What we do at home matters. Anthropologist Harold Wilhite wrote this back in 2005:
In Norway, energy for interior lighting is related to a cultural aesthetic which associates pools of light and shadow with a cosy ambience, contributing to the highest per capita energy use for lighting in the world.It might not seem that an idea like coziness would have an effect on national energy use, but when you think about things at the scale of an entire country—even a small one like Norway—things start to shift.
Jonathanb -- If we're to look at the article, we need the title and journal name, as the link doesn't go to an abstract or anything that indicates what the article is, just to a message that the session ID cookie has expired.
I assume it's Harold Wilhite, "Why Energy Needs Anthropology," in Anthropology Today, 21:3, June 2005.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
Or, rather, July 2005.
His article is just an editorial intro, though he's dead-on about the limitations of consumer research in dealing with energy use behavior. Later in the same journal, Annette Henning makes a similar (and equally valid) point about why relying purely on economic arguments to predict behavior.
If y'all are going to make the trek to an academic library (public libraries tend not to subscribe to Blackwell-Synergy), it might be worth looking for a copy of Society, Behaviour and Climate Change Mitigation, which contains some of Wilhite's research. But I am NOT braving ASU on homecoming weekend for that!
view wende in the twin cities's profile
You got it, Wende! I can't figure out how to post a functioning link... I'll update the post when I do.
Thanks for giving the full citation... and mentioning Annette Henning. She's also written a great article about solar panels and Swedish culture.
view jonathanb - co-editor, AT/re-nest's profile