Household Sustainability: Challenges and Dilemmas in Everyday Life

256 Pages·2013·1.25 MB·English

by  Chris Gibson

Household Sustainability
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
Downloaded from Elgar Online at 01/02/2018 05:53:14PM
via University of Tasmania
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
Downloaded from Elgar Online at 01/02/2018 05:53:14PM
via University of Tasmania
Household
Sustainability
Challenges and Dilemmas in Everyday Life
Chris Gibson
Carol Farbotko
Nicholas Gill
Lesley Head
Gordon Waitt
University of Wollongong, Australia
Edward Elgar
Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
Downloaded from Elgar Online at 01/02/2018 05:53:14PM
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©Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photo-
copying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK
Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.
William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA
Acatalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012952656
This book is available electronically in the ElgarOnline.com Social and Political
Science Subject Collection, E-ISBN 978 1 78100 621 4
ISBN 978 1 78100 620 7 (cased)
Typeset by Cambrian Typesetters, Camberley, Surrey
Printed by MPG PRINTGROUP, UK
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
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0
Contents
List of tables vi
Acknowledgements vii
List of abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
1 Having a baby 21
2 Spaghetti bolognese 30
3 Clothes 39
4 Water 49
5 Warmth 56
6 Toilets 65
7 Laundry 73
8 Furniture 82
9 Plastic bags 91
10 Driving cars 99
11 Flying 108
12 The refrigerator 116
13 Screens 125
14 Mobile phones 135
15 Solar hot water 143
16 The garden 151
17 Christmas 159
18 Retirement 167
19 Death 174
20 Conclusion 181
References 187
Index 223
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Tables
3.1 Measurable impacts of fibre growth and production 41
7.1 Ownership and use of washing machines in private
households, selected countries 74
9.1 Environmental impact indicators for carry bags 94
9.2 The reuse of lightweight carrier bags 96
11.1 Selected UK emissions per passenger km, 2011 111
12.1 Number and age of refrigerators per household 122
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Acknowledgements
This book stems from a team research project, and from team efforts extend-
ing well beyond its named authors. We owe a substantial debt of gratitude to
Elyse Stanes for project management and technical assistance across several
ethnographic and quantitative activities over five years; and to Chantel Carr
for her long hours doing crucial editing, research assistance and logistical
work behind the scenes in book production. Chantel also provided important
critical and technical feedback on draft chapters. Without these two individu-
als the book would simply never have been finished. We also thank Lucy
Farrier and Alex Tindale for their research assistance and Chris Brennan-
Horley for incisive comments on an earlier draft of this book.
Various chapters of the book draw on research conducted by our post-
doctoral fellows and research students working at the University of
Wollongong under the umbrella of our household sustainability project.
Chapter 2 benefits from household ethnographies conducted by Bryce
Appleby for his thesis, ‘Skippy the “Green” Kangaroo: Identifying
Resistances to Eating Kangaroo in the Home in a Context of Climate Change’,
as well as research on wheat conducted by Lesley Head in collaboration with
Doctors Jenny Atchison and Alison Gates. Chapter 3 benefits from ethnogra-
phies of clothing consumption conducted by Elyse Stanes for her thesis ‘Is
Green the New Black? Questions of Sustainability for the Fashion Industry’.
Chapter 4 benefits from quantitative and qualitative research by Candice Moy
for her thesis on water tanks. Chapter 7 benefits from household ethnographies
conducted by Gordon Waitt’s advanced human geography (EESC 307) class
of 2011. Chapter 10 benefits from driving ethnographies conducted by Theresa
Harada for her thesis ‘Driving Cultures and Climate Change: Bodies, Space
and Affluence’. Chapter 13 benefits from ethnographic work by Erin Borger,
for her thesis ‘Dynamics of Extended Family Households: A Cultural
Economy of Sustainability’ (co-supervised by Dr Natascha Klocker).
Throughout the book our treatment of gender issues benefits from the ethno-
graphic work conducted by Vanessa Organo for her thesis ‘Sustainable house-
holds: an analysis of time and gender in a household context’.
Beyond our household sustainability project are other collaborators whose
work has influenced parts of the book: Pat Muir for collaborative work with
Lesley Head on backyard gardens; Peter Osman (CSIRO) for collaborative
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work with Nick Gill on solar hot water; and Paul Cooper from UOW’s
Sustainable Buildings Research Centre for collaborative work on retrofitting
homes.
For leads, conversations and resources helping us think through the issues
(and beyond specific projects listed above) we thank Jenny Atchison, Paul
Cooper, Mark Davidson, Eliza de Vet, Kelly Dombroski, Rosie Emery, Alison
Gates, Leah Gibbs, Charlie Gillon, Andrew Gorman-Murray, Russell
Hitchings, Natascha Klocker, Ruth Lane, Beth Laurenson, Candice Moy, Pat
Muir, Vanessa Organo, Emma Power, Kate Roggeveen, Justin Spinney, Emma
Waight, and John Wright. We also thank our families for their patience and
equanimity at home – and for daily debating of our own sustainability
dilemmas.
This book stems from an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery
Project ‘Making less space for carbon: cultural research for climate change
mitigation and adaptation’ (DP0986041) and an ARC Future Fellowship to
Chris Gibson: ‘Crisis and change: cultural economic research on the adapt-
ability and sustainability of Australian households’(FT0991193). Its writing
was also facilitated by an ARC Laureate Fellowship to Lesley Head
(FL0992397).
Finally, we would like to thank all the householders who were research
participants in the various sub-projects, surveys and ethnographic investiga-
tions featured in this book. Without their generosity and willingness to allow
us into their homes, gardens and garages (and into their water and electricity
bills), there would be no stories for this book.
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
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Abbreviations
ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics
ACF Australian Conservation Foundation
AMTA Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association
ARC Australian Research Council
CFCs chlorofluorocarbons
CO carbon dioxide
2
CO -e carbon dioxide equivalent
2
CRT cathode ray tube
CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
(Australia)
DCCEE Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (Australia)
DEWHA Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
(Australia)
DFT Department for Transport (United Kingdom)
DITRDLG Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development
and Local Government (Australia)
DSEWPC Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population
and Communities (Australia)
EIA Energy Information Administration
EPA Environment Protection Agency
FIRA Furniture Industry Research Association
GGE greenhouse gas emissions
gha global hectare (area measurement in ecological footprint
analysis)
GPS global positioning system
GWP global warming potential
HC hydrocarbons
HDPE high-density polyethylene (plastic)
HFCs hydrofluorocarbons
HVAC heating, ventilation and air conditioning
IATA International Air Transport Association
ICAO International Civil Aviation Organisation
ICT information and communications technologies
IEA International Energy Agency
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ITF International Transport Forum
ITU International Telecommunications Union
kWh kilowatt hours
LCA lifecycle assessment
LCD liquid crystal display
LDPE low-density polyethylene (plastic)
MEA Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Mt megatonne
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OICA International Organisation of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers
OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
PBT persistent bioaccumulative toxin
PET polyethylene terephthalate (plastic)
PP polypropylene
TWh terawatt hours
UN DESA United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
UNEP United Nations Environment Program
VCOs voluntary carbon offsets
WHO World Health Organization
Wi-Fi wireless local area network
WMO World Metereological Organization
WSSCC World Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
Chris Gibson, Carol Farbotko, Nicholas Gill, Lesley Head and Gordon Waitt - 9781781006207
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