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Ecological Citizenship and Sustainable Consumption: Examining Local Organic Food Networks
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Sustainable consumption is gaining in currency as a new environmental policy objective. This paper presents new research findings from a mixed-method empirical study of a local organic food network to interrogate the theories of both sustainable consumption and ecological citizenship. It describes a mainstream policy model of sustainable consumption, and contrasts this with an alternative model derived from green or ‘new economics’ theories. Then the role of localised, organic food networks is discussed to locate them within the alternative model. It then tests the hypothesis that ecological citizenship is a driving force for ‘alternative’ sustainable consumption, via expression through consumer behaviour such as purchasing local organic food. The empirical study found that both the organisation and their consumers were expressing ecological citizenship values in their activities in a number of clearly identifiable ways, and that the initiative was actively promoting the growth of ecological citizenship, as well as providing a meaningful social context for its expression. Furthermore, the initiative was able to overcome the structural limitations of mainstream sustainable consumption practices. Thus, the initiative was found to be a valuable tool for practising alternative sustainable consumption. The paper concludes with a discussion of how ecological citizenship may be a powerful motivating force for sustainable consumption behaviour, and the policy and research implications of this.
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... The principles and foundation stone of EC align [15][16][17] closely with participatory governance models, frameworks that look to emphasise collaborative decision-making processes involving multiple stakeholders. Stakeholders include policymakers, businesses, civil society organisations, and local communities [18]. ...
... The foundation of EC is built upon the principle of shared responsibility for ecological well-being, recognising that environmental challenges require collective social responses across multiple scales rather than purely individualistic or market-driven solutions. This perspective diverges from traditional citizenship models, which typically emphasise statebased rights [15]. Instead, EC aligns with deliberative democracy frameworks that prioritise active participation, dialogue, and co-creation in decision-making [19], as well as environmental justice theories, which argue that the costs and benefits of environmental policies must be equitably distributed [20]. ...
... Community-led projects within the HMW session showcased EC as a bridge between environmental action and social justice movements. These initiatives demonstrated how participatory governance can address both ecological and social inequalities, reinforcing the idea that sustainability must be embedded within broader systems of justice [15]. As one workshop attendee noted, "EC across the longer term can generate action to promote social justice and create a transitional system". ...
Achieving climate neutrality and the provision of a route to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero or below requires a significant shift from a focus on top-down technological solutions to a more holistic, people-centred approach. The research presented here explores the role of ecological citizenship (EC) in this shift, and specifically how a socially innovative, co-designed approach to facilitating EC and the systemic changes needed for carbon neutrality could or should take place. The paper presents EC as an evolving practice that emphasises the responsibility of individuals and communities towards ecological sustainability and social equity. The study examines how various stakeholders, such as industry practitioners, third-sector organisations, and community members, communicate, understand, and implement EC practices, projects, and solutions, using a mixed-methods approach that includes roundtable talks and workshops. As such, the study emphasises the value of user-centred, co-designed proposals that enable individuals to actively participate in positive climate action. It also looks at the opportunities and challenges of incorporating EC into wider societal and legislative norms. At the municipal, regional, and national levels, we feel the results offer useful insights into how design processes, environmental programs, and participatory governance approaches may promote more sustainable, inclusive transitions and support achieving carbon neutrality.
... This does not have to be something reprehensible; on the contrary, it is necessary to demand such behaviors from people to the extent that we need to improve our relationship with the global environment and rethink our relationship with Nature. As the author points out, "civic republicanism" notes the duties of citizens for the common good, among which are undoubtedly the duties towards Nature, or environmental duties, must include what in the West we understand as the private and public spheres (Seyfang, 2006); and this cannot be understood from the more traditional constructions that are marked by gender prejudice and ethnocentrism, as usually occurs with the common concept of citizenship. In this sense, ecological citizenship must overcome the distinction between public and private, as well as such prejudices, to become a liberating and decidedly intercultural notion, or to put it another way, one that is capable of enabling interculturality. ...
Objective: the article refers to the preliminary results of an intervention process carried out in a community in the north of the city of Sincelejo, capital of the Department of Sucre, Colombia, whose purpose was the construction of ecological citizenship and the establishment of organizational meta-contingencies that would improve the collective intelligence of the community, raising its self-management capacities. It was a university social responsibility program led by the Corporación Universitaria del Caribe CECAR, for the improvement of the integral management of solid waste and the cultural dynamics related to the coexistence present there. Methods: the methodology of knowledge production focused on the ethnographic systematization of community development experiences applied to the strategies of collective co-creation, urban intervention (construction of an ecopark) and cultural transformation. The process linked the work of an interdisciplinary team of researchers and students of architecture, social work, natural sciences, anthropology and economics, the community and some government and business entities. Results: the results suggest the possibility of establishing meta-contingencies of an organizational nature that initiate a process of transformation if the necessary care is taken in the constitution of the organizational instances of the communities, and that they, once constituted, can drive these transformations if they are constituted as authentic entities, that the change in social habits can be promoted from such instances, that in the process the mobilization of the inhabitants is possible with programs of “ecological art” and that the urban intervention can operate as a scenario of immersion that reinforces the change of collective attitude.
... Một số học giả như Bonini và Oppenheim (2008), Seyfang (2006) đã tiến hành nghiên cứu thực nghiệm và chỉ ra rằng sự hạn chế về nguồn cung sản phẩm xanh có thể góp phần ngăn cản ý định dẫn đến hành vi tiêu dùng xanh, và phần lớn người tiêu dùng thường có sự tin tưởng vào mạng lưới sản phẩm xanh ở địa phương hơn từ những nguồn khác. Nhiều học giả khác cũng khẳng định rằng sự sẵn có của sản phẩm xanh là yếu tố cần thiết khiến người tiêu dùng thực hiện hành vi tiêu dùng xanh, một ví dụ điển hình là nghiên cứu của Young & đồng nghiệp vào năm 2010 đã đưa ra quan điểm rằng có đến 30% người tiêu dùng không thể chuyển ý định tiêu thụ sản phẩm xanh của họ thành hành vi mua trong thực tế bởi sự bất tiện khi mua sản phẩm. ...
Tiêu dùng xanh hiện đang được xem là xu hướng tiêu dùng và ngày một phổ biến
đặc biệt là đối với các sản phẩm công nghệ xanh khi mà công nghệ ngày càng tiên tiến các sản phẩm ngày càng hiện đại đáp ứng tốt nhu cầu của người tiêu dùng đồng thời ảnh hưởng tích cực đến môi trường, và vấn đề môi trường cũng trở thành mối quan tâm lớn của nhiều quốc gia trên thế giới. Chính vì thế, nhóm tác giả đã quyết định nghiên cứu về các yếu tố tác động đến hành vi tiêu dùng xanh đối với các dòng sản phẩm công nghệ của người dân trên địa bàn thành phố Hồ Chí Minh thông qua hai phương pháp là định tính và định lượng cùng với việc tham khảo những bài nghiên cứu trong và ngoài nước có liên quan đến lĩnh vực này xây dựng nên mô hình nghiên cứu gồm 6 biến độc lập: Chuẩn mực chủ quan, Thái độ cá nhân đối với môi trường, Nhận thức kiểm soát hành vi, Mức độ sẵn có của sản phẩm, Sự nhạy cảm về giá và Sự nhận thức về tính hiệu quả của hành vi tiêu dùng. Sau khi đã phân tích 404 mẫu dữ liệu thu thập được thông qua khảo sát bằng phần mềm SPSS 22.0 và AMOS 24.0, nhóm rút ra kết luận sau: nhân tố Chuẩn chủ quan có ảnh hưởng thuận chiều lớn nhất và những nhân tố khác đều có sự ảnh hưởng nhất định đến ý định tiêu dùng sản phẩm công nghệ xanh. Từ kết quả nghiên cứu, nhóm tác giả đưa ra những hạn chế của đề tài cũng như đề xuất những giải pháp và đưa ra một số hướng phát triển cho các đề tài trong tương lai.
... Competitive local product consumption has become critical in strengthening regional economies, preserving various cultural identities, and promoting international business sustainability (Bannor & Abele, 2021;Dimitropoulos et al., 2023). The local production trend has generated a positive influence, helping to reduce fuel consumption and minimise environmental concerns related to the production of local products Emile et al., 2021;Seyfang, 2006). This shift becomes critical when production experts recognise social good and environmental sustainability while producing local products (Işık, Ongan, Ozdemir, et al., 2024). ...
This chapter examines digitalized enterprises, focusing on ethnocentric consumer orientation, financial innovation, and product competitiveness as drivers of improved business performance. Consumers’ ethnocentric preference for domestically produced products leads to the domestic economy, ethnocentrism, and demand for financial innovation. Product market competitiveness is crucial for enterprises in a turbulent and challenging environment, motivating organizations to implement local product effectiveness, green finance, and digital innovation. Green technology-related factors and competitiveness have attracted the attention of scholars because these aspects affect product competition and organizational performance. Organizational challenging environment and digital financial innovation directives help improve the enterprise's performance. This paper explores the mediational influence of financial innovation on the connection between local L-PMC (product competition) and sustainable organizational performance. We have incorporated the data of digitalized enterprises listed with the Pakistan Stock Exchange that use financial innovation, local product competition, and digital finance to measure organizational profitability. We have applied the GMM model (Generalized-Method of Moment) to the data outcomes of the chosen model. This study reported the dataset of digitalized enterprises based on the data observations of six years and ran the analysis tests to draw study results. This study reports on descriptive outcomes and other statistical tests and extracts desired results. The findings revealed that digitalized financial innovation, technological advances, and a firm's local product competitiveness help improve business performance positively, leading to profitability. These factors increase local employees' productivity, reduce operational costs, and enhance a firm's competitive advantages. A digitalized industry can strengthen the link between local product competitiveness and digitalized financial innovation and improve organizational performance. Industries manufacturing digital and competitive local products play a vital role in financial progress through financial and digital innovation. Findings exhibit that location and region-oriented business policies help promote digital financial innovation and green technology implications. The outcomes contribute to the knowledge of green technology and financial innovation, which is helpful for economic growth. This framework measures the influence of local product competition and digitalized financial innovation on organizational performance.
... they suggest food systems based on 'shortened distances' between the rural and the urban-in terms of both geographical and cognitive distances between producers and consumers. Scholars have studied the advantages of food localisation (Lamine, 2015;Seyfang, 2006), the 'reconnection' of cities to their hinterlands (Blay-Palmer et al., 2018), (peri-) urban agriculture (Pungas, 2019) or self-sufficient small-town communities (Leahy, 2021). Indeed, while not all alternative food initiatives that aim at transforming the rural-urban relations of the capitalist food system are anchored to the local scale (e.g. ...
... The integration of green economy principles with sustainable farming underscores the critical relationship between nutrition, environmental sustainability, and the vitality of local economies [5] . Sustainable farming approaches prioritize minimal soil disturbance, permanent organic soil cover, crop diversity, and livestock integration, offering a pathway to both environmental and nutritional benefits. ...
This study explores the potential role of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed) in fostering a green economy in rural Mississippi, specifically in Adams, Claiborne, and Jefferson counties. Using a mixed-methods approach, we conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to identify the nutritional and physical activity challenges faced by elementary school-aged children in these communities. Our findings highlight critical issues, including high obesity rates, poor dietary patterns, and limited access to fresh, healthy foods. These challenges not only affect individual health but also have broader implications for community well-being and economic sustainability. We argue that SNAP-Ed interventions are uniquely positioned to address these issues while simultaneously advancing environmentally sustainable food systems. By encouraging healthy eating behaviors such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, SNAP-Ed can support local agricultural economies, minimize food waste, and reduce the carbon footprint associated with food production and distribution. Our recommendations emphasize the integration of community-based food initiatives into SNAP-Ed programming. Initiatives such as school gardens, farmers’ markets, and community-supported agriculture can enhance food security, promote equitable access to nutritious foods, and empower residents to participate in sustainable farming practices. These efforts have the potential to transform rural Mississippi into a model of health-driven, community-centered, and environmentally conscious economic growth.
... Abinandan et al. [66] indicate that artificial wetlands and microalgae utilization systems are an effective method of minimizing the carbon footprint of the wine industry. The growing awareness of the negative environmental, social, and economic effects of intensive agriculture, both among the public and the farms themselves [67][68][69][70], is an additional motivation for the development of ecological agriculture. Small farms are increasingly selling their products directly, and producer cooperatives are being formed to support local agriculture. ...
The economic transformation following the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the accession of Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries to the European Union (EU) are milestones that have set the current course for their agricultural sectors. With their accession to the EU, the CEE countries obliged, among other things, to adapt their agricultural activities to the requirements of the common organization of agricultural market and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In 2004, the agricultural sectors of Central and Eastern European countries (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia), and in 2007, the agricultural sectors of Bulgaria and Romania, were significantly different from those of the EU countries. After almost two decades in EU structures and in the face of climate challenges, it is interesting to discuss the assessment of changes that have taken place in the agricultural sectors of CEE countries and their future. Based on FADN data, the structure of agricultural sectors in Central and Eastern Europe and selected EU countries for 2004–2021 was estimated in terms of types of farming and economic size classes. The agricultural sectors of CEE countries have become similar to those of EU countries in terms of agricultural production structure, and in 2021 will be characterized by a higher level of production specialization than when they accessed the EU. There was also an increase in the economic size of their production, but it was still significantly lower compared to the economic size of farms in EU countries. In light of the goals of the European Green Deal (EGD), this observation may be useful for moving into the next stage of development of the agricultural sector in Central and Eastern Europe. Indeed, achieving the EGD’s goals will require setting adopted development directions, i.e., formulating agricultural practices that facilitate the transition to more sustainable agriculture, such as practices based on the concept of sustainable intensification or ecological intensification.
Organic agricultural production prescribes a sustainable food supply. This contributes to global human society by ensuring human health and food security, stabilizing food production, and preventing land degradation and biodiversity loss. On the other hand, the decline of rural communities and their resources is intensifying in some developed countries, increasing the importance of collective actions to manage resources and the social capital (SC) that supports these actions. Researchers have examined the relationship between SC and the diffusion of organic farming, but the results remain unclear. This study assesses the causal impact of SC accumulation on the rate of organic farming using community data on organic farming published by the Japanese government in 2023, the instrumental variable technique, and spatial regression. The results showed that SC accumulation significantly promotes the spread of organic farming; a one standard deviation change in SC is expected to increase the organic area by approximately 7 percentage points. This indicates that networking and cooperative behavior among community members and farmers is an important factor for the spread of organic farming. Further, SC’s effect is spatially heterogeneous and much larger in mountainous areas than in plain areas. To promote organic farming indirectly through SC accumulation, context-dependent policies are needed depending on a region’s topographical and socioeconomic conditions.
There is a tension regarding the potential of the alternative agro-food movement to create meaningful change. From one perspective, individual and organizational actors working to change the dominant food system need to be engaged on a daily basis in political and social struggles and accomplish what is presently possible given existing opportunities and barriers. From an alternate view, such pragmatism is woefully inadequate for achieving the complete transformation of the food and agriculture system that many movement actors and academic analysts see as necessary. This paper examines some of the issues underlying this tension. It is argued that the “sustainability” of food and agriculture systems is understandably a contested concept because it inevitably involves both conflicts over values and uncertainty about outcomes. These same characteristics make democracy the method of choice for the alternative agro-food movement, and this paper discusses the emerging concept of “food democracy” in order to elaborate upon its practical utility with respect to collective action. The existing alternative agro-food movement is the main source of the pressure to democratize the agro-food system. While the movement in the United States (and elsewhere) is very diverse in terms of organizational forms and strategies, there are important opportunities for developing coalitions among various groups. Lastly, food democracy is discussed as a pragmatic method for transforming the agro-food system.
There is an emerging recognition of the importance of consumption within the sustainability debate. The term ‘sustainable consumption’ has been coined to reflect this emphasis. In pursuit of its advocacy remit, the Sustainable Development Commission is currently seeking to influence government policy on sustainable consumption, specifically with regard to DEFRA’s forthcoming Sustainable Consumption and Production strategy and other UK policy developments. The purpose of this document is to enhance that process. It aims to provide a guide to the complexity of the sustainable consumption debate, an overview of the extensive literatures on consumer behaviour and lifestyle change, and an analysis of the policy opportunities suggested by these literatures.
The most common policy strategies for promoting sustainable development are regulatory and economic. However, there is increasing interest in an alternative or complementary idea, namely, ‘environmental citizenship’. This article seeks to develop a particular interpretation of environmental citizenship. It is argued that a consistent political liberalism must conceive of its citizens as ‘citizens of an environment’. An account of liberal environmental citizenship is proposed, and the rights and duties of the liberal environmental citizen are outlined and discussed.
“Coming home to eat” [Nabhan, 2002. Coming Home to Eat: The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods. Norton, New York] has become a clarion call among alternative food movement activists. Most food activist discourse makes a strong connection between the localization of food systems and the promotion of environmental sustainability and social justice. Much of the US academic literature on food systems echoes food activist rhetoric about alternative food systems as built on alternative social norms. New ways of thinking, the ethic of care, desire, realization, and vision become the explanatory factors in the creation of alternative food systems. In these norm-based explanations, the “Local” becomes the context in which this type of action works. In the European food system literature about local “value chains” and alternative food networks, localism becomes a way to maintain rural livelihoods. In both the US and European literatures on localism, the global becomes the universal logic of capitalism and the local the point of resistance to this global logic, a place where “embeddedness” can and does happen. Nevertheless, as other literatures outside of food studies show, the local is often a site of inequality and hegemonic domination. However, rather than declaim the “radical particularism” of localism, it is more productive to question an “unreflexive localism” and to forge localist alliances that pay attention to equality and social justice. The paper explores what that kind of localist politics might look like.
Ecological citizenship cannot be fully articulated in either liberal or civic republican terms. It is, rather, an example and an inflection of ‘post‐cosmopolitan’ citizenship. Ecological citizenship focuses on duties as well as rights, and its conception of political space is not the state or the municipality, or the ideal speech community of cosmopolitanism, but the ‘ecological footprint’.
Ecological citizenship contrasts with fiscal incentives as a way of encouraging people to act more sustainably, in the belief that the former is more compatible with the long‐term and deeper shifts of attitude and behaviour that sustainability requires. This book offers an original account of the relationship between liberalism and sustainability, arguing that the former's commitment to a plurality of conceptions of the good entails a commitment to so‐called ‘strong’ forms of the latter.
How to make an ecological citizen? The potential of formal high school citizenship education programmes is examined through a case study of the recent implementation of the compulsory citizenship curriculum in the UK.
The aim of this paper is to begin to examine the emergence of Farmers' Markets (FM) in the UK. It is suggested that FM represent a new type of 'consumption space' within the contemporary British foodscape, one which may be read as a heterotopic convergence of localist, moral, ethical and environmental discourses, mediated by networks of producers, consumers and institutions. Based on a preliminary analysis of some of the discourses employed by these actors, it is argued that FM can be understood simultaneously as 'conservative' and 'alternative' spaces. 'Conservative' in that they encapsulate a reactionary valorization of the local, linking localness to the ideas of quality, health and rurality, and 'alternative' in that they represent a diversifying rural economy arising in response to the difficulties being experienced by some UK farmers and a more general perception of a countryside under threat. Initial evidence from a pilot case study in Stratford-upon-Avon is used to support these suggestions and propose directions for future research.
This is a book about government social policy in relation to the environment, pollution, the workplace, and public safety and health. The questions it poses are: to what extent is government justified in interfering with the wishes of individuals? What are the goals of social legislation? How can these best be achieved, and are they worth the costs? -from Author
