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Illuminates the contradictions that emerge within conscious capitalism initiatives that are designed to empower women. Everyday Sustainability takes readers to ground zero of market-based sustainability initiatives—Darjeeling, India—where Fair Trade ostensibly promises gender justice to minority Nepali women engaged in organic tea production. These women tea farmers and plantation workers have distinct entrepreneurial strategies and everyday practices of social justice that at times dovetail with and at other times rub against the tenets of the emerging global morality market. The author questions why women beneficiaries of transnational justice-making projects remain skeptical about the potential for economic and social empowerment through Fair Trade while simultaneously seeking to use the movement to give voice to their situated demands for mobility, economic advancement, and community level social justice.
This book analyses representations of sustainable everyday life across advertising, eco-reality television, newspapers, magazines and social media. It foregrounds the discursive and networked basis of sustainability and demonstrates how such media representations connect the home and local community to broader political, social and economic contexts. The book shows how green lifestyle media negotiate issues of sustainability in varying ways, reproducing the logic of existing consumer society while also sometimes providing projections of a more environmentally friendly existence. In this way, the book argues that everyday lifestyles are not an irredeemable problem for environmentalism but an important site of environmental politics.
This book brings together diverse voices from across the field of sustainable human computer interaction (SHCI) to discuss what it means for digital technology to support sustainability and how humans and technology can work together optimally for a more sustainable future. Contemporary digital technologies are hailed by tech companies, governments and academics as leading-edge solutions to the challenges of environmental sustainability; smarter homes, more persuasive technologies, and a robust Internet of Things hold the promise for creating a greener world. Yet, deployments of interactive technologies for such purposes often lead to a paradox: they algorithmically "optimize" heating and lighting of houses without regard to the dynamics of daily life in the home; they can collect and display data that allow us to reflect on energy and emissions, yet the same information can cause us to raise our expectations for comfort and convenience; they might allow us to share best practice for sustainable living through social networking and online communities, yet these same systems further our participation in consumerism and contribute to an ever-greater volume of electronic waste.By acknowledging these paradoxes, this book represents a significant critical inquiry into digital technology’s longer-term impact on ideals of sustainability. Written by an interdisciplinary team of contributors this book will be of great interest to students and scholars of human computer interaction and environmental studies.
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) students and alumni were challenged by a contest to submit poetry, creative prose, scholarly works, creative nonfiction, or images that speak to caring for our Planet in a sustainable fashion. Twenty six varied submissions representing many disciplines speak with one voice in concert with promoting strategies that ensure a quality of life. RIT College of Business professor and contest judge, Sandra Rothenberg, observes "It is interesting that people with such different backgrounds can see things the same!" This common goal can create an unprecedented collective effort to use our resources to benefit all.
ÔThe question Chris Gibson and his colleagues answer in this book is simple: ÒWhy is it not easy being green?Ó In 20 concise, focused and accessible chapters Ð from birthing to dying, from toilets to Christmas Ð they unveil the ambiguities, instabilities and paradoxes of affluent household living in the 21st century. In so doing, they temper the easy rhetoric of sustainable lifestyles with some authentic realities drawn from the affluent world. Earth system science is showing us the deep complexity of our material planet. This book brilliantly reflects back to us the complex materiality of our cultural lives.Õ Ð Mike Hulme, University of East Anglia, UK Contrary to the common rhetoric that being green is ÔeasyÕ, household sustainability is rife with contradiction and uncertainty. Households attempting to respond to the challenge to become more sustainable in everyday life face dilemmas on a daily basis when trying to make sustainable decisions. Various aspects of life such as cars, computers, food, phones and even birth and death, may all provoke uncertainty regarding the most sustainable course of action. Drawing on international scientific and cultural research, as well as innovative ethnographies, this timely book probes these wide-ranging sustainability dilemmas, assessing the avenues open to households trying to improve their sustainability. The authors engage critically, and constructively, with the proposition that households are a key scale of action on climate change. They confront dilemmas of practice and circumstance, and cultural norms of lifestyle and consumerism that are linked to troublesome environmental problems Ð and question whether they can be easily unsettled. The work also illuminates the informal and often unheralded work by households Ð frequently the poorest Ð in reducing their environmental burden. This important book is critical to understanding both the barriers to household sustainability and the ÔunsungÕ sustainability work carried out by householders. Containing a unique combination of science and cultural research, this fascinating book will appeal to researchers and students of environmental science, environmental studies, sustainability studies, climate change adaptation, geography, sociology, cultural studies, science and technology studies, as well as energy studies and housing research. Policy-makers in various levels of government working through sustainability problems, environmental educators, social planners and sustainability officers working for governments, will also find much to interest them in this unique book.
This book offers new perspectives of transdisciplinary research, in methodological as well as theoretical respects. It provides insights in the two-fold bio-physical and the socio-cultural global embeddedness of local living conditions on the basis of selected empirical studies from Latin America, Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe. The theoretical foundations of ecological research and sustainability policies were developed at the end of the nineteenth century. They are largely based on investigations of living spaces and the evolution and differentiation of varied life forms. This perspective is embedded in the practical and theoretical European problem situations of the past and lacks social and cultural differentiation. The transformation of spatial and natural relations as a result of the globalization process is so radical that new theories are needed to solve 21st century ecological problems. Moreover, in view of the lack of an ontologically sound and promising strategy for transdisciplinary problem solving, as well as an acceptable consideration of the power of cultural schemas relating to natural living’s interpretations, there is a strong need to focus on sustainable social practices, habits and routines, rather than on predominantly living spaces or eco-topes. This book elaborates on the transdisciplinary approach by reflecting on the theoretical heritage and a global perspective of sustainability, by focusing on the primary role of a social approach in sustainability research and by putting emphasis on cultural dimension of sustainability. It postulates that global sustainability is grounded in a global understanding of our everyday activities.
Find clarity on everyday green-living dilemmas to maximize your sustainability Are paper bags always more environmentally friendly than plastic? How much better for the planet are electric cars? What saves more water - using the dishwasher or washing up by hand? We all want to do the right thing for the planet, but with so many factors at play, it can be difficult to work out which is the greenest way. With answers to more than 140 everyday green-living questions, Is It Really Green? cuts through the confusion and gives you the facts. Get to the heart of each eco-conundrum, interrogate your instincts, and make informed decisions to reduce your ecological footprint.
Threaded Harmony: A Sustainable Approach to Fashion acts as a comprehensive guide exploring the environmental impact of fashion, discussing the ecological footprint of fast fashion, pollution, and waste in the supply chain, supported by real-life case studies.
Intellectual arguments alone will not sway the dominant paradigm; to be motivated to create change, people must be moved. Art has the power to inform, influence, and inspire. The creative impulse can, quite literally, change the world. Better explores the intersection of sustainability and art, showing how each of us can reinvent our lives as our greatest artistic achievement. Presented in the context of the unique story of Better Farm, a blueprint for environmentally conscious living originally established as an intentional community, this unusual guide blends theory with practical, hands-on, DIY ideas to incite your own creative adventures, including: Upcycling trash into treasure Turning your fish tank into a garden Making your yard or balcony a work of art. Better is a concrete application of the Better Theory, which views every experience-good or bad-as an opportunity for exponential personal growth. Packed with life lessons and tips for making any lifestyle more sustainable, while drawing on everyone's inherent creativity, this unique book provides the inspiration to live more simply, take more chances, and engage more with the natural world. A must-read for anyone who questions the purpose of the daily grind or grapples with the need for more meaning in his or her life.