Suffering catalyzing ecopreneurship: Critical ecopsychology of organizations.

The article examines the intersection of ecology and psychology in organization theory by investigating how psychological suffering—specifically burn-out, experiential deprivation, and ecological anxiety—motivates ecopreneurs within Sweden's back-to-the-land movement to become ecologically embedded. Using a three-year ethnographic study and a critical ecopsychology framework, it identifies three counter-practices—grounding (local self-reliance), re-sensitizing (creative physical labor in diversified farming), and regenerating (permaculture and community-supported agriculture)—through which ecopreneurs resist growth capitalism and foster sustainable organizing aligned with degrowth principles. The study contributes by revealing psychological suffering as a catalyst for ecological embedding, advancing an ecocentric ontology of ecopreneurship that integrates mind, society, and environment, and providing empirical insights into the complex realities and tensions faced by alternative ecopreneurs navigating mainstream economic structures. It proposes critical ecopsychology as a moral-political framework to support societal transformation toward post-growth, ecologically centered organizing.