ABSTRACT
As already has been noted in the introductory chapters, a basic premise for this book is that current environmental policy objectives are unique in that a significant responsibility for performing pro-environmental activities and attaining political goals is found at the household level, especially in the many choices and activities that shape daily life. There is broad political and scientific consensus that the causes of current environmental problems, and thus many of the solutions to them, are found not only in the general policy decisions made by politicians at various levels or by the business community, but also in myriad everyday deliberations of individuals. The household, and ultimately the individual members who make up the household, thus hold a key role also in the practical effort towards achieving ecologically sustainable development. This ‘individualistic turn’ of environmental politics, however, also implies new challenges for political government. Increasingly, it highlights the necessity for policy-makers on all levels of government to construct new public policies that effectively initiate and sustain collective pro-environmental action on the individual level, and in a long-term perspective.
