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Chapters from the paperback
- Introduction
- Ecocriticism
- Optimisation
- Grounded Economic Awareness
- Advertising Awareness
- Transition Skills
- Commons Thinking
- Effortless Action
- Permaculture Design
- Community Gardening
- Ecological Intelligence
- Systems Thinking
- Gaia Awareness
- Futures Thinking
- Values Reflection and the Earth Charter
- Social Conscience
- New Media Literacy
- Cultural Literacy
- Carbon Capability
- Greening Business
- Materials Awareness
- Appropriate Technology and Appropriate Design
- Technology Appraisal
- Complexity, Systems Thinking and Practice
- Coping with Complexity
- Emotional Wellbeing
- Finding Meaning Without Consuming
- Being in the World
- Beauty as a Way of Knowing
- Citizen Engagement
- Re-Educating the Person
- Institutional Transformation
- A Learning Society
- Additional chapters
- Interviews
Home » The Handbook of Sustainability Literacy » Chapters from the paperback » Carbon Capability
Carbon Capability
Carbon Capability: understanding, ability and motivation for reducing carbon emissions. Lorraine Whitmarsh, Saffron O’Neill, Gill Seyfang, Irene Lorenzoni Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of East Anglia Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, University of East Anglia
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The UK government’s recent Climate Change Bill set an ambitious target of an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050. This level of response to climate change has profound implications for individual choices and behaviour, as well as for the social structures in which these operate. With over one third of many nations’ carbon emissions coming from private travel and domestic energy use, individuals clearly have a key role to play in any potential shift towards low-carbon societies. An individual can take several roles in promoting a low-carbon society such as a low-carbon citizen (e.g., voting for a ‘green’ policy), a low-carbon consumer (e.g., buying locally-sourced food) or a low-carbon employee (i.e., an employee with a commitment to a low carbon future who acts as a change agent in the workplace). In this chapter, we introduce the concept of ‘carbon capability’ before suggesting ways that education can help learners to become more carbon capable.
