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Can we learn to live differently? Lessons from ‘Going for Green’
Author(s) -
Collins Andrea J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of consumer studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.775
H-Index - 71
eISSN - 1470-6431
pISSN - 1470-6423
DOI - 10.1046/j.1470-6431.2003.00308_26.x
Subject(s) - citizen journalism , scope (computer science) , process (computing) , sustainable development , participatory action research , government (linguistics) , public relations , action (physics) , business , relation (database) , action research , political science , process management , environmental planning , sociology , computer science , geography , linguistics , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , anthropology , law , database , pedagogy , programming language , operating system
Participation at the local level is an important factor in determining the success of programmes developed to achieve sustainable development. This paper is concerned with debates over the role of the individual citizen in relation to that participatory process. In particular, it focuses on the UK government's citizens’ environmental initiative ‘Going for Green’. Through this initiative a five‐point Green Code was developed to assist in the delivering of its sustainable development message. The initiative's overall approach to participation was based on an assumption that the primary barrier to translating environmental concern into local action was a lack of information, and individuals would respond to messages in a similar way. As a research strategy, the case study was used to evaluate methods and processes used to implement the initiative's pilot Sustainable Communities Project in two comparative geographical communities in Merthyr Tydfil (South Wales). Research findings from this study have demonstrated that the case study was invaluable in terms of understanding the participatory process and experiences of a broad range of community stakeholders. Promoting a single model of participation was found to restrict the participatory process in terms of who was encouraged to participate, the scope of their participation, and those outcomes that could be achieved. This paper concludes that if significant progress is to be made in relation to achieving sustainable development, the role of individual citizens needs to be extended beyond that of a consumer of the environment, and also include active participation in a process that is based on collective action.