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Large organizations play a key role in sustainability transitions through their systems of production and consumption and their influence on wider society. Recognizing the uniqueness and complexity of structure-agency relations in organizations, this paper uses the example of food provisioning to compare the sustainability potential of eight national and multinational organizations located in Ireland. By introducing the novel concept of ‘alteration spaces’ to describe specific intra-organizational structure-agency constellations and their dynamics over time, we question existing interventionist views of organizational change. We argue these tend to overstate extra-organizational impulses for change while paying insufficient attention to organizational culture and committed individuals as potential sustainability advocates within organizations. This, in turn, facilitates a reconceptualization of individual agency as embedded within an organizational context, thereby challenging dominant understandings that disregard the potential of established organizations to initiate intra-organizational changes that shape and reflect sustainability transitions. peer-reviewed

Community resilience policies continue to grow in popularity as a strategy to prepare for the local impact of forecasted environmental uncertainty, however, criticisms of community resilience discourse remain. This paper takes forward these criticisms, specifically addressing the issue of representative power over key natural resources, using Gaventa’s [Gaventa, J. 2006. “Finding the Spaces for Change: A Power Analysis.” IDS Bulletin 37 (6): 23–33] power cube as a conceptual framework to examine power relations. Our objective is to advance current critical community resilience literature from acknowledging local power relations as a component of any community resilience strategy to situating the devolvement of representative power over key natural resources as a mandatory pre-requisite before any community can be considered "resilient". The paper adopts a case study approach and draws on a grassroots-led resilience project in the Scottish Highlands that utilises traditional land practices and local cultural history to educate people on land sustainability. We explore the potential of the project to construct deeper cultural and historical understandings of local environments and whether projects like these can serve an additional purpose of motivating people to pursue greater influence in land decisions. The analysis reveals emerging links between power, culture and land representation that could foster new forms of local resilience. However, perceptions of systemic barriers such as insecure land tenancies and democratic deficits stymied the potential of this raised motivation. As normative community resilience strategies continue to devolve responsibility over resources without devolving power, a new resilient settlement is required to confront an environmentally uncertain future.

Wie viel Konsum ist für ein gutes Leben mindestens nötig? Und wo verläuft die Obergrenze des Konsums? Antworten auf diese Fragen unterscheiden sich je nach gesellschaftlichem Milieu, aber auch je nach Lebensphase. So hat sich gezeigt, dass Jugendliche sowie Senior(inn)en besonders offen für einen nachhaltigen und ressourcenschonenden Lebensstil sind. Nachhaltigkeitsforschung sollte daher verstärkt Erkenntnisse der Entwicklungs- und Biografieforschung in den Blick nehmen, um die Chancen für eine Begrenzung des Konsums zu erhöhen.

Societies use material and energy resources to build up, maintain and utilize long-lasting structures such as buildings, infrastructures or machinery, and in the process release huge amounts of wastes and emissions. While in 1900 less than a quarter of all material use served to build up new material stocks, this fraction is now ~60% globally. Nexus approaches provide useful heuristics for interdisciplinary analyses of (un)sustainable resource use and the potentials and limitations of societal agency for interventions. Such a nexus can be conceptualized between different resources (e.g. land, materials, energy, or water), between biophysical stocks and flows involved in social metabolism, and the services and contributions to human well-being they provide. The novel concept of a stock-flow-service nexus explicitly recognizes the diverse and potentially conflicting purposes of resource use (e.g. products, services), thereby enriching concepts of “eco-efficiency”. At the same time, its applicability is in some contexts reduced by its dependence on the valuation of services, which has been subject to controversy and debate. Focusing on relationships between stocks, flows and practices, e.g. linkages between the routines of everyday life and the consumption of resources such as materials and energy, the complementary approach of a “stock-flow-practice” nexus avoids some of these challenges. Building on prominent theories of practice, especially those that have gained traction in consumption research, it offers a new conceptual basis for engaging with human agency and its implications for resource use. Both nexus approaches emphasize the key role of patterns of material stocks (e.g., settlement patterns, transport or production infrastructures, machinery) in shaping the (un)sustainability of resource use and the importance of services- and practice-oriented efforts to reshape these patterns when aiming to tackle the present sustainability crisis. In this presentation, we discuss how these two complementary nexus approaches can serve as heuristic models for interdisciplinary sustainability research, sketch the different conceptual and empirical research directions each of these two approaches inspires, and reflect on their importance for conceptualizing agency.

ENERGISE is the first large-scale European effort to reduce household energy use through a change initiative that adopted a ‘living lab’ approach informed by social practice theory. Two challenges were introduced to 306 households in eight countries: to lower indoor temperatures and to reduce laundry cycles. This contribution demonstrates the usefulness of a practice-centered design that takes habits and routines as an entry point for understanding how different ‘elements of practices’ can be re-crafted. We discuss how a participatory ‘living lab’ approach that explicitly encouraged deliberation and reflexivity served to sharpen attention on practices as central to change. We discuss how ‘doing laundry’ and ‘keeping warm’, as very different types of practices, responded to the change initiative. For laundry, tangible changes in material arrangements, news skills and sensory competencies, and shifts in what is seen as ‘normal’ proved to be central to reducing wash cycles, including wearing clothes more often, airing them out, using smell to gauge cleanliness, or keeping dirty clothes out of sight. Warming people rather than spaces through added layers and activities, and related shifts in norms around thermal comfort, emerged as crucial steps towards lowering indoor temperatures. Average changes in reported temperatures and wash cycles indicate that reductions are possible, without an emphasis on individuals or technologies as central to change. We end with a discussion on the implications of our approach for energy sufficiency thinking and practice, emphasizing the merits of taking the complexity of everyday life seriously when designing change initiatives. ENERGISE is the first large-scale European effort to reduce household energy use through a change initiative that adopted a ‘living lab’ approach informed by social practice theory. Two challenges were introduced to 306 households in eight countries: to lower indoor temperatures and to reduce laundry cycles. This contribution demonstrates the usefulness of a practice-centered design that takes habits and routines as an entry point for understanding how different ‘elements of practices’ can be re-crafted. We discuss how a participatory ‘living lab’ approach that explicitly encouraged deliberation and reflexivity served to sharpen attention on practices as central to change. We discuss how ‘doing laundry’ and ‘keeping warm’, as very different types of practices, responded to the change initiative. For laundry, tangible changes in material arrangements, news skills and sensory competencies, and shifts in what is seen as ‘normal’ proved to be central to reducing wash cycles, including wearing clothes more often, airing them out, using smell to gauge cleanliness, or keeping dirty clothes out of sight. Warming people rather than spaces through added layers and activities, and related shifts in norms around thermal comfort, emerged as crucial steps towards lowering indoor temperatures. Average changes in reported temperatures and wash cycles indicate that reductions are possible, without an emphasis on individuals or technologies as central to change. We end with a discussion on the implications of our approach for energy sufficiency thinking and practice, emphasizing the merits of taking the complexity of everyday life seriously when designing change initiatives.

Societies use material and energy resources to build up, maintain and utilize long-lasting structures such as buildings, infrastructures or machinery, i.e. entertain a ‘social metabolism’. Nexus approaches provide useful heuristics for interdisciplinary analyses of (un)sustainable society-nature interactions, for example by highlighting relations between different resources (e.g. land, water and energy). Assuming that social metabolism is mainly motivated by the aim of deriving benefits from products or services leads to the concept of a ‘stock-flowservice nexus’. This nexus approach connects biophysical stocks and flows involved in social metabolism to the services, benefits and well-being contributions they provide to society. It thus reaches beyond narrower concepts of ‘eco-efficiency’. At the same time, it remains mired in controversy over the valuation of services. The complementary approach of a ‘stock-flow-practice nexus’ is focused on the relationships between stocks, flows and practices, i.e. the routines of everyday life linked with resource use. Building on prominent theories of practice, in particular those that have gained traction in consumption research, it avoids controversies around the service concept and offers a fresh perspective on structure-agency issues at the heart of social metabolism. In this conceptual article, we discuss how these two complementary nexus approaches can serve as heuristic models for interdisciplinary sustainability research and sketch the different conceptual and empirical research directions each of these two approaches inspires.

This paper innovatively extends existing practice-theoretical mobility research by examining biographical aspects of people’s everyday mobility that capture and reflect their social relations. Drawing on nine qualitative interviews with couples who live in/near Vienna without a private car, the paper demonstrates the promising potential of retrospective forms of social research for uncovering the dynamics of mobility practices across the life course. It conceptualises individuals as inherently social and mutually interconnected mobility practitioners whose complex and dynamic interactions with others make up more or less mobile households and families. The paper thus treats social relations as a major connector between the constitutive social and material elements of (mobility) practices, making an explicitly relational contribution to current practice-theoretical debates in mobility research.

The mainstreaming of climate change through processes of media communication and political advocacy carries with it an imagined public. Drawing on qualitative data from 11 focus groups and 19 life history interviews carried out in the Republic of Ireland1 in 2010, the paper reveals a significant mismatch between the perceived characteristics of this imagined audience, and the practices and experiences of a socially embedded Irish public. Moreover, we observe the emergence of restrictive forms of discourse around climate change that leave little room for connecting with the topic, thereby serving to delegitimise it as a matter of public interest. Given the necessity for climate action and decarbonisation efforts that reach across diverse social and cultural arenas, we see potential for a broadening of public debate in line with key principles of deliberative democracy, with a view to achieving a more open and inclusive politics of climate change. Although we recognise the limitations of mainstream ...

Many sociological accounts of life in the 21st century include reflections on the dissolution of distinctions between the public and private sphere, aided by social media and information technology. In this paper, we argue that everyday practices around the consumption of food continue to display strong home/out-of-home divisions, especially regarding the consumption of meat and its deeply rooted social meanings. Using data from a German online survey on food preparation and consumption practices, we report and critically examine empirical evidence of significant differences between public and private food consumption. In addition to divergent meanings, we pay particular attention to environmental impacts related to the resource implications of eating in or out. For many, eating out in a restaurant means to treat oneself to something special. Cultural links between eating meat and the celebration of special occasions, the role of meat as a signifier of hospitality, and meat consumption as an expression of high social status leads to considerable resource implications for the practice of eating out and hosting guests. This, in turn, throws up interesting questions regarding the (in)effectiveness of sustainable food campaigns, many of which have hitherto ignored the distinction between public and private consumption. We conclude by arguing for strategies that connect the consumption of plant-based dishes to already established social practices such as hosting guests, barbecuing or celebrating special occasions.

Der Nationale Radverkehrsplan 2020 des Bundesministeriums fur Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMVI) halt eine Erhohung des Fahrrads am modal split (bezogen auf die zuruckgelegten Wege) von 11 % im Jahr 2017 auf 15 % bis 2020 fur moglich. Trotz diverser Masnahmen der Radverkehrsforderung besonders in Stadten scheint das Ziel nicht mehr erreichbar. Interessanterweise haben jedoch im Rahmen der staatlichen Radverkehrsforderung die Nicht-Radfahrenden als sehr grose Gruppe mit betrachtlichem Aktivierungspotenzial bisher wenig Beachtung erfahren. Der Artikel geht deshalb folgenden Fragen auf den Grund: Wer sind die Nicht-Radfahrenden, welche unterschiedlichen Typen konnen identifiziert werden und was unterscheidet sie von den Rad-Fahrenden? Und was genau hindert diese Menschen daran, das Fahrrad zu nutzen?

This article demonstrates how a cultural reading of consumption that focuses on the meaning and materiality of domestic indoor microclimates can contribute to conceptual developments in the field of practice theory that refocus attention on cultural patterns, including prevailing norms and prescriptions regarding indoor temperature and thermal comfort. Drawing on evidence collected during a research-led change initiative that encouraged people to reduce energy use in the home by lowering indoor temperature to 18°C, we deploy the heuristic device of “indoor microclimate as artifact” to show how the manifestation of this new artifact initiated significant changes in everyday practices that revolve around heating. We observe that these changes may also spill over into the public sphere – from home to workplace. By making the microclimate a tangible and visible thing, we describe how people appropriate and appreciate this new object of consumption, what it says about different bodies in diverse and bounded spaces, and what the artifact as a commodity reveals about broader systems of heating and energy provision, and associated actors. Due to the increasing spread of central heating and the growing importance of complex technological devices to monitor and control indoor temperature, heating is no longer a practice in and of itself for many urban dwellers in Europe. However, when people appropriate the indoor microclimate, new heating-related practices emerge that can lead to energy sufficiency. We thus argue that by deliberately “materializing” domestic indoor microclimate as part of a change initiative, more sustainable forms of energy use can be made to matter.

Government- and community-initiated energy retrofits of existing residential buildings abound across Europe. This paper argues that retrofitting initiatives need to extend their current emphasis on technical-material changes to include an equally strong focus on researching and potentially changing the energy-related expectations, aspirations and actual activities of those who inhabit and use these buildings. The concept of energy cultures serves as a useful heuristic to structure the analysis of household energy demand and internal environment. Covering three key elements of energy culture â 1) material conditions that relate directly to domestic energy use, 2) householdersâ attitudes, perceptions and norms concerning the use of energy and 3) observable everyday practices that use energy â , and their interactions, we examine data from 20 households in a social housing estate in Ireland collected before and after retrofitting. Overall, the results highlight the urgent need for an integrated approach to energy retrofitting that combines technology-aided changes in material conditions with a parallel re-shaping of householdersâ views and practices to achieve real and lasting reductions in energy use. The latter seems particularly pressing given both the persistence of many energy-intensive domestic activities and the possible emergence of rebound effects that have the potential to cancel out at least some of the savings made through retrofitting. The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from Science Foundation Ireland (Grant No. 13/CDA/2200), the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 727642) and Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland for this research. The authors would also like to thank Co-operative Housing Ireland for facilitating access to homes for this study. peer-reviewed

Social-scientific investigations into the changing dynamics of mobility practices across the life course hold considerable potential for understanding how the growing dominance of an unsustainable, largely car-based mobility culture manifests itself within individuals' biographies. Moreover, capturing the interplay between structure and agency that unfolds within these mobility biographies can shed light on both opportunities and drawbacks for sustainability transitions in the transport sector. Mobility biographies research has thus gained considerable momentum internationally. To date, much of this work has deployed quantitative approaches to record and analyse broader life-course related trends. Moreover, there has been a strong focus on the impact of specific life events such as childbirth or residential relocation on mobility practices of individuals and households. Examples of qualitative investigations of individuals' mobility biographies have frequently deployed cross-case comparisons that rest upon linear and realist conceptualisations of the life course. In contrast, narrative-interpretative inquiries into the meaning and complexity of mobility biographies remain scarce. This paper examines key conceptual and methodological aspects of a qualitative inquiry into voluntary carlessness across the life course. This is supplemented with an analysis of biographical interviews from the Vienna region in Austria that shows how individuals attach meaning to their deliberate departure from the dominant car culture. Building on these research experiences, the paper argues for a novel reconstructive approach to qualitative mobility biographies research that allows a deeper understanding of the biographical embeddedness of mobility practices.

The concept of mobility biographies has recently gained considerable currency in social-scientific transport research, reflecting increasing awareness of the long-term development of mobility practices. To complement existing work on the effects of major life events on mobility practices, we introduce the novel concept of ‘mobility milestones’, that is, mobility-related events across the life course that show a very high dependence on (infra)structural factors. Overall, the paper explicitly recognises the centrality of interactions between structural factors and human agency, thereby moving beyond a sole focus on individual travel behaviour. Initially, this paper reviews social and interdisciplinary research on mobility biographies, especially studies that use retrospective survey methodologies. Building on this review, we present an innovative online survey tool that has been deployed on the island of Ireland (n = 324) to record changes in individuals' mobility biographies and their connections with both life events and mobility milestones. This is followed by a discussion of key findings regarding the impact of starting college, residential relocation and changing employment, as well as buying a car or bicycle or getting a driving licence on individuals' modal choice.

The continuous growth in greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector has led to calls for a sustainability transition that is largely driven by technological means and supply-side measures such as infrastructure and vehicles [...]

Reducing residential energy use and related CO2 emissions across society requires approaches that understand energy demand as dependent on the performance of a range of interconnected social practices, which includes aspects of timing, location and material contexts. However, current energy policy and change initiatives often rely on a somewhat narrow combination of rational consumer choice models, efficiency measures and information-based behavioral change theory, thus falling short on anticipated reductions. Insights from the ENERGISE project highlight the merits of a practice-theoretical approach to social scientific energy research that explicitly recognizes complex interactions in the social organization of everyday life. The paper demonstrates how such an approach provides knowledge on variations in energy use across households, social groups and societies and how these are (not) acknowledged in the problem framings of dominant energy policies and change initiatives. Reflecting on experiences made during a large-scale comparative analysis of sustainable energy consumption change initiatives in 30 European countries, this paper presents a new and innovative methodology for investigating the dynamics of change initiatives that target energy use within households and communities. It concludes with some critical reflections on the methodology presented. Reducing residential energy use and related CO2 emissions across society requires approaches that understand energy demand as dependent on the performance of a range of interconnected social practices, which includes aspects of timing, location and material contexts. However, current energy policy and change initiatives often rely on a somewhat narrow combination of rational consumer choice models, efficiency measures and information-based behavioral change theory, thus falling short on anticipated reductions. Insights from the ENERGISE project highlight the merits of a practice-theoretical approach to social scientific energy research that explicitly recognizes complex interactions in the social organization of everyday life. The paper demonstrates how such an approach provides knowledge on variations in energy use across households, social groups and societies and how these are (not) acknowledged in the problem framings of dominant energy policies and change initiatives. Reflecting on experiences made during a large-scale comparative analysis of sustainable energy consumption change initiatives in 30 European countries, this paper presents a new and innovative methodology for investigating the dynamics of change initiatives that target energy use within households and communities. It concludes with some critical reflections on the methodology presented.

Food consumption outside home is a growing phenomenon that is rapidly gaining in importance in terms of its impact on both consumers and the food system. This paper presents an innovative tool for measuring the sustainability of food intended for public consumption in organizations such as schools, hospitals and workplaces. Drawing on an in-depth review of the food sustainability literature, the FOODSCALE method quantifies 11 sustainability categories which together cover 36 food sustainability indicators. A number of characteristics distinguish the FOODSCALE method from other food sustainability assessment tools. First, it covers the three dimensions of sustainability society, economy, environment treating these as interdependent and coexisting. Secondly, it considers the entire food system, thus incorporating aspects of production, distribution, procurement, consumption and waste disposal. Cross-cutting themes of health and human agency complement the 11 specified categories to present a holistic assessment of food sustainability. The tool helps to identify both good practice and areas for improvement and points towards specific measures for increasing food sustainability. Following a detailed discussion of the tool, the paper presents results of a comparative study of 8 cases across 5 organizations in the Republic of Ireland.(2) Results show significant differences in sustainability performance across cases and within organizations. The role of key decision makers in organizations and possible points of intervention are highlighted in the discussion. The research demonstrates the potential of the FOODSCALE method for assessing the (un)sustainability of food intended for public consumption. Building on theoretical insights from the alternative food systems literature, the paper emphasizes the central role of organizations in supporting (un)sustainable food systems and highlights potential pathways toward more sustainable food procurement and provision. The paper makes a major contribution to the advancement of empirical research on the social, economic and environmental impacts of food provision in large-scale organizations. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of individuals and organizations who participated in the testing of the assessment tool. We also wish to thank Dr Frances Fahy at NUI Galway as well as two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments on an earlier draft. This paper was developed within the PhD research project ‘Public food consumption and the role of organizations in supporting sustainable food systems’ funded by the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Celtic Studies, NUI Galway, and the Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme, whose support is also gratefully acknowledged. peer-reviewed

This paper argues for a disaggregation of pro-environmental behavior into habitual and occasional behavior. The former captures routine everyday activities such as regularly buying organic food or habitually conserving water. The latter describes occasional or once-off activities such as installing insulation and purchasing energy-efficient household appliances. Drawing on a survey of 1500 households in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland that developed both behavioral and attitudinal indices to investigate household consumption, we group respondents according to their scoring on each index. Results show that the socio-demographic and attitudinal profiles of households that report habitual pro-environmental behavior differ significantly from those that engage in once-off actions. This clearly impacts on environmental and sustainability policy, most notably the financial incentivization of sustainable consumption. Moreover, significant social sustainability issues arise, with rewards for once-off activities disproportionately benefiting better-off households while those who engage in routine pro-environmental behavior tend to face higher costs.

This article contributes to current debates on (un)sustainable mobility by re-conceptualising everyday travel as a set of consumption practices. Treating physical mobility as ‘consumption of distance’ with considerable social, ecological and economic consequences, the article’s theoretical focus moves beyond conventional approaches that have hitherto dominated transport research and policy in Europe and beyond. In addition, it demonstrates how a carefully operationalised practice-theoretical approach can shed new light on the social and material contingency of human (travel) behaviour. By transforming qualitative evidence from Ireland into an innovative typology of commuting practices, this article captures the importance of intermeshing social and material contexts for people’s everyday consumption of distance. Overall, we seek to add to the already significant body of literature that evaluates the suitability of practice-theoretical core concepts to the empirical study of everyday life.

Global efforts towards sustainability have had limited success to date, which can be partly attributed to the paradoxical nature of the concept itself. This chapter responds to this paradox by redefining sustainability as the accumulation within society of practices that organise socio-cultural life while conserving resources. Although adopting an approach to sustainability—itself a global challenge—that focuses on everyday practices and their measurement might appear counterintuitive, the chapters argues that doing so can yield more accessible and inclusive sustainability initiatives and assessment tools whose design and use involve citizens, communities, scientists and policy-makers. It also reveals how a renewed focus on people’s daily lives offers a radical and credible alternative to growth-based development concepts, opening up new avenues towards sustainability research, policy and practice.

Academics are increasingly expected to produce concrete and directly applicable solutions to hard-to-solve 'real world problems' such as poverty, development, and environmental degradation. However, conventional assessments of the impact of science on society have not yet been adequately adapted to capture the diverse effects of this type of problem-centred research. Drawing on a case study of a large-scale project on (un)sustainable consumption, this paper demonstrates the range, complexity and potential long-term nature of impact in interdisciplinary sustainability research. It thus supports arguments for alternative approaches to impact assessment that question conventional views of translating scientific knowledge into action, value the multi-directionality of science-society relations and recognise diverse forms of engagement between scientists and non-scientific actors through non-academic channels and outputs. The paper also challenges common (mis)conceptions of work practices in a university context by demonstrating the highly innovative and inclusive nature of much sustainability research that seeks to address the needs of diverse communities of actors. It is argued that only radically different ways of conceptualising and measuring short-, medium- and long-term impacts can capture the success or otherwise of social-scientific and interdisciplinary sustainability research. We wish to acknowledge the individuals who participated in this research, particularly CONSENSUS team members and others for their cooperation in completing the survey. This paper originates from the CONSENSUS project, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland (Grant No: 2008-SD-LS-1-S peer-reviewed

In an increasingly globalised economic system, company relocations are common and occur at different scales, ranging from international moves to relocations within a relatively small geographical area such as a city. Regarding changes in commuting following relocation, transport studies have already provided valuable insights into changing trip characteristics such as mode choice and duration of the journey. However, wider impacts of relocations on mobility practices such as shifts in trip chaining, changes in employees' social practices and networks, their satisfaction with the new commute as well as adaptation strategies (e.g. residential relocation and increased car ownership) remain under-researched, especially whenever these changes are mainly local in scale and impact everyday life. Building on and extending previous research on relocations, we explicitly adopt a mobility biographies perspective that reconceptualises workplace relocation as an incisive life event that reshapes employee's mobility practices in complex ways. We use quasi-longitudinal survey data based on retrospection to reveal major mobility-related consequences of a company's decision to move their production facilities within the German city of Munich. This paper aptly demonstrates how even a short-distance, intra-city company relocation can disrupt employees' daily routines and reshape their own and other people's mobility. It provides novel insights into changes in satisfaction with the commute itself as well as with reduced opportunities for trip chaining. Regarding adaptation to workplace relocation, moving house or buying a (second) car emerged as important responses. Furthermore, it was possible to demonstrate the wider effects of relocation on employees' social environment such as weakened social ties among workers due to reduced opportunities for after-work activities and negative post-relocation impacts on neighbourhoods and small businesses in the old company location. Many respondents viewed these changes as undesirable reductions in quality of life. The concluding part of the paper outlines some opportunities for future social research in this area.

Climate change communication research in Ireland has only recently emerged as a distinct field of inquiry. Research to date reveals the marginalization of climate change in the mainstream media, which is further amplified by its segregation from closely related topics of major public concern in Ireland such as extreme weather events, flooding, energy resources, or economic recovery. Content analyses of media coverage from the late 1990s until today show the coexistence of different narratives, with ecological modernization emerging as an increasingly dominant discourse that is supported by powerful actors in Irish society. In contrast, more radical and alternative perspectives on the subject of climate change, including those associated with class-centered and growth-sceptic views of society and economic development, remain largely absent. Efforts to date by key public figures, environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs), and environmentalists to promote a more nuanced and citizen-centered climate change debate have concentrated on both traditional and nontraditional news outlets in an attempt to reach diverse audiences. Conventional media such as the national broadcaster RTÉ or the broadsheet newspaper The Irish Times nevertheless continue to fundamentally shape public debate in Ireland, making their future involvement in nuanced and balanced climate change debates central to any effort to shift thinking, policy, and action.

Karin Bradley Department of Water and Environmental Studies, Linkoping University,Linkoping, SE-581 83 Sweden (email: karin.bradley@liu.se)Understanding the Environment and Social Policy deals with the intersection of environmental policy and social policy. Though often treated as two different fields with different sets of literature, in practice, they are deeply intertwined. The book is primarily written from the perspective of how environmental challenges alter the field of social policy, but it also considers to some extent how environmental policy can be more attentive to the dimensions of social sustainability. The volume develops a thorough ecosocial perspective of ethics, policy, and planning. Its explicit aim is to help advance the emerging field of ecosocial policy making. The volume is part of a series of books oriented to students on the overall theme of "understanding welfare." Despite a somewhat unappealing title, this book is an important work, not only for students, but also for politicians and practitioners.The book is an edited volume consisting of chapters on environmental challenges and policy, social challenges and policy, environmental ethics, environmental justice, health, urban planning, green jobs, citizenship, and international development. Tony Fitzpatrick, the editor of the book and author of three of its chapters, sets the overall tone. It is primarily his contributions--using illustrative examples and writing in a transparent, humorous and sometimes unexpected way--that engage the reader.Fitzpatrick is clear about the book's political positioning, a stance that is often absent from course literature that maintains an assumption of neutrality. He situates the work in the center-left and the mid-green shades of politics. At the same time, the contributors are careful to avoid being interpreted as alarmists or "unrealistic" ecologists. Rather they seek to position themselves as sound academics--well informed about global, social and environmental challenges and the necessities for action. The analyses, questions, and perspectives raised in the book move beyond the well-known consensus politics and the tired policies of mainstream society, and hence attempt to rethink current models and measurements of development and growth. In this respect, the authors bring up deep-rooted problems of Western civilization, such as the linear notion of progress and Cartesian philosophy, as they simultaneously engage with current everyday politics and geopolitical reality.What was lacking, however, was a more nuanced discussion about politics and the political--a more penetrating discussion about liberal democracy, current forms of political arrangements, and their capability (or lack thereof) to deal with environmental concerns. In Chapter Four, Philip Catney & Timothy Doyle briefly mention such theorists as Robyn Eckersley (2004) who argues that environmental responsibility and a "truly green state cannot be achieved within the frameworks of liberal democracy," and that "new forms of democracy" need to be developed. However, this chapter does not explore these new forms. This is a key question if one wants to advance ecosocial perspectives. How might current systems of democracy and governance be altered to better encompass environmental concerns, collective identities, care for the commons, as well as distant environments and distant people? It would have been fruitful to expand this discussion and engage with current debates around the post-political condition (Swyngedouw, 2007), that argues for going beyond contemporary consensus-seeking governance models and explores meanings of "the political," agonism, and radical pluralist democracy (both within and beyond the state) (see Mouffe, 2005).Catney & Doyle believe in state governance; however, they admit that until now no state can be said to have effectively handled environmental concerns (i.e., there are no "green states"). …

In recent years, the concept of sustainable consumption (SC) has received increased attention. Overconsumption in industrialized countries still presents major challenges to achieving sustainable development goals despite the global economic crisis. This paper offers an in-depth analysis of national influences on consumption patterns in the Republic of Ireland, focusing in particular on the role of governance in the design of policy instruments for sustainable consumption. It is argued that country-specific political conditions and policy frameworks fundamentally shape everyday household consumption. After an initial discussion of the effectiveness of three key types of policy instruments—legislative, economic, communicative—the paper compares SC policy making and implementation in Ireland with examples of good practice from Europe. An agenda to progress Ireland’s sustainable consumption policy framework is proposed in the concluding part of the paper.

Contemporary consumption represents an archetypal ‘wicked problem’, being linked to climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion, while also functioning as a cultural signifier and a driver of economic growth and innovation. The Janus-faced nature of consumption is an important indicator of the complexity facing those who aspire to encouraging more sustainable consumption patterns. This paper argues that there are outstanding, and related, areas of contention that need further research in order to generate a more comprehensive and coherent picture of consumption and how it may be made more sustainable. In essence attention needs to be paid to the practices of consumption, its governance and also how practices and governance interact. This paper examines everyday practices and their regulation in two key areas of consumption in Ireland – how we get around (transport) and how we live in our homes (heating/cooling, lighting, cleaning and eating) – to identify current gaps in social scien...

This paper investigates transport policy in the Republic of Ireland before, during and after the ‘Celtic Tiger’ era (1995-2007), to capture how the prevailing governance system responded to rapid economic, political, and social changes. We argue that a detailed record of changes in Irish transport policy and governance during these turbulent times can offer lessons that are relevant to sustainable transport efforts internationally. Focusing on the development, introduction and subsequent implementation of two transport policy milestones, this paper considers political and institutional conditions that paved the way for both a high-cost approach to transport infrastructure development prior to the financial crisis in 2008 and the subsequent shift in policy discourse towards ‘smarter’ more sustainable travel following the rapid deterioration of public finances in the late 2000s. It then asks what changes (if any) are needed to current political-institutional structures to ensure future implementation of these declaratory commitments to sustainable transport. The concluding section explores whether it would be possible, or indeed desirable, to put current transport policy responses to the economic crisis on a more permanent footing, with a view to advancing the sustainable transport agenda, and uncovers opportunities to promote and implement sustainability initiatives in times of financial restraints. EPA Ireland (2008-SD-LS-1-S1) peer-reviewed 2018-12-08

Cycling is the most energy-efficient mode of transport and can bring extensive environmental, social and economic benefits. Research has highlighted negative perceptions of safety as a major barrier to the growth of cycling. Understanding these perceptions through the application of novel place-sensitive methodological tools such as mental mapping could inform measures to increase cyclist numbers and consequently improve cyclist safety. Key steps to achieving this include: (a) the design of infrastructure to reduce actual risks and (b) targeted work on improving safety perceptions among current and future cyclists.This study combines mental mapping, a stated-preference survey and a transport infrastructure inventory to unpack perceptions of cycling risk and to reveal both overlaps and discrepancies between perceived and actual characteristics of the physical environment. Participants translate mentally mapped cycle routes onto hard-copy base-maps, colour-coding road sections according to risk, while a transport infrastructure inventory captures the objective cycling environment. These qualitative and quantitative data are matched using Geographic Information Systems and exported to statistical analysis software to model the individual and (infra)structural determinants of perceived cycling risk.This method was applied to cycling conditions in Galway City (Ireland). Participants' (n = 104) mental maps delivered data-rich perceived safety observations (n = 484) and initial comparison with locations of cycling collisions suggests some alignment between perception and reality, particularly relating to danger at roundabouts. Attributing individual and (infra)structural characteristics to each observation, a Generalised Linear Mixed Model statistical analysis identified segregated infrastructure, road width, the number of vehicles as well as gender and cycling experience as significant, and interactions were found between individual and infrastructural variables. The paper concludes that mental mapping is a highly useful tool for assessing perceptions of cycling risk with a strong visual aspect and significant potential for public participation. This distinguishes it from more traditional cycling safety assessment tools that focus solely on the technical assessment of cycling infrastructure. Further development of online mapping tools is recommended as part of bicycle suitability measures to engage cyclists and the general public and to inform 'soft' and 'hard' cycling policy responses. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This research was funded by NUI Galway through the College of Engineering & Informatics Postgraduate Fellowship Scheme and by NUI Galway Students’ Union through the Explore Innovation Initiative. peer-reviewed