Influencing individual sustainability: a review of the evidence on the role of community-based organisations

Academics and policymakers claim that community-based organisations can mobilise citizens to take on more sustainable behaviours. The evidence for the influence of activities run by community-based organisations on individual sustainability is in relatively short supply, particularly in developed country contexts. There is limited understanding of the contextual conditions that are favourable for such interventions, the types of individuals that are likely to be affected and the decision-making processes of individuals in taking on particular behaviours. This paper presents a descriptive model built from current empirical literature in the area, and the wider pro-environmental behaviour literature, which begins to explain the causal factors present in interventions of this type.

[1]  Jacquelin Burgess,et al.  Un)sustainable consumption , 2003 .

[2]  Robert D. Putnam,et al.  Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community , 2000, CSCW '00.

[3]  H. Mosler.  Self-dissemination of environmentally-responsible behavior: The influence of trust in a commons dilemma game , 1993 .

[4]  Exploring the community waste sector: Are sustainable development and social capital useful concepts for project-level research? , 2005 .

[5]  A. Kollmuss,et al.  Mind the Gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? , 2002 .

[6]  P. Maiteny,et al.  Mind in the Gap: Summary of research exploring 'inner' influences on pro-sustainability learning and behaviour , 2002 .

[7]  Chris Church,et al.  Thinking locally, acting nationally: lessons for national policy from work on local sustainability , 2002 .

[8]  B. B. Jensen,et al.  Knowledge, Action and Pro-environmental Behaviour , 2002 .

[9]  Laurie Michaelis,et al.  Policies for sustainable consumption , 2003 .

[10]  Tim Jackson,et al.  Consumption, sustainable welfare and human needs--with reference to UK expenditure patterns between 1954 and 1994 , 1999 .

[11]  Paul C. Stern,et al.  Environmental Problems and Human Behavior , 1995 .

[12]  J. Rowe,et al.  Unresolved Responsibilities: Exploring Local Democratisation and Sustainable Development through a Community-Based Waste Reduction Initiative , 2002 .

[13]  K. Hobson.  Sustainable lifestyles: rethinking barriers and behaviour change. , 2001 .

[14]  R. D. Young,et al.  Changing Behavior and Making it Stick The Conceptualization and Management of Conservation Behavior , 1993 .

[15]  Susse Georg.  The Social Shaping of Household Consumption , 1999 .

[16]  Stewart Barr,et al.  Strategies for sustainability: citizens and responsible environmental behaviour , 2003 .

[17]  Ibrahim Dincer,et al.  Exergy: Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development , 2007 .

[18]  K. Barnett,et al.  The significance and praxis of community‐based sustainability projects: Community gardens in western Australia , 1998 .

[19]  H. Staats,et al.  Effecting Durable Change , 2004 .

[20]  L. Brown.  A global action plan. , 1990 .

[21]  M. Pennington,et al.  Researching Social Capital in Local Environmental Policy Contexts , 2000 .

[22]  D. McKenzie‐Mohr,et al.  Promoting Sustainable Behavior : An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing , 2000 .

[23]  Anselm L. Strauss,et al.  Basics of qualitative research : techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory , 1998 .