“…Eco-feminism has emerged as an ethics pointing to linked structural oppression of women and other marginalized groups, including animals and plants (e.g., Warren 1994;Gaard 2001). Also in China, we observe a tendency for women to be more concerned about climate change and environmental destruction than men (Liu et al 2020;Liu and Mu 2016;Lou 2017;Lee and Han 2015). A 2019 research report from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment highlighted a survey which even suggested that women also performed better than men when protecting their immediate environment.…”
The Chinese authorities have formulated a vision for the global future that it terms ‘ecological civilization’ (shengtai wenming 生态文明). It was introduced into Communist Party ideology in 2007 and endorsed by Xi Jinping in 2013 as a major framework for the country’s environmental policies. During the 2000s, the government set in motion many stricter environmental regulations and targets in line with this vision, including opening up some new room for bottom-up, volunteer-driven initiatives mostly on waste collection, recycling, education, and sustainable agriculture. At the same time, it calls for more participation of women in environmental governance at grassroots levels. Surveys in different parts of the world, including China, have suggested that women tend to be more concerned with environmental issues than men, but we have few qualitative studies in China of this topic. This article details three case studies in which women have initiated environmental projects in their local communities. They have mobilized other women (and some men) to engage in collective action, and they have generated financial and symbolic resources for their projects. We analyse these cases and argue that by raising the status of environmental issues such as waste collection and recycling, previously often downplayed as “women’s affairs”, China’s environmental turn has helped expand the space available for female subjectivities and participation in public activities. However, this expanding role has not translated into better representation or participation of women at higher levels of political authority beyond the village level, and the emerging female environmental subjectivities remain firmly based in existing political hierarchies and male-dominated structures.
“…Eco-feminism has emerged as an ethics pointing to linked structural oppression of women and other marginalized groups, including animals and plants (e.g., Warren 1994;Gaard 2001). Also in China, we observe a tendency for women to be more concerned about climate change and environmental destruction than men (Liu et al 2020;Liu and Mu 2016;Lou 2017;Lee and Han 2015). A 2019 research report from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment highlighted a survey which even suggested that women also performed better than men when protecting their immediate environment.…”
The Chinese authorities have formulated a vision for the global future that it terms ‘ecological civilization’ (shengtai wenming 生态文明). It was introduced into Communist Party ideology in 2007 and endorsed by Xi Jinping in 2013 as a major framework for the country’s environmental policies. During the 2000s, the government set in motion many stricter environmental regulations and targets in line with this vision, including opening up some new room for bottom-up, volunteer-driven initiatives mostly on waste collection, recycling, education, and sustainable agriculture. At the same time, it calls for more participation of women in environmental governance at grassroots levels. Surveys in different parts of the world, including China, have suggested that women tend to be more concerned with environmental issues than men, but we have few qualitative studies in China of this topic. This article details three case studies in which women have initiated environmental projects in their local communities. They have mobilized other women (and some men) to engage in collective action, and they have generated financial and symbolic resources for their projects. We analyse these cases and argue that by raising the status of environmental issues such as waste collection and recycling, previously often downplayed as “women’s affairs”, China’s environmental turn has helped expand the space available for female subjectivities and participation in public activities. However, this expanding role has not translated into better representation or participation of women at higher levels of political authority beyond the village level, and the emerging female environmental subjectivities remain firmly based in existing political hierarchies and male-dominated structures.
“…Finally, working in collaboration is particularly vital to local environmental NGOs. Due to the frustrations of pursuing political demands through antagonistic approaches within the political context, local stakeholders such as activists and grassroots organisations have instead sought to collaborate in mobilising (re‐)arrangements of society and promoting lifestyle transformation (Jung, 2020; Lou, 2017). Responding to the delicate political culture, developing non‐adversarial discourses and practices is considered as an appropriate way to influence change in the climate and energy policy, as noted:We do not position ourselves as pressure groups.…”
Section: Findings: Collaboration and Climate Governance In Hong Kongmentioning
Collaboration is strongly promoted as an effective means for cities to respond to climate change. While collaboration is perceived to offer opportunities to progress climate action in cities, little is known about how collaboration can enable low‐carbon transformation in practice. Furthermore, while collaboration is largely framed as a positive endeavour, there is a need to more carefully explore the challenges and barriers that may arise. This paper explores the aims, processes, and outcomes of collaboration within urban climate governance. Drawing on a policy review and semi‐structured interviews, we present empirical findings from the case study of Hong Kong. This paper identifies three types of collaboration that are structured by regulations, oriented to policy goals, and emerge as everyday practices within the governance of climate change and the energy system. The forms of collaboration challenge the assumptions that collaboration always brings positive outcomes in mobilising action for climate change. While collaboration opens up different modes of governance within cities, the paper highlights significant barriers in terms of the diverse roles of actors, ongoing power imbalances, and shifting governance spaces for intervention. Given the prevailing interest in working together, it is critical to review carefully how collaboration facilitates cities to achieve their climate goals and create momentum for action.
“…Hence, to prevent waste from going to landfills, waste separation and recycling become very important. In terms of household waste, although public awareness of the '3R' (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) principle has increased over the years and that many people have made an effort to reduce the consumption of disposable plastics and separate waste at home (Lou 2017), there are ' doubts being raised about whether some waste collectors just lump everything from the recycling bins together and take them to the landfill' (Environment Bureau 2013). To overcome public distrust, the government must provide the public with a more comprehensive and convenient recycling system and be transparent about the process of recyclables collection and treatment.…”
Section: Lack Of Auxiliary Waste Management Technologymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…With sufficient awareness, planning, and creativity, it is possible to cut waste at the source. For example, previous research on sustainable living in Hong Kong has demonstrated the ingenious ways environmentalists and eco-conscious citizens turned waste into 'vibrant matters' in their day-to-day life (Lou 2017). Furthermore, zero-waste practices and anti-consumption movements like freecycling and freeganism are also gaining momentum amongst the more progressive greens in Hong Kong (Lou 2019).…”
Section: Lack Of Auxiliary Waste Management Technologymentioning
As Hong Kong's landfills are expected to reach saturated conditions by 2020, the city can no longer rely on landfilling alone as the sole solution for waste treatment in the long term. Drawing on five months of archival research at the University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Public Records Office (PRO) in 2016 as well as 17 months of fieldwork conducted between 2012, 2013 and 2016, this article provides a muchneeded overview of why sustainable waste management has always been such a challenge for Hong Kong. Focusing on the city's dependence on landfills and its failure to integrate alternative waste management technologies, namely incineration, into its current waste management regime, we explicate Hong Kong's waste management predicaments from the 1950s to the present day. Through a historical lens, we argue that Hong Kong's waste problems have a historical root and that they are unlikely to be resolved unless the government is willing to learn from its past mistakes and adopt a much more proactive approach in the near future.
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