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Achieving Low Carbon Citizenship
Dianne Scott and Cathy Sutherland
School of Development Studies
University of KwaZulu-Natal
September 2010
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Contents
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Appendices
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3
3
3
1
Introduction
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What is low carbon citizenship?
Low carbon citizenship
Low carbon society
Ways to persuade citizens to change their lifestyles
Regulation
Economic incentives
Awareness raising
Developing values and ethics of care
The use of rhetoric
The role of government in individual carbon reduction
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The barriers and challenges to low carbon citizenship in
South Africa
South Africa is an unequal society
Lack of information about climate change
The cost of transport infrastructure
Lack of individual financial resources
The economic recession
The implementation deficit
The behavioural approach to low carbon awareness raising
Confusing range of information sources
Official sources of information are inconsistent
Awareness raising is aimed at the individual
Mainstream approach to carbon reduction is a managerial,
technicist approach
There are no prevailing social norms in South Africa that
encourage low carbon citizenship
The polarisation of environment and development
The selling of ‘cheap energy’ by Eskom
The dominance of scientific knowledge in climate change
information
High crime rates
Neoliberal individualisation
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2.1
2.2
2.3
2.3.1
2.3.2
2.3.3
2.3.4
2.3.5
2.4
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3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.8
3.9
3.10
3.11
3.12
3.13
3.14
3.15
3.16
3.17
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27
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4
4.1
4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.1.4
4.1.5
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
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How can low carbon citizenship be achieved? Best practice
in a developing society?
Carbon reduction awareness raising programmes
The integration of technical and values approaches
Tailor the messages to appeal to different sections of society
Integrate ‘green’ and ‘brown’ issues
Awareness raising via scenario building
Building social norms regarding low carbon consumption
The government must play an enabling role
eThekwini Imagine Durban Project
Green Cities with Green Programmes
Transition Towns
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Conclusion
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References
Appendices
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List of Figures
Figure 1
Trias Energetica
List of Tables
Table 1
Theoretical approaches to climate change and low carbon behaviour
List of Appendices
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South Africa’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide)
emissions
How to inspire support for a low carbon society
‘Green tips for Trevor’
Ways you can reduce your impact on the climate
The Transition Movement
eThekwini Municipality Municipal Climate Protection Programme
Low-carbon public awareness raising in the eThekwini municipality
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1. Introduction
In the past three years, events within South Africa have significantly raised the profile of
climate change. Smith et al (2007, 1) reported that:
A storm swell, coinciding with a SAROS spring high tide, struck the KwaZulu-Natal
coast on 19–20 March 2007. At its peak, the storm produced swells of ~8.5 m, caused
significant coastal erosion and unprecedented damage to coastal property, estimated at
more than one billion rand.
This catastrophic event, as well as other extreme storm events that have caused disasters in
South Africa, coupled with the Eskom load shedding (‘outages’) programme experienced by
all consumers in 2008/2009 played an powerful role in alerting South Africans, and
particularly those living in the coastal areas of KwaZulu-Natal, to the realities of climate
change and energy deficits and the need to reduce carbon emissions. The Greenhouse East1
project in East England revealed that the main drivers of reducing greenhouse gas emissions
are ‘price shocks’ coupled with climate change impacts2. Echoing their predictions, the two
shocks/impacts stated above have served to raise the profile of ‘the environment’ and
‘climate change’ in South Africa and have intensified government programmes to encourage
individuals to undertake voluntary low carbon behaviour. This chapter presents a critical
discussion of low carbon citizenship and the implications this has for citizens, governments
and policies advocating carbon reduction behaviour.
Low carbon citizenship is part of ‘global climate governance’ (Peterson and Stripple, 2010),
which includes efforts by government to respond to global warming3 by bringing about
1
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/other-tyndall-publications/greenhouse-east
See also Finger (1994).
3
Global warming is “a warming in global average temperatures that will result in different changes in local climate
patterns worldwide. These increased temperatures are caused by a build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
which are being produced in increasing amounts by human activities like fossil fuel burning”(eThekwini
Municipality, 2007, 45).
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climate change mitigation and adaptation in municipalities, cities and the different sectors of
business, industry and civil society. Achieving low carbon citizenship can also be classified
as a strategy which is part of the mitigation of climate change. Achieving low carbon
citizenship suggests that people need to change their attitude and behaviour, in relation to
normative goals that exist around energy consumption (Owens and Drifill, 2008 and that
certain These normative goals are most often proposed by government, but increasingly, civil
society organisations and NGOs are advocating that low carbon behaviour can make a
significant contribution to the creation of a low carbon society. A wide range of resources
providing ‘green tips’ for members of the public to reduce their carbon consumption, have
emerged in the last ten years. However, knowledge of climate change does not always
translate into changes in behaviour. Finger (1994) claims that the majority of people in
developed countries are highly aware of environmental issues, but do not equally act on this
knowledge.
Much of the social science literature on environmental education and citizenship derives
from research undertaken in developed countries with little reference to environmental
citizenship or more specifically low carbon citizenship in developing countries. However,
many of the findings in the broader literature are relevant to human behaviour in both
contexts. Despite this, the constraints and barriers in developing countries to achieving low
carbon citizenship are different to those in developed countries and may pose greater
challenges to achieving this goal.
Research shows that pro-environmental attitudes do not always lead to changes in behaviour
in order to reduce carbon emissions. People’s attitudes are often inconsistent and change
under different circumstances. It must be recognized that apart from getting the public to
modify their behaviour through awareness raising, behavioural change towards lowering
carbon consumption can also be achieved through economic incentives or state regulation
(Owens and Driffill, 2008). People also become low carbon citizens through their adoption of
a moral ethic or set of values regarding the need to protect the earth or more specifically the
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environment. Understanding the behaviour of the public with regard to the environment and
more specifically achieving a ‘low carbon future’ is not easy as there are many competing
interpretations of this process, and many recommendations of best practice on how to move
towards such a future.
There is a growing body of social science research from within a wide range of disciplines on
climate change. Social scientists have shown interest in understanding how human beings
perceive climate change as a threat to existing lifestyles. Hulme (2009, xxii) suggests this
depends on
“our views of nature, our judgments about scientific analysis, our perceptions of risk
and our ideas about what is at stake – economic growth, national sovereignty, species
extinction or the lives of poor people in marginal environments of developing
countries – and whether it is ethically, politically, or economically justifiable to make
tradeoffs between these” Hulme, 2009, xxii).
This research also reflects on how human’s adapt to climate change (Adger, et al, 2009;
Schipper and Burton, 2009), the role of values in successful adaptation (O’Brien, 2009) and
why there is so much disagreement among people about climate change (Hulme, 2009).
Others have taken a moral stance and focused on the issue of inequality in weighing up
greenhouse gas emissions – using the concepts of ‘luxury emission’ and ‘survival emission’,
arguing for example, that one unit of carbon dioxide emitted by a poor peasant cannot be
weighed equally with that of a tourist flying to the Caribbean for a holiday.
Being a non-Annex 1 country (developing country) South Africa has no binding target to
reduce its greenhouse gas omissions. Yet it is a country which has one of the highest levels of
greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the world (Mwakasonda, 2007). South Africa has
adopted a ‘sustainable development’ approach to provide a platform for developing a low
carbon society while at the same time following a path of development. Within this approach
government policy has focused on “energy efficiency, renewable energy and cleaner fossil
fuels” (Mwakasonda, 2007, 2). The economy is highly dependent on energy production from
fossil fuels, with 90% of electricity generation being produced from fossil fuels. The majority
of greenhouse gas omissions come from the energy sector, particularly power stations, 20 out
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of 50 of which are coal fired. Thus government policy on “future emission and mitigation
scenarios in South Africa are primarily an energy issue, making energy supply a critical issue
in developing a low carbon society” (Mwakasonda, 2007, 6-7).(See Appendix 1 for South
Africa’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions).
The terms of reference of this chapter states that there is a need to discuss the normative
proposition that individual people can be motivated to become ‘low carbon citizens’ by
changing their lifestyles and behaviour. The chapter provides a critical discussion of this
mainstream policy approach – the behavioural approach – and then moves on to explore
alternative approaches to developing low carbon citizens as presented in the social science
literature. The structure of this chapter is as follows:
1. Introduction
2. What is low carbon citizenship?
3. The barriers and challenges to low carbon citizenship in South Africa.
4. How to overcome the barriers to low carbon citizenship: Best practice in a developing
country
5. Recommendations
2. What is low carbon citizenship?
This section presents a theoretical discussion of ‘low carbon citizenship’ and a ‘low carbon
society’ as well as a discussion of other relevant issues in the literature that relate to low carbon
citizenship.
2.1 Low Carbon Citizenship
Before discussing low carbon citizenship, it is useful to understand the meaning of the concept of
citizenship. Smith and Pangasapa (2008) reveal that there are wide ranging debates about the
meaning of citizenship in the theoretical literature. Citizenship, in the traditional Western liberal
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democratic sense, places the individual citizen on the boundary between the state and civil
society where she/he has reciprocal entitlements and obligations where “rights and duties are
intimately connected” (Smith and Pangasapa, 2008). However, there has been a ‘reinvention of
citizenship’. Theorists have expanded the concept by challenging the definition of citizenship as
being associated with membership of ‘national political communities’, with a shift towards a less
universalistic conception of citizenship (Smith and Pangasapa, 2008). They contend that more
‘sites’ of citizenship have been recently created, e.g. cultural citizenship; technological
citizenship and ecological citizenship. These operate at many different scales from the global to
the local, and involve a wide range of acts that go beyond “voting and political party
membership” (Smith and Pangasapa, 2008, 11). Civic engagement as part of citizenship thus can
take many forms, such as protesting, joining community activities, disseminating knowledge etc.
Ecological citizenship places more emphasis on obligations rather than rights, which leads to the
adoption of normative values and the ‘ethics of care’, i.e. the care for unknown species and
future generations. It is contended here that low carbon citizenship is a form of citizenship which
operates at a global scale, where citizens are global citizens. This is due to the global nature of
the problem of climate change. However, low carbon citizenship can also operate at a local scale,
where for example, citizens in a local municipality will be motivated to reduce electricity
consumption to reduce the ecological footprint of their city, or to contribute to their cities
sustainability or ‘greenness’. The Imagine Durban programme in Durban focused on local
residents actions to change the local and global environmental impacts of the city. The approach
or tool most commonly used to develop environmental citizenship is environmental education.
Bell (2004) proposes that environmental education should be part of citizenship education in a
system of political liberalism, specifically, education about the environment and education for
sustainability. It should include teaching children to be critically reflexive about environmental
issues.
The mainstream approach, in developed and developing countries, to low carbon citizenship is
based on the behavioural approach. According to the behavioural approach, a low carbon citizen
is someone who has been persuaded to voluntarily modify their behaviour to be more carbon
friendly. The public are assumed to be passive recipients of programmes of persuasion (Owens,
2008). This programme of persuasion is one which shows that present carbon consumption is not
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sustainable but can be made sustainable if the correct steps are taken. The awareness raising
process thus rationally describes the future results of high carbon emissions and the risks of this
in terms of climate change. It “conveys a moral imperative to do something – thus the notion of
the ‘low carbon citizen’ ‘describes and prescribes’ ” (Brand, 2007, 623-4). The assumptions of
this approach are couched in a ‘cause and effect’ model of explanation where ‘information/
awareness’ is the independent variable and it serves to impact on human behaviour (the
dependent variable) in a linear one way direction to create and shift attitudes, which in turn result
in action and new forms of environmentally friendly behaviour. There exists a large body of
social science literature about individual environmental attitudes and behaviour in the field of
psychology, social psychology, geography and environmental psychology (Owens and Drifill,
2008). The behavioural model has been expanded and refined to include a range of other
variables such as the ‘information-action’ model, which proposes that if provided with
information, subjects will become aware of the outcomes of their behavioural choices (Godfrey
and Scott, in press). Two important assumptions of this model are that “people have endless
motivation to alter their behaviour based on what is considered ‘optimal behaviour’; and that
knowledge generated through the internalization of information is linked to action (Weiss, 2002,
citied in Godfrey and Scott, in press). This relationship between knowledge and action is not
readily seen in practice, however, the success of recycling in many developed and developing
countries reveals that information can change behaviour (Owens and Driffill, 2008).
Contrary to this individualist approach to inducing low carbon behaviour, an approach began to
emerge in the period of late modernity at a societal scale that had specific implications for
individual behaviour. By the 1970s, there was a growing consensus that the dominant economic
system of the modernist society, industrial capitalism, had resulted in an ‘environmental crisis’.
In order to overcome this crisis, ecological modernisation emerged as an approach by
governments in the developed world to internalize the crisis and prevent the polarization of
economic development and the environment. Developing countries globally have taken on this
approach following the policies of the industrialized nations (Barnett and Scott, 2007). The
approach to understanding the relationship between the environment and society is based on the
assumption that economic efficiency and growth can be maintained if the environment is
sustainably ‘managed’. Hence the promotion of ‘green business’ where industries apply
technological innovations to reduce resource inputs (energy, water) and produce more with less
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(Hajer, 1995; Hobson, 2006). This enables ‘sustainable development’, although of a weak
variant, is able to continue within a market-driven, consumer-orientated capitalist modes of
social organisation (Hobson, 2006).
Institutional shifts and technological innovation are
considered the hallmarks of solving environmental problems, giving rise to a managerialist,
technocentric, expert driven approach to environmental governance (Oelofse, et al, 2009).
Ecological modernisation therefore allows economic growth to continue, using science and
technology to reduce its impact on the environment. The implications for individual citizens are
that the ecological modernisation approach proposes that environmental problems can be
resolved through technological solutions.
The development of new technologies lies at the heart of our society’s approach to address and
mitigate climate change. Technologies are being developed to produce and harness renewable
energy and use energy more efficiently (See Figure 1). These also include the impetus to develop
“energy efficient appliances; as well as objects that reduce household waste (e.g.
recycling and compost bins and re-usable shopping bags); and objects added to existing
infrastructures to modify practices (e.g. egg timers in the bathroom to monitor water
use)” (Hobson, 2006, 319).
Hobson’s (1996, 318) interesting paper on ‘eco-efficient domestic technologies’ draws attention
to the changing relationship between people and their “domestic materialities” and how
awareness raising programmes aim to modify the individual’s relationship with technologies in
the domestic context4 and hence create new socio-technical configurations. Within this approach
individuals as consumers are persuaded to ‘go green’ and ‘eco-modernize’ their lives, thereby
making the responsibility for dealing with climate change an individual effort (Hobson, 2006).
There is a growing literature focusing on the contemporary neoliberal individualisation of
environmental responsibility. Brand (2007, 624) proposes that in the field of environmental
governance (including regulation towards reducing carbon emissions) the ultimate responsibility
in a neoliberal society has been shifted onto the shoulders of the individual citizen: “his/her
willingness to accept certain restrictions, modify behaviour patterns, assimilate scientific and
moral arguments, and so forth”. He goes on to give examples of how environmental regulation is
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The Australian GreenHome programme is used as a case study. GreenHome is a community education programme
which encourages individuals to make “small but environmentally significant lifestyle changes” (Hobson, 2006,
320).
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aimed at individual behaviour and consumption patterns in the home, and spatial consumption
around the city and beyond. Since the early 2000s, in addition to government programmes,
“there has been a veritable explosion of projects designed to enable individuals to ‘do their bit’ in
the struggle to limit climate change” (Paterson and Stripple, 2010, 341)5. The focus has been on
individual changes in lifestyles, through changing diets, becoming carbon neutral, measuring our
carbon footprints and managing our lives to consume less carbon (Paterson and Stripple, 2010).
These practices are informed by ‘social networking cultures’ which make people measure
themselves in relation to others and publicly reflect their identity through internet
communication.
The state and other actors (such as NGOs) apply a range of techniques to produce the identity of
the ‘environmental citizen’ (Hobson, 2006). Individuals are mobilized as ‘consumers’ and
‘responsible community members’ through the process of green governance or environmental
governmentality (See section 2.4 below for discussion of governmentality as a strategy of
government). Hobson (2006) contends that while the use of domestic technologies does have
measurable resource savings, the main impact of using eco-efficient objects is that engagement
with them produces meaning. Hobson’s (2006, 321) case study of GreenHome reveals how
“domestic eco-efficient objects facilitate specific forms of ethical environmental practices” –
what Hobson (2006) calls a ‘techno-ethics’. The practice of using the technologies, “the bins,
bulbs and shower timers” mentioned in the title of the paper, ‘script’ the users’ behaviour
towards reducing carbon consumption. In this sense, these domestic technologies are what
Jelsma (2003, in Hobson, 2006, 324) calls “moralizing machines’.
This process of individualization in neoliberal society is considered a ‘problem’ because it
diverts attention from the “fundamentally social and political character of environmental
problems”, particularly the problem of the production and growth of carbon emissions (Paterson
and Stripple, 2010, 342). These authors maintain that the ‘real’ origins of greenhouse gas
emissions, are driven by state policies, e.g. building of new airports, and large-scale industrial
processes pursued by large capitalist corporations. They maintain that the impact of individuals
in the face of the powerful structures of state and capital is negligible. Paterson and Stripple
See Goodall, 2007, whose rationale for his book “How to live a low-carbon life: the individual’s guide to stopping
climate change” is that “no-one else is doing much so you’d better do something yourself’.
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(2010, 344) propose that the power of the large corporations ‘operates through’ the practices
undertaken by individuals in their everyday lives, i.e. “driving, flying, heating, cooling and now
offsetting”. Individual behaviour is thus not separate from the activities of the state and capital
but is part of the ‘reproduction’ of those very societal structures. It is because of this, claim
Paterson and Stripple (2010) that the need to manage individual practices
is viewed as
necessary, and through this management process new ‘subjects’ and ‘identities’ are being
created.
Hobson’s (2006) paper is an example of the growing literature which examines the recent shift
in ‘socio-technical relations’ within our society. With the growth in renewable energy and the
different forms that this might take, Walker and Cass (2007) predict that these new forms of
energy and the technologies they require will be of different sizes ranging from macro-scale
wind farms and solar power stations to micro-scale forms, such as solar roof panels on individual
houses and wood fuelled boilers. Furthermore, the technologies will have different forms of
ownership, ranging from public utilities to community projects; they will also have different
patterns of ‘management, operation, return and networking’ (Walker and Cass, 2007). This will
engender a range of new relations between institutions, people and technology. The point that
Walker and Cass (2007) make, is that this has already started producing a number of new roles
for the public as consumers, investors, beneficiaries, project protestors, project supporters and
technology hosts (See Table 4 in Walker and Cass, 2007, 466). The complexities of these social
practices with the growth of new renewable technologies are something that policy makers need
to recognize. Walker and Cass (2007, 267) state that “far more than a shift in the attitudes and
intentions of individuals is required in order to achieve significant carbon reduction through
these means” (renewable energy technologies).
In conclusion, this section on low carbon citizenship presents contemporary social science
literature related to climate change. The notion of different kinds of citizenship is discussed and
the fact that there are evolving in our society many types of citizenship, one of which is
‘ecological citizenship’ and this case, more specifically ‘low carbon citizenship’. The
behavioural approach to creating low carbon citizens is then presented as an approach in which
behaviour is assumed to follow from people being provided with relevant information. This
linear mechanistic model of behaviour change has been widely critiqued. The broader societal
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approach of ecological modernisation is then reviewed as an approach which outlines societal
approach to environmental management rather than one based on the individual. This
managerial, technicist approach has social implications in that technology is proposed as the
chief means of ‘managing’ the environment. The shift to a more technologically oriented society
produces new relations between society and technology. People’s lives are inevitably linked to
engaging with technologies in some way. This approach is linked to the increasing
‘individualisation’ in neoliberal society, where responsibilities are being shifted from the state to
individuals. Governments are increasingly using ‘technologies of rule’ to induce people to carry
out the state’s mandates. In this way, green subjectivities are created in which individuals, in
their homes and everyday lives are increasingly pressured to assume ‘green behaviour’. This
‘governmentality’ framework allows for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship
between state and citizen in the contemporary neoliberal society.
2.2 Low carbon society
The concept of a ‘low carbon society’ is broader than that of the individual, ‘low carbon citizen’.
Achieving such a society would involve actions taken by government, industry, business as well
as the public / civil society. An interesting example of a visioning process is the Japan-UK Low
Carbon Society project, which was set up in 2006 to create visions of a low-carbon society and
work out the stages that would be necessary to get there (Skea and Nishioka, 2008). The project
defined a ‘low carbon society’ as a society which should:
1. Take actions that are compatible with the principles of sustainable development,
ensuring that the development needs of all groups within society are met;
2. Make an equitable contribution towards the global effort to stabilize the atmospheric
concentration of CO2 and other greenhouse gases at a level that will avoid dangerous
climate change, through deep cuts in global emissions;
3. Demonstrate a high level of energy efficiency and use low-carbon energy sources and
production technologies; and
4. Adopt patterns of consumption and behaviours that are consistent with low levels of
greenhouse gas emissions (Skea and Nishioka, 2008, S6).
The creation of a low carbon society has significant implications for developing countries
like South Africa. The project proposed that creating a low carbon society should not be
divorced from the goal of broader sustainable development in order that ‘environment’ and
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‘development’ do not become polarized (Skea and Nishioka, 2008; Huq and Reid, 2009). The
implications of this are that mitigation measures should be linked to programmes of
adaptation to climate change. Awareness raising and dissemination of low carbon society
information about the benefits of ‘transitioning to a low carbon society’ was considered in
the UK-Japan project as a key step in moving towards a low carbon society. It also
emphasized the importance of citizens changing their lifestyles, behaviour and consumption
patterns (see Point 4 above).
One of the recommendations of the project was that governments must play a central role in
moving towards low carbon societies. The project also argued that it must be recognised that
the process of carbon reduction is a long term process. While technologies obviously plays
an important role, “changes must go to a deeper social level” if climate and developmental
goals are to be reconciled (Skea and Nishioka, 2008, S11). The project also recommended
that policies and frameworks should be implemented that remove ‘high-carbon choices’ and
provide consumers with the chance to ‘benefit from low-carbon approaches’ (Skea and
Nishioka, 2008, S14). This assumes a linkage between ‘low carbon citizenship’ and
promoting a green economy.
A low carbon society promotes a society which is geared to reduce carbon emissions by
limiting the demand for energy, using renewable energy and using energy more efficiently.
This must be supported by all sectors in society so that the impacts of climate change can be
mitigated. It is important to note that achieving ‘low carbon citizenship’ is also a goal of a
‘low carbon society’. The ‘Trias Energetica’ model in Figure 1 provides a useful summary:
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Figure 1: Trias Energetica (Mans, 2010, 2)
Thus, the notion of a low carbon society is broader than that of low carbon citizenship and
incorporates it as a necessary but not sufficient condition in the move towards more sustainable
living.
2.3
Ways to persuade citizens to change to a low carbon lifestyle
This section provides an overview of the numerous avenues used by business, NGOs and
government to influence the public to reduce their carbon emissions, and some issues around
these strategies. This is termed the ‘shaping of individual practice’ by Paterson and Stripple
(2010). Strategies to promote low (or lower) carbon living can be divided into four categories:
2.3.1 Regulation
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Regulation involves the production of policies, laws and bylaws to influence people’s behaviour
regarding their carbon emissions, for example, restricting use of certain energy forms or having
fines and/or taxation for certain behaviour. Regulation to reduce individual carbon emissions
thus far has been relatively weak, in both developed and developing countries (While, 2008).
Over regulation via direct ‘green taxes’ is politically risky as it can result in citizens rejecting the
‘carbon-control agenda’ (While, 2008). The UK government has embarked on a programme to
use ‘economic instruments’ as a key tool in carbon management – this is embedded in the
Climate Change Bill of 2007 (While, 2008). South Africa is following this mainstream economic
approach to environmental management (Oelofse, et al, 2009). A good example of this is the city
of London traffic laws which impose a density tax to reduce the number of vehicles entering the
city centre and encouraging the use of public transport. South Africa has recently introduced a
‘carbon tax’ (C0² vehicle emissions tax) on all new cars, bakkies and 4x4 vehicles
(Zerbst,20/8/2010)6.
Regulation to reduce individual carbon emissions thus far has been relatively weak, in both
developed and developing countries (While, 2008). Over regulation via direct ‘green taxes’ is
politically risky as it can result in citizens rejecting the ‘carbon-control agenda’ (While, 2008).
The UK government has embarked on a programme to use ‘economic instruments’ as a key tool
in carbon management – this is embedded in the Climate Change Bill of 2007 (While, 2008).
South Africa is following this mainstream economic approach to environmental management
(Oelofse, et al, 2009).
2.3.2 Economic incentives
Market based incentives are one of the current methods of encouraging carbon reduction by
industry and business as well as individual citizens. Cost effectiveness refers to both the more
formal direct economic incentives given by governments for low carbon actions, as well as the
more indirect method of appealing to the cost effectiveness of a low carbon lifestyle. For
example, savings are generated by the use of solar power.
6
Buyers will pay R75 for each g/km of C0² emissions above a threshold of 120g/km, the lowest threshold in the
world. The price hike is about 2,5% (Zerbst, 20/8/2010).
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More recently it has been mooted that voluntary carbon off-set markets could provide economic
benefits for low carbon citizens. Through economic incentives, e.g. voluntary carbon offset
markets, individuals are able to do something about climate change, albeit that the total demand
by individuals is for carbon offsetting is very small. Offset markets have been widely criticized
as a ‘political distraction’ as they divert attention away from the need for collective actions
against those structures that are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions (Paterson and Stripple,
2010). Consumers of offsets are critiqued for purchasing a ‘quick fix’ in order to continue their
high carbon consumption lifestyles, without necessarily caring about climate change and its link
to their lives.
Personal carbon trading is a proposed but untested policy in the UK which is assumed to provide
citizens with the opportunity to gain economic benefit through the trading of ‘carbon currency’
which would be issued to all citizens. It is recognised that a ‘carbon literary skills and culture’
would need to be in place for this market driven system of reducing carbon emissions to operate
efficiently (Seyfang, 2007).
Rather than operating as a trading process among individual
members of society, Seyfang (2007) proposes that this approach to reduce carbon emissions
should rather operate as a “socially embedded collective endeavour” and be part of ecological
citizenship (2007, 15).
2.3.3 Awareness raising
Awareness raising, within the mainstream behavioural approach, is aimed by a range of sectors
within government, as well as civil society organisations, at a broad audience. It refers to
providing more information about the challenges of climate change in the hope that, the more
people understand the impacts and implications of climate change, the more they will change
their behaviour (Prykett, et al, 2010). Awareness raising can be defined as ‘education about the
environment’ which can be termed ‘free choice learning’ as there is little compulsion to take up
the information provided. Awareness raising is most often a product of the ‘information deficit’
model assuming that the public have little knowledge about the environment.
Wynne (1996) in his widely cited article on the ‘expert-lay knowledge divide’ related to risk,
criticizes governments and NGOs for relying exclusively on scientific knowledge related to
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environmental issues in their policies and awareness raising programmes, and neglecting an
awareness of the political, cultural and social processes “going on in our increasingly
disorganized capitalist world that is going on outside of institutions” (Lash, citied in Wynne,
1996, 45). He concludes that the sense of risk experienced by lay people, in this case about
climate change,
““is risk to identity engendered by dependency on expert systems which typically
operate with such unreflexive blindness to their own cultural problematic and inadequate
models of the human” (Wynne, 1996, 68).
Wynne (1996, 78) proposes that a new form of ‘public knowledge’ must be sought which is
“more legitimate” and “less alienating”, and which includes the substantive knowledge of
science and the cultural knowledge of values. In order to achieve this more valid knowledge,
Wynne (1996) proposes the participation of ‘lay publics’ in the negotiation of the contents of this
new ‘public knowledge’ which needs to include scientific and lay knowledge. He claims that this
process of part of “seeing ourselves as global citizens with corresponding responsibilities and
relationships” (Wynne, 1996, 78). This critique is particularly relevant in developing countries
where substantial bodies of indigenous knowledge and value systems exist which inform
individual practices in relation to the environment.
2.3.4 Developing values and ethics of care
Care as a category, involves appealing to people with calls to save the planet for themselves,
future generations, and other beings on the planet. Through a change in values and embedding a
caring approach to the earth where morality and ethics are important, a change in behaviour and
action is anticipated. Governments are also relying, to an extent, on such ethical, voluntary
measures of carbon reduction by citizens (While, 2008). Randalls (2010, 1) however, notes that
with the predominance of market-based economic solutions to curbing greenhouse gas emissions
“a calculative, managerial approach to the environment” dominates. This dominance has led to
the marginalisation of issues of ethics and therefore precludes ‘practices, debates and democratic
deliberation’ around what may be termed ‘the good life’. However, if we only use the language
of science to talk about global warming then the significance of this phenomenon will not be
fully understood. Rowley and Phillips (2010, 15) note that what is also needed for low carbon
citizenship are ‘value-based frames’ which are founded on the ‘moral systems’ that different
19
people have in order to “communicate the significance of the truth”. This underlines Wynne’s
(1996) proposal, cited above, that the dualism between scientific expert and lay knowledge needs
to be bridged so as to create a more valid ‘public knowledge’.
In conclusion, this section has provided an overview of ways to persuade citizens to change to a
low carbon lifestyle, with a focus on awareness raising, which is assumed will lead to changes in
behaviour. However, of interest here is the importance of understanding the significance of
climate change through a system of values and ethics of care.
2.3.5 The use of rhetoric
‘Smart living’ is a more user-friendly term for encouraging individuals to try and practice a low
carbon lifestyle. It has been found that when people have an information overload about
‘protecting the environment’, they tend to ignore or reject any information offered. Rowley and
Phillips (2010) point out that the current framing of the environment is incorrect. For example, to
propose that ‘people must protect the environment’ assumes that the environment is external to
human beings and does not reflect that environmental risk and impacts are embedded in and
caused by human activities and behaviour. This assumption separates the environment from our
daily lives. The term ‘smart living’ puts people and their everyday lives in touch with the
environment as people are part of the environment: “we are the polar bears...when we see the
polar bear struggling on the ice flow, that is us”, (Rowley and Phillips, 2010, 13). Rowley and
Phillips (2010) provide a manual, for the Green Alliance, of how governments and NGOs should
‘market’ the environment in a more meaningful and honest way otherwise “public
understanding, trust and support for behaviour changes will suffer” (Rowley and Phillips, 2010,
20). (See Appendix 2 for the main recommendations). The City of Cape Town (2010) has
produced a ‘Smart Living Handbook’ for the public, schools, industry and business, which
defines smart living as the “efficient use of natural resources such as water and energy, the
reduction of waste, and the protection of our natural biodiversity”. Low carbon lifestyles of
individuals would thus be a ‘smart way of living’.
2.4
The role of government in individual carbon reduction
20
Governments should play a critical role in providing policies, instruments and information to
incentivize the public to shift their attitudes and behaviour (Skea and Nishioka, 2008).
Government policy discourses regarding raising awareness for the public and providing
information about the need to reduce carbon emissions in the context of climate change are
mostly based on the rationalist ‘information deficit model’ or ‘public deficit’ model. The
‘information deficit model’ is a model of the relationship between the public and government
wherein “the need to ‘inform’ the public (is) implicitly premised on public ignorance”, in this
case, about energy issues (Irwin, 2001, 15). The model assumes that people will understand the
relationship between policy issues and the science that underpins it and then act accordingly. The
belief in the ‘information deficit model’ is why, in many developed countries, the problem of a
lack of citizen engagement around environmental issues, such as reducing carbon emissions, is
assumed to be caused by a lack of information or awareness, since the public cannot easily
access the science behind the policy (Smith and Pangasapa, 2008).
Since the societal goals of achieving low carbon citizenship, as espoused by government, are to
reduce individual’s carbon consumption in order to contribute to securing sustainable energy for
the future, awareness programmes, based on ‘knowledge about environmental issues’, are then
rolled out. This assumes that this will lead to a change in attitudes and subsequently a shift
towards more environmentally responsible behaviour. There has been a great deal of criticism of
this rational, linear model of learning and human behaviour pointing out that rather than using
this knowledge to shift behaviour, people take it in and reproduce this received knowledge in
their own everyday discourses (Smith and Pangasapa, 2008). This behavioural approach is also
criticized for being too individualistic, suggesting that the perception of a more collective
approach by groups of people, would be a more successful model for shifting civil society
towards reducing carbon emissions. Owens and Driffill (2008, 4413) maintain that “attitudes
themselves are influenced by a variety of social, political and cultural factors aside from
information provision”. More recently, critiques of this individualistic approach, which shifts the
responsibility for the environment onto individual citizens, have also pointed out that the
governing of individuals “does little to address the neoliberal order” which continues to
contribute to problems of high carbon consumption (Rutherford, 2007, 299). Rutherford (2007,
299) considers individual attempts to reduce carbon consumption ‘quick fixes’, which ignore the
real cause of high carbon consumption which is sanctioned by the “actions of governments,
21
industrial polluters, fossil fuel industries, extractive corporations, the promotion of nuclear
energy, the ecological effects of militarism, and so on”. Paterson and Stripple (2010, 342) echo
this critique that the displacement of the state’s responsibilities onto the individual is a diversion
of attention from the “broader political questions of power and collective responsibility”.
Rutland and Aylett (2008) maintain that using the concept of ‘governmentality’ is a helpful way
to understand the way in which governments set out to achieve certain goals. Rutland and Aylett
(2008) provide an example of the city or Portland, Oregon, where the local government has
adopted a policy to develop strategies to reduce local carbon emissions by getting its residents to
change their behaviours and lifestyle, i.e. the Portland Carbon Dioxide Reduction Strategy.
Government achieve their goals “by insinuating specific ways of thinking (political rationalities)
in their citizenry” through programmes which they term “technologies of government” (after
Foucault) (Rutland and Aylett, 2008, 629). This theoretical concept allows for the examination of
the ways in which the values and beliefs of the ‘political subject’ can be moulded by government
without the application of force. The framework of governmentality is a new ‘modus operandi of
government’ (Rutherford, 2007) and it is an exertion of power in a different way. “Technologies
of rule” include “forms of knowledge, vocabularies, practices of calculation and so on”
(Corbridge et al, 2005, 6).
Within this approach, subjects are being formed and identity created by governmentality through
which individuals become ‘self-regulating’ (Rutland and Aylett, 2008). Furthermore, knowledge
becomes the main route by which state goals are communicated. Foucault (1995 in Rutherford,
2008, 295) proposes that power is productive
“…it produces reality; it produces domains of objects; and rituals of truth”. This
knowledge circulates through networks and becomes embedded in institutions, producing
‘discourse, institutions and practices”.
Inherent in producing knowledge about the environment (through green governmentality) is the
ability to produce the solution to environmental problems and ways to manage the environment.
If we apply this to knowledge created about climate change and the necessary management of
climate change by the reduction of carbon emissions, it is clear that government plays an
22
important role in framing the climate change debate. As a response to the issue of climate
change, policies are then produced which state the need for all stakeholders to get involved in its
management by reducing carbon emissions, whether it is business, industry or citizens. Paterson
and Stripple (2010) propose that there is an emerging governmentality that creates the ‘conduct
of carbon conduct’ where the state creates a particular subjectivity of “the individual as
concerned carbon emitter to govern his or her own emissions in various ways”.
There is a wide literature to show how governmentality “works to produce normalized
subjectivities” (Rutherford, 2008, 298). Rutherford (2008) shows how the formation of
subjectivities is through what Foucault calls ‘the subjectivities of the self’. People choose
themselves to become particular types of subjects, e.g. neoliberal subjects would wish to
maximize their opportunities, improve their quality of life and be free to choose their lifestyle
(Rutherford, 2008). Here the subject takes advice from experts, not only those acting for the
state, to make their lives more complete by ‘being better and doing better in the world’
(Rutherford, 2008). So ‘technologies for improvement’ are provided as guidelines for the subject
to become a better environmental citizen (Rutherford, 2008)7.
Brand (2007, 625) notes that the technical agenda of urban environmentalism, including
imperatives to reduce carbon consumption has social impacts in homes, neighbourhoods and on
the streets:

Intrusions into domestic life: waste separation, energy and water saving, composting
and care of private green space;

Demands on self care: eating and drinking, exercise, stress management, risk
assessment;

Influence over lifestyle: green consumption, ecological tourism, fair trading and local
exchange markets, personal ecological footprints;
For example: See ‘The Best Green Blogs’ for tips for becoming greener and more carbon aware.
(http://www.bestgreenblogs.com/category/south-africa/) See ‘liveeco: South African Green Living’ for a trendy set
of tips for home and office (http://www.liveeco.co.za). The site ‘Green Passport’ provides tips for cutting down
carbon in your travels (http://greenpassport.co.za/tourism-tips.php). The site calculates how much you have to offset
to counter your carbon consumption through travelling and suggests sites where you can do this.
7
23

Conditioning g of residential environments: compactness, high densities, promotion
of the virtues of localities and community living;

Codes of social behaviour: the stigmatisation of smoking and obesity, the
criminalization of waste, the validation of surveillance;

Taxation and public spending: nominal favouring of environmentally responsible
citizens, especially with regard to energy and transport.
The ‘green subject’ is the product of the personal ‘construction of one’s self’ with its base in the
‘routine’, everyday life, the home, and domesticity. Brand (2007, 627) claims that
“in the context of neoliberal government of individualized urban societies, the
‘everyday environment’ becomes a prime site for the exercise of power, not just
through the regulation of the personal and the domestic but also through the
constitution of citizens and their sense of (environmental) rights and
responsibilities in the unfolding of urban life”.
Examining the ‘conduct of conduct’ through the framework of governmentality provides an
analytical framework for examining the relations of power between the state and citizens
(Paterson and Stripple, 2010). Patterson and Stripple’s (2010) term ‘the conduct of carbon
conduct’ means the “government of people’s carbon dioxide emissions that does not work
through the authority of the state or the state system, but through peoples’ governing of their own
emissions”. The government provides certain types of knowledge, technologies and a low carbon
ethic leading to individuals reducing their carbon emissions or offsetting their emissions, through
what are called calculative technologies. In this way, “individualism becomes interpreted
increasingly as responsible agency, not quite active citizenship in the Republican sense, but
nevertheless acting in the private sphere to pursue a public good” (Patterson and Stripple, 2010,
347). There are several forms of ‘self-regulation’ which individual’s can practice. Patterson and
Stripple (2010) suggest the following mechanisms8: carbon footprinting9; carbon off-setting10;
8
See Table 1 in Patterson and Stripple (2010, 348-9).
There are many carbon calculators with associated advice, e.g. See the calculator linked to Al Gore’s An
Inconvenient Truth (http://www.climatecrisis.net)
10
“The purchase of credits… equivalent to emissions produced by an individual” (Paterson and Stripple, 2010, 350).
Often these emissions are produced elsewhere, e.g. through air travel. Credits can be purchased for example, within
the Kyoto Protocol – Clean Development Mechanism.
9
24
carbon dieting11; carbon rationing action groups (CRAGS)12; and Personal Carbon Allowances
(PCAs)13.
It must be noted however, that the ‘technologies of rule’ do not always work (Hobson, 2006), it
depends on how officials and elected representatives interpret policies, what frames are used to
disseminate low carbon awareness programmes and how these are “interpreted,…why and how
are they seized upon, understood, reworked and possibly contested by differently placed people
within the population…in both civil and political society” (Corbridge, et al, 2006, 6-7). The
complex combination of learning experiences of the individual in her/his socio-cultural context
implies that the ‘effects’ of governmentality are less easy to determine as they will be more
diffuse (Prykett, et al,2010, 506).
This links to the assertion by Hajer (2005) that in a democratic society many publics exist. He
terms this multi-signification where there are a multitude of different sets of values and meanings
among different stakeholder groups in society. Wynne (2005) provides evidence of how social
identities of the public need to be considered when engaging with the public to provide scientific
information upon which they should act. He emphasizes the complexity of social identities as
being incomplete and dynamic and being endlessly revised to “maintain coherence across
multiple social roles and reference groups” (Wynne, 2005, 300). Thus there are many ‘publics’
and the social identity and cultural context of each needs to be taken into account in programmes
to raise awareness regarding carbon reduction. One programme does not ‘fit all’.
While much of the literature focuses on the goal of achieving low carbon citizenship at the level
of the individual, the household is an important concept to consider at the ‘meso-level’. Gibson
This mechanism uses the metaphor of dieting and “entails a form of subjectivity centred on the relationship
between guilt and emotional reward” and goes beyond the simple carbon footprinting mechanism (Paterson and
Stripple, 2010, 352)
12
Individual work in a group through competition and goal setting to reduce carbon emissions
(see http://www.carbonrationing.org.uk)
13
These are a proposed form of tradable carbon currency
11
25
et al (2010) challenge conventional notions of the household as merely a ‘site of consumption’ or
environmental activity. They propose that people need to be conceptualized as ‘active agents’
who live in households which are homes where people invest their emotions, raise families,
undertake all sort of activities and engage in multiple social networks. Homes are often people’s
‘havens’ from the problems of the world including environmental risks. Thus, while people may
understand the problem of climate change, they do not necessarily respond to it “because climate
change may be unthinkable within the confines of everyday life” in the household (Gibson, et al,
2010). They note that resistance of individuals to being ‘told what to do’ is also emerging, so
changing consumption and other domestic behaviour towards carbon usage remains ‘largely
open’ (Gibson, et al, 2010). Gibson et al (2010) note that economic class is an important
variable when targeting low carbon awareness raising programmes. Affluent educated
households, while being the strongest supporters of ‘green practices’, are also the highest
consumers and consumers of green technologies, organic food etc. In this way the ‘low carbon
citizenship’ becomes equated with upper and middle classes, which in South Africa reveals a
race dimension. Scott and Oelofse (2009) point to a growing discourse in South African
environmental management, which is ‘environment is a blockage to development’ where proenvironmental discourses are increasingly being interpreted in racial terms. Black officials and
politicians refer to these environmental discourses as ‘white, racist anti-development’ discourses
(Barnett and Scott, 2007; Scott and Oelofse, 2009). ???
There is a need therefore to briefly examine the literature on the relationship between science
and society. Michael (1992) notes that in the contemporary world due to environmental
controversies, there is no longer one ‘scientific voice’ and there exist a plurality of knowledges
competing for dominance especially around the issue of climate change. Furthermore,
contemporary literature shows that ordinary people have come to mistrust science, so the
public’s uptake of knowledge from science depends on the trust and credibility that the public
ascribe to government institutions which are disseminating the scientific information (Wynne,
1992; 2005). Wynne, (1992) also notes that lay people are highly ‘reflexive’ about the validity of
science in relation to their own ‘lay knowledge’, a characteristic which is absent in scientists
about their knowledge.
26
The knowledge society model proposes that science and technology is the most powerful form of
knowledge which leads to technical ‘innovations’ which fuel economic progress and societal
change (Tovey, 2008). There is a growing theoretical interest in “the analysis of social change
struggles over the transformations in the meaning of ‘truth’, ‘certainty’, and ‘legitimate
knowledge’” (Tovey, 2008, 185). There has therefore been a shift towards an understanding of
knowledge production as occurring in a wide range of sites. Knowledge is increasingly being
produced in specific contexts around particular economic and social interests, and knowledge is
therefore relevant to “‘real-world’ problems” (Tovey, 2008, 187). Particularly in the
environmental field, there has emerged a wide and growing range of knowledge controversies
where there is public suspicion of scientific-technical expertise (Wynne, 1992; Eden, 1998;
Whatmore, 2009).
Magistro and Roncoli (2001, 93), in their paper on anthropological perspectives on climate
change, emphasize “the importance of cultural meanings, collective myths, and social memory in
shaping public and private responses” to climate change. They assert that cultural perspectives
shape how ordinary citizens receive new information about climate change and also how they
trust the information and the ‘experts’ producing the information (Magistro and Roncoli, 2001).
As social scientists, they propose that ‘objective’ scientific accounts of climate change need to be
complemented with ‘interpretive frames of knowledge’ which include local knowledge and
indigenous knowledge (Magistro and Roncoli, 2001, 94).
It is a truism that “science no longer holds the authoritative claim to truth that it was once
credited with, and that what counts as ‘expertise’ is increasingly contextualized and localised to
the situation of the construction and application” (Tovey, 2008, 188). There are thus many
knowledges. Knowledge is socially constructed and therefore it needs to be conceived of as
knowledge in practice – it is ‘context–specific’ (Bruckmeier and Tovey, 2008). Knowledge if
thus conceived has a ‘production and application chain’ and it travels, becoming socially
embedded and re-embedded as it is applied in different contexts of action and practice. In this
way, scientific and technical knowledge become reproduced and embedded in lay knowledge.
Irwin (2001, 9) notes that lay knowledge of risks are “inseparable from a larger sense of
powerlessness and distrust in governmental institutions”. This is echoed by Brooks et al, (2010),
who in their study of South Durban found that the lay knowledge of risk was inextricably linked
27
to decades of mistrust of the local municipality in relation to the management of industrial air
pollution.
In conclusion, this section on the role of government in individual carbon reduction proposes that
the government has a very important role to play in persuading individual citizens to lower their
carbon consumption and adopts an approach that individualizes citizens and places the
responsibility of carbon reduction on them. However, it is important to understand how the
government exercises power over citizens through the process of governmentality; that there
exist multiples knowledges; and that knowledges ‘travel’ and are reproduced in different
contexts;
3. The barriers and challenges to low carbon citizenship in South Africa
This section of the chapter reflects on the barriers and challenges in South Africa, a developing
country, to achieving low carbon citizenship.
3.1
South Africa is an unequal society
South African society is one of the most unequal societies in the world due to the historical
legacy of apartheid and colonial segregation. The majority of the population in Durban and
South Africa are poor, use public transport or walk, and have a low carbon consumption despite
the fact that the majority of them live on or near the periphery of the city (Oelofse et al, 2010).
With the commencement of social and political transformation in 1994, the majority of the
population has developed expectations of improved levels of living and with that increased levels
of consumption. Poor people are highly dependent on public transport and it is reported that in
Durban, “the poorer the household, the greater the proportion of their income is spent on public
transport” (Moodley et al, 2009).
In their review of social norms, Van den Bergh and Steinemann (2007) state that social norms
can act as barriers to reducing carbon consumption. They cite the example of an individual who
has grown up being poor and wants to show that they have ‘made it’ by engaging in conspicuous
28
consumption, or a businessman driving a large car, travelling extensively and having a large
office to show that he is important. If aspirations for private car ownership can be reduced
through the provision of efficient public transport, then there is less likely to be the wholesale
shift from public transport to private transport with upward social mobility in South Africa.
Huber’s (2009, 466) case study of the ‘use of gasoline’ in the American context reveals that there
is a very strong social norm – “ a cultural and political sense of entitlement to very low gas
prices”. The use-value of gasoline to Americans is “entangled with imaginaries of work, home,
mobility, freedom and a specifically ‘American way of life’” (Huber, 2009, 466), making it
extremely difficult to advocate lowering gasoline consumption to reduce carbon consumption.
Like Durban, Cape Town is also characterised by huge differences between people in terms of
wealth. Some Capetonians use more water, electricity and petrol and generate more waste than
the average American, while others live in households with a single tap, and still using
dangerous fuels such as paraffin for their cooking (City of Cape Town, 2010, v). The inequality
in South Africa is a great challenge to the design and delivery of relevant and understandable
information to the wide range of income and cultural groups in the country. The question is
whether the poor can be asked to reduce their carbon consumption when they are living in dire
poverty? Experience has shown that awareness raising materials are either solely framed within a
scientific discourse with no linkages to local knowledges, or are geared for the upper/middle
educated classes in terms of content and approach. This needs to change if relevant information
is to be made available to the poor majority.
3.2
Lack of information about climate change
One of the biggest challenges to stimulating low carbon behaviour is the lack of information, or
the recipients not being able to understand the information provided. Information needs to be
relevant to the citizens’ life worlds and at a level and language that is understood (Van den
Bergh and Steinmann, 2007). Lack of information here is envisaged as a lack of knowledge upon
which to make everyday life choices, not in the sense that it should necessarily lead to behaviour
change (see critique of behavioural approach). Manzo (2009) furthermore states that the ‘images’
used to represent climate change can also act to make people reject information, for example,
29
melting glaciers are the most iconic image of climate change which portray a sense of risk and
‘doom and gloom’.
3.3
The cost of transport infrastructure
The enormous cost of urban transport infrastructure is a barrier to providing public transport in
cities in the developing world. Transport is one of the highest emitters of greenhouse gas.
Exhorting people to use public transport when there is no safe and efficient transport
infrastructure is a large challenge. This is the case in South Africa cities where the taxi system
dominates the public transport landscape. However, the introduction of the Rapid Bus
Transport14 in Johannesburg, the proposed introduction of this system in Tshwane and Nelson
Mandela Municipality, and the construction of the People Mover in Durban is a step in the right
direction, albeit that these projects were stimulated by the World Cup Soccer in 2010. The
enormous cost of such urban infrastructure development is a barrier to providing public transport
in cities in the developing world. However, as Gibson et al (2010) state, the best way to reduce
carbon consumption is to be poor. Moodley et al (2009) provide evidence to show that 73% of
trips made by black commuters are on public transport compared to only 4% of trips made by
whites. Poverty therefore contributes to a lower ecological footprint and lower carbon emissions.
One of the most important goals of South Africa is to reduce poverty levels, and this needs to be
done in a manner that addresses a low carbon future, as increased well being that has been
developed without a low carbon future in mind, will not be environmentally sustainable.
3.4
Lack of financial resources
14
A number of routes have been built from the inner city of Johannesburg to Soweto. It will also be rolled out in
Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Tshwane by 2012. The rapid bus transport system represents a ‘high-volume
mass-mover’ corridor (along with train corridors) through the major cities of South Africa These form the core of
the new public transport system and form part of the Public Transport Strategy which was approved in 2007. The
aim is to reduce travel time and transport costs for the poor, reduce carbon emissions and encourage development in
areas of urban decay. (Address by the Minister of Transport, Sbu Ndebele, on the first anniversary of the Rea Vaya
service, Johannesburg)
(http://www.polity.org.za/article/sa-ndebele-address-by-the-minister-of-transport-on-the-first-anniversary-of-therea-vaya-service-johannesburg-31082010-2010-08-31).
30
This is a serious barrier for poorer families who can hardly afford energy for lighting, heating
and cooking, let along the purchase of energy efficient appliances and energy systems.
3.5
The economic recession
This commenced in 2007, caused businesses and industry to reduce their environmental training
programmes for employees, as a result of a drop in investment in corporate environmental
responsibility. This has been a worldwide occurrence.
3.6
The implementation deficit
The large-scale legislative, policy and institutional reforms that have taken place in South Africa
since 1994, coupled with the democratisation of environmental decision-making processes, has
led to what can be termed an ‘institutional vacuum’ or an ‘implementation deficit’ (Oelofse et al,
2009 ; Hajer, 2005). The lack of skilled people to fill positions in government at all levels, and
the lack of capacity of many officials, acts as a barrier to the establishment of appropriate
government institutions and awareness-raising programmes for carbon reduction by individuals
(Scott and Oelofse, 2009). An indicator of the ‘implementation deficit’ is the large volume of
delays in the processing of development applications for environmental authorisation (Scott and
Oelofse, 2009).
3.7
The behavioural approach to low carbon awareness raising
Carbon reduction awareness-raising programmes based on the ‘information deficit model’ leads
to the adoption of a behavioural approach. This assumes that upon receipt of information, the
individual will act to reduce carbon emissions. This simple model is inadequate for addressing
awareness raising in a multi-cultural society where the majority of the population have low levels
of education and high levels of poverty.
3.8
Confusing range of information sources
31
For those members of society that have access to ICT facilities and can access the internet, there
is a confusing range of information sources about carbon reduction practices from a wide range
of sources, from government to NGOs and environmental bloggers. Users have little experience
of how to judge which sources are reliable and provide authentic and relevant advice.
3.9
Official sources of information are often inconsistent
These sources often provide conflicting advice and information. There is no one official internet
site at national level which is networked to local municipal sites.
3.10
Awareness raising is aimed at the individual
The individual is assumed to live in a household and awareness raising is mainly aimed at the
individual in the domestic context. There is little reference to awareness raising for collective
carbon reduction practices. An example of an exception to this is the ‘Imagine Durban’ outreach
programme for the greening of schools. This programme has revealed how schools can become
centres of sustainability, impacting on children, their families and the communities that they live
in (Oelofse, 2009).
3.11
Mainstream approach to carbon reduction is a managerial technicist approach.
The dominant mainstream approach to reducing carbon consumption is embedded in the
neoliberal framework where there exists a managerial, technicist approach to environmental
issues and carbon reduction (Randalls, 2010).This approach assumes that environments (and
carbon reduction) can be managed through technical innovations. There is little scope here for
linking this approach with one which focuses on values and the ‘ethics of care’ or on appropriate
locally derived solutions that are not driven by science or technology.
32
3.12
There are no prevailing social norms in South Africa that encourage low carbon
citizenship
There are no prevailing social norms in South Africa that encourage low carbon citizenship. Van
den Bergh and Steinemann (2007, 1906) define norms as “informal obligations that are enforced
through social sanctions or rewards”. The current social norm regarding pro-environmental
behaviour is that it is elitist and anti-development. This shows that a great deal of work needs to
be undertaken to shift this norm through the provision of information regarding the urgency of
taking climate change into account in development decisions. In a developing context,
environment and development need to be integrated into a knowledge system in order to prevent
these spheres from becoming polarised agendas in the political realm (Scott and Oelofse, 2009).
3.13
The polarisation of environment and development
South Africa is a developing country where economic growth is ranked higher than
environmental issues. The Presidency's National Planning Commission secretariat, Kuben
Naidoo, defended this approach. Speaking at a seminar in Johannesburg, entitled ‘Towards
Low Carbon Growth in South Africa', Naidoo also stressed that increasing the labour
absorption capacity of the economy remained South Africa's chief priority and would, thus,
trump all other imperatives, including the desire to lower the overall carbon intensity of the
economy. Naidoo’s comments were made when South Africa's official unemployment for the
first quarter of 2010 rose to above the 25% level, or 4,31-million people. He, thus, argued
that labour absorption was the ‘biggest sustainability issue’ facing policymakers. Thus short
term economic benefits and immediate creation of jobs are at this point more important to
government than long-term climate protection. In a developing context, environment and
development issues need to be integrated into a knowledge system in order to prevent them
becoming polarised agendas in the individual and political spheres.
3.14
The selling of ‘cheap energy’ by Eskom
In the current political economy context there has been intense criticism of the selling of
‘cheap energy’ by Eskom to the largest industries in the country: “Recent press reports about
‘sweetheart’ power prices for some of Eskom’s 138 biggest customers have outraged
ordinary South Africans, soon to be walloped with hefty tariff hikes” (Carnie, 18/3/2010). In
33
this context, it is very difficult to persuade individual consumers to reduce their energy
consumption as part of their efforts to become ‘carbon neutral’. Similarly, in a country where
governments have failed to deal with the problem of the increase in carbon emissions by
encouraging “short term economic growth and development’, such as the building of the
King Shaka International airport in Durban, individual low carbon reductions seem futile and
irrelevant to individual citizens (Goodall, 2007, 225).
3.15
The dominance of scientific knowledge in climate change information
Another important challenge is that information about climate change is derived from
scientific knowledge about this issue. Firstly, there are many knowledges around the issue of
climate change, including local and indigenous knowledges, which challenge scientific
knowledge. Secondly, Wynne (1992) also notes the recent mistrust of science by the public.
The public will not act on information from official sources if it is solely based on science.
Thus the conflictual relationship between science and society can be a challenge to raising
awareness for carbon reduction and the uptake of information.
3.16
High crime rates
With the high crime rates in Durban and other cities in South Africa, the options for walking
and cycling, which are encouraged as part of a shift to low carbon behaviour, are not
possible.
3.17
Neoliberal individualisation
Cultural shifts in the neoliberal landscape have been towards more ‘individualisation’,
meaning, amongst other things, fewer persons per household, more private ownership and
use of cars, more extended mobility patterns and higher expectations concerning fulfillment
of individual lifestyle aspirations, all of which have frequently involved greater overall
energy consumption. These dominant landscapes create increased affluence and
consumption and have nullified the effect of efficiency improvements. Steady incremental
innovation towards efficiency is capable of making a major contribution to energy intensity
(energy consumption per unit of economic activity) over time. However, this does not equate
34
to a reduction in overall energy consumption due to an increase in affluence. Voluntary
efforts to limit energy consumption in transportation and the domestic sector have had a
poor record of success, as ownership and use of appliances such as computers, other
electronic goods, ‘white goods’ and cars has increased (Goodall, 2007). This is true in South
Africa, where development and improvement is often measured in increased consumption of
high energy goods, such as a private car and high technology appliances.
4. How can low carbon citizenship be achieved? Best practice in a
developing society
This section presents best practice for both the state, in terms of its responsibility to inform
and raise awareness among its citizens, and individuals in moving towards a low carbon
society.
All the points below are normative suggestions of what should be. The best
practices suggested relate to the kinds of ‘knowledges’ that need to be provided to encourage
voluntary low carbon behavior and the kinds of programmes and projects that can be
developed to encourage citizens, businesses and institutions, including the state, to move
toward a low carbon future. As suggested in the critique of the behavioural approach in
Section 2.2, it is not anticipated that that individuals will necessarily take up the advice
offered by awareness raising programmes. However, the content of the messages that go out
to form a knowledge base for low carbon citizenship need to carefully crafted and
appropriately framed. The ‘best practice’ suggested below would be useful for local
governments which have the responsibility to encourage low carbon lifestyles among
residents, as well as NGOs and other environmental groups. Actual examples of what
citizens can do to reduce carbon consumption are provided in the Appendices and references
to such ‘tips’ cited in the text.
35
4.1 Carbon reduction awareness raising programmes
In a society where the majority of the population has a relatively low level of education and
poor access to the media, city wide carbon reduction awareness raising programmes and
projects should be initiated in neighbourhoods and schools. The programmes should have the
following structure and content:
4.1.1 The integration of technical and values approaches
Low carbon awareness raising should be developed through the integration of technicist
approaches and a values approach which focuses on the ‘ethics of care’. The dominant
mainstream approach to reducing carbon consumption is embedded in the neoliberal
framework where there exists a managerial, technicist approach to environmental issues and
carbon reduction (Randalls, 2010).This approach assumes that environments (and carbon
reduction) can be managed through technical innovations. Clark and Stevenson, (2003, in
Randalls 2010) propose that in addition, there should be the development an ‘ethic of care’
inclusive of people and non-humans. This would allow for more imaginative future of what
the ‘good life’ could be. Swyngedouw maintains that “climate policies have failed to answer
fundamental questions such as: ‘what kind of natures do we wish to inhabit, what kinds of
natures do we wish to preserve’ (cited in Randalls, 2010, 5). Thus best practice would be to
develop programmes which are based on ‘a strong sustainability approach, taking into
account issues of social and environmental justice and where possible create opportunities
for democratic deliberation about low carbon lifestyles – to debate who should be taking
action and how.
4.1.2 Tailor the messages to appeal to different section of society.
One of the challenges of developing low carbon citizens relates to the very different living
conditions and lifestyles of people in South Africa. In the ‘Schools as Centres of
Sustainability’ project (Sutherland, 2010) this was made evident in the ‘Story of Stuff and
Sustainability’ session held with primary school children in the Outer West, Durban. The
presentation that was developed for this programme could not be presented to both low
income and high income children as the sustainability message had to come from two
different perspectives: the one where children were being requested to use much less ‘stuff’
36
to reduce their ecological footprint and the other where children had very little ‘stuff’, but
were required to think about how their lives related to the environment and its resources in
terms of meeting basic needs. This difference in wants and needs is important in the South
Africa situation as Swilling (2006) suggests in his paper on sustainability in Cape Town. He
argues that high income lifestyles need to be reduced and that development for low income
citizens must be done in a manner which reduces environmental impacts. His mapping of
Cape Town reflects the different groups and their lifestyles and needs and this could be used
to develop different messages in a low carbon campaign. Similar mapping has been done for
Durban by Sutherland and Scott (2010). The messages for these two groups, and everyone in
between, therefore need to be tailored to address needs and wants. Another example of this
is provided by Rowley and Phillips (2010, 30) for Green Alliance15. They cite the example of
how Cultural Dynamics (a strategy and marketing company), have classified the population
in the UK into three groups, each of which have unmet needs:
1. Settlers – unmet needs are safety, security, belonging and identity.
2. Prospectors – unmet needs are success, self-esteem and esteem of others.
3. Pioneers – unmet needs are ethics, making connections, exploration, innovation
and being all you can be.
They propose that awareness raising campaigns need to be designed to meet the unmet needs
of these three groups. The pioneers thus far in the UK have made the most progress in
achieving low carbon citizenship and have responded to low carbon campaigns. Relevant and
appropriate classifications of sectors of society could be developed for awareness raising in
the context of South Africa as a developing country, as has been done by Swilling (2006) and
Sutherland and Scott (2010).
4.1.3 Integrate ‘green’ and ‘brown’ issues
Awareness raising programmes for low carbon behaviour should be designed to integrate the
green issues (climate change) with the brown issues (development, water, sanitation and
environmental health issues) in a developing country context. This will make these
programmes more politically acceptable across a wider spectrum of people and among policy
Green Alliance is a UK charity which acts as a ‘green think tank’ to provide information to influence
environmental policy making ( http://www.green-alliance.org.uk/aboutus/)
15
37
makers. Skea and Nishioka (2008) provide evidence from research in developing countries
that linking low carbon behaviour into a sustainable development framework is more
appropriate because of the importance of development priorities for human well being. The
approach adopted by eThekwini Municipality in addressing climate change, which focuses
more on adaptation than mitigation, supports this integrated approach. Residents of Durban
will respond to low carbon programmes when they connect these programmes to problems
they experience in their day to day lives as a result of floods, water provision, storms and
erosion, and other climate change related issues. The poor of the city live at a close interface
with the environment and shifts towards low carbon behavior will occur when citizens
understand the relationship between energy use and impact (mitigation) and their response to
risk and disaster caused by climate change (adaptation). Programmes to develop low carbon
citizens will need to adopt this approach of connecting green and brown agenda issues
through the issues and events in the day to day lives of ordinary people.
4.1.4
Awareness raising via scenario building
The Greenhouse East project in East England has developed four scenarios for decisionmakers, geared to provide options for assessing current greenhouse gas emissions and then
scenarios for attaining the target of 60% reduction by 2050:

‘More of the same’: Current trends and strategies are implemented

‘Market fix’: Energy demand grows but the market delivers low carbon energy
supplies

‘Guided change’: Massive carbon reduction from energy achieved by regulation

‘Local and green’: Local sustainable lifestyles and reduction in energy demand
Although developed for decision-makers in this case, scenarios can play an important role in
raising the awareness of the public to the options available to our society. Scenarios relevant
to the developing world would need to be developed by municipalities and used as part of
awareness raising across a number of sectors, not only the public (see Greenhouse East:
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/publications/other-tyndall-publications/greenhouse-east). These
scenarios reflect the approach adopted by Ravetz (1996) in his review of sustainable cities
38
where he reflects the shift toward a sustainable city moving from superficial change to
structural change in how cities function in relation to the environment. Programmes for a low
carbon city would need to intervene at the second, third and fourth level listed above, with
programmes targeting changes at these different levels.
4.1.5
Building social norms regarding low carbon consumption
In a developing society with relatively low levels of education, best practice is to build new
social norms regarding low carbon consumption from the ‘bottom-up’ via school
programmes. The Ecoschools programme and the Imagine Durban ‘Schools as Centres of
Sustainability’ project are examples of best practice as ‘brown’ and ‘green’ aspects of
climate change are integrated in practical applications. Schools also have an extensive sphere
of influence as they impact on children, who are future consumers and leaders, they impact
on the families of these children and they change the communities within which the school is
located. Schools also change their own behavior as institutions to become more green and
hence they reduce their impact on the carbon budget. Increasing technology in some schools
is increasing their use of energy, while other schools still do not have sufficient energy to
enable the school to function properly. A wide range of strategies were adopted in the
‘Schools as Centres of Sustainability’ project and this had significant impacts. Some of the
strategies adopted were the development of learner’s ecological footprints, which led to
changes in behavior at home, the development of food gardens and worm farms, green
monitors, integrating environmental education into all subjects for a term at Grade 4 level,
recycling programmes, calls to reduce consumption through the ‘Story of Stuff and
Sustainability’ presentation and the development of environmental forums at schools. The
ecoschools programme provides significant opportunity for the development of a low carbon
ethic at school level, which will then influence families and communities attached to these
schools.
4.2 The government must play an enabling role.
This is a dominant theme in much of the social science literature on low carbon citizenship.
There needs to be a united campaign by national, provincial and local government to create a
consistent body of information and branding so that all messages that go out to the public are
related and co-ordinated. This campaign needs to be conceptualised as a long term campaign.
39
(See Appendix 3 for an example of a website that allows public input into government
policy). This serves to build trust. The public’s trust in the institutions developing and
providing information is strongly linked to the extent to which they will take action to reduce
carbon consumption.
4.3 eThekwini’s Imagine Durban project
This is an example of a best practice municipal project. It has produced an integrated Long
Term Plan (eThekwini Municipality, 2010b), which is geared to the following groups:

Individuals

Civil Society

Business

Local Government

Provincial and National Government
The Plan has the following goals:
1. Creating a safe city
2. Promoting an accessible city
3. Create a prosperous city where all enjoy sustainable livelihoods
4. Celebrating our cultural diversity, arts and heritage
5. Ensuring a more environmentally sustainable city
6. Fostering a caring and empowering city
It is recommended that these sets of plans should be examined, to determine the
recommended actions that should be undertaken by individuals and civil society. It is noted
that plans for the goals 1-3 and 5-6 are highly relevant to encouraging low carbon citizenship.
An example from the plan for ‘ensuring a more environmentally sustainable city’ under the
action of “Climate Change Preparedness” (Strategy 5H) states that individuals should:

Plant trees to improve carbon sequestration
40

Find out what your carbon footprint is and see how you can minimise your impact

Ensure that you don’t live beyond set back lines that mark flood and coastal storm risk
areas

Adopt new crops that are better suited to new climate conditions.
Similarly there are recommended actions for individuals and civil society for transport, food,
waste, safety and other issues related to climate change. Awareness raising programmes
should build onto these action plans and use this as a basis for developing specific
programmes as this is already work done in the Municipality.
Imagine Durban’s Long Term Plan also provides guidelines for civil society organisations, i.e.
collective groups that wish to take action. Much of the literature criticises the individual
approach of many awareness raising programmes. Specific programmes should be developed,
based on the Imagine Durban Long Term Plan for collectives action to advance environmental
goals including carbon reduction. Existing social movements and civil society organisations
should be targeted with the goal of adding the reduction of carbon consumption to their
development mandates.
An interesting example of collectives in the UK are the CRAGs (Carbon reducing action groups)
which apply a different set of rules for lowering carbon consumption which suits their own
lifestyles, beliefs and ways of living (Randalls, 2010). In the neoliberal era – responsibilities for
all sorts of environmental problems have been devolved from the state to individuals. This has
been criticized because the responses of the individuals are ‘environmentally inadequate’
(Paterson and Stripple, 2010). ‘Climate change is necessarily a collective affair’ (Paterson and
Stripple, 2010, 344).
4.4 Green Buildings
The Green Building Council in South Africa is a social movement that supports green building in
South Africa. The World Green Building Council International Congress in Singapore (14
September, 2010) has highlighted the role that the property industry can play in addressing
climate change. The Chair of the World Green Building Council Tony Arnel “used his opening speech
at the WGBC International Congress in Singapore to call for the property industry and governments
41
around the world to join forces and pick up where the international community had failed on climate
change. Through the proven ability of industry and government to co-operate on green building
developments it was possible to shift the market and create huge momentum for change”.
(Perinotto, 2010, The Fifth Estate). The Green Building movement can play an important role in
developing low carbon citizens through the education that green buildings provide as people
move through them, use them and experience them. Green buildings encourage more end users
to adopt green initiatives (van der Merwe, 2010).
The Griffith University Campus in Brisbane is an example of best practice where green buildings
shape the culture and ethics of students who encounter them while studying at the University.
Green buildings also provide tangible examples of best practice for the people that visit or use
them. Signage, technology and low carbon spaces and processes in green buildings enable those
that experience them to learn and see what can be done. They can then transfer this learning
across to the buildings they have control over. This can happen at the level of a informal house
with passive thermal design, right up to a green building that employs the highest levels of
technology. The investment obtained from going green in building will also drive the market to
move in this direction. State subsidization of green building technologies, such as is being
provided by Eskom for solar energy systems, will support this shift as it will develop low carbon
citizens, who respond to market forces and hence end up with low carbon systems which in turn
shift their behavior and knowledge. Frost and Sullivan Consultancy has shown that companies
and businesses have supported green building initiatives as part of the corporate social
responsibility and to create market differentiation and this has increased environmental
awareness within companies at all levels (van der Merwe, 2010). Green building also responded
to the expectations of social and environmentally aware stakeholders, which reveals that citizens
demands can also drive change towards low carbon futures.
Green Building Councils can also play an important role in developing low carbon citizens by
providing the knowledge and skills (education) citizens need to become part of the low carbon
future. It is very difficult for ordinary people to decide on what systems are best in the
technology designed to reduce carbon footprints. The role of the Green Building Council,
governments and NGOS in providing good information that can be trusted is essential, as service
providers will want to sell their product and this may not always be the best solution for the
42
energy problems a household or business is facing. Governments need to lead the way by
transforming their building stock into green buildings and eThekwini has embarked on a number
of interesting and successful projects to transform the buildings and infrastructure of the city to
meet low carbon goals, such as the Green Roofs project. The state also needs to develop
legislation and policy that will support the green building movement.
Green Cities with Green Programmes
This section describes two cities in the developed world which have become known as ‘green
cities’ and along with many climate change programmes, have best practice awareness raising
programmes and techniques that citizen’s are encouraged to participate in.
Freiburg is known internationally as a ‘model green city’ and along with establishing
‘ecological living’ in two neighbourhoods, has a range of programmes to reduce the greenhouse
effect. It is also a leader in Europe in renewable solar energy and it attracts experts for all over
the world to come and learn new technologies. Part of the broad efforts to being ‘green’, are
programmes to raise awareness among residents and encourage them to participate in
environmental decision-making. An example of one of its public awareness campaigns is the
‘CO2 Diet’. Interested citizens are given a tool to calculate their own contribution to CO2
emissions through an interactive website. Participatory processes are used to feed residents
visions into their 2020 Land Use Plan.
Portland has developed a strategy to change the carbon consumption behaviour of residents.
The goal of this is to create a shared perception of the reality of climate change which would
bind people together – the Portland Carbon Dioxide Reduction Strategy. It was politically risky to
regulate this programme so the city government created a created a network of ‘self regulating
actors’. As part of the strategy, a discourse about carbon dioxide was produced which was
linked to the efficiency of households. The next step was to create a ‘carbon emissions
inventory’. This knowledge base created an object that could now be measured and regulated.
43
A set of ‘sustainability indicators’ was developed in order encourage residents and business to
reduce carbon – this was ‘more than just informing’16 the residents, the indicators served as
technological tools to regulate behaviour. Finally, a set of programmes were developed targeted
at the different sectors of Portland, i.e. neighbourhood energy efficiency workshops. Effectively
what this programme did was to translate the objectives of the state to into individuals’ goals.
Rutland and Aylett, (2008) maintain in their analysis that the state created ‘environmental
subjectivity’ where people see themselves in ‘pounds of carbon per year’. By measuring carbon
consumption, citizen’s are encouraged to reduce their consumption (Rutland and Aylett,
2008)17 This municipal programme provides an example of best practice in reducing
individual’s carbon consumption and the analysis of the programme in turn reveals how the
local state can exercise power over individuals to ‘self-regulate’.
4.5 Transition towns
Since 2006-7 While (2008) sees a turning point in civil society attitudes to socio-environmental
regulations which prescribe and influence the ranges of choices we can make in relation to every
facet of our lives. Of interest to achieving low carbon citizenship is a relatively new movement
in the UK and USA called the transition movement. This is a network of groups which work
towards preparing for climate change and peak oil18. The network provides information on the
steps
that
people
would
have
to
take
to
prepare
http://www.awarenessconsulting.com/cmsfiles/transition-doc.pdf
themselves
(Hopkins,
for
the
2008).
future.
Another
example of a movement that provides an alternative way of life is the Fair Trade movement.
Although not related to climate change, this movement (Jaffee, et al 2004; Prykett, et al, 2010)
could provide some examples of best practice in relation to changing citizen lifestyles and
consumer choices.
5 Conclusion
16
See http://www.sustainableportland.org
Rutland and Aylett (2008, 642-44) present a range of critiques of Portland’s Carbon Dioxide Reduction Strategy
18
Peak oil is the point at which demand for oil exceeds supply.
17
44
This chapter has focused mainly on critically discussing the social science literature related to
low carbon consumption. It has revealed a wide range of approaches which influence the kind of
policies and programmes that governments produce. (See Table 1)
Table 1: Theoretical approaches to climate change and low carbon behaviour
Approaches
Main theme
Impact
Critique
Theoretical approaches to climate change and low carbon
behaviour
Behavioural
Ecological
Social and
modernisation
environmental
justice (values and
ethics)
People’s behaviour is Climate change can
Issues of justice and
determined by
be managed with
ethics have to be
information received
technological tools.
applied to decide on
Economic efficiency
climate change
of behaviour is main
impacts. Individuals
goal
encouraged to adopt
moral code.
Dominant in 1970s –
Mainstream approach Marginal approach
still having a residual in environmental
but growing in
impact on policies
management
importance
Mechanistic and
‘Weak’ form neglects Too normative
simplistic
issues of social &
environmental justice
and public
participation
The chapter has also provided a list of barriers/challenges and suggested best practice in
achieving low carbon consumption.
Low carbon citizenship cannot be achieved through individual action only. Government must
play an enabling role to incentivise and facilitate individual’s making low carbon choices in their
consumption, travel and lifestyle behaviour.
45
Since the early 1990s, Durban has taken up the call for sustainable development (Hindson et al,
1996) and since then for nearly twenty years has attempted to integrate sustainable development
into its development agenda via the Integrated Development Plan along with a wide range of
environmental policies and programmes (for example Roberts and Diedrichs, 2002, document
the introduction of Local Agenda 21 into the municipalities mandate). At a recent ‘Resilient
Cities’ conference in Bonn in 2010 Durban had a strong presence, showcasing the work being
done in the city towards in the field of building resilience and adaptation policies for the city
(Roberts, 2008; 2010). Recently, a Municipal Climate Protection Plan has been formulated (See
Appendix ?) There is a growing response in the city to the challenges of climate change
(eThekwini Municipality, 2007) (See Appendix 4 for set of guidelines for citizens to reduce their
carbon consumption). This is part of the global concern and acceptance that “carbon control is
rapidly becoming the overriding concern at the heart of sustainable development” (Bulkeley, in
While, 2008, xii).
Furthermore, the recent Imagine Durban project has been very successful in enrolling citizens
into innovative projects (eThekwini Municipality, 2010g). Examples of projects to produce more
sustainable food are the Giba Organics Farm, City Veggie Gardening and the Corner Café. The
Green Roofs project undertaken by the Environmental Planning and Climate Protection
Department states that “it is these kinds of projects that get individuals talking and promote a
different way of developing and seeing the world” (eThekwini Municipality, 2010g, 62).
As this chapter has indicated, carbon control is a key focus of government policies – there is
much political will to control carbon emissions. This is evident in the creation of the new Energy
Office in the eThekwini Municipality. Thus, stimulating and promoting of carbon control by
government is now part of government’s mainstream approach to ‘manage’ the environment.
Part of this management is to enroll citizen’s to carry out the government’s mandate to control
carbon. By raising awareness through a wide range of projects, the goal is to stimulate ordinary
citizens to ‘self-regulate’ and become low carbon citizens. The City Hall Food Garden Project
was started to encourage all people in the city to start growing their own food. It was a ‘public
statement’ about food growing as part of a ‘sustainable livelihoods strategy’ contributing towards
lowering carbon consumption by buying foods from elsewhere (eThekwini Municipality, 2010g,
8).
46
This chapter has provided an overview of contemporary social science literature which
contributes to our understanding of the social implications of climate change. The emphasis has
been on the individual and how he/she can change to become a low carbon citizen. The chapter
also aims to show that it must be recognised that carbon control is leading to a major shift in
state-society relations as well as economy-environment relations, and society-technology
relations.
The chapter has focuses on the implications of using particular kinds of information and modes
of information dissemination. It points out that in a developing country such as South Africa,
there are many different sectors of people, both from a cultural and class perspective and
programmes to inform citizens about the need to reduce carbon consumption need to be designed
to suit the complex variety of groupings and communities in the country. It points to the need for
honest, consistent and relevant information from government.
Governments will have to develop policies and programmes for changing the current patterns of
consumption and behaviour among citizens. This will need both ‘encouragement and
compulsion’. Encouragement will involve imbuing citizens with a set of moral values such that
they will carry out government policies with the use of force. The concept of governmentality,
the conduct of conduct of the state is a useful framework for understanding how the state-society
relationship with regard to inducing low carbon behaviour operates.
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52
APPENDICES
Appendix 1: South Africa’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide)
emissions
White Paper statement of amount of renewable energy by …
•
The feedback from the LTMS high-level process, taken with Cabinet’s direction and a
policy alignment analysis, has been translated into six broad policy direction themes.
–
Theme 1: Greenhouse gas emission reductions and limits
–
Theme 2: Build on, strengthen and/or scale up current initiatives
–
Theme 3: Implementing the “Business Unusual” Call for Action
–
Theme 4: Preparing for the future
–
Theme 5: Vulnerability and Adaptation
–
Theme 6: Alignment, Coordination and Cooperation
Preparing for the Future (Point 4 above)
–
There is increased support for the new and ambitious research and development
targets that are being set, especially in the field of carbon-friendly technologies –
with the focus on the renewable energy and transport sectors.
–
Formal and informal forms of education and outreach are used to encourage the
behavioural changes required to support the efficient and effective
implementation of the climate change response policy.
53
Appendix 2: How to inspire support for a low carbon society (Source: Rowley and Phillips,
ed., 2010, 3).
1. Be positive
Create a tangible and desirable vision of a low carbon future, and develop an action plan to get the
country there. Aim first at positive communication and explain the problem afterwards.
2. Tell a better story
Be clear that this is not just an environmental or scientific issue, but one that relates to fundamental
national concerns such as security. Inspire people and appeal to their values and emotions, using
concepts such as freedom and fairness, not just statistics.
3. Make it visible
What people see and experience is as important as what they hear. Government should take practical
actions that result in visible changes. This will take climate change out of the realm of speeches and
into people’s lives.
4. Show your own work
Switch from ‘are you doing your own bit?’ campaigns to “we’re doing our bit. With a problem on the
scale of climate change, citizen action makes much more sense against a backdrop of concerted
government action. Government should promote its work immediately, and communicate under the
core message “ we are doing everything we can to make these changes possible, but we cannot do it
without your help”.
5. Choose your messenger
Who does the talking is as important as what is being said. Enlist others- beyond the usual suspects of
politicians and environmentalists – to talk to their peers about climate change.
6. Be clear and consistent
Decide what needs to be achieved and what role government is going to play in making these changes
happen. Once you have clarified your position, reflect this in all interactions with the public: from
what ministers say, to what they do, to the surroundings in public spaces such as libraries and
hospitals. Develop an inspiring brand to endorse all low carbon policies and initiatives.
54
7. Know your values
Government may need to create public support for policies that are not in people’s individual shortterm interests, but they are in all of our collective long-term interests (limiting the use of certain
resources, for example). Promoting values such as responsibility and care for others could improve
public support for more far-reaching changes.
–
55
Appendix 3: ‘Green tips for Trevor’: (Source: Posted 20 January 2009 to glean tips from the
public to send to Trevor Manuel (then Minister of Finance) before the 2009 Budget.
http://www.urbansprout.co.za/green_tips_for_trevor)
The ‘Cut Carbon Tips for Trevor’ campaign invites you to get involved by sending your green
tips to Trevor, using the Tips for Trevor page on the treasury website Trevor is said to read
every one of these personally. He takes them seriously, and has been known to get individuals to
present their tip to Cabinet personally, when he thinks it appropriate!
The government has shown commitment to climate change and to engaging all levels of South
African society with its process to investigate Long-Term Mitigation Scenarios (LTMS) between
2006 and 2008.
Representatives that included government, scientists, civil society, labour and business
contributed to a series of findings presented to Cabinet last year in July, which clearly showed
that without constraints our emissions might quadruple by 2050.
The recommendations by the LTMS team: to achieve what is required by science of a developing
country – to reduce our emissions compared to 1990 levels by 80% to 95% by 2050, and by 25%
to 40% by 2020 – were approved by Cabinet. In the words of Marthinus van Schalkwyk – “if we
continue with business-as-usual, we will go out of business.”
The ‘Cut Carbon Tips for Trevor’ campaign calls on the government to show true commitment
by supporting these recommendations in the country’s 2009 budget vote.
Some ideas for green tips (not all are aimed at the ordinary citizen)
Energy efficiency










Provide bigger subsidies for public transport so that train and bus ticket prices can be
reduced.
Set up bicycle depots in major cities allowing one to hire a bike to get from a to b.
Support local municipalities so that they can provide bicycle lanes on all urban roads.
Support the development of a range of low-carbon public transport systems.
Provide tax savings to companies instituting energy saving programmes.
Ban any further sales of incandescent light bulbs in SA by December 2009.
Ban electrical appliances that rate below grade A energy efficiency grading by December
2009.
Increase vehicle import duties on components for the most polluting cars.
Provide tax benefits for lift club formation/car pooling/car shares.
Higher taxes on the sales of 4x4 vehicles.
Make low-flow showerheads mandatory nationwide and ban any further sales in SA by
December 2009.
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Renewable energy





Provide solar water heaters, guttering and rain water tanks on all new low income houses.
Provide incentives for the municipal finance act to be changed so that local governments
can enter into long-term contracts and assist with solar hot water geyser provision in their
areas of responsibility.
Provide tax savings to individuals and companies implementing renewable energy
systems in their homes and businesses.
Fast-track the Feed-In-Tariff so that independent home power producers can charge
Eskom for surplus power produced.
Ensure that the Feed-In-Tariff rate is at the rate of the cost of the most expensive
electricity that Eskom makes or purchases.
Climate-friendly innovation





Impose limitations on carbon emissions from industry and use the revenue to provide
subsidies on domestic solar hot water heaters in middle-income homes.
Make recycling mandatory for big business.
Introduce mandatory returnable glass bottle deposits on all glass beverage bottle sizes
(including 340ml beer).
Allocate financial assistance for local governments to improve the drop-off and collection
recycling services in their jurisdiction. Supporting this service capitalises on the potential
for job-creation as well. The pilot recycling programmes introduced in Cape Town
proved that demand is sufficiently high to justify large-scale provision of services.
Support programmes for innovative water-storage and waste management in the nation’s
rural areas.
57
Appendix 4: Ways you can reduce your impact on the climate (eThekwini Municipality,
2007, 40-43).
1. Save electricity (burn less coal)
 Turn off lights, TVs, computers, air conditioners, geysers, and other appliances when you aren’t
using them. For short idle periods, use stand-by mode or energy saver modes if machines have
them and turn off computer monitors, but turn everything off overnight. Turn off the geyser when
staying away from home.
 Set air conditioners on reasonable temperatures (around 21oC), not so cold that everyone has to
put on a jersey! If it’s nice outside, turn the air conditioner off and open the window! Heating and
cooling systems are the biggest electricity users in buildings so use these only as needed.

Switch to energy efficient light bulbs, such as compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs, available in most
stores.

Buy energy efficient appliances; look for energy saver stickers when shopping. Some do cost
more, but you will recover the money because your electricity bills will drop.

Avoid using a tumble drier. Dry your clothes in the sun or on a rack inside the house if it’s
raining.
Just boil what you need. Don’t overfill the kettle or the pot when boiling water.
Use cooler water washing dishes or clothes and even when showering or bathing.
Adjust your geyser temperature down to 45-55oC. Having to dilute near boiling water from the
hot tap with cold water shows a big waste of energy used to heat the whole geyser full of water to
an unusable temperature.
Insulate your geyser or water heater with an insulating blanket so it needs less energy to keep the
water hot.
Recycle your household waste. Recycled paper, cardboard, plastic, cans, and glass take less
energy to produce than new materials.
Switch to renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or solar water heaters in your house or
business.






2.






Save fuel (burn less fossil fuel)
Use public transport.
Join a lift club.
Bike or walk when travelling shorter distances.
Buy a fuel-efficient vehicle. Larger cars generally guzzle more gas than small ones.
Plan your journeys so that you can be efficient with your car use.
Check your tires are inflated properly. This will ensure you get the most kilometres for your
petrol use.
3. Preserve ecosystems (preserve carbon stores, promote carbon sinks, and maintain ecosystem
services)
 Plant an indigenous tree on your property (trees sequester carbon, create habitat for birds, and
shade your house to keep it cool).
 Replace alien plant species with indigenous species on your property.
 Avoid developing or buying into developments that result in the loss of indigenous ecosystems.
58
 Support local conservancies and parks.
 Recycle and make efficient use of paper and timber products.
4. Save water (adapt to decreased water availability and reduce energy use in water treatment
and irrigation)
 Take showers instead of baths.
 Install dual flush toilets and low flow showerheads.
 Fix leaky taps, pipes, and toilets as soon as possible.
 Don’t leave taps running unnecessarily, such as while brushing teeth or washing dishes.
 Water lawns and plants in the late afternoon or evening, so less water is lost to evaporation in the
day. Don’t water when it has just rained or is about to rain. If using automatic watering systems,
turn them off or set them on lower frequencies in rainy seasons.
 Grow or promote use of drought resistant plants and food crops. Pick indigenous species for your
garden. Try foods from more drought resistant crops. For example, cassava, sweet potato,
sorghum, and millet are more drought resistant than maize.
 Don’t keep a swimming pool that is rarely used or maintained. Use public pools or the beach to
cool off!
5. Preserve ecosystems (preserve carbon stores, promote carbon sinks, and maintain ecosystem
services)
 Plant an indigenous tree on your property (trees sequester carbon, create habitat for birds, and
shade your house to keep it cool).
 Replace alien plant species with indigenous species on your property.
 Avoid developing or buying into developments that result in the loss of indigenous ecosystems.
 Support local conservancies and parks.
 Recycle and make efficient use of paper and timber product
6. Shop and eat wisely




Choose recycled and second-hand goods. These take less energy to produce (e.g. recycled paper
uses 60% less energy to make than new paper!) and also reduce the amount of energy, transport,
and land needed to dispose of Durban’s solid waste.
Choose products that have less packaging and don’t use plastic bags. Take a bag or basket with
you when you go shopping. If you buy take-out food or drinks often, talk to shop owners to allow
you to bring your own container or travel mug. It takes large amounts of energy to both produce
and dispose of packaging!
Choose foods and products that are produced locally and are in season. This saves on fuel use in
transport and energy use in refrigeration, plus it will support local livelihoods.
Eat less meat. Meat production is very resource intensive relative to the amount of food produced,
using large quantities of water, land, grain for feed (with the water, land, pesticides, fertilizers,
and processing that go with grain), and antibiotics, as well as energy and fuel for refrigeration,
processing machinery, and transport. Livestock digestion and manure also produce methane and
nitrous oxide, stronger GHGs than CO2. The meat industry accounts for 18% of the world’s GHG
emissions!
7. Tell a friend
 We all contribute to climate change, we are all effected by it, and we can all be part of the
solution. Share what you know and be an example to others.
8. Tell a politician
59
 Let your mayor, your city manager, or your ward councillor know that you see climate change as
an important issue. It is their job to respond to your to your concerns.
Appendix 5: The Transition Movement
(Source: http://transitioncitymanchester.wordpress.com/about/)
Transition is a movement that responds to the dual challenge of peak oil and climate change. It
is the practical steps needed to adapt our lifestyles in order to survive in the future – a future
without the luxury of oil. The transition movement:



Encourages communities to build resilience and reduce emissions
Endeavours to connect existing groups in the community and build bridges with local
government to look at all the key areas of life – food, energy, transport, health, heart &
soul, economics & livelihoods.
Enables communities to collectively plan and act now, to create a way of living that’s
significantly more connected, more vibrant and more in touch with our environment.
We must understand a future where society has no affordable oil. How will we travel, power
machines or grow food? How will we live and what will society look like and operate? Nearly
every aspect of life today is made possible by access to affordable oil so imagine what is going to
happen when we don’t have any!
We must look backwards from the future so that we can plan and ready ourselves to ensure that
we have time to adapt our ways of life to this inevitable and imminent destiny.
For more information and access to wide-ranging scientific research about Climate change peak
oil and transition, check out the National Transition Network Website at the address above.
60
Appendix 6: eThekwini Municipality Municipal Climate Protection Programme (MCPP)
In 2004 eThekwini Municipality responded to this challenge with the initiation of a Municipal
Climate Protection Programme (MCPP). The MCPP has resulted in the production of:
• Phase 1- Impact Assessment: the Climatic Future for Durban Report (2006) assessed the
local impacts of climate change on the Municipality and proposed possible responses.
• Phase 2- Adaptation Planning: a Headline Adaptation Strategy, which highlighted some of
the key interventions required by the Municipality if it is to adapt successfully to inevitable
climate change. This adaptation work is currently being extended through a range of adaptation
initiatives including the development of reforestation projects, pilot green roofs, sea level rise
modelling, community adaptation plans and the development and implementation of municipal
adaptation plans for the water, health and disaster management sectors.
• Phase 3- Developing the Tool Box: the development of an Urban Integrated Assessment
Framework (in progress) that will enable the simulation, evaluation and comparison of strategic
plans and policies in the context of climate change.
• Phase 4- Mainstreaming: mainstreaming of climate change considerations into city planning
and development. Interventions include hosting a carbon neutral 2010 FIFA World Cup™ in
Durban and the creation of a Climate Protection Branch within the Environmental Planning and
Climate Protection Department.
Durban Climate Change Partnership
The establishment of the Durban Climate Change Partnership was endorsed by a broad range of
stakeholders at Durban’s Climate Change Summit in 2009. Points that were raised in workshop
discussions were used to formulate the Terms of Reference for the Climate Change Partnership.
It was agreed that the partnership should involve public and private representatives and that it
should be co-ordinated by a facilitator from outside the municipal structures. The facilitator
would be responsible for identifying key stakeholders and coordinating meetings. The
partnership will address both climate change adaptation and mitigation issues.
The partnership will also be involved in climate change advocacy and communication, ensuring
that Durban’s climate message is united and co-ordinating stakeholder climate change action.
Initially, the partnership will be funded by eThekwini Municipality, but in the long term, the
partnership will source its own funding.
61
Appendix 7: Low-carbon public awareness raising in the eThekwini municipality
1.
Imagine Durban:
 Sustainable city exhibition.
 Website: practical toolkits for changing to sustainable lifestyle; second phase of Imagine
Durban (implementation and providing resources); mailing list - can sign up and be sent
latest information; provides access to a range of information (links to other sites; articles
e.g. on liveability; their action plan and vision etc); donations database (networking); has
other
Durban
initiatives
on
site
e.g.
Save
Electricity
campaign;
http://www.imaginedurban.org
 Facebook: seemingly kept up to date with photos and campaigns; 140 people 'like' it on
face book (this is not a large amount considering other groups on face book)
 Twitter: all campaigns and articles are kept up-to-date on twitter
 Run competitions/prizes: Ask people to vote for them in the Reinhard Mohart prize 2011;
School's climate change competition 2010 (headed by Environmental planning and
climate protection Department and Imagine Durban); Tertiary design competition (see
competitions pg on website)
 Book launch
eThekwini Energy Office:

The Sustainable Energy Forum: managed and chaired by energy office, focal point for
research sharing; act as platform, forum to question, problem solving, forum to
implement; http://durbanportal.net/energy/Website/ESEF_About.aspx

eThekwini carbon desk (Durban Industry Climate Change Partnership Project): business
focused; information for businesses regarding carbon revenue, climate change in general,
reduction of GHG's etc. http://durbanportal.net/ClimateChange/default.aspx

Energy saving campaign: save 10%; heeding the call from national government;
encourage residents and business; pledge support; links to other websites – info and tips
on
saving
and
on
electricity
–
see
link
http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/energy/saving

Public awareness is also part of how this department will achieve their overall goals.
They also have a marketing section to the office whose main responsibility is “raising
62
awareness of the current energy crisis that the country is experiencing and to educate
customers on the efficient use of energy and the impact of climate change on the
environment”; for more info on structure of the department see
http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/government/energy/about
Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department:

Raise awareness mainly within the municipality as opposed to directly to the public

Municipal Climate Protection Programme in Durban (initiated 2004; results below)
o Phase 1: Impact Assessment (2006);
o Phase 2: Adaptation Planning – key interventions around the city, currently being
extended;
o Phase 3: Developing the Toolbox – currently developing an Urban Integrated
Assessment Framework;
o Phase 4: Mainstreaming – “mainstreaming of climate change considerations into
city planning and development”.

Work in conjunction with other department campaigns, e.g. see school competition above.

Durban Climate Change Partnership: very recent; first meeting roughly 2 weeks ago;
spearheaded by this dept; will bring different stakeholders together; ToR's from 2009
conference; public and private stakeholders with facilitator outside municipality; initially
funded by municipality but will source own funds in long term; adaptation and mitigation;
also advocacy and communication – coordinating stakeholder action and sending united
climate message. See http://www.durban.gov.za/durban/services/epcpd/mcpp/durbanclimate-change-partnership

Umgeni green hub: ecotourism at blue lagoon, in Durban Fan Guide 2010

Projects relating directly to climate change: Buffelsdraai Community Reforestation project;
Community adaptation projects; Green Guidelines (through Greening Durban programme)
which promote “a more resource and cost-efficient way of designing, building and operating
buildings and infrastructure throughout Durban”; Green Roof project – in pilot phase;
Greening Durban 2010 – carbon neutral World Cup, investigating if project can be extended
beyond the World Cup; municipal adaptation plans; also other projects such as Working for
Ecosystems etc.
Other departments
1. Electricity: more technical; about providing electricity rather than cutting down; important to
note that low carbon is not mentioned in their vision, scope etc.
2. Transport: also technical; many big projects; also public transport (this would be more aligned
with low carbon society, but this is not expressed on their website) – smaller improvements and
tentative enquiries into bus system, and a call centre.