Families, relationships and ‘environment’: (Un)sustainability, climate change and biodiversity loss

Abstract

Few of the many social science researchers writing about personal life are simultaneously addressing the cluster of issues sometimes referred to by the shorthand ‘environment’ – sustainability, climate change, loss of biodiversity and depletion of natural resources. This article argues for much more effort in this direction, suggesting agendas for new research, and advocating knowledge exchange engagement with activists and policy-makers. A theoretical and empirical case is made for seeing families and personal relationships as multiply engaged in producing or inhibiting the possibilities of a more sustainable and equitable planet. For sustainable development to be a global reality, there must be very significant reduction of high carbon footprint and resource-depleting consumption in the rich regions of the world, here referred to as the ‘minority worlds’ (Punch and Tisdall 2012). Researchers studying families and relationships, whether within or across national contexts, are well placed to engage their work with policy, practice and activist discussions of the needed shift towards more sustainable practices, pro-environmental dispositions and a collective politics of change.

A Systematic Literature Review of Concepts and Factors Related to Pro-Environmental Consumer Behaviour in Relation to Waste Management Through an Interdisciplinary Approach

“…Many scholars highlight the importance of social norms and interactions [148,188]. Considering the range of relationships revolving around the individual is huge, they analyse this type of interaction by selecting different layers to investigate: some focus on the sphere immediately surrounding the individual, like personal and family relationships [218]; others go beyond this horizon by considering neighbouring behaviour [104,219]; while some others further expand by considering social and economic aspects, like civil involvement [220], presence of pro-environmental organizations active at the local level [213], sharing of common values among consumers [192], presence of activists [191] and environmental organizations [188].…”

Gender, households and sustainability: Disentangling and re-entangling with the help of ‘work’ and ‘care’

“…When understood as a radical tool (Tsing, 2012) in this way care can help households to be part of the solution -to be sites where patterns of care are (re)learned and creatively enacted (e.g. Jamieson, 2016).…”

The importance of social relations in shaping energy demand

“…These relations are often based on strong emotional bonds around care, intimacy, love and friendship. These relations are enacted through a range of 'family practices' 12 , a concept generalized to include parenting, friendship and practices of intimacy 13 . It is through the regular performance of these practices that social relations with family and friends have important implications for energy demand.…”

“…It is through the enactment of these relations, for example, that people become socialised into particular ways of thinking about and using energy and thus that cultural conventions with associated levels of service expectation become normalised and reinforced, or stigmatised and challenged 26,27 . For example, expectations of a comfortable home or a well-cooked meal are established in childhood, as key skills and competences are 'passed on' through the enactment of familial relations 13 .…”