La dimensión perdida : la deshumanización del gigantismo

UT Librarie

Community action for sustainable housing: Building a low-carbon future

This paper presents a new analytical framework of 'grassroots innovations' which views community-led initiatives for sustainable development as strategic green niches with the potential for wider transformation of mainstream society. This framework is applied to a low-carbon, low-impact, community-based sustainable housing initiative in the USA that pioneers straw bale housing techniques within a strong community-building ethos. The project is evaluated according to New Economics criteria of sustainable consumption, and is found to be successful at localising the construction supply chain, reducing ecological footprints, community-building, enabling collective action and building new institutions and systems of provision around housebuilding. However, viewing it as a strategic niche with aim to influence wider society, it is clear that it faces significant challenges in diffusing its ideas and practices beyond the niche. Its model is not necessarily suitable for scaling up or widespread replication; however, the scope for niche lessons to be adopted by mainstream builders is greater, given a supportive policy environment. Recognising the innovative nature of green niches at the policy level could lead to new approaches to governance of bottom-up community action for sustainable development

Sustainable clothing: challenges, barriers and interventions for encouraging more sustainable consumer behaviour

Research with consumers has revealed limited awareness of the sustainability impact of clothing (Goworek et al., 2012). Semi-structured interviews conducted with a range of experts in sustainable clothing to increase understanding of the challenges for sustainable clothing revealed that a focus on sustainability alone will not drive the necessary changes in consumers’ clothing purchase, care and disposal behaviour for three reasons: (i) clothing sustainability is too complex; (ii) consumers are too diverse in their ethical concerns; and (iii) clothing is not an altruistic purchase. The findings identify the challenges that need to be addressed and the associated barriers for sustainable clothing. Interventions targeting consumers, suppliers, buyers and retailers are proposed that encourage more sustainable clothing production, purchase, care and disposal behaviour. These interventions range from normalising the design of sustainable clothing and increasing the ease of purchase, to shifting clothes washing norms and increasing upcycling, recycling and repair

Competitiveness dogma concerning the sustainability utopia: critical analysis of the developmentalist and economistic ethos

A través del análisis de discursos y la dialéctica, este artículo tiene como objetivo argumentar de manera crítica el ethos que orienta la apuesta por la competitividad. Se encuentra que como dogma, fruto de una sociedad mercantilizada y de una visión economizada del mundo y de la vida, la competitividad desconoce las bases epistemológicas de la economía, pone todas las apuestas bajo la óptica de la maximización del beneficio y el aumento de la rentabilidad, no tiene en cuenta la ética, confunde valor con precio, y se ha extendido a todas las áreas de la sociedad poniendo en peligro de diversidad biológica y cultural. En contraste al dogma, se presentan alternativas emergentes a la competitividad, como la cooperación y la colaboración, enmarcadas dentro de los nuevos caminos más allá del desarrollo, como el buen vivir las epistemologías del Sur, el poscapitalismo y la sustentabilidad.By analyzing discourses and dialects, this article aims to argue, in a critical manner the ethos that orients the bet on competitiveness. A dogma is found as fruit of a merchant society and, in a economized vision of the world and of life, competitiveness in not aware of the epistemological bases of the economy, sets all the bets under the profit maximization scope and profit increase, doesn´t bare in mind ethics, confuses value with price, has extended to all areas of society jeopardizing biological and cultural diversity. In contrast to the dogma, emerging strategies arise that challenge competitiveness, such as cooperation and collaboration, framed within the new paths that go further than development. For good-living, epistemologies from the south, post capitalism and sustainability.Através da análise de discursos e a dialética, este artigo tem como objetivo argumentar de maneira crítica o ethos que orienta a aposta pela competitividade. Se encontra que como dogma fruto de uma sociedade mercantilizada e, de uma visão economizada do mundo e da vida, a competitividade desconhece as bases epistemológicas da economia, põe todas as apostas sob a ótica da maximização do beneficio e o aumento da rentabilidade, não tem em conta a ética, confunde valor com preço, se há estendido a todas as áreas da sociedade pondo em perigo de diversidade biológica e cultural. Em contraste ao dogma, se apresentam alternativas emergentes à competitividade, como a cooperação e a colaboração, demarcadas dentro dos novos caminhos mais além do desenvolvimento, como o bom viver as epistemologias do sul, o pós-capitalismo e a sustentabilidade

Alimentació

[p.4] Crisi? quina crisi?[p.8] El menjar com a mestre[p.17] Aprendre a desaprendre[p.21] Jo vull ser pagès[p.24] Per un canvi radical[p.32] Fam i obesitat, relacions i contradiccions[p.13] Alimentació i medicina[p.14] Educació del gust[p.20] Aprendre a l'hort?[p.27] "Quan mengis la fruita recorda't de qui la cultiva"[p.28] Universitats contra la fam[p.35] Diversitat alimentària a l'escola[p.36] Alimentació a escala humana[p.38] La dècada de l'educació per al desenvolupament sosteniblePeer Reviewe

Monitoring local well-being in environmental interventions: a consideration of practical trade-offs

Within the field of environmental management and conservation, the concept of well-being is starting to gain traction in monitoring the socio-economic and cultural impact of interventions on local people. Here we consider the practical trade-offs policy makers and practitioners must navigate when utilizing the concept of well-being in environmental interventions. We first review current concepts of well-being before considering the need to balance the complexity and practical applicability of the definition used and to consider both positive and negative components of well-being. A key determinant of how well-being is operationalized is the identity of the organization wishing to monitor it. We describe the trade-offs around the external and internal validity of different approaches to measuring well-being and the relative contributions of qualitative and quantitative information to understanding well-being. We explore how these trade-offs may be decided as a result of a power struggle between stakeholders. Well-being is a complex, multi-dimensional, dynamic concept that cannot be easily defined and measured. Local perspectives are often missed during the project design process as a result of the more powerful voices of national governments and international NGOs, so for equity and local relevance it is important to ensure these perspectives are represented at a high level in project design and implementation

The Human–Nature Relationship and Its Impact on Health: A Critical Review

Within the past four decades, research has been increasingly drawn toward understanding whether there is a link between the changing human–nature relationship and its impact on people’s health. However, to examine whether there is a link requires research of its breadth and underlying mechanisms from an interdisciplinary approach. This article begins by reviewing the debates concerning the human–nature relationship, which are then critiqued and redefined from an interdisciplinary perspective. The concept and chronological history of “health” is then explored, based on the World Health Organization’s definition. Combining these concepts, the human–nature relationship and its impact on human’s health are then explored through a developing conceptual model. It is argued that using an interdisciplinary perspective can facilitate a deeper understanding of the complexities involved for attaining optimal health at the human–environmental interface

The Occupational Wellbeing of People Experiencing Homelessness

This paper reports findings of a study that utilised an occupational perspective to explore how wellbeing was achieved and sustained by the occupations of people experiencing homelessness in Australia. Thirty three in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with homeless individuals in a regional city in Australia. Data from the interviews were thematically analysed to understand the relationship between wellbeing, as defined by the individual, and the occupations engaged in by people experiencing homelessness. The findings are reported here as three collective narratives that illustrate the experiences of diverse groups within the homelessness population explored in this study. The study demonstrates how occupations go beyond the individual experience and choice; to explore the social and cultural value of occupations as a means to wellbeing. The findings are discussed in relation to three key themes that emerged from the study: survival, self-identity and social connectedness. These three interconnected concepts complement the existing occupational science literature, and offer a preliminary framework for understanding and improving wellbeing for disadvantaged and marginalised people where occupations are restricted by societal forces. The findings support the urgent need to redirect services to support occupational opportunities that are socially and culturally valued and enhance survival, self-identity and connectedness of homeless people

A pragmatic approach to evaluate alternative indicators to GDP

The serious economic crisis broken out in 2008 highly stressed the limitations of GDP used as a well-being indicator and as a predictive tool for economy. This induced the need to identify new indicators able to link the economic prosperity of a country to aspects of sustainable development and externalities, both positive and negative, in the long run. The aim of this paper is to introduce a structured approach which supports the choice or the construction of alternative indicators to GDP. The starting point is the definition of what a well-being indicator actually should represent according to the Recommendations of the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report on the measurement of economic performance and social progress. Then the paper introduces a systematic procedure for the analysis of well-being indicators. The different phases of this procedure entail the checking of indicators technical properties and their effect on the representational efficacy. Finally, some of the most representative well-being indicators drawn from the literature are compared and a detailed application example is propose

Human well‐being and climate change mitigation

Climate change mitigation research is fundamentally motivated by the preservation of human lives and the environmental conditions which enable them. However, the field has to date rather superficial in its appreciation of theoretical claims in well‐being thought, with deep implications for the framing of mitigation priorities, policies, and research. Major strands of well‐being thought are hedonic well‐being—typically referred to as happiness or subjective well‐being—and eudaimonic well‐being, which includes theories of human needs, capabilities, and multidimensional poverty. Aspects of each can be found in political and procedural accounts such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Situating these concepts within the challenges of addressing climate change, the choice of approach is highly consequential for: (1) understanding inter‐ and intra‐generational equity; (2) defining appropriate mitigation strategies; and (3) conceptualizing the socio‐technical provisioning systems that convert biophysical resources into well‐being outcomes. Eudaimonic approaches emphasize the importance of consumption thresholds, beyond which dimensions of well‐being become satiated. Related strands of well‐being and mitigation research suggest constraining consumption to within minimum and maximum consumption levels, inviting normative discussions on the social benefits, climate impacts, and political challenges associated with a given form of provisioning. The question of how current socio‐technical provisioning systems can be shifted towards low‐carbon, well‐being enhancing forms constitutes a new frontier in mitigation research, involving not just technological change and economic incentives, but wide‐ranging social, institutional, and cultural shifts