Across academic, political and organizational arenas, the ecological transition is increasingly framed as a technical challenge requiring innovation, efficiency and new business models. Yet the contributions assembled in this issue remind us that ecological transformation is never purely technical: it is simultaneously cultural, emotional, political, and imaginative. Together, they illuminate the multiple ways in which environmental futures are envisioned, contested and embodied — whether through individual emotions, collective knowledge, pedagogical tools or geopolitical narratives.
The first contribution mobilizes The Mosquito Coast as a pedagogical device to invite students to question the seductive promise of green entrepreneurship. Through the lenses of dark ecology and eco-fascism, it reveals how utopian ecological ideals can slide into authoritarian or destructive logics when they ignore the complexities of human–nature entanglements. This article foregrounds the importance of cultivating critical ecological literacy, challenging simplistic narratives that equate sustainability with technocratic problem-solving.
The second contribution, derived from the WCEF Accelerator Session “Ancestral Knowledge and the Circular Economy,” shifts the focus from critique to alternative pathways of knowledge and practice. By highlighting Indigenous-led initiatives, foresight methodologies and intergenerational wisdom, it demonstrates how ancestral knowledge systems can enrich or even reorient circular economy approaches. Here, ecological transformation emerges not as a purely modern project but as a space where traditional, scientific and futures-oriented knowledges intersect, opening avenues for more inclusive and culturally grounded transitions.
A third article re-centres the discussion on the role of eco-emotions in shaping individual engagement. Drawing on recent surveys and behavioural research, it proposes the concept of eco-conscience to articulate the intertwined layers of emotions, environmental knowledge and behavioural responses. By identifying eight eco-consciousness profiles and their associated risks and opportunities, the article offers an operational framework for practitioners and institutions seeking to support individuals in navigating cognitive shocks, emotional overload and pathways to action. Ecological transition here is not only a matter of information or policy but also of psychological landscapes and affective trajectories.
The final contribution adopts a geopolitical and critical perspective on the circular economy. Through an interpretive case study of lithium extraction in Bolivia, it argues that dominant circular economy discourses risk perpetuating extractivist and colonial dependencies under the guise of ecological modernization. This analysis highlights how, without explicitly decolonial and community-centred approaches, circularity can become another form of green branding that masks structural asymmetries between the Global North and South. It thus brings into relief the political tensions that underpin global sustainability narratives.
Taken together, these four contributions offer a multi-layered understanding of ecological transformation: the imaginative, through cinema and ecological thought; the cultural, through Indigenous knowledge and futurity; the individual and emotional, through eco-consciousness; and the geopolitical, through critical analyses of circular economy narratives. Their dialogue reveals a shared concern: ecological transition cannot be reduced to a set of technical fixes. It demands a rethinking of how societies feel, imagine, govern and narrate their relationship with the Earth.