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Leftovers lovers vs. haters : a latent class analysis on dinner leftover management behaviours
(2023)
Leftovers are particularly at risk of being discarded, and therefore a main component of household food waste. This study provides insights into sources of heterogeneity in leftover management behaviours, with a particular focus on the use of meal kits providing matched portion and ingredient sizes, and identifies consumer segments via a latent class analysis. We investigate whether belonging to a segment with positive attitudes toward leftovers, and engagement in conscious leftover management behaviours decreases the amounts of dinner leftovers and food waste. Besides, we demonstrate that several food waste antecedents, emotions, personal norms, intention and dinner procurement routines elicit leftover management segment membership. In addition to examining such individual differences, we also investigate the role of meal-level determinants, in particular, whether meal kits heterogeneously affect dinner leftovers depending on the consumer's leftover management segment.
Data was collected from 868 households from six countries, using an online survey and diaries. Results of the latent class analysis point towards five consumer segments. We found differences in dinner leftovers amount across classes and detected heterogeneous effects of meal kits. That is, meal kits were able to diminish leftovers in two segments, but not in the other segments. These results provide novel insights into consumer heterogeneity regarding the occurrence, antecedents, and potential solutions of leftovers and resulting household food waste. Implications for both theory and policy are discussed.
A growing number of transformative research practices that redefine the role of science in engaging with local - mostly urban - transformation processes have emerged in recent decades. However, while education is considered a key driver for sustainability transformations, higher education has been slow to develop and implement dedicated, appropriate and effective transformative education programmes and learning modules. In this paper, we present a framework of design principles for transformative learning modules in higher education. These principles are derived from two growing discourses: higher education sustainability learning, and transdisciplinary and transformative research - both of which are centrally anchored in the field of sustainable development and sustainability science. The principles presented provide guidance for course leaders in higher education to create learning modules aimed at enabling students to become engaged in transdisciplinary and transformative research that fosters sustainability transitions in local and urban contexts. We use the Transformative Innovation Lab (TIL) - a learning course developed and tested at two German universities - as an example of how the design principles can be applied. The module, which runs over two semesters, supports Masters students in their process of developing real-world laboratories and exploring urban sustainability transitions through collaborative experimentation with local practice partners. We discuss the factors that enable and limit the implementation of transformative learning modules and outline aspects of the novel roles adopted by lecturers in transformative teaching environments. Moreover, we highlight the need for both institutional change and transformative teaching formats that go beyond transformative research as key for driving universities to take responsibility for collaboratively fostering sustainability transitions in their local contexts.
Die nachhaltigkeitsorientierte Transformation von urbanen Räumen ist eine akute Herausforderung. In den letzten Jahren haben koproduktive, experimentelle, transdisziplinäre und häufig informelle Stadtwandelprojekte als Such- und Lösungsräume hohe Sichtbarkeit erlangt. Schlüsselakteure hierfür stellen - so die These - Verwaltungsvertreter:innen einer integrierten Stadtentwicklung und -planung, Wissenschaftler:innen einer transformativen Forschung sowie zivilgesellschaftliche Stadtmacher:innen dar. Die Autor:innen, verankert in diesen drei Gruppen, kritisieren die häufig nur situative Zusammenarbeit dieser drei Akteursgruppen. Ein Modell der Zusammenarbeit im Spannungsfeld zwischen Gemeinsamkeiten, jeweiligen Potentialen und herausfordernden Eigenlogiken der Akteurssysteme wird entwickelt. Darauf aufbauend wird vorgestellt, wie durch strategischen Trialog und reflexive Lernprozesse die Zusammenarbeit verbessert und die Wirksamkeit koproduktiven und experimentellen Stadtwandels erhöht werden kann.
This article enriches the existing literature on the importance and role of the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in renewable energy sources research by providing a novel approach to instigating the future research agenda in this field. Employing a series of in-depth interviews, deliberative focus group workshops and a systematic horizon scanning process, which utilised the expert knowledge of 85 researchers from the field with diverse disciplinary backgrounds and expertise, the paper develops a set of 100 priority questions for future research within SSH scholarship on renewable energy sources. These questions were aggregated into four main directions: (i) deep transformations and connections to the broader economic system (i.e. radical ways of (re)arranging socio-technical, political and economic relations), (ii) cultural and geographical diversity (i.e. contextual cultural, historical, political and socio-economic factors influencing citizen support for energy transitions), (iii) complexifying energy governance (i.e. understanding energy systems from a systems dynamics perspective) and (iv) shifting from instrumental acceptance to value-based objectives (i.e. public support for energy transitions as a normative notion linked to trust-building and citizen engagement). While this agenda is not intended to be—and cannot be—exhaustive or exclusive, we argue that it advances the understanding of SSH research on renewable energy sources and may have important value in the prioritisation of SSH themes needed to enrich dialogues between policymakers, funding institutions and researchers. SSH scholarship should not be treated as instrumental to other research on renewable energy but as intrinsic and of the same hierarchical importance.
Food production is responsible for approximately 17% of Germany's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. After retail, out-of-home catering is the second largest food sales channel in Germany. A variety of means on both the supply and demand side are necessary to stimulate, facilitate and encourage a more sustainable development and minimise GHG emissions in this sector. Nudges are one of these. This paper's focus lies on the demand side. Set in real-world laboratories, we use a standardised empirical approach to compare different nudging interventions belonging to the area of physical environment and consumers’ choice making process. We compare the effects of the same intervention across different settings and the effect of different, sequential nudging interventions in the same setting. Data was collected in eight workplace and school cafeterias in Germany over two project iterations (2016/2017; 2019/2020). A similar intervention design was applied. Comparability was assured by a harmonised menu. The first project iteration revealed that only one nudge (top menu position, +22.5%) led to significant increases in sustainable food choices, while results from the second iteration showed that all nudge interventions (best counter position, +11.6%; top menu position, +6,9%; label plus information, +15.9%) positively influenced consumer choice. Possible explanations such as the stricter compliance to the experimental design in the cafeterias but also societal developments such as the appearance of the Fridays for Future movement are discussed. As results vary between specific locations and settings, our findings suggest that nudges need to be adjusted to situational conditions for achieving highest efficacy.
Zukunftslabore, Küchen und Stadträume : wenn sich Kunst und (Nachhaltigkeits-)Wissenschaft begegnen
(2021)
Divers ist besser
(2021)
Arbeit ist das halbe Leben?! : Über ein neues Statussymbol ; die Zeit und was wir damit anfangen
(2021)
Since the middle of the 20th century, human society experiences a "Great Acceleration" manifesting in historically remarkable growth rates that create severe sustainability problems. The globally exploding potentials of information and knowledge exchange have been and are vital drivers for this acceleration. Society has now come to the point that it requires a "Great Transformation" towards sustainability to ensure the viability of the planet for a vital society. The energy transition plays a central role for this transformation. In this context, human society has developed a comparably good understanding of the necessary infrastructural changes of this transition. For transforming the patterns of energy production and use in an energy transition as part of the "Great Transformation", this process of change now needs to strengthen its focus on information, communication, and knowledge systems. Human society needs to establish a knowledge system that has the potential to create usable knowledge for sustainability solutions. This requires organizing a communication system that is sufficiently complex, interconnected, and, at the same time, efficient for integrating reflexive, open-ended, inter- and transdisciplinary learning, evaluation, and knowledge co-production processes across multiple levels. This challenge opens a wide field of research.
This cumulative dissertation contributes to research in this direction by applying a systemic sustainability perspective on the content and organization of communication in the field of research on sustainable energy and the operational level of municipal climate action as part of the energy transition. Regarding sustainability, this thesis uses strong sustainability and its principles as a frame for evaluating the content of communication. Regarding the systemic perspective, the thesis particularly relies on the following theories: (i) the human-environment system model by R. Scholz as an overarching framework regarding interactions between humans and nature, (ii) social systems theory by N. Luhmann to reflect the complexity of society, (iii) knowledge management to consider the human character of knowledge and a practice-oriented perspective, and (iv) management cybernetics, in particular, the Viable System Model by S. Beer as a framework to analyze and assess organizational structures. Furthermore, the thesis leverages the potential of text mining as a method to identify and visualize patterns in texts that reflect prevalent paradigms in communication.
The thesis applies the above conceptual and methodological basis in three case studies. Case Study 1 investigates the measures proposed in 16 municipal climate action plans of regional centers in Lower Saxony, Germany. It uses a text mining approach in the form of an Summary interpretation network analysis. It analyzes how different societal subsystems are connected at the semantic level and to what extent sustainability principles can be recognized. Case Study 2 analyzes and reflects paradigms and discursive network structures in international scientific publications on sustainable energy. The study investigates 26533 abstracts published from 1990 to 2016 using a text mining approach, in particular topic modeling via latent Dirichlet allocation. Case Study 3 turns again to the cases of municipal climate action in Lower Saxony examined in Case Study 1. It examines the involvement of climate action managers of these cities in multilevel knowledge processes. Using design principles for knowledge systems, it evaluates to what extent knowledge is managed in this field across levels for supporting the energy transition and to what extent local innovation potential is leveraged or supported.
The three case studies show that international research on sustainable energy and municipal climate action in Germany provide promising contributions to achieve a transformation towards sustainability but do not fully reflect the complexity of society and still support a growth paradigm, in contrast to a holistic sustainability paradigm. Further, the case studies show that research and local action are actively engaging with the diversity of energy technologies but are lagging in dealing with the socio-epistemic (communication) system, especially with regard to achieving cohesion. Using the example of German municipalities, Case Studies 1 and 3 highlight the challenges of achieving coherent local action for sustainability and bottom-up organizational learning due to incomplete or uncoordinated multilevel knowledge exchange. At the same time, the studies also point out opportunities for supporting the required coherent multilevel learning processes based on local knowledge. This can be achieved, for instance, by strengthening the coordinating role of intermediary organizational units or establishing closer interactions between the local operational units and the national level.
The thesis interprets and synthesizes the results of the three case studies from its systemic sustainability perspective. On this basis, it provides several generalized recommendations that should be followed for establishing viable communication systems, especially but not exclusively in policy-making:
Systemic holism: Consider matter, energy, and information flows as an integrated triplet in the context of scales, structures, and time in the various subsystems. Knowledge society: Focus on the socio-epistemic (communication) system, e.g., using the perspective of knowledge systems and associated design principles considering, for instance, working environments across horizontal and vertical levels, knowledge forms and types, and knowledge processes. Sufficiency communication: Emphasize sufficiency approaches, make it attractive, and find differentiated ways for communicating them. Multilevel cohesion and innovation: Achieve cohesion between the local and higher levels and leverage local innovations while avoiding isolated local action. Organizational interface design: Define the role of organizational units by the interactions they create at the interfaces with and between societal subsystems. Local transdisciplinarity: Support local transdisciplinary approaches integrating various subsystems, especially industry, while coordinating these approaches from a higher level for leveraging local innovation. Digital public system: Exploit existing digital technologies or infrastructures in the public system and recognize the value of data in the public sphere for achieving cohesion. Beyond the above recommendations, this thesis suggests that potential for further research lies in: Advancing nature-inspired systemic frameworks. Understanding the structure and creation of human knowledge. Developing text mining methodologies towards solution-oriented approaches.
There is urgent need to change the way we make use of non-renewable resources, especially metals, to sustain their availability for vital technologies associated with achieving change towards sustainability, but also to minimize negative impacts and to achieve a fair distribution of the wealth and burdens associated with their production and use. Especially public actors (state governments and administrations) have recently formulated strategies as a means to guide action fostering these goals. Yet, these strategies are very different in their character, which makes it difficult to compare them and learn how to best design strategies for a given context to contribute to the necessary change. To approach this question, we analyzed 37 national mineral resource-related strategy documents worldwide concerning their contextual conditions, motivation, and objectives. Following the general inputs for transition strategies (current and target state, transition strategy), we identified four clusters of strategy documents that share similarities in their approaches and support the development of specific recommendations for future strategy design in terms of both content and process. Designing strategies with a clear structure that interlinks a systems-based description of the current state, a clear vision (oriented at sustainability principles) and a sufficiently differentiated but at the same time flexible transition pathway improves their potential to contribute to more sustainable metal production and use.
Responsible consumption and production is one of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. To achieve this goal the currently high extraction rates of natural resources, that our economy is based on, needs a transformation of the consumption and production system considering technological as well as social change. One of the promising transition approaches is seen in collaborative consumption with its many facets of socio-cultural innovations and fast growing number of participants and businesses. With a decreasing production of goods, due to a utilisation of underutilised assets, these offers might support an absolute reduction of the global resource use. However, a positive environmental effect depends on the setting and the social practices of such sharing offers and is not sustainable or resource efficient generally. Also, resource efficient practices with a low diffusion potential that stick in a niche offer no leverage to achieve sustainable consumption patterns. Thus, this paper describes a mixed method approach to analyse the resource efficiency and diffusion potential of 20 sharing offers in the area of mobility, housing & travel and everyday objects in Germany. Results show that the overall positive environmental connotation of sharing offers cannot be confirmed. We identified five clusters of offers that are all treated to be differently when it comes to deploying the positive potential and avoid unnecessary societal effort to achieve the mentioned Sustainable Development Goal.
Nowadays, the main impetus to apply additive manufacturing (AM) of metals is the high geometric flexibility of the processes and its ability to produce pilot or small batch series. In contrast, resource and energy intensities are often not considered as constraints, even though the turnout of additive manufacturing is high, at least compared to chip removing processes.
The study at hand analyses the material characteristics and environmental impacts of a hose nozzle as an example of a commercial product of simple geometry. The production routes turning (conventional manufacturing) and laser beam melting (additive manufacturing) are compared to each other in terms of natural resource use, climate change potential and primary energy demand. It is found, that the product shows a lower demand for natural resources when produced via AM, but higher carbon emissions and energy demand when using a steel, that is mainly (80%) produced from high-alloyed steel scrap. However, different case studies during the sensitivity analyses showed that a number of factors highly influence the results: the steel source as well as the source of electricity play a major role in determining the environmental performance of the production routes. The authors also found that other production processes (here cold forging of tubes) might be an eco-friendly alternative to both routes, if feasible from an economic point of view.
In regard to the material characteristics, experimental testing revealed that the material advantages of AM produced hose nozzles (in particular higher yield strength) are reduced after a solution heat treatment is applied to the as-produced material, in order to increase corrosion resistance. However, products that do not require this production step might benefit from the higher yield strength, as a lower wall thickness could be realised.
To contribute to a better understanding of consumer food leftovers and to facilitate their reduction in out-of-home settings, our study analyzes the effects of two common intervention strategies for reducing leftovers in a holistic behavioral model. Based on a quasi-experimental baseline-intervention design, we analyzed how the display of information posters and the reduction of portion sizes take an effect on personal, social and environmental determinants in a structural equation model. Applying data from online surveys and observations among 880 guests (503 baseline, 377 intervention) during two weeks in a university canteen, the suggested model allows to assign effects from the two interventions on plate leftovers to specific changes in behavioral determinants. Portion size reductions for target dishes are found to relate to lower levels of plate waste based on conscious perception, represented in smaller portion size ratings. Effects from seeing information posters are found to base on changed personal attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. However, depending on how an individual reacts to the information (by only making an effort to finish all food or by making an effort and additionally choosing a different dish in the canteen) there are opposite effects on these determinants and consequently also on plate leftovers. Overall, the differentiated results on intervention effects strongly support the benefits of more holistic and in-depth analyses of interventions to reduce plate leftovers and therefore to contribute to more sustainable food consumption in out-of-home settings.
Immer mehr Menschen essen regelmäßig außer Haus, eine rasch verfügbare und flexible Ernährung gehört zu unserem modernen Lebensstil mittlerweile einfach dazu. Den Kundinnen und Kunden ist jedoch nicht nur diese Flexibilität wichtig, sondern zunehmend auch eine hohe ökologische und gesundheitliche Qualität der Angebote. Sie wünschen sich attraktive, genussreiche und zugleich nachhaltige Speisen. Und sie wollen darauf vertrauen können, dass ihr Essen entsprechend klar definierter ökologischer und sozialer Anforderungen hergestellt wurde.
Der Schlüssel dazu sind Innovationen im Speisenangebot, bei der Beschaffung, Zubereitung, Kennzeichnung - und bei den Darbietungsformen. Die über 50 Autorinnen und Autoren dieses Buches arbeiten alle in Wissenschaft und Praxis für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung des Ernährungssystems. Hier stellen sie die im Forschungsprojekt NAHGAST und weiteren Projekten erarbeiteten Ansätze für eine nachhaltige Transformation des Außer-Haus-Marktes zur Diskussion.
Das Buch "Nachhaltig außer Haus essen" ist im Rahmen des NAHGAST-Projektes entstanden und wurde vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung gefördert.
Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung im Ernährungssektor : eine wichtige Zutat für ressourcenleichten Konsum
(2018)
Living-Lab-as-a-Service : exploring the market and sustainability offers of living labs in Germany
(2018)
A global collaborative accounting network to calculate the resource use of products and services
(2015)
This thesis justifies and develops a sustainable level of Lifestyle Material Footprint (LMF) as a benchmark for designing sustainable lifestyles. It shows the application of the benchmark in a Household-level Sustainability Transition method and presents a framework for inspiring design solutions towards a Design for One Planet (Df1P).
The thesis shows how the Material Input per unit of Service (MIPS) concept has developed from product orientation to the application to household consumption and from technically-focused measurement into an integral part of methods for designing one-planet lifestyles and supporting solutions. This provides both an advanced application of the concept and its opening to new purposes and users.
The core of the thesis is the suggestion of a sustainable material footprint benchmark of 8 tonnes per person per year as a resource cap target for household consumption in Finland, an 80% (factor 5) reduction from present average. The 8 tonnes benchmark opens the possibility for a target-oriented, planned reduction of LMFs by target-setting, experimenting and up-scaling of sustainable solutions. The method enabled the participating households to perform footprint reductions of 26–54% during the one-month experiment phase. Notable footprint reductions are thus possible even in the short term, which is an important message to other households and other actors in society. Calculating households' LMFs makes visible the structures underlying household consumption and the need for change not only in household consumption but also in the supply of products, services and infrastructure, and thus systemic changes initiated by others than households.
The orientation framework of Df1P suggests measures that could be promoted by means of design, and structures them in a matrix incorporating priority action areas in the fields of housing, nutrition and mobility, and the domains of product design, service design, infrastructure planning and communication design. Mainstreaming sustainable lifestyles will potentially require a new design culture, but at least significant efforts in product design, service design and infrastructure planning as well as in making sustainable solutions attractive to consumers and disrupting existing routines. The more technology and infrastructure can be integrated into this change, the more space will be left for individual diversity in achieving sustainable household consumption. The orientation framework could provide a first step towards Df1P practice by inspiring designers to integrate the recognition of the planetary boundaries into their work.
Design for sustainability
(2018)
Anna Bliesner-Steckmann stellt sich der Frage, wie Bildung respektive Didaktik beschaffen sein muss, damit ein moralisch-nachhaltiges Handeln nicht in eine normative Pädagogik mündet. Die Autorin stellt dazu den selbstaufgeklärten, mündigen Lernenden in den Fokus ihrer Arbeit und weist nach, dass es neben einer lerntheoretischen auch einer handlungstheoretischen Grundlegung auf psychologischer Basis bedarf. Ein zentrales Ergebnis ihrer interdisziplinären Studie ist das entwickelte Prozessmodell zu moralisch-nachhaltigem Urteilen und Handeln, aus welchem sich konkrete Hinweise für die Gestaltung pädagogischer Interventionen ableiten lassen.
The effectiveness of sustainable product and service innovations is often restricted by limited market acceptance or unexpected consumption patterns. The latter includes rebound effects, which occur when resources liberated by savings are used for further consumption. Recently emerging research from the Living Lab is striving to address and anticipate challenges in innovation design by integrating users in prototyping and field testing product and service innovations. The paper presents findings from a literature review on rebound effects and expert interviews identifying methods to monitor and measures to mitigate rebound effects in early innovation design via Living Lab research.
We find that monitoring and mitigating rebound effects in Living Lab research includes technological and behavioural triggers as well as socio-psychological and time use effects in addition to economic re-spending effects. The experts have confirmed that Living Labs contain the potential to observe complex demand systems of users within experimental designs, encompassing indirect rebound effects in terms of expenditure as well as time use. In this respect, Living Lab research can facilitate support for sustainable innovations, which aim to encourage changes in consumer behaviour, considering re-spending and time use effects simultaneously.
Sharing : eine innovative, soziale Praktik für einen ressourcenschonenden, nachhaltigeren Konsum?
(2017)
Actor and network analysis
(2017)
Ressourcenleichte Utopien
(2016)
Melanie Speck (geb. Lukas) leistet mit ihrem Buch erstmals einen Überblick über die theoretische und empirische Fundierung von Suffizienz in deutschen Privathaushalten. Damit widmet sie sich einem Kernelement der nachhaltigen Entwicklung, das bisher nur wenig Beachtung in der Gesellschaft gefunden hat. Auf der Basis von 42 Haushaltsinterviews macht sie deutlich, dass ein suffizientes Handeln die moderate Veränderung von gesellschaftlich akzeptierten Kulturtechniken impliziert und dass eine vollkommene Abkehr von heutigen gesellschaftlichen Konsumstrukturen gar nicht notwendig ist.
Rebound-Effekte sind die unerwünschten Wirkungen vieler Nachhaltigkeitsbemühungen. Gleichzeitig zeigen sie, dass gespartes Geld und gewonnene Zeit wieder reinvesitiert werden, damit wir mehr vom Leben haben, mehr tun und mehr erleben können - Rebound-Effekte sind Teil des Steigerungsspiels.
Auf der Grundlage soziologischer Theorien der Steigerung und Beschleunigung liefert das Buch eine umfassende Empirie zu indirekten Einkommens-, aber vor allem zu Zeiteffekten in Deutschland. Im Zentrum der empirischen Studien steht die Überprüfung einer dreifachen Dividende von Arbeitszeitverkürzungen - Ressourcenschonung, soziales Engagement und individuelle Lebenszufriedenheit. Zwar kompensieren Zeit-Rebound-Effekte potenzielle Ressourceneinsparungen in großen Teilen, aber nicht vollständig. Davon abgesehen äußern sich Zeit-Rebound-Effekte in ehrenamtlichem Engagement und individueller Zufriedenheit - erwünschte Wirkungen von Rebound-Effekten.
A reduction in working hours is being considered to tackle issues associated with ecological sustainability, social equity and enhanced life satisfaction - a so-called triple dividend. With respect to an environmental dividend, the authors analyse the time use rebound effects of reducing working time. They explore how an increase in leisure time triggers a rearrangement of time and expenditure budgets, and thus the use of resources in private households. Does it hold true that time-intensive activities replace resource-intensive consumption when people have more discretionary time at their disposal? This study on environmental issues is complemented by introducing the parameters of voluntary social engagement and individual life satisfaction as potential co-benefits of rebound effects. In order to analyse the first dividend, a mixed methods approach is adopted, enabling two models of time use rebound effects to be applied. First, semi-standardised interviews reveal that environmentally ambiguous substitutions of activities occur following a reduction in working hours. Second, estimates for Germany from national surveys on time use and expenditure show composition effects of gains in leisure time and income loss. For the latter, we estimate the marginal propensity to consume and the marginal propensity to time use. The results show that time savings due to a reduction in working time trigger relevant rebound effects in terms of resource use. However, both the qualitative and quantitative findings put the rebound effects following a reduction in working time into perspective. Time use rebound effects lead to increased voluntary social engagement and greater life satisfaction, the second and third dividends.
The paper presents a case study of applying crowdsourcing to library deliveries. The trial was conducted in the city of Jyväskylä in Finland as part of the Resource Wise Communities program funded by The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The city has a population of 120 000 inhabitants and is facing the shut-down of half of the public libraries in order to adapt its economy to lowered revenues and compulsory cost savings. The assumption was that the level of service for customers not able to settle for e-books would be lowered and/or customers would have to travel longer distances. However, a research pilot was carried out where - instead of lowering the level of service in the area - books and other library media were delivered to customers' homes by utilizing a novel crowdsourced delivery service called PiggyBaggy.
Crowdsourced delivery means that citizens deliver goods to each other along their way. Ideally, the deliveries would be made with minimal detour, along the way, thus maximizing the reduction in natural resource use and related environmental impacts from the transport. However, the transport fuel forms only one part of the overall footprint and in practice rebound effects such as drivers travelling longer distances motivated by monetary compensation, can reduce the targeted environmental improvement.
The objective of our study was to investigate whether an existing consumer service, in this case the library public service, can adopt crowdsourced deliveries quickly from scratch, and to whether consumers participate in the deliveries in a way that has real sustainability benefits. Despite prevailing regulative challenges, the study found that existing library deliveries can be successfully crowdsourced. Each crowdsourced delivery reduced an average of 1.6 kilometers driven by car, despite 80 percent of the deliveries being made within less than a five-kilometer distance. Mobility related footprint reduction potential for Finland is also estimated.
Nachhaltigkeitstransition in Städten und Regionen : Indikatoren, Erfahrungen und Erfolgsbedingungen
(2015)
Wie werden Handys hergestellt? Woraus bestehen sie? Was bedeutet es für die Umwelt, wenn immer die neusten Modelle angeschafft werden? Und was passiert mit den Geräten, wenn wir sie nicht mehr brauchen und zurückgeben?
Das Buch nimmt den Leser/die Leserin mit auf eine spannende Reise durch das Rohstoffleben eines Handys und zeigt, wie Alltagstechnik bewusster und umweltverträglicher genutzt werden kann. Durch seine fachdidaktische Einordnung und seine wissenschaftlich fundierten Inhalte ist das Buch ideal als Grundlage für Kurse an Schulen und Hochschulen geeignet.
Alexandra Seibt untersucht Wirtschaftsverbände im Längsschnitt anhand eines Mehrmethodendesigns, bestehend aus Dokumentenanalysen, Inhaltsanalysen und teilstandardisierten Leitfadeninterviews. Die Autorin kann bei den Verbänden einen zunehmenden kombinierten Einsatz von öffentlichen und nicht öffentlichen Kommunikationsstrategien im Sinne des PA-Managements nachweisen. Verbände nutzen hierbei - wie Protestgruppen und NGOs - die Öffentlichkeit, um über die externe Kommunikation Aufmerksamkeit und Zustimmung für ihre Interessen im politischen System zu generieren. Als Fallbeispiel dienen die Verbände der Branche der erneuerbaren Energien während der Novellierungen zum Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz.
Ressourcenkooperation : Ressourceneffizienz in der Wertschöpfungskette durch Unternehmenskooperation
(2014)
Implementation von Bildungsinnovationen in Netzwerken : Analyse von Schul-Unternehmens-Kooperationen
(2014)
Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich mit der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb eines Netzwerkes auseinander und betrachtet insbesondere die Rolle der Zusammenarbeit für die Implementation schulischer Innovationen. Untersuchungsgegenstand der explorativen Studie ist ein Netzwerk bestehend aus einzelnen Lernpartnerschaften zwischen Schulen und Unternehmen. Anhand von zwölf leitfadengestützten Interviews mit Personen aus vier Kooperationen innerhalb des Netzwerkes wird untersucht, 1) durch welche Kriterien die Qualität der Zusammenarbeit innerhalb des Netzwerkes beschrieben werden kann, 2) welche hemmenden und fördernden Bedingungen die Kooperation beeinflussen und 3) in welchem Zusammenhang die Qualität der Zusammenarbeit im Netzwerk mit der Implementation schulischer Innovationen steht. Befunde der Untersuchung geben Hinweise darauf, dass die Zusammenarbeit in Netzwerken als Instrument bei der Implementation von Innovationen angesehen werden kann und liefern mögliche Ansatzpunkte für die weiterführende Kooperations- und Netzwerkforschung.
In communication sciences partnerships between entertainment media professionals and sustainability organizations conveying prosocial messages are called "Entertainment-Education (E-E) collaborations". Whereas comprehensive research takes place in countries such as the Netherlands and the US, the field is a terra incognita in Germany. Even though German E-E collaborations are designed and implemented they still are unusual experiments. The qualitative study presents first results on characteristics, conditions and forms of E-E collaborations in Germany's television field since the 1990s. It reveals various factors leading to a highly complex situation for the collaborating partners. One central factor is the media legislation,
which does not provide a clear orientation standard for the partners. Another one is the public acceptance of E-E collaborations. Some forms are accepted while others are not. Hence, for German television formats, forms with a low to medium level of collaboration (E-E service and E-E license partnerships) should be preferred in contrast to high level collaboration forms (E-E co-productions and E-E inscript participations).
Materialeffizienz
(2014)
Qualifizierungsmodul RessourcenKultur : Materialien zur Kompetenzentwicklung für Praktiker/-innen
(2014)
Ressourceneffizienzpotenziale in der Lebensmittelproduktion an den Beispielen Obst, Gemüse und Fisch
(2013)
Ressourceneffizienzpotenziale der Stromerzeugung durch Windenergie und Biomasse in Deutschland
(2013)
Ressourceneffizienz verspricht geringere Materialkosten, Importunabhängigkeit und geringere Umweltbelastungen. Die Einspareffekte lassen sich auf vielfältige Art erreichen: Sei es durch Einsatz neuer Technologien, Optimierung bestehender Technologien oder Strategien, die Produktion und Konsum aufgreifen. Das Buch zeigt anhand von 18 Beispielen, wie sich Ressourceneffizienz erfolgreich in Deutschland umsetzen lässt und welche Einspareffekte zu erzielen sind.
Das dematerialisierte Design
(2013)
Einweg ist kein Weg : ressourceneffizient verpackt ; wieviel Umwelt brauchen Mineralwasserflaschen?
(2014)
A decent, or sufficient, lifestyle is largely considered an important objective in terms of a sustainable future. However, there can be strongly varying definitions of what a decent lifestyle means. From a social sustainability point of view, a decent lifestyle can be defined as the minimum level of consumption ensuring an acceptable quality of life. From an ecological sustainability point of view, a decent lifestyle can be defined as a lifestyle that does not exceed the carrying capacity of nature in terms of natural resource use. The paper presents results of a study on the natural resource use of 18 single households belonging to the lowest income decile in Finland. The yearly "material footprint" of each household was calculated on the basis of the data gathered in a questionnaire and two interviews. The results show that the natural resource use of the participating households was lower than the one of the average consumer. Furthermore, 12 of 18 households had a smaller material footprint than the "decent minimum" reference budget defined by a consumer panel. However, the resource use of all the households and lifestyles studied is still higher than long-term ecological sustainability would require. The paper concludes that the material footprint is a suitable approach for defining and measuring a decent lifestyle and provides valuable information on how to dematerialize societies towards sustainability.
Designguide background
(2013)
ine andere Kultur des Umgangs mit Ressourcen ist notwendig, um nachhaltiges Wirtschaften zu ermöglichen. Der Sammelband "RessourcenKultur" befasst sich mit der Frage: Was zeichnet kleine und mittlere Unternehmen (KMU) aus, die erfolgreich ressourceneffizient wirtschaften und Innovationen hervorbringen? Antworten auf diese Frage erforscht derzeit das Verbundprojekt "RessourcenKultur" (Projektlaufzeit 2009-2013, gefördert vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung). In diesem Band werden anhand verschiedener Fragestellungen die neuesten Forschungserkenntnisse zu betrieblichen Vertrauenskulturen und Innovationen für Ressourceneffizienz in KMU diskutiert sowie die fördernden und hemmenden Bedingungen zur Umsetzung einer RessourcenKultur dargestellt und Handlungsempfehlungen aufgezeigt. Behandelt werden die Themenfelder Bedeutung von Vertrauen und Kultur im Unternehmen, Innovations- und Veränderungsprozesse als Belastung von Vertrauen, Ressourceneffizienzstrategie als Förderung von Vertrauenskulturellen Elementen, Kompetenzentwicklung für Ressourceneffizienzberatung, Betriebliche Umsetzung Ressourceneffizienz und Implikationen für RessourcenKultur.
Current well-being research often overlooks human dependency on natural resources and undervalues the way environmental impacts affect human activities. This article argues that the capability approach provides an applicable framework for inquiring into ecologically sustainable well-being. Therefore, this pilot study aims to develop a research method for integrating the measurement of natural resource use with capability-based well-being research. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 18 Finnish minimum income receivers and their natural resource use (material footprints) was measured in five central functionings by using the Material Input Per Unit of Service (MIPS) method. The connections between capabilities, functionings and material footprints are interpreted from a person-centered perspective in order to explain the individual variety in material footprints. The results show that the material footprints of minimum income receivers are smaller than with an average Finn but they still exceed what is estimated to be an ecologically sustainable level of natural resource use.
The need of recycling obsolete mobile phones has significantly
increased with the worldwide propagation of mobile phones and
their inherent rapid turnover. In this article, we examine the
acceptance of mobile phone return programs by using the
Technology Acceptance Model and multiple case studies. Our
findings can provide valuable recommendations for the setup of
future mobile phone return programs.
Leasing society : study
(2012)
In the past decades, risk management in the financial community has been dominated by data-intensive statistical methods which rely on short historical time series to estimate future risk. Many observers consider this approach as a contributor to the current financial crisis, as a long period of low volatility gave rise to an illusion of control from the perspectives of both regulators and the regulated. The crucial question is whether there is an alternative. There are voices which claim that there is no reliable way to detect bubbles, and that crashes can be modeled as exogenous "black swans". Others claim that "dragon kings", or crashes which result from endogenous dynamics, can be understood and therefore be predicted, at least in principle. The authors suggest that the concept of "Bayesian risk management" may efficiently mobilize the knowledge, comprehension, and experience of experts in order to understand what happens in financial markets.
The field of nutrition is facing numerous social, ecological and economic challenges in the coming decades. The food industry belongs to the most significant economic sectors worldwide and the increasing population of 9 billion in 2050 will cause a growing demand on food. So far, changing lifestyles, especially the global rising consumption of meat and dairy products are increasing environmental damage. Moreover our health and wellbeing are the direct result of healthy or unhealthy nourishment and influence follow-up indicators like individual and public health, the expense of the health sector and work productivity.
The material footprint is a tool to measure and optimize the resource consumption of both products and their ingredients and the production processes along the whole value chain. It covers the whole life cycle of the products, from the extraction of raw materials to the processing industry, distribution, consumption, recycling, and disposal. In order to decrease resource consumption to a level in line with the planetary boundaries, the material footprint of household consumption should achieve a level of six to eight tonnes per capita in a year by 2050. This means a reduction in natural resource consumption by a factor of 5 to 10 in Western European countries. In order to ensure a decent lifestyle for all people in 2050, also the material footprint of nutrition has to be reduced significantly by 2050.
The paper shows the relevance and role of nutrition in the overall material footprint of households on the basis of existing studies on the overall resource consumption caused by household consumption. Quantified meal and diet examples are given. It also discusses the causes of food waste and raises the question how a reduction of food waste is possible and can help decreasing the resource consumption in the food sector.
MIPS / hot spot analysis
(2012)
Domestic sustainability innovations are considered to play a key role for pathways to sustainable consumption. The paper shows how open innovation processes can lead to such sustainable innovations, by means of an experimental and interactive infrastructure. It presents how – based on results of the LivingLab project conducted at the Wuppertal Institute within a European Consortium (Lead TU Delft) - currently an extended Sustainable LivingLab approach is developed and applied in two joint research projects at national and international level. To conceptualise this approach, we refer to recent proceedings in innovation and sustainability research, i.e. practice theory to analyse sustainable product design. Focusing on technical solutions and individual behaviour while assuming people's needs as fixed entities, disregards the dynamics of everyday practices in which technologies themselves create needs. Therefore, the consumer's position should be strengthened through userdriven innovation. LivingLabs are combined lab-/household systems, which put the user, i.e. the home occupant, and value chain related actors (producer, handicraft, etc.) on centre stage in the innovation process. We introduce its research agenda and the Three Phases Model of research. We hypothesise that at the end of this userintegrated innovation process developed products have a higher chance of successful diffusion. To illustrate this, we show how the LivingLab infrastructure is employed for the German InnovationCity Ruhr and how it can promote the development of user-centred sustainable consumption strategies.
Current production and consumption patterns remain unsustainable: Global economic growth reaches planetary boundaries and puts increasing pressure on the world's natural resources. Whereas most economic actors just react to environmental pressures, proactive market actors and other non-governmental organisations, e.g. greentec firms or fair trade organisations, turn them into market opportunities or even create standards or certification schemes as promising problem-solving market instruments in global value chains. However, how legitimate are standards and certification schemes developed by collaborating non-state actors for sustainability in global value chains? What are conditions for the success of those market-based governance mechanisms? This paper discusses the legitimacy and effectiveness of standard setting in the case of palm oil and focuses on the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) as the first global standard setting initiative in this respect. Conditions for the success of sustainability standard setting in global value chains are identified based on the concept of non-state market-driven (NSMD) governance, based on literature review and expert interviews on standard setting. Results from the case study on RSPO highlight strengths and weaknesses of its standard setting process in the light of increasing market demand for palm oil.
Resource-efficient construction : the role of eco-innovation for the construction sector in Europe
(2011)
Ob Metalle oder Kunststoffe, Wasser oder Energie: Auch im 21. Jahrhundert werden in Deutschland noch zu viele Ressourcen verschwendet. Politik, Wirtschaft und Zivilgesellschaft sind aufgefordert, den Ressourcen- und Klimaschutz mit erheblich stärkerem Einsatz voranzutreiben, um mögliche katastrophale Entwicklungen zu begrenzen. Wird diese Herausforderung engagiert angenommen, eröffnen sich zugleich neue Chancen für technischen und sozialen Fortschritt - Natur schonend, Arbeitsplätze schaffend und wirtschaftlich attraktiv. "Eine forcierte Steigerung der Ressourceneffizienz stärkt die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit Deutschlands und ermöglicht es, Wirtschaftswachstum und Ressourcenverbrauch effektiv zu entkoppeln", so lautet ein zentrales Ergebnis des Großprojekts "Materialeffizienz und Ressourcenschonung" (MaRess). Die Autoren des MaRess-Konsortiums untersuchen verschiedene Politikansätze und -instrumente und schaffen damit die Grundlage für eine engagierte, nachhaltige Ressourcenpolitik in Deutschland. Bei MaRess handelt es sich um das bisher umfassendste deutsche Projekt zum Thema "Material- und Ressourceneffizienz", gefördert vom Bundesumweltministerium und dem Umweltbundesamt. In 31 wissenschaftlichen Instituten und Unternehmen wurde drei Jahre lang geforscht: zu Potenzialen, Politiken, Wirkungsanalysen und Kommunikationsstrategien zur Fundierung einer neuen Ressourcenpolitik in Deutschland.
New technologies can be the basis for resource-efficient products and services and thus create eco-innovations, either by creating new functionalities in existing or new application fields or by substituting existing technologies in existing or new application fields. In this paper, an overview over different technology fields, products and strategies with resource efficiency potential, such as nanotechnolo- gies, material science, manufacturing technologies, process technologies and cross-cutting issues, is presented. There is a special focus on applications from nanotechnology issuing, e.g. functional surfaces or new "smart" materials with special functionalities. Furthermore, it is shown how companies can use the method Resource Efficiency Technology Radar to identify and evaluate technolo- gies with resource efficiency in order to incorporate them into their development activities.
Modul S2 "Kundenbedürfnisse"
(2010)
Modul S5 "Prozessmanagement"
(2010)
Modul S4 "Marketing-Konzept"
(2010)
In globalisierten Wirtschaftsstrukturen kann die Umwelt- und Sozialverträglichkeit von Produktion und Konsum nicht mehr von einzelnen Staaten, einzelnen Unternehmen oder einzelnen Konsument(inn)en effektiv umgesetzt werden. Sie ist zu einer globalen, grenzüberschreitenden Gestaltungsaufgabe geworden. Angesichts dieser Herausforderung kooperieren viele Unternehmen und Nichtregierungsorganisationen, um gemeinsam internationale Standards für Nachhaltigkeit in globalen Wertschöpfungsketten und Märkte für zertifizierte Produkte zu entwickeln. Doch wie können die Wirkungen dieser nicht-staatlichen Nachhaltigkeitsstandards systematisch erfasst werden? Wie kann der Prozess der Standardsetzung und Zertifizierung im Sinne einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung erfolgreich gestaltet werden? Justus von Geibler stellt in seiner Dissertation wesentliche Erfolgsfaktoren für die Entwicklung von nicht-staatlichen Nachhaltigkeitsstandards dar. Auf der Basis der Strukturationstheorie und empirischen Studien zur Zertifizierung nachwachsender Rohstoffe entwickelt er ein Analyseschema, mit dem sich Nachhaltigkeitseffekte von Produkten und Wirkungen der Nachhaltigkeitsstandards in Wertschöpfungsketten differenziert darstellen lassen. Er untersucht detailliert zwei aktuelle Praxisbeispiele, den "Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil" und den "Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels". Aus den Ergebnissen werden Handlungsempfehlungen abgeleitet, um Nachhaltigkeitsstandards und Zertifizierung erfolgreicher für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung nutzbar zu machen.
Wo geht die Reise hin?
(2010)
Die Lösung wichtiger gesellschaftlicher Probleme und die Vision einer besseren und nachhaltigeren Welt rufen nicht nur heute nach Veränderungen. Oft sind gesellschaftliche Umbrüche und soziale Innovationen jedoch so komplex, dass eindimensionale Vorstellungen zu den Zusammenhängen von Ursache und Wirkung versagen. Deshalb greift die traditionelle Herangehensweise der Verantwortlichen aus Politik, Unternehmen oder anderen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen oft zu kurz und zeigt nicht die gewünschten Erfolge. Um sich trotzdem in einer unübersichtlichen Welt orientieren zu können, entwickeln Menschen sowohl in der Praxis wie auch in den Wissenschaften unterschiedliche Modelle. Sie wollen verstehen, wie Veränderungsprozesse funktionieren, welche Triebkräfte wirken und wie sie Veränderungen gestalten können. In diesem Buch wird aus diesen Modellen die gemeinsame Essenz herausdestilliert. Ziel ist ein breiter Überblick über die einschlägigen wissenschaftlichen Ansätze und die Erfahrungen aus der Praxis. Der interdisziplinäre Blick wird ergänzt um 40 Tiefeninterviews mit hochrangigen Veränderungsexpertinnen und -experten aus der Praxis.
Klimawandel, Rohstoffknappheit, Finanz- und Wirtschaftskrise - die Liste der dringend zu lösenden, globalen Probleme ist lang. Sie greifen ineinander, befeuern sich gegenseitig und sind Symptome einer Krise des gesamten Systems. Die Gesellschaft steht vor einem Umbruch. Doch wie können wir den notwendigen Wandel erfolgreich mitgestalten? Es ist an der Zeit, sich mit Veränderungsprozessen zu befassen: Nur wer versteht, wie dieser Wandel abläuft, kann die Richtung der Veränderungen auch beeinflussen. In diesem Buch werden die wesentlichen Erfolgsfaktoren für Veränderungen untersucht und gezeigt, woran sich Veränderungsprofis aus der Praxis und der Wissenschaft orientieren. Die Autorin entwickelt ein Modell, mit dem Politik, Verbände oder Nichtregierungsorganisationen Veränderungen in der Gesellschaft erfolgreicher anstoßen und gestalten können.
Globale Wertschöpfungsketten : eine Frage der Nachhaltigkeit ; das Beispiel der Palmölindustrie
(2010)
Gleichstand nach 12000 Seiten : welches Produkt ist umweltschonender: E-Book oder gedrucktes Buch?
(2010)
This paper argues that Entertainment-Education (E-E) is a striking communication strategy for reaching middle and lower socio-economic classes with climate-friendly lifestyle messages. On the international level (e.g. in the US and the Netherlands) E-E approaches are being theoretically grounded, whereas in Germany they are not yet. Therefore further theoretical discussion and mapping of E-E approaches is central for future research. As a first step towards providing further theoretical foundations for E-E in the field of sustainability, the authors suggest a threefold mapping of E-E approaches. The threefold mapping of E-E approaches for communicating climate-friendly lifestyles to middle and lower class consumers is based on recent results from academic research and practical developments on the media market. The commonalities among the three is that they all promote pro-sustainability messages in an affective-orientated rather than cognitive-orientated, factual manner. Differences can be found in: the sender of the sustainability message, the targeted consumer groups and the media approach in use. Based on this, the paper draws the conclusion that two new paths for further research activities in the field of Entertainment-Education can be proposed: (1) Improving the existing approaches in practice by using theoretical foundation from the E-E field. This comprises at its core (A) to do formative, process and summative effect research on the messages and (B) to use E-E theory from the field of social psychology, sociology and communication science for further improvement and (2) Generating new E-E theories by analyzing the existing practical approaches in the media to communicate climate change.
Natural resource consumption of different waste policy options in the Helsinki metropolitan area
(2009)
Entertainment-Education (E-E) ist eine Kommunikationsstrategie, die unterhaltende und bildende Elemente in Medienbotschaften integriert. Dieser Artikel zeigt, wie die "Unterhaltungsseite" und die "Bildungsseite" in den Niederlanden und den USA zusammen gebracht werden, um gesellschaftliche Gruppen zu erreichen, die auf eine emotionale Art der Informationsvermittlung ansprechen. Es wird diskutiert, was diese Modelle für die Entwicklung und Umsetzung von Entertainment-Education in Deutschland bedeuten könnten.
Wuppertaler Wissenschafts-Cocktail : Diskurs-Module zum Thema Stammzellenforschung und Klonen
(2009)
Finanzkrise und Klimapolitik
(2009)
Schlafender Riese : ohne Ressourcenschonung können wir nicht nachhaltig produzieren und konsumieren
(2009)
Von schönen guten Waren
(2008)
Die Zukunft wohnt im Bestand
(2008)
In the aftermath of the controversy on genetically modified organisms it has become clear that in order to harness new technologies for economic and social benefit, a wide range of social, ethical and regulatory concerns need to be addressed. This document summarises some key results from Nanologue, a project that brought together leading research and opinions on the social, ethical and legal implications of nanotechnology applications (NT) in Europe. The document presents information about the project's findings of "societal aspects of NT", based upon the results from interviews with NT scientists and researchers. Insights gained during the project have been translated into future scenarios as well as into an internet-based support tool for NT researchers and product developers called NanoMeter. The scenarios as well as the NanoMeter are briefly introduced and conclusions drawn.
Nanologue
(2008)
This paper presents the educational program "Encouraging Sustainability", initiated and realized by the "Foundation Forum für Verantwortung", the "ASKO EUROPA-FOUNDATION", and the "Europäische Akademie Otzenhausen/European Academy Otzenhausen" in cooperation with the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. The goal is to intensify the public discourse on sustainability within civil society concerning options of sustainable consumption and production patterns. The innovative program consists of two parts: (1) Twelve Books About the Future of the Earth (see section 2), (2) six didactical modules (section 3): From Knowledge to Action. The educational modules focus on important topics and key issues discussed in the context of sustainability: climate change, resource use, energy efficiency, population growth, water use, securing future food supplies, biodiversity etc. The didactical materials are developed as “open learning scenarios: all materials can be linked to many communication forms and situations in a flexible manner. For the creation and realisation of the educational materials the authors have chosen the concept of Sinus-Milieus, developed by Sinus Sociovision, in order to address specific target groups (section 4). The main target groups in the program "Encouraging Sustainability" are "leading groups of society" and multipliers because of their high resource and energy consumption on the one hand and because of their skills and educational background on the other hand. In the last section of this paper (section 5) the first experiences from the implementation of the modules are presented. The authors emphasize that the broad and flexible approach chosen, should work effectively in a period in which green issues rank high in the public opinion worldwide.
Evaluation report : ESSAY
(2008)
Good practices : ESSAY
(2008)
Das Buch analysiert aktuelle Trends und zeigt auf, wie Zukunftsmärkte erschlossen werden müssen, um den Universalbaustoff Holz in nachhaltiger Weise im Neu- und Altbau attraktiver zu machen. Anknüpfend an die Praxiserfahrungen aus dem Projekt "Holzwende 2020plus" werden konkrete Methoden zur Markterschließung vorgestellt. Ein weiterer Fokus liegt auf dem Transferkonzept, durch das die Projektergebnisse auf unterschiedlichen Wegen für die verschiedenen Zielgruppen aufbereitet werden.
Lifestyle equal educational style? : Resource conservation through lifestyle orientated education
(2008)
"Selbst-Check Handwerk" : Selbstbewertung zum nachhaltigen Wirtschaften in Handwerksbetrieben
(2007)
Klima und Finanzmarkt
(2008)
Das Ganze der Arbeit
(2007)
Klimawandel und Finanzmärkte
(2007)
Warum ist es so schwer, die Entwicklung von Regionen nachhaltig zu gestalten? Was blockiert die vielen Bemühungen? Inwiefern sind diese Blockaden auf dichotome Wahrnehmungs-, Denk- und Handlungsmuster zurückzuführen, die von Hierarchien durchzogen sind? Und wie lassen sich diese Blockaden überwinden? Zu diesen Fragen hat der Forschungsverbund "Blockierter Wandel?" in der Region Mulde-Mündung in Ostdeutschland Antworten erarbeitet, die in diesem Buch vorgestellt werden.
In der Zusammenarbeit der Forschenden mit zahlreichen Menschen der Region wurden in den Praxisfeldern Arbeit, Wasserver- und -entsorgung, Bildung, Landschaftsnutzung sowie im Hochwasserschutz Potenziale für Nachhaltigkeit ausgemacht, die sich zwischen bestehenden dichotomen Strukturen entfalten. In diesen Zwischenräumen werden Ziele und Prozesse einer sozial-ökologischen Transformation im gemeinsamen Lernen entworfen und gestaltet.
Nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung, so die Ergebnisse der kritischen Analyse und konstruktiven Perspektive des Forschungsverbundes, erfolgt über die Ermöglichung, Sicherung und Stabilisierung solcher Zwischenräume.
Mögliche Risiken für Unternehmen bei Direktinvestitionen in Ländern mit niedriger Umweltregulierung
(2006)
Assessing social aspects
(2006)
Die Nanotechnologie verspricht eine Fülle positiver Auswirkungen auf die Gesellschaft. Gleichzeitig werden diverse potentielle Risiken diskutiert. Es ergeben sich eine Vielzahl an ethischen Fragestellungen. Zunächst wird beschrieben, was unter Nanotechnologie zu verstehen ist. Es wird dann das Problemfeld ethischer Fragestellungen skizziert. Im Anschluss wird dargestellt, wie Chancen und Risiken der Nanotechnologie in einem Praxisprojekt adressiert werden können.