Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California
Refine Search

Electronic Green Journal

Electronic Green Journal bannerUCLA

Issue 35, 2013

Earth Day 2013

Articles

  • Online Environmental Citizenship: Blogs, Green Marketing and consumer sentiment in the 21st Century

    Consumers’ environmental consciousness is widespread with public acceptance of the global environmental crisis causing shifts in the debates within the environmental movement. The last three decades have seen consumers’ environmental consciousness grow as the environment has become a mainstream issue encouraging individual, government and company rethinking. Our longitudinal, empirical research findings are innovative and contribute by exploring global green blog sites using a content analysis, qualitative research technique Leximancer, which is an ideal analysis method that captures the essence of large volumes of textual data to draw significance. This snapshot monitored public opinion and found important concepts discussed over two, four month periods including energy, company, action, products, climate change, emissions, business, carbon, electric cars, organic and plastic. Our results revealed bloggers believe themselves to be influential and instrumental in creating change through environmental citizenship actions by creating an opportunity to disseminate environmental knowledge and attitude that exists between green bloggers and non-green bloggers.

    • 1 supplemental ZIP

  • Green Libraries Are More Than Just Buildings

    Many colleges and universities across the United States have adopted sustainability in their curriculum and operations. Academic libraries need to support the mission of their university and therefore must also play their part in sustainability education and operations. The library and information science literature shows the term “green library” to be a hallmark for a library building with an environmentally friendly design. However, there are very few academic libraries in the United States that are LEED certified. I argue that a green library is more than what the architecture entails. By using example initiatives and providing recommendations for green library operations, it is determined that a green library does not necessarily entail a green building, but it does involve a green mission.

    • 1 supplemental ZIP

  • The Perils of Consumption and the Gift Economy as the Solution Daniel Miller’s Consumption and Its Consequences

    Miller is an anthropologist who has done much work on people’s connections to consumer objects. This has put him at odds with the view that modern consumerism is driven by false needs. His latest book also acknowledges the impact of consumption on the environment. Miller argues there is no chance of reigning in consumption with campaigns for moral reform. He favours regulation by a so-called neutral science. Whether this is any more politically palatable than moral reform is debatable. Miller does not sufficiently emphasize the role of alienated labour. Within the political framework he favours, alienated labour is inevitable. However, the gift economy could alleviate pressures for consumption by abolishing alienated labour. Miller’s ethnographies appear to show that every consumed product is much wanted. The critique of market failures expains the problems with this conclusion. A complete replacement of the market with the gift economy could be the best option for avoiding problems with consumption.

Columns

Reviews

Top