THE LOW-CARBON DREAM


faith in technology. Businesses have an incentive to create efficiencies in the use of inputs. The case is unequivocal. But they also have an incentive to expand the markets for their outputs. And banking on a market revolution driven by green consumers is too forlorn a hope. People do indeed hold deeply felt motivations


to protect the environment. Occasionally they can even save money by doing so. But powerful psychological forces still hold them in thrall. The creeping evolution of social norms and the sheer force of habit conspire to lock us into expanding material aspirations. Scale wages a continual battle against


efficiency. And, historically at least, it’s almost always scale that wins. Putting scale itself under the spotlight may be unpopular for all sorts of reasons. Not the least of these is the critical contribution that expanding demand plays in achieving conventional economic growth. But shifting the focus away from a blind faith in technology towards a deeper understanding of consumer society, of people’s lives, is critical in addressing sustainability.


Over the past five years, the ESRC Research group on Lifestyles, Values and the Environment (RESOLVE) has been doing just that. A path- breaking, cross-departmental collaboration at the University of Surrey, RESOLVE has achieved international recognition as a centre of interdisciplinary excellence. Its overall aim has been an exploration of the complex links between our lifestyles and the environment. An explicit goal has been to provide robust,


evidence-based advice to businesses, NGOs and policymakers who are seeking to understand and influence energy-related behaviours and practices. The RESOLVE work programme is organised around five complementary themes. One strand


maps the carbon complexity of modern lifestyles, teasing out how much carbon is associated with different areas of our lives (home, travel, leisure and so on) and how this has changed over time. Another strand addresses the psychology of climate change, exploring not just our motivations and values but the relationship between these and our carbon behaviours.


“


RESOLVE maps the carbon complexity of modern lifestyles, showing how much carbon is associated with different areas of our lives such as travel


Social norms and force of


habit lock us into expanding material aspirations


One of the clearest lessons about human


behaviour is its inherently social nature. A third strand delves explicitly into the sociological dimensions of modern lifestyles: how demand is constructed, how daily life is negotiated, how ‘environmental resistance’ survives and sometimes even thrives. The final themes cover the question of environmental governance (and in particular the role of community in achieving this) and the exploration of different scenarios for low-carbon living. Since RESOLVE was launched in 2006, the


”


importance of low-carbon living has gone hand-in- hand with burgeoning media and policy interest in the subject. The Climate Change Act set in motion an ambitious programme of targets and timescales for carbon reduction. The Department of Energy and Climate


Change’s My2050 scenario tool allows ordinary people to engage in designing a low-carbon future. An interesting feature of these scenarios is that the user inevitably ends up making choices not just about technologies but also about lifestyles. Once again, it becomes clear that technology alone won’t achieve our targets.


What My2050 leaves unexplored is what these targets mean for people’s lives. Which areas of our lives will need to change? What will this mean for ordinary people? How are people beginning to negotiate those changes? How effective are policy interventions? Which forms of governance are most successful? None of these questions is easy to answer, particularly in the context of fast-moving politics and a changing economic climate. n


This article first appeared in the Guardian i


Tim Jackson is Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey and Director of the ESRC Research Group on Lifestyles, Values and Environment (RESOLVE). He also directs the newly-awarded Defra/ ESRC Sustainable Lifestyles Research Group (SLRG). ESRC Grant Number RES-152-25-1004 Email t.jackson@surrey.ac.uk Telephone 01483 689 072 Web resolve.sustainablelifestyles.ac.uk


SUMMER 2011 SOCIETY NOW 15


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