A journey of socialising the risks associated with global warming: a Gandhian insight into Schumacher's total accounting and accountability

Saravanamuthu, Kala

doi:10.1108/s1041-7060(2009)0000014008

Cited by 11 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Saravanamuthu's (2009) "satyagrahic" language of integrated risk uses the social process of amplifying/attenuating risk to combine interdisciplinary knowledge. The risk frame encourages stakeholders to think in terms of precautionary values because it highlights the risk of harm human activities pose to the threat of irreversible climate change.…”

Section: Discussion: Erp and The Precautionary Ethosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Next we demonstrate why this discourse is more likely to reflect multi-stakeholder needs (for successfully customising ERP). Saravanamuthu (2009) uses the concept of fragmentation to represent the extent to which human activities fragment/stress nature's rhythm of life. Fragmentation recognises that the causal connection between humans and nature has multiple causes and cumulative consequences that cannot be reduced to the conventional linear representations of risk, or costs and benefits for modelling purposes (Rayner, 1992, p. 100).…”

Section: Political Lacuna In Systems Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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ERP and precautionary ethics: harnessing critical thinking to engender sustainability

Saravanamuthu

Brooke

Gaffikin

2013

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review critical emancipatory literature to identify a discourse that could be used to successfully customise generic Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to particular user‐needs. The customisation exercise is posited in the context of contemporary society, which has to try to become more sustainable amidst uncertainty about the complex interrelationships between elements of the ecosystem. It raises new challenges for the customisation exercise, that of fostering the precautionary ethos and engaging realistically with complexity and uncertainty inherent in emergent knowledge about ecological resilience.Design/methodology/approachThis is a conceptual paper that draws on published research papers to tease out political constructs which are vital for facilitating sustainable decisions.FindingsThis paper argues that the critical emancipatory influence on systems design has generated attempts to formulate socio‐ethical information systems. However, these systems are limited by their inability to engage with the politics of asymmetrical distribution of power, even though these systems rely on bottom‐up participation to change the status quo. Hence, it is suggested that systems design should learn from Gandhi's experiences in mobilising social reform to instil a precautionary ethos in the context of asymmetrical power relations. The discourse used to customise ERP should facilitate social learning about ecological resilience as it affects the capacity to reform in the interest of sustainable outcomes. It is proposed that the discourse be socially constructed on the vocabulary of integrated risk because it would enable management to take advantage of lived experiences and enhance the organisation's capacity to learn about formulating sustainable business practices.Practical implicationsThe recommended approach to identifying user‐needs (in customising ERP) is based on Gandhi's tried‐and‐tested approaches of mobilising bottom‐up participation in social reform.Originality/valueThis paper brings in Eastern philosophy (namely Advaitic thinking) into the predominately Western‐dominated systems design arena. Its value lies in its practical applicability to real‐world design challenges.

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Section: Discussion: Erp and The Precautionary Ethosmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Political Lacuna In Systems Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

ERP and precautionary ethics: harnessing critical thinking to engender sustainability

Saravanamuthu

Brooke

Gaffikin

2013

Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society

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“…Reflexivity is essential, as transparency regarding the methods by which the EF is determined can further increase proactive reflective behavior among consumers (see the Section Feedback is Crucial and Helpful). If such aspects could be more readily incorporated, the EF calculator would be more constructive, furnishing a tool that includes local circumstances and connections between environmental goods and services and human use, and at the same time improving personal accountability (Saravanamuthu, 2009).…”

Section: Raising Awareness Through Proactive Reflection and Feedbackmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing and disseminating a foodprint tool to raise awareness about healthy and environmentally conscious food choices

Dooren

Bosschaert

2013

Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy

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This article describes the development and dissemination of an ecological footprint tool that provides a concise and scientifically grounded summary of the environmental impact of personal food choices. Developed to be easy to use and available to consumers via online social networking platforms, the tool aims to raise awareness and to provide an impetus for behavior change. The foodprint tool communicates scientifically informed and customized practical advice on how individuals can reduce their ecological footprint (EF) (or "foodprint"). The first part of the article describes the process of developing this tool, the choice of indicator, the goals, and the results. Among other aspects, the tool enables users to understand that the largest contributors to their foodprint are sources of animal protein: dairy, meat, and fish. The second part of the article describes the strategy guiding the tool's design and implementation, which is based on a combination of contextual communication, feedback from peers, and intrinsic motivation. In this footprint tool, a focus on food patterns, interactive feedback, and social media plays a key role. The tool consists of a survey with fifteen questions about personal food choice that allow users to receive individualized feedback, including five suggestions for reducing personal foodprints. Users can also share their results through customary social media. Due to an effective outreach campaign, a total of 90,000 Dutch consumers used this tool over a period of four months, with 1% indicating that they intended to change behavior.

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“…In this context, Saravanamuthu (2006a, 2006b, 2009) has suggested a three‐dimensional framework through which sustainability and its measurements can be conceptualized. First, there is scope for customized accountability that synthesizes localized (micro) information and indigenous knowledge in an effort to solve universal (macro) challenges.…”

Section: A Way Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is crucial that causal relationships between human activities (means) and environmental outcomes (ends) are clearly defined in a way that incorporates dynamic information on the positive and negative externalities of individual behaviour on collective outcomes (society, environment). Third, Saravanamuthu (2006a, 2006b, 2009) emphasizes the need to increase reflexivity in sustainability planning. Again, individuals are more likely to reflect on their own consumer practices (and hence revisit and modify these over time) when they have a clear understanding of environmental challenges and are able to associate personal behaviour with harmful outcomes.…”

Section: A Way Forwardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Online calculators of ecological footprint: do they promote or dissuade sustainable behaviour?

Franz

Papyrakis

2011

Sustainable Development

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Ecological footprint (EF) indices estimate the impact of an individual's lifestyle on the planet by converting levels of consumption into the amount of land needed to sustain production levels and lifestyle choices. Several popular organizations (e.g. WWF, Global Footprint Network) now offer personalized EF calculators to help inform consumers of the impacts of their personal consumption habits. In this paper, we evaluate the most popular online EF calculators and fi nd that, even when the most environmentally friendly options are adopted, for the majority of available indices, one still exceeds the planet's biocapacity levels. The absence of options to fully offset one's environmental impacts implicitly suggests that there is no truly sustainable level of consumption at current population levels, even under the most prudent consumer choices. Although all online EF calculators claim to be a tool for education to promote sustainable behaviour, their calculations suggest, to the contrary, that as consumers we may postpone but not necessarily prevent environmental catastrophes.

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A journey of socialising the risks associated with global warming: a Gandhian insight into Schumacher's total accounting and accountability

Cited by 11 publications

References 21 publications

ERP and precautionary ethics: harnessing critical thinking to engender sustainability

ERP and precautionary ethics: harnessing critical thinking to engender sustainability

Developing and disseminating a foodprint tool to raise awareness about healthy and environmentally conscious food choices

Online calculators of ecological footprint: do they promote or dissuade sustainable behaviour?

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