The What, Who, and How of Ecological Action Space
Abstract
:1. Introduction
We have to make our lives in a more active way than was true of previous generations, and we need more actively to accept responsibilities for the consequences of what we do and the lifestyle habits we adopt [1].
1.1. The Political Context for Responsibility
In a democracy, citizens should preferably act in environmentally friendly ways because they want to, not because they are forced to or convinced. Unfortunately, it is not enough to rely on citizens’ voluntary compliance in environmental efforts, because that would make progress towards environmental goals too slow. Therefore, society has a variety of policy instruments to influence people to change their behavior and lifestyle, and thereby increase the pace of efforts to achieve sustainable development [13].
…the fact is, an enormous number of people don’t care about the environmental consequences of their actions, and they’re not going to be talked into caring anytime soon. We cannot expect them to voluntarily adopt eco-friendly practices [14].
1.2. Structuration Theory and Praxis
Human societies, or social systems, would plainly not exist without human agency. But it is not the case that actors create social systems: they reproduce or transform them. Remaking what is already made in the continuity of praxis [8].
1.3. Previous studies of Households
2. Ecological Action Space in Householders Everyday Life
2.1. Householders as Actors in Structures
2.2. Who Should Participate?
2.3. How to Participate?
… one of the great fallacies of the green consumer movement—that, after all, green or not, this is a consumer movement, and the purpose of green companies is to promote more, not less, overall consumption [25].
3. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Conflict of Interest
References and Notes
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Skill, K. The What, Who, and How of Ecological Action Space. Sustainability 2012, 4, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4010001
Skill K. The What, Who, and How of Ecological Action Space. Sustainability. 2012; 4(1):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4010001
Chicago/Turabian StyleSkill, Karin. 2012. "The What, Who, and How of Ecological Action Space" Sustainability 4, no. 1: 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su4010001