morphemic thule: Publications round-up: sustainable consumption, energy security ...

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Publications round-up: sustainable consumption, energy security ...

A round-up of recent publications on sustainable development highlighted by our partner, the Sustainable Development Research Network (SDRN). For more news on sustainable development research and publications, join the network and receive regular SDRN mailings.

SD Scene publishes news and comment on sustainable development from across government, business and civil society. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect government policy.

In this round-up:

Read about more recent publications and research in the latest SDRN bulletin?

Sustainable Consumption in the UK: a selection of case studies

This report presents case studies of best practice in achieving sustainable consumption in the UK. These case studies exemplify ways in which people can be helped, encouraged or compelled to live more sustainably, either directly or indirectly.

The first set of four case studies relate to initiatives led by, or involving, government to restrict or inform consumers? product choice around a particular class of product. The second set of case studies (including Love Food Hate Waste) focuses on the role of large-scale public campaigns to raise awareness of sustainable livelihood issues. The third set of case studies (including Defra?s Pro-Environmental Behaviours Framework; and the Transitions Networks) relate to capacity-building initiatives; and the final case studies show how two different actors are leading sustainable consumption initiatives in the UK.

Climate change and energy security: Assessing the impact of information and its delivery on attitudes and behaviour

In a new report from Glasgow University, based on a series of focus groups with members of the UK public, researchers led by Prof. Greg Philo studied the impact of media coverage on public attitudes towards climate change and energy security.

The core of this research project was to analyse the role of the media, which has been said by the Chair of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to have played a central role in spreading awareness of climate change. The project?s focus on public trust in different bodies in light of the increasingly diverse range of views on climate change within the media offers an insight into the impact of different actors and the message that they are portraying. The report found that there is widespread public confusion over climate change which reflects the journalistic construction of the subject as one of uncertainty. Most people have only a vague understanding of the science, and believe it is inconsistent anyway. It also found that People do not trust politicians, and as these are some of the voices they hear most frequently on the subject, that has led to further disengagement.

Enterprising Communities: Grassroots Sustainability Innovations

This book, edited by Prof Anna Davies, provides an internationally grounded and critical review of grassroots sustainability enterprises, specifically focusing on the processes that lead to their formation, the governing context that shapes their evolution, the benefits they create and the challenges that they face in different contexts.

This is the first internationally focused study of grassroots sustainability enterprises that covers such a range of environmental sectors. For the first time grassroots sustainability enterprises and their actions and impact receive comprehensive academic analysis from the perspective of their contribution towards more resilient development. The book begins by defining the term and placing it in context, looking at contemporary agendas in sustainability innovation and enterprise, and sustainability impacts and grassroots enterprises. It then examines a variety of grassroots sustainability enterprises such as low-impact housing in the UK, eco-villages in Ireland, community gardening in Germany and turtle conservation in Costa Rica. It concludes by looking ahead to the future at governing frameworks for grassroots sustainability enterprises and smart green clean-tech economy.

Trade Unions in the Green Economy ? Working for the Environment

Combating climate change will increasingly impact on production industries and the workers they employ as production changes and consumption is targeted. Yet research has largely ignored labour and its responses.

This book brings together sociologists, psychologists, political scientists, historians, economists, and representatives from international and local unions based in Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Taiwan, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Together they open up a new area of research: Environmental Labour Studies. The authors (Nora R?thzel and David Uzzell) ask what kind of environmental policies are unions in different countries and sectors developing. How do they aim to reconcile the protection of jobs with the protection of the environment? What are the forms of cooperation developing between trade unions and environmental movements, especially the so-called Red-Green alliances? Under what conditions are unions striving to create climate change policies that transcend the economic system?

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