Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Bingeing on Carbs Might Make Your Drunk?

Everyone loves eating too many carbs and realistically the occasional food-binge doesn’t harm the body very much. For some people, however, it can. For people in the United States who have been diagnosed with Auto-brewery Syndrome, or Gut Fermentation Syndrome, carbo-loading (eating copious amounts of carb-heavy food at once) can have some legal and behavioral consequences

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES: EXPLORING SUSTAINABILITY POLICY AND PRACTICE IN THE AGE OF HIGH CONSUMPTION

This dissertation is an attempt to examine how humans in wealthy, post-industrial urban contexts understand sustainability and respond to their concerns given their sphere of influence. I focus specifically on sustainable consumption policy and practice in Sweden, where concerns for sustainability and consumer-based responses are strong. This case raises interesting questions about the relative strength of sustainability movements in different cultural and geo-political contexts as well as the specific factors that have motivated the movement toward sustainable living in Sweden. The data presented here supports the need for multigenic theories of sustainable consumerism. Rather than relying on dominant theories of reflexive modernization, there is a need for locally and historically grounded analyses. The Swedish case illustrates that the relative strength of sustainable living is linked not only to high levels of awareness about social, economic and ecological threats to sustainability, but also to a strong and historically rooted emphasis on equality in Sweden. In this context, sustainable living is often driven by concerns for global equity and justice. The research therefore affirms the findings of those like Hobson (2002) and Berglund and Matti (2005) who argue that concerns for social justice often have more resonance with citizen-consumers - driving more progressive lifestyle changes than personal self-interest. Yet despite the power of moral appeals, this research also suggests that the devolution of responsibility for sustainability - to citizens in their roles as consumers on the free market – has failed to produce significant change. While many attribute this failure to “Gidden’s Paradox” or the assumption that people will not change their lifestyles until they see and feel risks personally, the data presented here illustrates that even those most committed to sustainable living confront structural barriers that they do not have the power to overcome. The paradox is not that people can’t understand or act upon threats to sustainability from afar; but rather that it is extremely difficult to live more sustainably without strong social support, market regulation and political leadership. Sustainability policy must work to confront the illusion of choice by breaking down structural barriers, particularly for people who do not have the luxury of choosing alternatives

Can Consumer Demand Deliver Sustainable Food?: Recent Research in Sustainable Consumption Policy & Practice

From the growth of the Slow Food movement, the growth of patronage at farmers’ markets, and the expansion of ecolabeled foods – an unprecedented number of consumer-based movements have risen in response to concerns about the environmental and social effects of contemporary globalized food systems. Recent research suggests that these movements are often successful in their efforts to support more sustainable food systems. Meanwhile, other scholars point out that, despite common assumptions, the contemporary focus on consumer responsibility in policy and practice indicates much more than a process of reflexive modernization. The devolution of responsibility to consumers and the dominance of market-based solutions, these scholars argue, reflect the growing influence of neoliberal environmental governance. From this perspective these movements are, at best, naïve in their assumption that consumers have the power necessary to overcome the structural barriers that inhibit significant change. At worst, critics argue, the contemporary focus on consumer responsibility and “sustainable lifestyles” allows governments to avoid responsibility, excludes those without access to consumer choice, reproduces social hierarchies and fails to deliver the political and redistributive solutions necessary to achieve sustainability. Yet despite significant theorization and speculation, empirical studies on the effects of consumer-based movements are still relatively scarce. Drawing on research across the social sciences and from a range of geographical settings – this paper surveys the existing empirical evidence about the effectiveness of consumer-based movements in their attempts to influence more sustainable food systems

On the Politics of Climate Knowledge: Sir Giddens, Sweden and the Paradox of Climate (In)Justice

There is a widespread assumption that most people will not effectively respond to climate risk until they personally experience its negative effects. Yet this assumption raises some interesting questions in the Swedish context. The majority of Swedes say they have not experienced the negative effects of climate change, but they are among the world’s citizens most concerned about and active on the issue. These observations raise the question - why do many Swedes act progressively if they do not feel environmental risks “closer to home”? Is there something exceptional about Swedish environmental ethics, political culture or governance structures? This paper explores these questions, using the Swedish case to challenge essentializing concepts like “Giddens’ paradox” which, too often, equate risk perception with self-interest, neglect concern for climate justice and depoliticize climate knowledge. This research suggests that concern for climate justice, rather than self-interest, proves to be a more powerful motivator for climate action in the Swedish context and potentially beyond

What Does Science Say About Sexuality?

While sexuality is full of cultural variations and subjective definitions used for self-identification, scientists have attempted to investigate the complexity of this topic. There may be benefits and risks involved for many if science rules out specific characteristics that determine one’s sexuality, but there is no simple determining factor for sexuality because of its fluidity

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor-in-Chief, Anthony Isenhour

How the Grass Became Greener in the City: Urban Imaginings and Practices of Sustainability

Far removed from a direct connection to the land and environmental feedback, most urban inhabitants have little choice but to rely on external sources of information as they formulate their understanding of sustainability. This reliance on analytical, scientifically produced, and highly technical sources of information—such as life-cycle analyses, carbon footprints and climate change projections—solidifies definitions of sustainable living centered on technological resource efficiencies while concentrating the power to define sustainability with experts and the industrial and political elite. Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic field work in and around Stockholm, Sweden, this paper explores how urban alienation shapes ideas about sustainable living among ecologically concerned citizen-consumers and how the urban focus on efficiency has led many to argue that the grass is now greener in the city. Meanwhile this ethnographic research demonstrates that the efficiency-based perspectives so dominant in urban settings are contested by other Swedes who argue that sustainable living also depends on localized connections to the land and communal self-sufficiency. Despite these contrasting perspectives, research presented here suggests that these views are united in the Swedish context by a historically-rooted concern for global equity. As such, the concept of “a fair share of environmental space” resonates with many Swedes who are concerned about human and environmental health, regardless of where they live or how they define or practice sustainable living