Keeping cool in Southeast Asia: energy consumption and urban air-conditioning
In: Energy, climate, and the environment series
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In: Energy, climate, and the environment series
World Affairs Online
In: Community development journal, Volume 53, Issue 2, p. 398-401
ISSN: 1468-2656
In: Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Volume 8, p. 94-96
ISSN: 2210-4224
In: A contrario: revue interdisciplinaire de sciences sociales, Volume 11, Issue 1, p. 220-223
In: Development: journal of the Society for International Development (SID), Volume 55, Issue 1, p. 126-133
ISSN: 1461-7072
In: Regional development dialogue: RDD ; an international journal focusing on Third World development problems, Volume 31, Issue 2, p. 149-150
ISSN: 0250-6505
Sustainable consumption (SC) is a growing area of research, practice and policy-making that has been gaining momentum in teaching programs among higher education institutions. Understanding how, in what way, and what we consume, in relation to environmental integrity and intra/inter-generational equity, is a complex question, all the more so when tied up with questions of social change, justice and citizenship. To understand and address (un)sustainable consumption, different disciplines and related methodologies are often brought together, ranging from sociology, economics and psychology, to political science, history and environmental engineering. Combining and indeed transcending disciplinary approaches is necessary, and what better place to explore these approaches than in the classroom? In this article, a review of sustainable consumption teaching is presented in relation to learning competencies, with discussions around emerging topics related to this theme, as well as promising approaches towards transdisciplinary learning. Examples of how action-oriented, learner-cantered and transformative approaches can be put into practice are also provided. In the conclusion, emerging trends are discussed, along with challenges and opportunities for teaching sustainable consumption in the future.
BASE
In: Routledge Focus in Environment & Sustainability
In: Revue française de socio-économie: Rfse, Volume 29, Issue 2, p. 159-182
Dans les épiceries participatives, les consommateurs participent aux prises de décision et au travail quotidien dans un modèle qui cherche à expérimenter des alternatives à la consommation de masse. Toutefois, ce type de projet réunit principalement des individus à forts capitaux sociaux, économiques et culturels. Nous utilisons le concept de contre-culture pour analyser à la fois les discours, les pratiques et la composition sociale d'une épicerie participative à Genève. Notre étude montre les tensions entre la construction d'une alternative économique viable et l'inclusion du plus grand nombre.
In: Cultural sociology, Volume 14, Issue 4, p. 417-437
ISSN: 1749-9763
This article demonstrates how a cultural reading of consumption that focuses on the meaning and materiality of domestic indoor microclimates can contribute to conceptual developments in the field of practice theory that refocus attention on cultural patterns, including prevailing norms and prescriptions regarding indoor temperature and thermal comfort. Drawing on evidence collected during a research-led change initiative that encouraged people to reduce energy use in the home by lowering indoor temperature to 18°C, we deploy the heuristic device of "indoor microclimate as artifact" to show how the manifestation of this new artifact initiated significant changes in everyday practices that revolve around heating. We observe that these changes may also spill over into the public sphere – from home to workplace. By making the microclimate a tangible and visible thing, we describe how people appropriate and appreciate this new object of consumption, what it says about different bodies in diverse and bounded spaces, and what the artifact as a commodity reveals about broader systems of heating and energy provision, and associated actors. Due to the increasing spread of central heating and the growing importance of complex technological devices to monitor and control indoor temperature, heating is no longer a practice in and of itself for many urban dwellers in Europe. However, when people appropriate the indoor microclimate, new heating-related practices emerge that can lead to energy sufficiency. We thus argue that by deliberately "materializing" domestic indoor microclimate as part of a change initiative, more sustainable forms of energy use can be made to matter.
In: Critical social policy: a journal of theory and practice in social welfare, Volume 41, Issue 2, p. 188-207
ISSN: 1461-703X
Households have a role to play in the so-called 'energy turn' in Switzerland, a policy framework that calls for more efficient energy usage. Against this backdrop, this article critically analyses the mechanisms and running of a programme aimed at improving energy usage among low-income households in western Switzerland, bringing together both environmental and social objectives or what was termed an 'eco-social intervention'. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and informed by a Foucauldian governmentality approach, the power dynamics of this programme are exposed, and its effect on the lived experience and subjectification of both household members and energy ambassadors are discussed. We argue that while presenting the appearance of technical rationality and political neutrality, this type of programme seeks to govern behaviours and leaves the ultimate responsibility for the protection of the environment on individuals, rather than promoting more collective and inclusive actions. Furthermore, we unravel how this programme participates in the reproduction of social differentiation by aiming at a particular social group, low-income households living in subsidised housing. We conclude with a discussion on how initiatives aimed at households could engage with the more complex arrangements of everyday life, rather than solely individual eco-gestures, while accounting for power dynamics.
In: Asian journal of social science, Volume 46, Issue 3, p. 304-329
ISSN: 2212-3857
Abstract
Food consumption patterns and practices are undergoing changes in the mega-cities of South and Southeast Asia. Based on a qualitative, comparative case study, this article examines food consumption practices among middle-class households in Bangalore and Metro Manila. We demonstrate how taste preferences, shaped by and shaping food consumption practices, directly relate to increases in meat consumption, food packaging and household food waste—all areas of environmental significance. Taste preferences, which evolved over time, are explained through three inter-related dimensions: (a) the competencies involved in preparing food or eating out; (b) the material dimension of consumption, or products available in sites of food consumption; and (c) the different meanings attached to what makes for a tasty meal. The differences and similarities in food consumption practices between each research site provide insights into how food consumption practices might shift towards more sustainable pathways in Bangalore and Metro Manila, and in similar settings.
In: Environmental innovation and societal transitions, Volume 44, p. 14-28
ISSN: 2210-4224
In: Futures: the journal of policy, planning and futures studies, Volume 148, p. 103133