Energy ethics, homogenization, and hegemony: A reflection on the traditional energy paradigm

Frigo, Giovanni

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2017.06.030

Cited by 29 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…The discussion around the selection of the well-being target (proxied by final energy use per capita) allowed the large energy and material base of well-being in current industrialized societies to be discussed, confronting the large current inequality levels globally [77][78][79]. Its comparison with past societies with different socio-metabolic regimes, as well as with current human groups with radically different cultural values (e.g., those not aligned with consumerism such as Sieben Linden eco-village), allowed the cultural, social and ethical factors associated with human well-being to be highlighted [80,81]. The selection of the maximum global average temperature change, in combination with the information of potential climate tipping points, revealed different levels of aversion to risk from different participants, and consensus within each group was not always easy to attain.…”

Section: Promote Discussion On Social Choicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Feedback has also proved to be important in helping to select priorities in the model development (inequalities, education, ethics, moral principles, etc. ), reminding modellers, typically coming from a technical background, that energy is never just technological in any strict or narrow sense of the word, and is embedded in a wider system of science and technology dependent on social values, ethics and choices [80,81].…”

Section: Reflections On the Game And Further Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Global Sustainability Crossroads: A Participatory Simulation Game to Educate in the Energy and Sustainability Challenges of the 21st Century

2019

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There is a general need to facilitate citizens’ understanding of the global sustainability problem with the dual purpose of raising their awareness of the seriousness of the problem and helping them get closer to understanding the complexity of the solutions. Here, the design and application of the participatory simulation game Global Sustainability Crossroads is described, based on a global state-of-the-art energy–economy–environment model, which creates a virtual scenario where the participants are confronted with the design of climate mitigation strategies as well as the social, economic, and environmental consequences of decisions. The novelty of the game rests on the global scope and the representation of the drivers of anthropogenic emissions within the MEDEAS-World model, combined with a participatory simulation group dynamic flexible enough to be adapted to a diversity of contexts and participants. The performance of 13 game workshops with ~420 players has shown it has a significant pedagogical potential: the game is able to generate discussions on crucial topics which are usually outside the public realm such as the relationship between economic growth and sustainability, the role of technology, how human desires are limited by biophysical constraints or the possibility of climate tipping points.

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Section: Promote Discussion On Social Choicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reflections On the Game And Further Improvementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Sustainability Crossroads: A Participatory Simulation Game to Educate in the Energy and Sustainability Challenges of the 21st Century

2019

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“…The dominant Western understanding of energy as ‘the capacity to do work’ emerged from a particular historical and cultural context in eighteenth‐century Europe and with the particular aim of improving the efficiency of machines. This context of the Industrial Revolution resulted in ‘norms, values, and principles’ of energy deriving from ‘the scientific control of the forces of nature through mathematical language and the application of the scientific method’ (Frigo : 7, 8). These particular assumptions do not hold across other understandings of energy, such as the Vedic concept of agni , the Chinese qi , the ‘vital energy’ animating agrarian communities in Panama and Colombia (Gudeman ), or a more diffuse force of life that many Americans believe is embedded in relationships among humans and other entities (Lennon ; Rupp ).…”

Section: Thinking Anthropologically About Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction: The ethical constitution of energy dilemmas

High

Smith

2019

Royal Anthropological Inst

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Growing anthropological research on energy provides critical explorations into the cross‐cultural ways in which people perceive and use this fundamental resource. We argue that two dominant frameworks animate that literature: a critique of corporate and state power, and advocacy for energy transitions to less carbon‐intensive futures. These frameworks have narrowed the ethical questions and perspectives that the discipline has considered in relation to energy. This is because they are animated by judgements that can implicitly shape research agendas or sometimes result in strong accusations that obscure how our interlocutors themselves may consider the rightness and wrongness of energy resources and the societal infrastructures of which they form a part. We propose a more capacious approach to studying energy ethics that opens up energy dilemmas to ethnographic inquiry. As such, we show how energy dilemmas constitute important sites for the generation of anthropological knowledge, encouraging more insightful and inclusive discussions of the place of energy in human and more‐than‐human lives.

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“…It has become clear that social scientists play a key role in parsing out the social dimensions of energy decisions that go far beyond the mere availability of technology or resources (Hui & Walker, 2018;Bridge, 2018;Stephens, Wilson, & Peterson, 2008), and that social science is crucial in identifying the positive and negative impacts and meaning of energy transitions on society (Stern, 2017;Butler, Parkhill, & Luzecka, 2018;Benham, 2016). In response to this call for more social science in energy research, an increasing number of energy research studies are addressing human dimensions of energy systems, including the importance of place (Firestone, Bidwell, Gardner, and Knapp, 2018;Devine-Wright & Howes, 2010;Hui & Walker, 2018;Bridge, 2018), public engagement (Buhr & Wibeck, 2014;Eaton et al, 2017;Klain et al, 2017), cultural narratives (Bidwell 2017;Malone et al, 2017;Harris, 2017;Moezzi, Janda, & Rotmann, 2017), ethics (Smith & High, 2017;Frigo, 2017;Howe & Boyer, 2016), and social uncertainty (Li & Pye, 2018;Purkus, Gawel, & Thrän, 2017), among others.…”

Section: Current Trends In Social Science Energy Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

The social dynamics of turbine tourism and recreation: Introducing a mixed-method approach to the study of the first U.S. offshore wind farm

Smith

Smythe

Moore

et al. 2018

Energy Research & Social Science

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Understanding the complex dynamics that influence energy transitions requires mixed methods and collaborations among researchers, resource managers, and communities. This essay details how an interdisciplinary team of researchers used a mixed-method approach to study the social dimensions of tourism and recreation as they relate to the first offshore wind farm in the United States, the Block Island Wind Farm. Although impacts to tourism from wind energy systems are widely cited as a concern by communities and policymakers, little work has sought to define what constitutes tourism and recreation impacts or provided empirical evidence of impacts from operating projects. Researchers adopted an iterative approach to research that combined discrete studies using media content analysis, ethnographic participant observation, and stakeholder focus groups, to understand the social effects of the wind farm on the tourism and recreation experience and the quality of life in Block Island and coastal Rhode Island. We detail key insights from our experimentation with an iterative mixed-method approach at Block Island and offer lessons for future studies using collaborative approaches to understand both the tangible and the intangible social dynamics of energy system transitions.

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Energy ethics, homogenization, and hegemony: A reflection on the traditional energy paradigm

Cited by 29 publications

References 18 publications

Global Sustainability Crossroads: A Participatory Simulation Game to Educate in the Energy and Sustainability Challenges of the 21st Century

Global Sustainability Crossroads: A Participatory Simulation Game to Educate in the Energy and Sustainability Challenges of the 21st Century

Introduction: The ethical constitution of energy dilemmas

The social dynamics of turbine tourism and recreation: Introducing a mixed-method approach to the study of the first U.S. offshore wind farm

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