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“Governments Have the Power”? Interpretations of Climate Change Responsibility and Solutions Among Canadian Environmentalists

“Governments Have the Power”? Interpretations of Climate Change Responsibility and Solutions... The authors examine environmentalists’ attribution of responsibility for addressing climate change and their beliefs about solutions to this problem. Their analysis is based on responses to open-ended questions completed by 1,227 members of nine different environmental organizations. For these environmental movement participants, the federal government is seen as most responsible for addressing climate change. Government leadership is necessary because it has the power to set regulations and lead corporations and citizens toward pro-environmental behavior. However, a substantial number of participants also assert that “individuals are the driving force” in dealing with climate change. In this framework, individuals can take responsibility either through making lifestyle changes, or through applying pressure to government and businesses as citizens and consumers. Corporations are interpreted as unwilling to change on their own but must be coerced into becoming more environmentally sustainable by a strong state. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Organization & Environment SAGE

“Governments Have the Power”? Interpretations of Climate Change Responsibility and Solutions Among Canadian Environmentalists

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References (78)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2012
ISSN
1086-0266
eISSN
1552-7417
DOI
10.1177/1086026612436979
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The authors examine environmentalists’ attribution of responsibility for addressing climate change and their beliefs about solutions to this problem. Their analysis is based on responses to open-ended questions completed by 1,227 members of nine different environmental organizations. For these environmental movement participants, the federal government is seen as most responsible for addressing climate change. Government leadership is necessary because it has the power to set regulations and lead corporations and citizens toward pro-environmental behavior. However, a substantial number of participants also assert that “individuals are the driving force” in dealing with climate change. In this framework, individuals can take responsibility either through making lifestyle changes, or through applying pressure to government and businesses as citizens and consumers. Corporations are interpreted as unwilling to change on their own but must be coerced into becoming more environmentally sustainable by a strong state.

Journal

Organization & Environment – SAGE

Published: Mar 1, 2012

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