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Community Engagement and Climate Change: The Value of Social Networks and Community-Based Organizations

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures

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Encouraging individuals to adopt energy-efficient and other sustainable ways of living has predominantly focused on trying to change individual behavior. Yet this approach has faced criticism from those seeking a more meaningful engagement process that communicates a “bigger than self” responsibility to act. This chapter contributes to this discussion by suggesting the use of social networks and role of community-based organizations within such networks, to encourage individuals to collectively move to low-carbon living. Drawing on the work of one such organization, Cambridge Carbon Footprint in the UK, it considers more broadly the ability of these “trusted messengers” in improving access to procedural knowledge (i.e., instructions on what to do) but also normative and impact knowledge (respectively, an individual’s beliefs about the consequences of their actions and an understanding of the behaviors of others). Approaching the climate challenge through sustained community...

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  1. Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Nicky Morrison

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  1. Nicky Morrison
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Correspondence to Nicky Morrison .

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Morrison, N. (2022). Community Engagement and Climate Change: The Value of Social Networks and Community-Based Organizations. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51812-7_327-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51812-7_327-1

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-51812-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-51812-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Social SciencesReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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