Publications by year
In Press
Devine-Wright P, Bickerstaff K, Butler C (In Press). Living with low carbon technologies: an agenda for sharing and comparing qualitative energy research.
Energy PolicyAbstract:
Living with low carbon technologies: an agenda for sharing and comparing qualitative energy research
Policies to reduce the carbon intensity of domestic living place considerable emphasis on the
diffusion of low(er) carbon technologies - from microgeneration to an array of feedback and
monitoring devices. These efforts presume that low carbon technologies (LCTs) will be accepted and
integrated into domestic routines in the ways intended by their designers. This study contributes to an
emerging qualitative energy research (QER) literature by deploying an analytical approach that
explores comparison of data from two UK projects ('Carbon, Comfort and Control' and 'Conditioning
Demand') concerned, in broad terms, with householder interactions with LCTs - primarily associated
with the production and maintenance of thermal comfort. In-depth, and in many cases repeat,
interviews were conducted in a total of 18 households where devices such as heat pumps and thermal
feedback lamps had recently been installed. We discuss this comparative process and how a reflexive
reading of notions of (and strategies associated with) credibility, transferability, dependability and
confirmablity enabled new ways of working and thinking with existing data. We conclude by
highlighting the contrasts, conflicts, but also creativities raised by drawing these connections, and
consider implications for methodologies associated with qualitative energy research.
Abstract.
Caprotti F (In Press). Rethinking the off-grid city.
Urban GeographyAbstract:
Rethinking the off-grid city
There has been a resurgence in interest in the off-grid city, with a focus on off-grid urban spaces in the Global South, and on how the off-grid functions as a collection of places, lived spaces, and dynamic infrastructural configurations. As scholars and practitioners working in the off-grid urban context in South Africa, we contend it is necessary to question the assumptions of the “off-grid” concept in urban geography in terms of its implications for conducting research. We thereby identify four areas for further conceptual and empirical elaboration. The first area concerns the importance of continuing to redefine academic and practical understandings of the “grid”, ultimately moving to redefine its meaning in the city. The second is a need to decolonise and decentre the relationship between global and technocratic urban development “standards”, practices and discourses, and the granular off-grid context. The third area is the imperative of critically engaging with narratives of inadequacy and imperfection as often applied to off-grid, informal urban spaces. The fourth is the priority of moving towards a needs-based approach to off-grid development, with a focus on co-production of urban knowledge with local communities to ensure their needs and interests are met.
Abstract.
2023
Quinn T, Heath S, Adger WN, Abu M, Butler C, Codjoe SNA, Horvath C, Martinez-Juarez P, Morrissey K, Murphy C, et al (2023). Health and wellbeing implications of adaptation to flood risk.
Ambio,
52(5), 952-962.
Abstract:
Health and wellbeing implications of adaptation to flood risk
Adaptation strategies to ameliorate the impacts of climate change are increasing in scale and scope around the world, with interventions becoming a part of daily life for many people. Though the implications of climate impacts for health and wellbeing are well documented, to date, adaptations are largely evaluated by financial cost and their effectiveness in reducing risk. Looking across different forms of adaptation to floods, we use existing literature to develop a typology of key domains of impact arising from interventions that are likely to shape health and wellbeing. We suggest that this typology can be used to assess the health consequences of adaptation interventions more generally and argue that such forms of evaluation will better support the development of sustainable adaptation planning.
Abstract.
2022
Butler C (2022).
Energy poverty, practice, and policy., Palgrave Macmillan.
Abstract:
Energy poverty, practice, and policy
Abstract.
2021
Adger WN, Brown K, Butler C, Quinn T (2021). Social Ecological Dynamics of Catchment Resilience.
Water,
13(3), 349-349.
Abstract:
Social Ecological Dynamics of Catchment Resilience
Catchment resilience is the capacity of a combined social ecological system, comprised of water, land, ecological resources and communities in a river basin, to deal with sudden shocks and gradual changes, and to adapt and self-organize for progressive change and transform itself for sustainability. This paper proposes that analysis of catchments as social ecological systems can provide key insights into how social and ecological dynamics interact and how some of the negative consequences of unsustainable resource use or environmental degradation can be ameliorated. This requires recognition of the potential for community resilience as a core element of catchment resilience, and moves beyond more structural approaches to emphasize social dynamics. The proposals are based on a review of social ecological systems research, on methods for analyzing community resilience, and a review of social science and action research that suggest ways of generating resilience through community engagement. These methods and approaches maximize insights into the social dynamics of catchments as complex adaptive systems to inform science and practice.
Abstract.
Barnett J, Graham S, Quinn T, Adger WN, Butler C (2021). Three ways social identity shapes climate change adaptation.
Environmental Research Letters,
16(12), 124029-124029.
Abstract:
Three ways social identity shapes climate change adaptation
Abstract
. Adaptation to climate change is inescapably influenced by processes of social identity—how people perceive themselves, others, and their place in the world around them. Yet there is sparse evidence into the specific ways in which identity processes shape adaptation planning and responses. This paper proposes three key ways to understand the relationship between identity formation and adaptation processes: (a) how social identities change in response to perceived climate change risks and threats; (b) how identity change may be an objective of adaptation; and (c) how identity issues can constrain or enable adaptive action. It examines these three areas of focus through a synthesis of evidence on community responses to flooding and subsequent policy responses in Somerset county, UK and the Gippsland East region in Australia, based on indepth longitudinal data collected among those experiencing and enacting adaptation. The results show that adaptation policies are more likely to be effective when they give individuals confidence in the continuity of their in-groups, enhance the self-esteem of these groups, and develop their sense of self-efficacy. These processes of identity formation and evolution are therefore central to individual and collective responses to climate risks.
Abstract.
2020
Quinn T, Adger WN, Butler C, Walker-Springett K (2020). Community Resilience and Well-Being: an Exploration of Relationality and Belonging after Disasters. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 111(2), 577-590.
2019
Landeg O, Whitman G, Walker-Springett K, Butler C, Bone A, Kovats S (2019). Coastal flooding and frontline health care services: challenges for flood risk resilience in the English health care system.
J Health Serv Res Policy,
24(4), 219-228.
Abstract:
Coastal flooding and frontline health care services: challenges for flood risk resilience in the English health care system.
OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to assess the health care system impacts associated with the December 2013 east coast flooding in Boston, Lincolnshire, in order to gain an insight into the capacity of the health care sector to respond to high-impact weather. METHODS: Semistructured interviews were held with regional strategic decision makers and local service managers within 1 km of the recorded flood outline to ascertain their experiences, views and reflections concerning the event and its associated health impacts and disruption to health care services. A snowballing sampling technique was used to ensure the study had participants across a broad range of expertise. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, and data analysis was preformed using NVivo (v10) to apply a thematic coding and develop a framework of ideas. RESULTS: the results of this case study provide a vital insight into the health care disruption caused by flooding. All sectors of the health care system suffered disruption, which placed a strain on the whole system and reduced the capacity of the sector to respond to the health consequences of flooding and delivering routine health care. The formal recovery phase in Lincolnshire was stood-down on 4th February 2014. The results of this work indicate limitations in preparedness of the health care system for the reasonable worse-case scenario for an east coast surge event. CONCLUSIONS: the health care sector appears to have limited capacity to respond to weather-related impacts and is therefore unprepared for the risks associated with a future changing climate. Further work is required to ensure that the health care system continues to review and learn from such events to increase climate resilience.
Abstract.
Author URL.
MacBride-Stewart S, Butler C, Fox NJ (2019). Editorial: Special Issue on Society, Environment and Health.
Health (London),
23(2), 117-121.
Author URL.
Brown K, Adger WN, Devine-Wright P, Anderies JM, Barr S, Bousquet F, Butler C, Evans L, Marshall N, Quinn T, et al (2019). Empathy, place and identity interactions for sustainability.
Global Environmental Change,
56, 11-17.
Abstract:
Empathy, place and identity interactions for sustainability
Sustainability science recognises the need to fully incorporate cultural and emotional dimensions of environmental change to understand how societies deal with and shape anticipated transformations, unforeseen risks and increasing uncertainties. The relationship between empathy and sustainability represents a key advance in understanding underpinning human-environment relations. We assert that lack of empathy for nature and for others limits motivations to conserve the environment and enhance sustainability. Critically, the relationship between empathy and sustainability is mediated by place and identity that constrain and shape empathy's role in pro-environmental sustainability behaviour. We review emerging evidence across disciplines and suggest a new model exploring interactions between place, identity and empathy for sustainability. There are emerging innovative methodological approaches to observe, measure and potentially stimulate empathy for sustainability.
Abstract.
2018
Butler C, Walker-Springett K, Adger WN (2018). Narratives of recovery after floods: Mental health, institutions, and intervention.
Soc Sci Med,
216, 67-73.
Abstract:
Narratives of recovery after floods: Mental health, institutions, and intervention.
There is increasing evidence that flood events affect the mental health of those experiencing them, with recognition that the period of recovery after the event is particularly important to outcomes. Previous research on flooding has argued that there is a recovery gap that occurs during the long process of recovery at the point when the support provision from public authorities and agencies diminishes, and less well-defined interactions with private actors, such as insurers, begin. This concept highlights the importance of the support and intervention from authorities and other institutions for recovery processes. To date, little research has focused specifically on these relationships and their consequences for people's mental wellbeing through recovery. This study examines the processes of individuals' recovery from flood events, focusing on the role of interaction with agencies in the trajectories of mental health journeys. The analysis applies a narrative approach to in-depth repeated interviews carried out over a fifteen-month period with nine individuals whose homes were inundated by floods in 2013/14 in Somerset, UK. The results suggest strong evidence for institutional support having an important role in how individuals experience their post-flood mental health recovery journeys. The data reveal strategies to maintain psychological and emotional resilience at distinct periods during recovery, and show that both institutional actions and the perceived absence of support in specific circumstances affect the mental health burden of flood events.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Butler C, Parkhill KA, Luzecka P (2018). Rethinking energy demand governance: Exploring impact beyond ‘energy’ policy.
Energy Research and Social Science,
36, 70-78.
Abstract:
Rethinking energy demand governance: Exploring impact beyond ‘energy’ policy
The challenges of climate change and energy security, along with problems of fuel poverty and energy justice bring imperatives to create transitions in energy demand. Academic research and theory have begun to highlight the ways that government policies, strategies, and processes across wide-ranging areas of policy, from health to work and the economy, shape everyday practices with significant implications for energy demand. This brings focus on the role of governance in shaping energy demand far beyond what might traditionally be characterised as ‘energy’ policy. Situating these ideas in terms of relational geographical concepts of governance, this paper analyses qualitative interview data with actors involved in governing along with documentary material, to highlight four different ways in which non-energy related governance can have important implications for energy issues. The central contribution of the paper is to set out a distinctive analytic framework for making visible ‘non-energy’ policy impacts, which might otherwise be obscured within analysis. The article concludes reflecting on the implications of the analysis for rethinking the governance of energy demand to meet contemporary challenges.
Abstract.
2017
Shirani F, Groves C, Parkhill K, Butler C, Henwood K, Pidgeon N (2017). Critical moments? Life transitions and energy biographies.
Geoforum,
86, 86-92.
Abstract:
Critical moments? Life transitions and energy biographies
Family and youth research has highlighted the importance of lifecourse transitions, illustrating how they can have a substantial impact on people's everyday lives and anticipated futures. Given their apparent significance, it is surprising that relatively little attention has been paid to life transitions – particularly unexpected ones – to explore how they can impact upon everyday energy use. This is a central concern of Energy Biographies project. The project's qualitative longitudinal design makes an original contribution, affording a detailed view of how transitions unfold and their significance for energy demand and environmental action. Central to elucidating these issues is the concept of ‘linked lives’, recognising that people live interdependently. In this paper, we explore the accounts of three participants who experienced one or more life transitions during the course of the project, in order to consider the impacts of these events (both planned and unanticipated) on their everyday energy use and environmental actions as part of their linked lives with others.
Abstract.
Butler C, Parkhill K (2017). Governing Transitions in Energy Demand. In (Ed) Routledge Companion to Energy Geographies, London: Routledge.
Adger N, Butler C, Walker-Springett K (2017). Normal reasoning in adaptation to climate change.
Environmental Politics,
26Abstract:
Normal reasoning in adaptation to climate change
Moral foundations theory argues that moral reasoning is widely observed and fundamental to the legitimacy of relevant governance and policy interventions. A new analytical framework to examine and test how moral reasoning underpins and legitimizes governance and practice on adaptation to climate change risks is proposed. It develops a typology of eight categories of vulnerability-based and system-based moral reasoning that pertain to the dilemmas around adaptation and examines the prevalence of these moral categories in public discourse about specific adaptation issues. The framework is tested using data on climate change impact, adaptation, and societal responsibility, drawn from 14 focus groups comprising 148 participants across the UK. Participants consistently use moral reasoning to explain their views on climate adaptation; these include both vulnerability-based and system-based framings. These findings explain public responses to adaptation options and governance, and have implications for the direction of adaptation policy, including understanding which types of reasoning support politically legitimate interventions.
Abstract.
Walker-Springett K, Butler C, Adger WN (2017). Wellbeing in the aftermath of floods.
Health Place,
43, 66-74.
Abstract:
Wellbeing in the aftermath of floods.
The interactions between flood events, their aftermath, and recovery leading to health and wellbeing outcomes for individuals are complex, and the pathways and mechanisms through which wellbeing is affected are often hidden and remain under-researched. This study analyses the diverse processes that explain changes in wellbeing for those experiencing flooding. It identifies key pathways to wellbeing outcomes that concern perceptions of lack of agency, dislocation from home, and disrupted futures inducing negative impacts, with offsetting positive effects through community networks and interactions. The mixed method study is based on data from repeated qualitative semi-structured interviews (n=60) and a structured survey (n=1000) with individuals that experienced flooding directly during winter 2013/14 in two UK regions. The results show for the first time the diversity and intersection of pathways to wellbeing outcomes in the aftermath of floods. The findings suggest that enhanced public health planning and interventions could focus on the precise practices and mechanisms that intersect to produce anxiety, stress, and their amelioration at individual and community levels.
Abstract.
Author URL.
2016
Shirani F, Parkhill K, Butler C, Groves C, Pidgeon N, Henwood K (2016). Asking about the future: methodological insights from energy biographies.
International Journal of Social Research Methodology,
19(4), 429-444.
Abstract:
Asking about the future: methodological insights from energy biographies
Temporality is fundamental to qualitative longitudinal (QLL) research, inherent in the design of returning to participants over time, often to explore moments of change. Previous research has indicated that talking about the future can be difficult, yet there has been insufficient discussion of methodological developments to address these challenges. This paper presents insights from the Energy Biographies project, which has taken a QLL and multimodal approach to investigating how everyday energy use can be understood in relation to biographical pasts and imagined futures. In particular, we detail innovative techniques developed within the project (e.g. SMS photograph activities) to elicit data on anticipated futures, in ways that engender thinking about participants’ own biographical futures and wider societal changes. We conclude by considering some of the significant benefits and challenges such techniques present. These methodological insights have a wider relevance beyond the substantive topic for those interested in eliciting data about futures in qualitative research.
Abstract.
Groves C, Henwood K, Shirani F, Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2016). Energy Biographies: Narrative Genres, Lifecourse Transitions, and Practice Change.
Science Technology and Human Values,
41(3), 483-508.
Abstract:
Energy Biographies: Narrative Genres, Lifecourse Transitions, and Practice Change
The problem of how to make the transition to a more environmentally and socially sustainable society poses questions about how such far-reaching social change can be brought about. In recent years, lifecourse transitions have been identified by a range of researchers as opportunities for policy and other actors to intervene to change how individuals use energy, taking advantage of such disruptive transitions to encourage individuals to be reflexive toward their lifestyles and how they use the technological infrastructures on which they rely. Such identifications, however, employ narratives of voluntary change that take an overly optimistic view of how individuals experience lifecourse transitions and ignore effects of experiences of unresolved or unsuccessful transitions. Drawing on interview data from the Energy Biographies project at Cardiff University, we explore three case studies where the effects of such unresolved transitions are significant. Using the concept of liminal transition as developed by Victor Turner, we examine instances where “progressive” narratives of energy use reduction clash with other “narrative genres” used to make sense of change. Such clashes show how narratives that view lifecourse transitions as opportunities ignore the challenges that such transitions may pose to efforts to construct or sustain identities.
Abstract.
Groves C, Henwood K, Shirani F, Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2016). Invested in unsustainability? on the psychosocial patterning of engagement in practices.
Environmental Values,
25(3), 309-328.
Abstract:
Invested in unsustainability? on the psychosocial patterning of engagement in practices
Understanding how and why practices may be transformed is vital for any transition towards socio-environmental sustainability. However, theorising and explaining the role of individual agency in practice change continues to present challenges. In this paper we propose that theories of practice can be usefully combined with a psychosocial framework to explain how agency is biographically patterned and how this patterning is a product of attachment re-lationships and emergent strategies for dealing with uncertainty. Biographical interview data from the project Energy Biographies is used to illustrate the ways in which this theoretical approach can enhance understanding of how potential for practice change may be opened up or obstructed.
Abstract.
Butler C, Walker-Springett K, Adger WN, Evans L, O'Neill S (2016). Social and Political Dynamics of Flood Risk, Recovery and Response.A Report of the Findings of the Winter Floods Project. Exeter, University of Exeter.
Groves C, Henwood K, Shirani F, Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2016). The grit in the oyster: using energy biographies to question socio-technical imaginaries of ‘smartness’.
Journal of Responsible Innovation,
3(1), 4-25.
Abstract:
The grit in the oyster: using energy biographies to question socio-technical imaginaries of ‘smartness’
It has been argued that responsible research and innovation (RRI) requires critique of the ‘worlds’ implicated in the future imaginaries associated with new technologies. Qualitative social science research can aid deliberation on imaginaries by exploring the meanings of technologies within everyday practices, as demonstrated by Yolande Strengers’ work on imaginaries of ‘smartness’. In this paper, we show how a novel combination of narrative interviews and multimodal methods can help explore future imaginaries of smartness through the lens of biographical experiences of socio-technical changes in domestic energy use. In particular, this approach can open up a critical space around socio-technical imaginaries by exploring the investments that individuals have in different forms of engagement with the world. The paper works with a psychosocial conceptual framework that draws on theoretical resources from science and technology studies to explain how valued forms of subjectivity may be conceptualised as emerging out of the ‘friction’ of engagement with the world. Using this framework, we show how biographical narratives of engagement with technologies from the Energy Biographies project can extend into critical deliberation on future imaginaries. The paper demonstrates the value of ‘thick’ data relating to the affective dimensions of subjective experience for RRI.
Abstract.
2015
Parkhill KA, Shirani F, Butler C, Henwood KL, Groves C, Pidgeon NF (2015). 'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives.
Environmental Science and Policy,
53, 60-69.
Abstract:
'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives
In UK energy policy, community-led energy initiatives are increasingly being imbued with transformative power to facilitate low carbon transitions. The ways that such expectations for communities are manifesting in practice remains, however, relatively poorly understood. In particular, key conceptual developments in unpacking what constitutes 'community' that highlight the significance of 'place' along with important characteristics, such as shared visions, collective social action, and resilience, have yet to be comprehensively explored in the context of community-led energy initiatives. This paper uses an interpretive stance to engage with these conceptual ideas about community and provides insights into the nature of community and its meaning for developing energy-related initiatives and realising the wider goals of energy policy. The paper draws on data from in-depth qualitative, longitudinal interviews undertaken in two residential communities and one purely workplace-based community, which are engaged in community energy initiatives. We argue that there are difficulties and ambiguities in creating shared visions, achieving social action, and developing resilience that are related to the specificities of community in place, but that all three characteristics are likely to be important for the making of sustainable places.
Abstract.
Demski C, Butler C, Parkhill K, Spence A, Pidgeon N (2015). Public Values for Energy System Change.
Global Environmental Change,
34, 59-69.
Abstract:
Public Values for Energy System Change
In this paper we discuss the importance of framing the question of public acceptance of sustainable energy transitions in terms of values and a ‘whole-system’ lens. This assertion is based on findings arising from a major research project examining public values, attitudes and acceptability with regards to whole energy system change using a mixed-method (six deliberative workshops, n = 68, and a nationally representative survey, n = 2441), interdisciplinary approach. Through the research we identify a set of social values associated with desirable energy futures in the UK, where the values represent identifiable cultural resources people draw on to guide their preference formation about particular aspects of energy system change. As such, we characterise public perspectives as being underpinned by six value clusters relating to efficiency and wastefulness, environment and nature, security and stability, social justice and fairness, autonomy and power, and processes and change. We argue that this ‘value system’ provides a basis for understanding core reasons for public acceptance or rejection of different energy system aspects and processes. We conclude that a focus on values that underpin more specific preferences for energy system change brings insights that could provide a basis for improved dialogue, more robust decision-making, and for anticipating likely points of conflict in energy transitions.
Abstract.
Spence A, Demski C, Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2015). Public perceptions of demand-side management and a smarter energy future.
Nature Climate Change,
5(6), 550-554.
Abstract:
Public perceptions of demand-side management and a smarter energy future
Demand-side management (DSM) is a key aspect of many future energy system scenarios. DSM refers to a range of technologies and interventions designed to create greater efficiency and flexibility on the demand-side of the energy system. Examples include the provision of more information to users to support efficient behaviour and new 'smart'technologies that can be automatically controlled. Key stated outcomes of implementing DSM are benefits for consumers, such as cost savings and greater control over energy use. Here, we use results from an online survey to examine public perceptions and acceptability of a range of current DSM possibilities in a representative sample of the British population (N = 2,441). We show that, although cost is likely to be a significant reason for many people to take up DSM measures, those concerned about energy costs are actually less likely to accept DSM. Notably, individuals concerned about climate change are more likely to be accepting. A significant proportion of people, particularly those concerned about affordability, indicated unwillingness or concerns about sharing energy data, a necessity for many forms of DSM. We conclude substantial public engagement and further policy development is required for widespread DSM implementation.
Abstract.
Butler C, Demski C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N, Spence A (2015). Public values for energy futures: Framing, indeterminacy and policy making.
Energy Policy,
87, 665-672.
Abstract:
Public values for energy futures: Framing, indeterminacy and policy making
In the UK there are strong policy imperatives to transition toward low carbon energy systems but how and in what ways such transitional processes might be realised remains highly uncertain. One key area of uncertainty pertains to public attitudes and acceptability. Though there is wide-ranging research relevant to public acceptability, very little work has unpacked the multiple questions concerning how policy-makers can grapple with and mitigate related uncertainties in efforts to enact energy systems change. In this paper, public acceptability is identified as an indeterminate form of uncertainty that presents particular challenges for policy making. We build on our existing research into public values for energy system change to explore how the outcomes of the project can be applied in thinking through the uncertainties associated with public acceptability. Notably, we illustrate how the public values identified through our research bring into view alternative and quite different problem and solution framings to those currently evident within UK policy. We argue that engagement with a wide range of different framings can offer a basis for better understanding and anticipating public responses to energy system change, ultimately aiding in managing the complex set of uncertainties associated with public acceptability.
Abstract.
Shirani F, Butler C, Henwood K, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2015). ‘I’m not a tree hugger, I’m just like you’: changing perceptions of sustainable lifestyles.
Environmental Politics,
24(1), 57-74.
Abstract:
‘I’m not a tree hugger, I’m just like you’: changing perceptions of sustainable lifestyles
For many in the Western world, there is increasing recognition of the fundamentally unsustainable nature of everyday actions and modes of consumption that form part of normal life. Some individuals attempt to challenge current ways of consuming and living in order to address these underlying issues. However, these efforts often continue to be positioned as unusual or unconventional, meaning that adopting sustainable lifestyles may be subject to wider negative perceptions. At the same time, some forms of action towards sustainable ways of living are becoming increasingly normalised as more people make moves towards sustainable consumption. Drawing on data from the qualitative longitudinal Energy Biographies project, we consider the experiences of those who describe their efforts to live sustainably, the relationship between sustainability and normality, and the implications of this in a context of fundamental trends towards unsustainable social systems.
Abstract.
2014
Parkhill KA, Shirani F, Butler C, Henwood KL, Groves C, Pidgeon NF (2014). 'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives.
Environmental Science and PolicyAbstract:
'We are a community [but] that takes a certain amount of energy': Exploring shared visions, social action, and resilience in place-based community-led energy initiatives
In UK energy policy, community-led energy initiatives are increasingly being imbued with transformative power to facilitate low carbon transitions. The ways that such expectations for communities are manifesting in practice remains, however, relatively poorly understood. In particular, key conceptual developments in unpacking what constitutes 'community' that highlight the significance of 'place' along with important characteristics, such as shared visions, collective social action, and resilience, have yet to be comprehensively explored in the context of community-led energy initiatives. This paper uses an interpretive stance to engage with these conceptual ideas about community and provides insights into the nature of community and its meaning for developing energy-related initiatives and realising the wider goals of energy policy. The paper draws on data from in-depth qualitative, longitudinal interviews undertaken in two residential communities and one purely workplace-based community, which are engaged in community energy initiatives. We argue that there are difficulties and ambiguities in creating shared visions, achieving social action, and developing resilience that are related to the specificities of community in place, but that all three characteristics are likely to be important for the making of sustainable places.
Abstract.
Pidgeon N, Demski C, Butler C, Parkhill K, Spence A (2014). Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A,
111 Suppl 4(Suppl 4), 13606-13613.
Abstract:
Creating a national citizen engagement process for energy policy.
This paper examines some of the science communication challenges involved when designing and conducting public deliberation processes on issues of national importance. We take as our illustrative case study a recent research project investigating public values and attitudes toward future energy system change for the United Kingdom. National-level issues such as this are often particularly difficult to engage the public with because of their inherent complexity, derived from multiple interconnected elements and policy frames, extended scales of analysis, and different manifestations of uncertainty. With reference to the energy system project, we discuss ways of meeting a series of science communication challenges arising when engaging the public with national topics, including the need to articulate systems thinking and problem scale, to provide balanced information and policy framings in ways that open up spaces for reflection and deliberation, and the need for varied methods of facilitation and data synthesis that permit access to participants' broader values. Although resource intensive, national-level deliberation is possible and can produce useful insights both for participants and for science policy.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2014). Energy consumption and everyday life: Choice, values and agency through a practice-theoretical lens. Journal of Consumer Culture, 16(19), 887-907.
Butler C, Parkhill KA, Shirani F, Henwood K, Pidgeon N (2014). Examining the Dynamics of Energy Demand through a Biographical Lens.
NATURE + CULTURE,
9(2), 164-182.
Author URL.
Parkhill KA, Butler C, Pidgeon NF (2014). Landscapes of Threat? Exploring Discourses of Stigma around Large Energy Developments.
Landscape Research,
39(5), 566-582.
Abstract:
Landscapes of Threat? Exploring Discourses of Stigma around Large Energy Developments
Abstract: in UK policy, concerns about climate change, energy security and system renewal, combine to create an imperative for transitions in landscapes of energy production. Some of the energy developments that will be central in these transitions are imbued with historical associations of, for example, ‘risk and threat’, which have been asserted to potentially lead to the stigmatisation of place and people in place. This paper explores stigmatisation through an analysis of data from interviews across two case sites in close proximity to existing and proposed energy developments. We show how our participants engage with or resist the notion that they are dwelling in ‘landscapes of threat’ and argue that stigma is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that is differentially encountered and experienced even within similar areas. In concluding, we argue that whilst people may experience stigmatising effects, this does not necessarily lead to them feeling stigmatised.
Abstract.
2013
Shirani F, Butler C, Henwood K, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2013). Disconnected futures: Exploring notions of ethical responsibility in energy practices.
Local Environment,
18(4), 455-468.
Abstract:
Disconnected futures: Exploring notions of ethical responsibility in energy practices
This article aims to explore people's connections to or disconnections from the future and the implications of this for their perspectives on equity, justice and ethical issues related to energy consumption. Everything people do is embedded and extended in time across the modalities of past, present and future, making time an inescapable aspect of our existence, yet one that often remains invisible and intangible. Debates about energy and environmental equity have raised questions about the extent to which people today should bear responsibility for the consequences of their behaviour for future generations. Seemingly intractable difficulties have been identified, however, in people's abilities to connect their present actions with their potential future consequences and thus take on such responsibilities. Drawing on data from interviews about energy consumption practices, this article explores whether people's living temporal extensions through younger generations of their families influence their views and practices around energy use in both the present and anticipated future. Through exploring these issues we offer a contribution to the ethical debate around responsibility for future generations. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Abstract.
Butler C, Simmons P (2013). Framing Energy Justice in the UK: the Nuclear Case. In Bickerstaff K, Walker G, Bulkeley H (Eds.) Energy Justice in a Changing Climate: Social equity and low-carbon energy, London: Zed Books.
Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2013). Nuclear Power After 3/11: Looking back and thinking ahead. In Hindmarsh R (Ed) Nuclear Disaster at Fukushima Daiichi:
Political, Social and Environmental Issues, London: Routledge.
Butler C, Darby S, Henfrey T, Hoggett R, Hole N (2013). People and Communities in Energy Security. In Mitchell C, Watson J, Whiting J (Eds.) New Challenges in Energy Security: the UK in a in a Multi-Polar World, Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2013). Transforming the UK Energy System: Public Values, Attitudes and Acceptability – Insights from Qualitative Deliberative Workshops, Full Report. London, UKERC.
Parkhill K, Demski C, Butler C, Spence A, Pidgeon N (2013). Transforming the UK Energy System: Public Values, Attitudes and Acceptability – Synthesis Report. London, UKERC.
Butler C, Demski C (2013). Valuing public engagement with energy system transitions: the importance of what lies beneath. Carbon Management, 4(6), 659-662.
2012
Pidgeon N, Corner A, Parkhill K, Spence A, Butler C, Poortinga W (2012). Exploring early public responses to geoengineering.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences,
370(1974), 4176-4196.
Abstract:
Exploring early public responses to geoengineering
Proposals for geoengineering the Earth's climate are prime examples of emerging or 'upstream' technologies, because many aspects of their effectiveness, cost and risks are yet to be researched, and in many cases are highly uncertain. This paper contributes to the emerging debate about the social acceptability of geoengineering technologies by presenting preliminary evidence on public responses to geoengineering from two of the very first UK studies of public perceptions and responses. The discussion draws upon two datasets: qualitative data (from an interview study conducted in 42 households in 2009), and quantitative data (from a subsequent nationwide survey (n =1822) of British public opinion). Unsurprisingly, baseline awareness of geoengineering was extremely low in both cases. The data from the survey indicate that, when briefly explained to people, carbon dioxide removal approaches were preferred to solar radiation management, while significant positive correlations were also found between concern about climate change and support for different geoengineering approaches. We discuss some of the wider considerations that are likely to shape public perceptions of geoengineering as it enters the media and public sphere, and conclude that, aside from technical considerations, public perceptions are likely to prove a key element influencing the debate over questions of the acceptability of geoengineering proposals. © 2012 the Royal Society.
Abstract.
2011
Butler C, Pidgeon N (2011). From 'flood defence' to 'flood risk management': Exploring governance, responsibility, and blame.
Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy,
29(3), 533-547.
Abstract:
From 'flood defence' to 'flood risk management': Exploring governance, responsibility, and blame
In the UK there has been a gradual transition in both the framing of flooding as a policy issue and the strategies employed to achieve policy objectives. This has involved a widely recognised shift from policies of 'flood defence' to 'flood risk management' (FRM), entailing both changes in approaches to FRM-such as greater advocacy of soft flood management approaches- and redistributions of responsibility-including more emphasis on the responsibilities of private citizens. In this paper, we utilise interviews with professionals working in flood risk (total participant n = 44) and discussion groups (participant n = 50) with public(s) that live in one of three UK cities which experienced major flooding in 2007 (Sheffield, Oxford, Gloucester) to examine some of the ways in which these policy transitions are being defined, negotiated, and contested. Drawing on governmentality theory, we reexamine contemporary shifts in FRM and open up discussion around the potential for emergent difficulties connected to the contemporary emphasis on relations of responsibility. © 2011 Pion Ltd and its Licensors.
Abstract.
Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2011). From the Material to the Imagined: Public engagement with low carbon technologies in a nuclear community’. In Devine-Wright P (Ed) Renewable Energy and the Public: from NIMBY to Participation, London: Earthscan.
Butler C, Parkhill K, Pidgeon N (2011). Nuclear Power after Japan: the Social Dimensions. Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 53(6), 3-14.
Spence A, Poortinga W, Butler C, Pidgeon NF (2011). Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience.
Nature Climate Change,
1(1), 46-49.
Abstract:
Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience
One of the reasons that people may not take action to mitigate climate change is that they lack first-hand experience of its potential consequences. From this perspective, individuals who have direct experience of phenomena that may be linked to climate change would be more likely to be concerned by the issue and thus more inclined to undertake sustainable behaviours. So far, the evidence available to test this hypothesis is limited, and in part contradictory. Here we use national survey data collected from 1,822 individuals across the UK in 2010, to examine the links between direct flooding experience, perceptions of climate change and preparedness to reduce energy use. We show that those who report experience of flooding express more concern over climate change, see it as less uncertain and feel more confident that their actions will have an effect on climate change. Importantly, these perceptual differences also translate into a greater willingness to save energy to mitigate climate change. Highlighting links between local weather events and climate change is therefore likely to be a useful strategy for increasing concern and action. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Abstract.
Butler C (2011). Risk: an Introduction.
SOCIOLOGY-THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION,
45(2), 354-355.
Author URL.
2010
Butler C (2010). Morality and climate change: is leaving your TV on standby a risky behaviour?.
Environmental Values,
19(2), 169-192.
Abstract:
Morality and climate change: is leaving your TV on standby a risky behaviour?
There is a growing literature which examines the ways in which individualised responsibilisation of 'risky behaviours' also entails moralisation. In UK discourses about climate change, certain individualised behaviours (e.g. leaving appliances on standby) are designated as responsible and/or good and correspondingly as irresponsible and/or bad. In this context, the decision to engage or not engage in these types of behaviour can be seen as becoming increasingly moralised. Drawing on focus group discussions with members of the British lay public (participant n96), this paper brings together public(s) (re)production of and negotiated responses to the moral undertones of this aspect of climate change discourse with theories of risk, morality and responsibility to develop important insights for conceptualising climate change mitigation. © 2010 the White Horse Press.
Abstract.
2009
Butler C, Pidgeon N (2009). Media Communications and Public Understanding of Climate Change: Reporting Scientific Consensus on Anthropogenic Warming. In Boyce T, Lewis J (Eds.) Climate Change and the Media, Oxford: Peter Lang.
Pidgeon N, Butler C (2009). Risk analysis and climate change.
Environmental Politics,
18(5), 670-688.
Abstract:
Risk analysis and climate change
There is an increasing emphasis on risk-based approaches in the scientific and economic assessment of climate change, exemplified by the Stern Report and IPPC 4th Assessment. In the United Kingdom, risk discourse also increasingly dominates environmental policy-making and governance. The use of risk assessment, management and communication practices in climate change governance and policy is critically examined, utilising an interpretation of 'risk' as a knowledge practice for informing decisionmaking and an instrument for governing populations. In elucidating current risk practices, alongside key critiques and varied proposals for revised approaches to risk characterisation, both the capacities and limitations of a risk basis for policy aimed at delivering adaptation and deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are examined. While contemporary risk approaches align well with dominant political rationalities in affluent Western democracies, they have serious limitations as a basis for the delivery of aggressive climate policy aims. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.
Abstract.
2008
Butler C (2008). Risk and the Future: floods in a changing climate. Contemporary Social Science: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences, 3(2), 159-171.
Butler C (2008). The Blackwell Dictionary of Modern Social Thought, 2nd edition.
SOCIOLOGY-THE JOURNAL OF THE BRITISH SOCIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION,
42(4), 770-772.
Author URL.
