Environmental Communication and the Cultural Politics of Environmental Citizenship

Abstract

This paper presents a comparative analysis of how representatives from the public, private, and voluntary sectors of two cities [Nottingham (United Kingdom) and Eindhoven (The Netherlands)] responded to the challenge of communicating more effectively with citizens about issues of sustainability. The analysis is set in the context of literature about the need to widen participation in the determination of Local Agenda 21 policies, and the drive for more inclusionary forms of communication in planning and politics. Workshop members discussed the results of surveys and in-depth discussion groups with local residents which had revealed considerable scepticism and mistrust of environmental communications and environmental expertise. Three themes are explored. First, there is consensus in attributing responsibility for public alienation and resistance to environmental communications to the content and styles of media reporting. Second, there are contrasting discursive constructions of the 'public', which reflect different political cultures-with the Nottingham workshop supporting a strategy to share power and knowledge more widely than hitherto, whereas the Eindhoven strategy proposed greater rigour, clarity, and authority from the local state. Third, responding to evidence of public resistance to calls for more sustainable practices, workshop participants in both cities focused on what institutions themselves can and should do to progress environmental goals. Workshop participants in both countries acknowledged the urgent need for public, private, and voluntary sector organisations to match their own practices to their environmental rhetoric.

Public perceptions of opportunities for community-based renewable energy projects

“…However, it is also possible that the opportunity for community control has not been fully considered by respondents. The concept of increasing public participation in local policy and decision-making has only really gained prominence in the UK over the last ten years (Burgess et al, 1998;Macnaghten & Jacobs, 1997;Smith et al, 1999) and more widely, there is often a lack of understanding of what participation actually entails and what it is for (Hayward et al, 2004;Michener, 1998). As a result, both the public and organisations/authorities may be unsure how to move towards more community controlled projects.…”

Sustainable Lifestyles: Sites, Practices, and Policy

“…Within geography during the 1990's, mounting critiques of such approaches (Burgess et al, 1998;Eden, 1993; led to a re-evaluation of both epistemological and methodological assumptions that underpin pro-environmental behaviour research as 5 well as the attention policy makers were paying to the so-called 'deficit' model (Agyeman and Angus, 2003). The latter assumed that greater awareness and information would encourage public participation in sustainability issues.…”

“…This will come in particular from moving towards more sustainable patterns of consumption, covering the purchase, use and disposal of goods and services". However, as documented by numerous academics, the factors framing and driving proenvironmental behaviour change are numerous as are the complexities of measuring and changing human behaviour (see for example; Eden, 1993;Burgess et al, 1998;Barr et al, 2001;Bulkeley and Gregson, 2009). …”

Environmental awareness, consumption, and labor supply: Empirical evidence from household survey data

“…A strong a priori assumption of this literature is that environmental awareness will reduce the consumption of polluting goods (e.g., Burgess et al, 1998). However, Hobson (2003) reviews a large qualitative literature on the potential effects of programs aiming to enhance environment in an effort to affect consumption patterns of individuals, suggesting that many of these programs can be ineffective.…”