A bright green perspective on sustainable choices

Abstract

We present a qualitative study of 35 United States households whose occupants have made significant accommodations to their homes and behaviors in order to be more environmentally responsible. Our goal is to inform the design of future sustainable technologies through an exploration of existing "green" lifestyles. We describe the motivations, practices, and experiences of the participants. The participants had diverse motivations ranging from caring for the Earth to frugal minimalism, and most participants also evidenced a desire to be unique. Most participants actively and consciously managed their homes and their daily practices to optimize their environmental responsibility. Their efforts to be environmentally responsible typically required significant dedication of time, attention, and other resources. As this level of commitment and desire to be unique may not generalize readily to the broader population, we discuss the importance of interactive technologies that influence surrounding infrastructure and circumstances in order to facilitate environmental responsibility.

‘I Believe in That Version of the Future’. Cli-Fi and Design Fictions as Dialogical Frameworks for Expert Engagements

“…In this path, a totalitarian governmental approach and a carbon budget are the core. The second scenario is a technology driven solution, in which the necessary reduction was reached through technological innovation with a 'bright green' path (Woodruff, Hasbrouck and Augustin, 2008). The stories follow the same storyline and are constructed the same way in two parts.…”

On fairness & sustainability: Motivating change in the networked society

“…users) that has so far characterized the work conducted in SCHI [9] is challenged by this principle that takes account of multiple units of analysis that can be included in the examination of social movements. In that respect, work conducted by [1,13,32] point to this direction through for example questions of scale [12]. Ultimately, the principle about the multiple levels of analysis that are intertwined with issues pertaining to the environment, can also be grasped in terms of analyzing a "conjoint phenomena at different scales approaching environmental settings in terms of their physical and social components, natural or built -designedfeatures, material and semiotic qualities, and their scale of immediacy to individuals and groups, organizations, communities or populations" [28. p.2].…”

“…Design alternatives on the one hand are based on the principle that change arises when technologies provide opportunities for individuals to live differently [32,14]. Sustainability in this context is a byproduct of the artifact itself.…”

“…How do we build and design these technologies to sustain movements centered around fairness & openness? These issues and other central questions have been introduced within the Sustainable HCI (SHCI) literature [4,17,9,20,13,14,15,12,31,32]. This pioneering body of research work has drawn on theoretical and applied developments that relate to third wave HCI [6].…”

Exploring (un)sustainable growth of digital technologies in the home

“…Such studies have included: insights into how home network technologies could support better user management [8]; understandings of the short lifetimes of mobile phones [9]; frameworks of personal attachment to inform the design of devices that are longer-lived and more likely to be cherished or passed on to others [10], [11]; reasons why electronic devices are kept even after they have fallen out of use [12]; how meaning is composed for digital data (messages, photo, video) compared to physical possessions [13]; how we might better support those who already devote significant effort and resources to reducing the impacts of their lives at home [14]; and how purchase, reuse and disposal of personal digital technology may relate to environmental concerns among young people [15].…”