the socio-ecological changes that are going to happen in the future. Drawing on ethnographic material produced in the Northeast of Italy between 2015 and 2016, this article investigates the dynamics of transformation in everyday ecol- ogies as they co-emerge with the experience of socio-economic crisis. Referring to new materialist sensitivities and to eco-feminist frameworks, the discussion proposes that living-in-crisis does in some cases represent an “opportunity” for changing practices and values towards sustainability. Yet, the utter uncertainty, injustice and precariousness that characterise this condition show the contra- dictions of current responses to environmental crises: the lack of collective and participatory pathways of change produce feelings of powerlessness and loss, as well as material impossibilities, that together prevent a thoroughgoing transformation of everyday ecologies.