The LED Paradox: How Light Pollution Challenges Experts to Reconsider Sustainable Lighting

In the 21st century, the notion of “sustainable lighting” is closely associated with LED technology. In the past ten years, municipalities and private light users worldwide have installed light-emitting diodes in urban spaces and public streets to save energy. Yet an increasing body of interdisciplinary research suggests that supposedly sustainable LED installations are in fact unsustainable, because they increase light pollution. Paradoxically, blue-rich cool-white LED lighting, which is the most energy-efficient, also appears to be the most ecologically unfriendly. Biologists, physicians and ecologists warn that blue-rich LED light disturbs the circadian day-and-night rhythm of living organisms, including humans, with potential negative health effects on individual species and whole ecosystems. Can the paradox be solved? This paper explores this question based on our transdisciplinary research project Light Pollution—A Global Discussion. It reveals how light pollution experts and lighting professionals see the challenges and potential of LED lighting from their different viewpoints. This expert feedback shows that “sustainable LED lighting” goes far beyond energy efficiency as it raises complex design issues that imply stakeholder negotiation. It also suggests that the LED paradox may be solved in context, but hardly in principle

Sustainable touring: exploring value creation through social marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the social marketing-based approach to live performance adopted by Jack Johnson and its potential as the basis of a developmental model for sustainable touring. Design/methodology/approach – Musician Jack Johnson has been recognised as a leader in his approach to sustainable touring. The research approach uses stakeholder interviews to examine his “Sleep Through the Static” tour from a phenomenological perspective. Findings – The activities adopted during the global tour provide “upstream” contributions to social change agendas as well as “downstream” contributions to change behaviour. “Downstream” contribution leans towards closed behaviour settings for the corporate community and open behaviour settings for the social community. Limitations are the extent of resources required; better understanding of audience targets and their perceived value of behaviour change. Research limitations/implications – The use of a single example means that consideration of the success of this model is limited to one approach when others might offer other options. However, the phenomenological approach is sufficient to begin to understand the value creation process at work here. Practical implications – A range of performers in different cultural areas might consider the potential of this approach as a means to contribute to sustainable touring goals. Originality/value – Much of the literature available for event managers focuses on environmental concerns to the neglect of other dimensions of sustainability. This work highlights how the social marketing of sustainable development offers a wider scope to touring performers

BALANCING FOOD VALUES: MAKING SUSTAINABLE CHOICES WITHIN COOKING PRACTICES

Within user-centred design and topics such as persuasive design, pleasurable products, and design for sustainable behaviour, there is a danger of over-determining, pacifying or reducing people’s diversity. Taking the case of sustainable food, we have looked into the social aspects of cooking at home, in specific related to the type of food that is purchased. This paper describes what it means for people to make more sustainable choices in food shopping and how that can be mediated while taking different ‘food values’ that household members have into account. In a design experiment, we developed a service for selecting daily dinner meals while supporting choices of sustainable food which reported on environmental impact, health and nutrition values, and purchase data. Through visualizations of alternative food choices, the experiment provided a space for households to negotiate food values, while opening up possibilities for changing cooking practices

A new legal approach to the protection of species and habit

The title of this conference “Growing Green” and its by line, suggests transformative measures for primary productive industries with a view to securing gains for the environment and potentially for the industries as well. The need for transformation is clear. It is widely accepted that human activities in the environment require constraint in order to decrease the levels of unsustainable activity in terms of resource quality and quantity (United Nations General Assembly, 2011:16). There is acceptance of this position within industry, in many instances. However, the sticking point appears to be the level of constraint required and the methods to achieve the related gains for the environment. The topic assigned for this paper is a new legal approach to the protection of species and habitats, but arguably what this paper will do is affirm an existing approach that appears to be being swallowed by a high tide of mitigation and associated cumulative effects driven by pressure for economic growth. The focus will be upon threatened avian species in Aotearoa New Zealand. The underlying thesis of the paper runs against the dominant political mood of these times and advocates the exercise of precaution and detailed attention to those spaces where the impacts of industry and the needs of biodiversity collide

Fighting the status­quo : how plant­based producers support their competitive advantage via visual and informative cues

In recent years, there has been a substantial growth of plant­based alternatives to meat. This factor represents an opportunity for producers to develop plant­based alternatives. This dissertation aims to understand how plant­based producers decide upon branding cues, specifically visual and informative cues, in order to support competitive advantage. This dissertation has the secondary goal to understand the context of plant­based alternatives in the Portuguese market and provide recommendations for plant­based companies concerning branding cues. By conducting 8 semi­structured interviews to plant­based producers and one focus group with 7 consumers of plant­based product, three themes were identified related to challenges coping with “vegan” products reputation, managing consumer resistance and making favorable branding decisions. It was possible to understand the branding attributes that support competitive advantage in a plant­based product, when it comes to visual and informative cues, and recommendations to companies were provided, as this dissertation aims to help managers of plant­based brands understand how they should apply different branding cues.Nos últimos anos temo­nos deparado com um crescimento substancial de produtos à base de plantas. Este facto representa uma oportunidade para produtores de produtos à base de plantas. O objetivo desta dissertação é perceber como é que estes produtores tomam decisões sobre os atributos visuais e informativos a aplicar aos seus produtos, de maneira a fomentar uma vantagem competitiva. O objetivo secundário desta dissertação é compreender o contexto das alternativas à base de plantas em Portugal e providenciar recomendações para produtores. Através da realização de 8 entrevistas semiestruturadas a produtores e de um focus group com 7 consumidores de produtos à base de plantas, foram identificados três principais temas relacionados com os desafios com a reputação de produtos “Vegan”, gestão da resistência dos consumidores, e com decisões de marca favoráveis. Desta maneira, foi possível concluir sobre atributos de marca que contribuem para a vantagem competitiva dos produtores, tal como providenciar recomendações a marcas de produtos à base de plantas

The environmental effect of car-free housing: A case in Vienna

A case-control study of the car-free model housing project in Vienna was conducted to evaluate whether people living in this settlement have more [`]sustainable lifestyles' than people living in comparable buildings in Vienna. Another aim was to identify the lifestyle characteristics and household activities which significantly influence the environmental impact of the residents of the car-free housing project and a control group. The control group, referred to as the reference settlement, was chosen from a nearby building complex, with similar characteristics, but without the car-free feature. Household consumption patterns were estimated based on interviews in combination with data from the Austrian consumer expenditure survey and the national accounts. The evaluation of household environmental impacts uses emissions estimates from the Austrian national accounting matrices including environmental accounts and data from life-cycle assessments. Households from the car-free settlement have substantially lower environmental impacts in the categories of ground transportation and energy use; their CO2 emissions of these two categories are less than 50% of those living in the reference settlement. The households in the car-free settlement have somewhat higher emissions in the categories air transport, nutrition, and [`]other' consumption, reflecting the higher income per-capita. As a result, the CO2 emissions are only slightly lower than in the reference settlement, but the emissions intensity is 20% lower. Both household groups have significantly lower environmental impacts than the Austrian average reflecting less car use and cleaner heating energy in Vienna

Personal indebtedness, spatial effects and crime : a comparison across the urban hierarchy

The recent recession has made understanding the relationship between economic conditions and crime crucial to public debate. In this paper we seek to understand the spatial pattern of property and theft crimes using a range of socioeconomic variables, as well as data on the level of personal indebtedness, for two regions of the UK: London (the capital city) and the North East of England (a peripheral region). Building on earlier published work in this area, this paper will contrast the regression results obtained in both of these regions. This allows a comparison of the factors that are important in explaining the observed pattern of theft and property crimes, including an analysis of the spatial dimension of these factors, between these two regions. Doing so will allow a comparison of the elements that are important in explaining the observed pattern of theft and property crimes across the two regions