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Grassroots Climate Action in Australia: Visions, Practices and Innovation Grassroots Climate Action in Australia: Visions, Practices and Innovation Author Bond, Meghan Shae Published 2013 Thesis Type Thesis (PhD Doctorate) School Griffith Business School DOI https://doi.org/10.25904/1912/2118 Copyright Statement The author owns the copyright in this thesis, unless stated otherwise. Downloaded from http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366826 Griffith Research Online https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au Grassroots Climate Action in Australia: Visions, Practices and Innovation Meghan Shae Bond Bachelor of Environmental Science Bachelor of Education Honours in Australian Environmental Studies School of Government and International Relations Griffith Business School Griffith University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2012 ii Abstract Australian grassroots action on climate change is a recent phenomenon. Climate change as an issue of concern entered the Australian political landscape and national psyche later than in countries like the United Kingdom and some Western European nations, but since then there has been a surge of climate action. In 2007, the first ‘climate election’ was held, followed by many other headline-grabbing events including a proposed (but axed) nationwide emissions trading scheme and an implemented carbon price scheme. Coinciding and co-evolving has been a grassroots layer of the climate movement. This layer consists of concerned citizens seeking to address climate change through personal action and pushing for broader social and political change. The research produced by this thesis delves into this layer of climate action in the Australian state of Victoria, describing grassroots actors and practices as well as the potential contribution that actors could make to the mitigation of the climate problem. This thesis first seeks to answer the questions of who comprises the grassroots layer of the climate movement in Victoria and what practices are being advocated and/or undertaken. It then discusses whether any of these practices contribute to addressing the climate problem more broadly. The intent is to conceptualise and systematically explore the grassroots terrain of Victorian climate action whilst seeking to uncover innovative practices in response to climate change. The significance of exploring this terrain and practices is traced to the limited research to date on the grassroots layer of climate action, and, in turn, the limited exploration of the innovative practices that can occur in that space. The research is positioned within a critical political ecology approach. Climate change is considered real and due to anthropogenic causes; the interpretive endeavour is to explore what is being done as well as what can be done. Examining the grassroots layer of actors and practices via a discursive ecological framework enables a deep interrogation of the discourses in circulation. A qualitative approach was chosen, incorporating multiple data collection methods. The research was restricted to iii Victoria, due to the rich diversity of actors and activities in the state and to ensure that the project was manageable. The findings reveal a diverse collection of grassroots actors united in their goal to radically curtail climate change. All the actors frame climate change as having dire and far-reaching consequences if unmitigated. Climate change is often connected to other ecological issues that form part of the larger problem of an unsustainable society. Two storylines — coined ‘the refashioning storyline’ and ‘the remaking storyline’ — are apparent in the assumption grassroots actors make about the capacity of the current socio-political system to respond. The refashioning storyline assumes the capacity to respond to climate change within existing arrangements. This storyline is in contrast to the remaking storyline, which assumes a significant altering or even a collapse of the socio-political system due to the impacts of climate change and other ecological issues and, hence, requiring a community-led transformation. These different storylines result in differing approaches being undertaken and/or advocated to address climate change. These range from large-scale plans characterised by a strong ecological modernisation discourse of super-green industrialism that would restructure the fabric of Australian society, to relocalisation efforts styled on self- reliant communities akin to the discourse of social ecology. Lying between those positions are many hybrid forms involving novel responses to climate change. The grassroots layer of the climate movement in Victoria is highly diverse in terms of its actors and practices, which may be the movement’s greatest strength as it enables multiple avenues for climate action now and into the future. Innovative practices for broader societal application are occurring today and they include the cultivation of the ‘realness’ of climate change and responsibility for people to enact personal behaviour change and undertake political actions as well as localised actions encouraging sustainable living, premised on holistic and ethical design principles. They also include inspiring proposals that could alter perceptions of possible futures. My exploration of these practices opens future possibilities and research directions that warrant pursuit, both because they contribute to the gap in the literature on the contributions of grassroots climate action and because of the risk unmitigated climate change entails. iv Statement of Originality This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. ________________________ Meghan Shae Bond School of Government and International Relations Griffith Business School Griffith University v vi Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank all the willing research participants who gave their time to be interviewed. Thank you as well for your insightful accounts of the grassroots climate movement in Victoria. I was grateful and stimulated by each encounter and astonished by the degree of commitment to climate action and range of ideas to achieve it. This is true for the entire grassroots layer of climate actors and practices I encountered. Secondly, I would like to thank the academic support I received during my thesis. My supervisors have been invaluable in their knowledge and support. My research process has been an evolving one, and I would like to thank them for helping to guide me on my way. In addition, I would like to thank Dr Daniela Di Piramo and Dr Campbell Aitken for their proofreading services. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family — many of whom still do not understand why I did a thesis or what it was about, but attempted to listen and support me in their own way. vii Publications related to this Thesis The following publication was written early in my thesis journey and covers emerging themes and understandings from my confirmation process; including my initial scoping study of grassroots climate actors and literature review on climate action and innovative practices. Bond, M. (2010) Localizing climate change: Stepping up local climate action, Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol.21(2), pp.214– 225. viii Table of Contents STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VII TABLE OF CONTENTS IX LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES XI List of Figures xi List of Tables xi LIST OF ACRONYMS XIII PART 1: FOUNDATION 1 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION: THE SPECTRE OF CLIMATE CHANGE 1 1.2 RATIONALE 7 1.3 AIMS AND SIGNIFICANCE 9 1.4 METHODOLOGY 13 1.4.1 Macro Layer 13 1.4.2 Meso Layer 14 1.4.3 Micro Layer 16 1.5 THESIS STRUCTURE 16 CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE: SOCIAL MOVEMENTS, CLIMATE ACTION AND INNOVATIVE PRACTICES 19 2.1 INTRODUCTION 19 2.2 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND ACTIVISTS 20 2.2.1 Social Movement Theory 21 2.2.2 Social Movement Activists 24 2.3 THE AUSTRALIAN CLIMATE MOVEMENT 26 2.3.1 Grassroots Climate Actors 31 2.4 GRASSROOTS SUSTAINABILITY INNOVATION 34 2.4.1 Climate Practices 37 2.4.2 Grassroots Climate Practices 43 2.5 CONCLUSION 50 CHAPTER 3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: A SPECTRUM OF GREEN DISCOURSES 53 3.1 INTRODUCTION 53 3.2 THE FRAMEWORK: HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND DESCRIPTION 53 3.2 .1 The Framework: Structure 58 3.3 REFORMIST GREEN DISCOURSES: THE MAIN STORYLINE 62 3.3.1 Reformist Problem and Causes 63 3.3.2 Reformist Means 65 3.3.3 Reformist Agents 67 3.3.4 Reformist Ends 70 3.3.5 Consequences of Reformist Discourses 72 3.4 RADICAL GREEN DISCOURSES: THE MAIN STORYLINE 75 3.4.1 Radical Problems and Causes 79 3.4.2 Radical Means 84 3.4.3 Radical Agents 90 3.4.4 Radical Ends 92 3.4.5 Consequences of Radical Discourses 94 3.5 CONCLUSION 102 CHAPTER 4: METHODS 104 4.1 INTRODUCTION 104 4.1.1 Ethics 105 ix 4.1.2 Subjectivity, Validity and Reliability 105 4.2 CONTEXT OF DATA COLLECTION 107 4.3 METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION 110 4.3.1 Data Collection 111 4.4 DATA ANALYSIS 113 PART 2: EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 116 CHAPTER 5. THE GRASSROOTS CLIMATE MOVEMENT 116 5.1 INTRODUCTION 116 5.2 THE TERRAIN OF GRASSROOTS CLIMATE ACTION 117 5.2.1 The Refashioning Storyline 120 5.2.2 The Remaking Storyline 121 5.3 THE CLIMATE CHANGE PROBLEM AND ITS CAUSES 124 5.4 THE MEANS 135 5.4.1 The Refashioning Storyline Transition 136 5.4.2 The Remaking Storyline Transition 146 5.5 THE ENDS: SUPER GREEN INDUSTRIALISM TO LOCALISED LIVING 154 5.6 CONCLUSION 158 CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION 160 6.1 INTRODUCTION 160 6.2 INNOVATIVE PRACTICES: FRAMING, COMMUNICATING & SUPPORTING CLIMATE ACTION 161 6.3 INNOVATIVE REFASHIONING PRACTICES 171 6.4 INNOVATIVE REMAKING PRACTICES 178 6.5 CONCLUSION 185 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 186 7.1 INTRODUCTION 186 7.2 THE CONTRIBUTION 187 7.3 PROPOSALS 189 7.4 RESEARCH DIRECTIONS 193 7.5 FINAL THOUGHTS 194 BIBLIOGRAPHY 196 APPENDIX A: GRASSROOTS CLIMATE ACTORS 242 APPENDIX B: DATA COLLECTION TOOLS 267 APPENDIX C: NODES - EXPLANATION AND EXAMPLE 281 x List of Tables and Figures List of Tables Table 1: Diesendorf’s (2009) Categories of Australian Climate Actors.....................
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