ritual and sustainabiliy
DESCRIPTION
Graduation thesis project complete at the Emily Carr University of Art & DesignTRANSCRIPT
re_en v isioning ri t ua l
a culture at odds with sustainabilit y
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MAX BRUINSMA
"Every design, in essence, is a criticism of a context for which it has been produced."
EDITORIAL
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EDITED BY
JEN COOK AND MICHÈLE GUIMOND
KIM PATRICK O'LEARY AND JONATHAN MEPHAM
TOTAL GRAPHICS3865 First AvenueBurnaby, BCV5C 3V 6
Emily Carr University of Art + Design1399 Johnston Street , Granvil le IslandVancouver BC V 6 H 3R 9
This book was produced solely for the reason and condition of a graduation project at Emily Carr University 2010. It shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without prior authorisation from the editors.
This book has been mindfully and carefully produced. Nevertheless the authors and editors do not warrant the information contained in this book to be free of errors. Readers are advised to keep in mind that statements, data, illustrations, procedural details or other items may inadvertently be inaccurate.
C O N T E N T SØ 1 T A B O O 20
FUTURE TABOOS 25
ØØ I N T R O D U C T I O N 15
[...] CIVIC RITUAL & SOCIAL MEANING 18
WORKS CITED 96
IMAGES & FURTHER READING 98
Ø2 P U R I F I C A T I O N 32
CLEAN SPACE 34
Ø3 R I T E S O F P A S S A G E 44
LIFE LAND MARKS 50
Ø4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E 54
[...] POOR IMAGE OF SUSTAINABILITY 58
TRAVEL NORMS 60
[...] BICYCLE DIARIES 64
Ø5 W O R S H I P 66
[...] TELEVISION VIEWING AS RITUAL 71
MONO MEDIA 72
Ø6 S H A M A N S 76
TRANSFORMERS
Ø7 E T I Q U E T T E 86
CULTURE CUES 90
“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E
G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H
W H I C H TA K ES I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C
D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”
"OUR COMMON FUTURE"
BRUNDTLAND REPORT, 1987
UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
DEFINITION SUSTAINABILITY
“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E
G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H
W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C
D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”
W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C W H I C H TA K E S I N TO AC C O U N T T H E I N E X T R I CA B L E N AT U R E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N TA L , S O C I A L A N D EC O N O M I C
D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ” D I M E N S I O N S O F D E V E LO P M E N T ACT I V I T I E S. ( 1 ) ”
“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E “ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E
G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H
“ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E “ [ … ] D E V E LO P M E N T T H AT M E E TS T H E N E E D S O F T H E P R E S E N T W I T H O U T C O M P R O M I S I N G T H E A B I L I T Y O F F U T U R E
G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H G E N E R AT I O N S TO M E E T T H E I R OW N N E E D S. S U STA I N A B L E D E V E LO P M E N T I S B AS E D O N A LO N G -T E R M A P P R OAC H
7
" A L M O ST A LL M A I N ST R E A M S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M E A S U R E S I M P L I C I T LY AS S U M E T H AT T H E P R O B L E M CA N
B E S O LV E D T H R O U G H G R E AT E R M AT E R I A L A N D E C O N O M I C E F F I C I E N CY A N D T EC H N O LO G I CA L “ F I X ES,”
I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N
E C O FO OT P R I N T ( 7 )."
"THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND SELF-
DELUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE
BUILDING SECTOR"
WILLIAM E. REES
[...]
" A L M O ST A LL M A I N ST R E A M S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M E A S U R E S I M P L I C I T LY AS S U M E T H AT T H E P R O B L E M CA N
B E S O LV E D T H R O U G H G R E AT E R M AT E R I A L A N D E C O N O M I C E F F I C I E N CY A N D T EC H N O LO G I CA L “ F I X ES,”
I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N I G N O R I N G T H E E V I D E N C E T H AT, TO DAT E , S U C H ST R AT E G I E S H AV E ACT UA LLY I N C R E AS E D T H E H U M A N
" A L M O ST A LL M A I N ST R E A M S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M E A S U R E S I M P L I C I T LY AS S U M E T H AT T H E P R O B L E M CA N
B E S O LV E D T H R O U G H G R E AT E R M AT E R I A L A N D E C O N O M I C E F F I C I E N CY A N D T EC H N O LO G I CA L “ F I X ES,”
" A L M O ST A LL M A I N ST R E A M S U STA I N A B I L I T Y M E A S U R E S I M P L I C I T LY AS S U M E T H AT T H E P R O B L E M CA N
B E S O LV E D T H R O U G H G R E AT E R M AT E R I A L A N D E C O N O M I C E F F I C I E N CY A N D T EC H N O LO G I CA L “ F I X ES,”
RITUAL USES SYMBOLIC ACTIONS
TO COMMUNICATE A FORMING OR
TRANFORMING MESSAGE IN A
UNIQUE SOCIAL SPACE.
SY M B O L I C ACT I O N S : ACT I O N S T H AT C O M M U N I CAT E
P R I M A R L I Y T H R O U G H SY M B O LS, S E N S E S,
A N D E M OT I O N S.
FO R M I N G A N D T R A N S FO R M I N G : E I T H E R BY R E -
I N FO R C I N G T H E STAT U S Q U O BY FO R M I N G P E O P L E ' S
WO R L DV I E W S, I D E N T I T I E S, A N D R E L AT I O N S H I P S O R
BY AS S I ST I N G I N T H E P R O C E S S O F C H A N G E .
S O C I A L S PAC E : A U N I Q U E S PAC E S E T A S I D E F R O
N O R M A L L I F E .
"RITUAL AND SYMBOL
IN PEACEBUILDING"
LISA SCHRICH
9
7 CATEGORIES OF RITUAL
[MO]MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE_ The way in which the ritual is enacted
[LSF]LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION_The human behaviour which motivates the ritual
11
"THE CULTURAL DIMENSION
OF SUSTAINABILITY"
DAVIDE BROCCHI
"FOR UNDERSTANDING WHAT MAKES
CULTURE SUSTAINABLE, WE SHOULD ASK
WHAT HINDERS OR PROMOTES THE
CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF PEOPLE.(2)"
[ I N T R O D U C T I O N ]
I N T R OLooking around me at my coff ee cup, oven,
running shoes, computer, and so on, I can
see the word sustainability. If it is not on the
packaging then it easy to fi nd on the com-
pany’s corporate website, most often
accompanied by a little green leaf. The word
(and the leaf ) are becoming increasingly pre-
sent in our lives, attached to a huge range
of products, services, and movements. Yet
despite having knowledge of this term for
more than 30 years, the implementation of
sustainability on a mass scale is a persistent
struggle. Yes, many of us recycle, some peo-
ple ride bicycles, and most of us, if asked, say
that of course we care about sustainability. But
have we really changed the way to do things, to
produce and to manufacture?
The current information ‘campaigns’ cen-
tered around sustainability, undertaken by
some of the worlds leading scientists, activ-
ists and pop science books, are currently very
successful at communicating how we are not
changing fast enough, despite being sub-
merged in little green leaves. We still consume
beyond capacity and according to the world’s
most learned on the subject, we are still
hurtling towards environmental Armageddon.
But if all the scientifi c knowledge we need
is there, why are the changes not happening
quickly enough?
One of the new proposed answers to this
question, is that in the drive towards solv-
ing sustainability the focus, in discourse and
implementation, has been on three pillars,
social, economic and environmental but has
failed to address the fourth pillar—culture
(3). The current mechanisms used to address
sustainability focus primarily on technocratic
solutions that preserve cultural norms and
largely omit an analysis of the construct of
these norms. One of the ways we might exam-
ine these norms is through our rituals. All
the items listed above (my coff ee, my running
shoes, my oven and my computer) form part
of my daily rituals. However, apart from letting
little green leaves drive my consumer choices,
ultimately my rituals have made very few pro-
gressive changes in sustainability.
Winston Churchill once said: “First we
shape our buildings, thereafter they shape
us.”.(2) We as human beings are embedded
in the constructs of our own cultural archi-
tecture.(4) Just as how the buildings we live
in shape us, constructs of our cultural spaces
inform how we live our lives as well. It is
quite diffi cult, therefore, to step away from
and be objective about our own culture
—essentially it is a little like asking a fi sh to
see water. As described by the Erik Assadou-
rian, Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch
Institute “The cultural norms, symbols, val-
ues, and traditions a person grows up with
become “natural”. Thus asking people who
live in consumer cultures to curb consumption
is akin to asking them to stop breathing—they
can do it for a moment but then, gasping they
inhale again.”(4)
I N T H E D R I V E TOWA R D S S O LV I N G S U STA I N A B I L I T Y
T H E FO C U S H AS B E E N , I N D I S C O U R S E A N D
I M P L E M E N TAT I O N , O N T H R E E P I LL A R S, S O C I A L ,
EC O N O M I C A N D E N V I R O N M E N TA L A N D H A S L A R G E LY
FA I L E D TO A D D R ES S A FO U RT H – C U LT U R E T H I S
B O O K I S A N AT T E M P T TO R E F L ECT O N W H AT
I N FO R M S O U R C U LT U R A L A R C H I T ECT U R E , TO
‘ S E E’ F R O M O U TS I D E . A VA N TAG E P O I N T T H AT
H O P E F U LLY R A I S ES Q U EST I O N S A B O U T O U R
C U LT U R A L S PAC E . T H I S N E W VA N TAG E P O I N T
W E H AV E D E F I N E D AS R I T UA L .
13
D U C T I O N
JEN COOK
MICHÈLE GUIMOND
So, this book represents our attempt to
refl ect on what contributes to, and informs
some of our cultural architecture, to help
us ‘see’ from outside. A vantage point that
hopefully raises questions about our cultural
space. This new vantage point we have defi ned
as ritual.
Ritual has played a large, and largely
undervalued, role both in regulating and
perpetuating human behaviour. Often, dis-
cussions of ritual relate to religious and
primitive cultures. However, it is diffi cult to
ignore their underlying presence in a con-
temporary secular society. If you consider for
a moment, ritual exists everywhere in our
society—from buying a coff ee in the morning,
our personal grooming regime, and inter-
personal etiquettes, to more grand gestures
that help support transition through life
stages, for example in funerals and weddings.
Rituals are born from the need to create mean-
ing around what we do, and to regulate how
we enact that meaning. Fundamentally, ritual
can be regarded as the enactment of beliefs
and values.
The enactment of ritual varies in gran-
deur, function and manifestation. However,
these enactments fall loosely into 7 catego-
ries: Taboo, Purifi cation, Rites of Passage,
Spiritual Exercise, Worship, Shamans and Eti-
quettes (5). Each of these categories has both
a latent social function (why they started) and
a manifested objective (how they manifest as
enactment). This book looks at both latent
social function and manifestation of the 7 cat-
egories of rituals both as means of off ering a
new vantage point of how they regulate current
cultural spaces and how they might inform the
development of new cultural foundations.
As communication designers, our role in
the sustainability equation frequently is valued
as relatively passive. Normally when designers
enter into the sustainability discourse they do
so via the techno-solution route, addressing
the problem through material usage mostly
—a realm that is more relevant to industrial
designers. The function of a communication
designer is to communicate ideas—therefore,
as storytellers and image-makers we have a
role to play in driving and creating new cul-
tural narratives.
What we have set out to do in this book
must be prefaced with the statement that as
two communication designers we are not
attempting to write a new discourse around
sustainability. We are inspired by people such
as Eirk Adassourian and Wiliam Rees, who
have dedicated their careers and lives to tack-
ling one of the biggest challenges facing
humanity. This book is an attempt to engage
a wider audience in thinking about and dis-
cussing sustainability as a cultural concern
rather than purely a scientifi c or technological
challenge.
We have approached this exciting new
emergent discourse with a combination of
interpretation of academic work and personal
refl ection as it pertains to the existence of ritu-
als in mass culture. Assuming our readers to
be familiar with some of the scientifi c facts
about the ecological crisis, we do not set out
to prove any of them but instead use our skills
as Communication Designers to expose visu-
ally where ritual, culture, and sustainability
interact. For those interested, there is a list of
works cited at the back of our publication for
further reading and understanding. We chose
to utilize our own observations regarding rit-
ual and sustainability in our lives, and for that
reason this book sets out to be non-prescrip-
tive and we welcome audience interpretation.
[ I N T R O D U C T I O N ]
15
“NO CULTURE CAN HAVE ANY EFFECT IF IT ISN’T COMMUNICATED, THOUGHT
AND LIVED THROUGH SOCIAL AGENTS. HOW CAN WE BRING A CULTURE OF
SUSTAINABILITY TO PEOPLE? HOW CAN WE CHANGE THEIR WAY OF THINKING?
HOW CAN SUSTAINABILITY BE LIVED?(2)”
"THE CULTURAL DIMENSION
OF SUSTAINABILITY"
DAVIDE BROCCHI
[ I N T R O D U C T I O N ]
Large-scale public rituals are widely viewed
as contributing to the cohesion of a society or
group; yet today many observers detect a trend
away from common ritual practices. From a
normative standpoint, there is some agree-
ment that this is not necessarily a sign of social
progress and enlightenment. Mary Douglas
argues that one of the gravest problems today
is the lack of commitment to common social
symbols, and she regards the anti-ritualism
trend disapprovingly as an ineffective way of
humanizing society. In her view, it would be
more practical to experiment with more flex-
ible institutional forms, and to seek to develop
their ritual expression than to reject all ritual
expression as socially primitive or psychologi-
cally regressive. The contemporary decline of
common ritual behavior forms creates a vac-
uum wherein unsatisfied demand for symbolic
interaction generates strong social pressures
for new modes of ritual involvement [..].
Ritual is often studied side by side with
social mythology. […] From this perspective
ritual is modeled as a medium of social com-
munication, even as a language in a quite
literal sense. Ritual serves to define the way to
do things, and to provide a series of tools and
techniques for social behavior. It crystallizes
customs; it fixes public meanings; and defines
social order memberships.
Ritual serves to make symbolic state-
ments about the social order. In this capacity
it structures social cognitions. The role of
ritual in the social coding of experiences, can
be described as the "imprinting" function
of ritual. By providing a common vision for
social groups, ritual links the past with the
future. […] Among those who have special-
ized in the study of human ritual action, there
is considerable consensus about its social
identity and bonding functions. These aspects
are particularly visible in various secular, civic
rituals which cluster around themes of social
cohesion, community, and inclusion/exclu-
sion. Identification with the group is enhanced
with the ritual use of symbolic vehicles such as
songs, pledges of allegiance, myth-recitation,
and holiday celebrations with their character-
istic modes of dress and consumption (6).
CIVIC RITUAL AND SOCIAL MEANING
[...] exerpt
"RITUAL BEHAVIOUR &
CONSUMER SYMBOLISM"
DENNIS W. ROOK
17
LARGE-SCALE PUBLIC RITUALS ARE
WIDELY VIEWED AS CONTRIBUTING
TO THE COHESION OF A SOCIETY OR
GROUP; YET TODAY MANY OBSERVERS
DETECT A TREND AWAY FROM COMMON
RITUAL PRACTICES.
T A B O OT A B O O
19
Ø1RITUAL
T A B O OT A B O O
[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF TABOO
21
AN AVOIDANCE OF CERTAIN VISIBLE
THINGS:FOODS,PLACES,PEOPLE,OBJECTS
WHICH ARE FELT TO BE A SOURCE OF
IMPURITY OR CONTAMINATION
F U T U R E
[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]
TA B O O S H AV E A LO N G H I STO RY I N H U M A N
C U LT U R E A N D H AV E I N FO R M E D M A N Y
B E H AV I O U R S, VA LU ES A N D B E L I E FS.
TA B O O S CA N B E U N D E R STO O D AS H AV I N G
B OT H A P O S I T I V E A N EG AT I V E R O L E TO P L AY
I N T H E C R E AT I O N A N D P E R P E T UAT I O N O F
C U LT U R A L P R ACT I C ES.
Without doubt the green movement has been
instrumental in bringing the notion of sustain-
ability into mass culture and has contributed
to the advancement of the current discourse
around the issue. As with any revolution, the
sustainability revolution relies on those who
work tirelessly at the periphery to change
incumbent cultural paradigms. However,
we would argue that as with the early stages
of other cultural revolutions, the sustain-
ability revolution in its infancy remains largely
excommunicated from mainstream discourse
(apart perhaps from corporate green-market-
ing mandates). For many people the notion
of sustainability remains an abstract concept
rather than what activists cry for: a dialecti-
cal unifying ideology. Sustainability remains
in the everyday world as a kind of cultural
paradigmatic taboo. It is the elephant in the
room at corporate and government strategy
meetings about economic growth and it is
the elephant that equally sits next to me in the
changing room at my favourite clothing store
as I buy yet another shirt that I do not need.
Taboos are ingrained in human culture and
inform many behaviours, values and beliefs.
The manifestation of a taboo is an avoidance
of certain visible things—foods, places, peo-
ple or objects— which are felt to be a source
of impurity or contamination (1). Therefore,
taboos perpetuate and/or enforce avoidance
to that which is perceived as outside of the
norm and, as such, are an attack on values
or persons. Today, the predominant cultural
paradigm, certainly in the West and spreading
fast throughout the world, is defi ned by eco-
nomic growth and consumerism. Therefore,
it is not diffi cult to see how it becomes taboo
for a business person to talk of aiming for
less, rather than more, economic growth and
'unnatural' for me to question the purchase
of that shirt. Unbridled economic growth
and unbridled consumerism underpin not
only our cultural practices (production), but
also our cultural values and mythology. As
such, humans living and acting within this
cultural space, are embedded, moulded and
constrained by the cultural systems that are
23
TA B O O S
For instance, the contamination on an eco-
logical level caused by strawberries existing
in a store in January is not attached to any
cycle. Every time we go into a store, regard-
less of season, they continue to exist in
plenty. There is evidence, however, that
taboos are emerging as regulators of contem-
porary behaviours. To drive an ostentatious
gas-guzzling vehicle such as a Hummer is
viewed now by many groups as taboo. Its
increasing recognition as a symbol of con-
tamination has enabled it be considered as a
threat to norms. In the drive towards sustain-
ability, necessarily, an agreement will emerge
about what social practices represent a threat
to our norms and contaminate our cultural
space.
borne of this paradigm (2). Thus, to a large
degree in our current cultural space, sustain-
ability symbolizes a threat to human norms
and a contamination of our current values.
Or as William Rees (creator of the term “eco-
logical footprint”) points out, sustainability is
dialectically at odds with our current cultural
mythology (3). By this defi nition sustainability
is taboo.
In new discourse around sustainability
there has to be a shift towards including social
anthropology and psychology as a means
of understanding how to integrate sustain-
ability culturally rather than trying to solve
it technocratically. It is not enough to ret-
rofi t technological fi xes onto unsustainable
practices, at some point we need to start ques-
tioning what motivates them in the fi rst place.
This means not only must we understand the
values that drive unsustainable practices, but
calls for an analysis of the evolution of human
behaviour. In ecologist’s William Rees' paper
“What’s blocking sustainability? Human
nature, cognition, and denial”, he points to
the importance of assessing innate human
tendencies and the signifi cant role they play in
the human eco-economic behaviour (3). Rees
argues that if “ we do not acknowledge their
existence, we will not be able successfully to
manage them” through “countervailing cir-
cumstances such as moral codes, cultural
taboos, legal prohibitions, or other social
inhibitors” (3) In this approach, the very tools
that contributed to unsustainable cultural
practices could now be repurposed to promote
sustainable practices.
As cultural regulators, taboos have
functioned, in human history, to regulate
unsustainable behaviours For instance, in
some tribal communities the ‘chief ’ would
deem a certain species of fish taboo at par-
ticularly times of year. This was to prevent
the species being over fished during the fish’s
reproductive season, ensuring its survival and
that of the tribes own resources. In a contem-
porary society there is a greater gap overall
between our behaviours and their effects as
an attack of our norms or as contiminating.
[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]
"ULTIMATELY, WHILE HUMAN BEHAVIOR IS ROOTED IN EVOLUTION AND PHYSIOL-
OGY, IT IS GUIDED PRIMARILY BY THE CULTURAL SYSTEMS PEOPLE ARE BORN
INTO. AS WITH ALL SYSTEMS, THERE ARE DOMINANT PARADIGMS THAT GUIDE CUL-
TURES—SHARED IDEAS AND ASSUMPTIONS THAT, OVER GENERATIONS, ARE SHAPED
AND REINFORCED BY LEADING CULTURAL ACTORS AND INSTITUTIONS AND BY THE
PARTICIPANTS IN THE CULTURES THEMSELVES. TODAY THE CULTURAL PARADIGM
THAT IS DOMINANT IN MANY PARTS OF THE WORLD AND ACROSS MANY CULTURAL
SYSTEMS IS CONSUMERISM.(2)"
"THE RISE AND FALL OF
CONSUMER CULTURE"
ERIK ADASSOURIAN
[...]
25
[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF TABOO
27
TO IDENTIFY AND MAINTAIN THE
BOUNDARIES OF GROUPS; TO
MAINTAIN A SENSE OF
PERSONAL BOUNDARY
[ Ø 1 TA B O O ]
"PREVENTING THE COLLAPSE OF HUMAN
CIVILIZATION REQUIRES NOTHING
LESS THAN A WHOLESALE TRANSFOR-
MATION OF DOMINANT CULTURAL PAT-
TERNS. THIS TRANSFORMATION WOULD
REJECT CONSUMERISM—THE CULTURAL
ORIENTATION THAT LEADS PEOPLE TO
[...]
"THE RISE AND FALL OF
CONSUMER CULTURE"
ERIK ADASSOURIAN
29
FIND MEANING, CONTENTMENT,AND AC-
CEPTANCE THROUGH WHAT THEY CONSUME
AS TABOO AND ESTABLISH IN ITS
PLACE A NEW CULTURAL FRAMEWORK
CENTERED ON SUSTAINABILITY. IN THE
PROCESS, A REVAMPED UNDERSTANDING
OF "NATURAL" WOULD EMERGE."
P U R I F I C AT I O N
31
Ø2RITUAL
P U R I F I C AT I O N
C L E A N
[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]
The word "object" comes from the Latin
objectum, meaning "thing thrown before
or presented to the mind or thought". The
objects with which we surround ourselves also
take up mental space—each one has a history
of its own, and represents our experiences,
thoughts, and projections of self. Examining
my possessions revealed a range of facets of
my life—dreams, insecurities, and impulsive-
ness to name a few. Of course, there are the
objects that served practical purposes in my
life—toothbrush, bedsheets, towels plates and
cutlery. These make my life easier. But what
of that olive green Sunbeam handheld mixer
I bought second hand almost three years ago
that is lying on my shelf ? This object spoke
of someone I wanted to be at the time—the
kind of person who enjoys baking on a regu-
lar basis. Finding that cute little mixer invoked
enough excitement in me, at the prospect of a
house smelling like baked goods, to purchase
it. Since then? Well, while I do make a killer
zucchini-walnut loaf, the cute mixer mostly
sits there unused. Now, the object becomes a
burden - the possibility of its future use keeps
it in my kitchen, but its presence simultane-
ously assigns guilt at my not using it.
Objects of a projected (or perceived) self
are what a consumer society is based upon;
nothing is more motivating than something
that sells a life or lifestyle that you crave and
want to have. These objects can also function
as signifi ers—messages to others that denote
taste, character, and values. What does it imply
that I own more vinyl than CDs? That my fur-
niture is mostly second-hand, and favours
mid-century design? Or that my DVD collec-
tion includes both Big Trouble in Little China
and Rosemary's Baby? Clothing purchases
are even more prone to this kind of self-pro-
jection—the fashion industry is fuelled on
crafting images, playing roles and "dressing
the part". Consumer culture touts conform-
ity disguised as individual choice—setting
oneself apart from the crowd in their choice
of soft drink, shoes, or mayonnaise. This has
decidedly negative consequences, however,
as identity becomes "… a refl exive, ongoing,
individual project shaped by appearance and
performance. This freedom, however, comes
at the cost of security; without fi xed rules, the
individual is constantly at risk of getting it
wrong, and anxiety attends each choice.".(1)
We have all felt it, the paralysis of choice when
we are presented with two (or more) options
with equal benefi t and consequence. It has
been shown, according to Barry Schwartz, that
these kinds of decisions can only lead to dis-
satisfaction, as whatever choice is made, in
the end we can't help wondering if the other
option was, in fact, the better one.
The decision to reduce my belongings by
half had been percolating in my mind for a
T H E WO R D " O B J ECT " C O M ES F R O M T H E
L AT I N O B J ECT U M , M E A N I N G " T H I N G
T H R OW N B E FO R E O R P R ES E N T E D TO T H E
M I N D O R T H O U G H T."
33
S PAC E
while. Initially, it was the frustration of con-
stantly sorting, folding, putting away, and
organizing. This, coupled with limited time
with which to deal with all this stuff made
my living space feel congested, as though I
was losing a battle of my own design—these
objects were in my life by choice, mostly. I
began to look at the objects in my life more
analytically, and the process has been inter-
esting. Initial excitement gave way to anxiety
at the loss of an identity, constructed however
haphazardly over the years. What has kept me
persevering, however, was the cataloguing of
my stuff in the fi rst place which gave me a total
of nearly 1000 objects. I was shocked and then
became even more determined to act. The fi rst
stages of the process went quickly. As I zeroed
in on piles of stuff I knew I could give away eas-
ily I felt I was well on my way to a detachment
from my things. Around the halfway mark,
however, resistance surfaced and decisions
were no longer as easily made. While in the
moment of decision, I felt anxiety and strong
attachment to the things I own, once the deci-
sion was made I no longer cared. Perhaps it
is true then, that an object really only exists
when it is "thrown into view". These feelings
made no rational sense, and I began to wonder
what might be causing such a strong reaction
to things that I barely considered otherwise?
Out of necessity to achieve my goal I also had
to approach objects of sentiment, gifts from
over the years, heirlooms from family mem-
bers, souvenirs from trips and the like. This
is where it became ugly; to give away some
of these objects is akin to throwing away the
memory. There is a certain sacredness to these
objects which makes it diffi cult to let go, a
connection to your past and the people in your
life that is somehow honoured in these things.
I selected the objects with the most meaning to
keep, and resolved that the gesture of the other
objects would simply exist in my memory.
Our economy is moving increasingly from
a goods-based to a services-based format.
Companies like Zipcar, who loan products or
provide services are attending to a changing
attitude towards ownership of goods. Why buy
a car you hardly use when you can rent one,
cheaply, only when needed? Why does every
household on the block need to have a toolbox
when only a few would do? Community shar-
ing not only makes sense in terms of lowering
material consumption, it also builds commu-
nity ties - a crucial part of a sustainable future.
To me, sustainability does not mean having
to give up feeling or looking good, or being
surrounded by beautiful things. It does not
mean I can not buy things, or receive gifts. I
believe that a simpler life is more sustainable,
and being freed from the mental burden of
clutter is included in that. By limiting myself
I free myself from the burden of infi nite
choice created by consumerism. I spend less
time searching for clothing, less time tidying
up and less time wondering if I should have
bought the "other" one instead of "this" one. I
couldn't say if doing something like this would
benefi t everyone, but what I can say is, is that I
can see the clean lines of my apartment, and
breathe easier.
[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]
35
[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]
P U R I _F I CT I O N
M E T H O _D O LGY _ 4P E R S O N A LWHEN I DECIDED TO GET RID OF
%50 OF MY THINGS HERE ARE THE
QUESTIONS I ASKED MYSELF
37
03 DO I KNOW SOMEONE WHO WOULD
LOVE THIS MORE THAN ME?
01 CAN I GET RID OF THIS?
(I might need it later, I remember how much I loved it when I bought it,
It’s perfectly good, I should find a use for it,
It was hard to find, It was expensive, But it’s so cool,
So and so gave it to me, It reminds me of)
02 WOULD I BUY THIS AGAIN?
04 IS THIS ADDING TO MY LIFE?
[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]
THE DECISION
TO
CUT
MY BELONGINGS IN
39
1/2
HAD
BEEN IN
MY HEAD FOR
A WHILE
[ Ø 2 P U R I F I C AT I O N ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF PURIFICATION
41
TO DETACH SELF FROM EXTERNAL INFLUENCES IN ORDER
TO RE-ATTACH TO A PARTICULAR GROUP OR IN SOME CASES
TO RE-ATTACH TO AN INNER, REAL SELF
R I T E S O FP A S S A G E
43
R I T E S O FP A S S A G E
Ø3RITUAL
[ Ø 3 R I T E S O F PA S S A G E ]
45
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF RITES OF PASSAGE
TO REAFFIRM SOCIAL VALUES AND NORMS
ASSOCIATED WITH BEING A MEMBER OF GROUP
[ Ø 3 R I T E S O F PA S S A G E ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF RITES OF PASSAGE
47
TO PROVIDE RITUAL FORMS FOR TRANSITIONAL
PHASES OF LIFE: PREVALENT USE OF SYMBOLISM
OF BIRTH AND DEATH
LIFE
[ Ø 3 R I T E S O F PA S S A G E ]
Like the other categories of rituals, rites of
passage have both a manifested ritual objective
and a latent social function. The manifestation
of rites of passage can be understood broadly
as providing a series of understood system for
ritualizing (ceremonies, artifacts) the tran-
sitional phases of life, particularly with birth
and death (1). The seems the more obvious way
we understand this in contemporary culture.
However, the latent social function, which is
to reaffi rm the social values and norms asso-
ciated with being a member of a group; to
navigate the limbo state between life stages, is
arguably the more sinister hidden side of this
type of ritual when viewed in a consumer soci-
ety. In consumer culture micro rites of passage
are ensued every time a purchase is made. A
new car, a new pair of jeans, skin cream, book
or album might, on some level at least, oper-
ate as a ticket to a desired social circle—or the
maintaining of inclusion in an existing one. In
such subtle but manipulative ways consumer
goods are presented to us as the vehicle to nav-
igate through social groups. These micro rites
of passage have now to a large degree infi l-
trated through our values, norms and down to
our subconscious, as "[w]hen rites of passage
disappear from conscious presentation, they
nonetheless appear in unconscious and semi-
conscious guises.". (4)
As well as its latent social function it is easy
to see how the more recognized manifested
objective maps perfectly onto a consumer
culture. Attaching material associations to
inevitable life stages create consumerist ritu-
als hiding under the guise of 'tradition'. Rites
of passage can be individual, familial, or com-
munity-based; sometimes divided by gender,
sometimes purely social creation but often
revolve around biological stages. Biologically
determined transitions throughout history
have been marked by ritualistic ceremonies
involving artifacts. However, in consumer
culture these transitions are now becoming
increasingly exaggerated displays of material
wealth. The value of transition is also has a
monetary price tag attached to it.
R I T ES O F PAS SAG E F U N CT I O N TO H E L P
N AV I G AT E T WO D I ST I N CT T Y P ES O F
E V E N TS ; B I O LO G I CA L L I F E- STAG ES
A N D T H E M OV E M E N T B E T W E E N A N D
A M O N G S O C I A L C I R C L ES.
49
L A N D
MARKS
need to reach some kind of fruition. Here the
consumerist impulse breeds unchecked as "...
consumption activities [restore] harmony to
an ambiguous, incongruous, or unsatisfying
self-concept.". (3) In a culture rooted in indi-
vidualism, rites of passage have merely been
suppressed—away from community-based
support and recognition and towards private
reward—the new expensive suit for your fi rst
job out of college.
The key aspect of a rite of passage in terms
of its latent social function is to leave one
social group for another, the transformation of
one's personal identity in order to be accepted
into a new social order. Attaching a material
exchange to this process signals to the com-
munity that the transformation is complete.
A high school graduation ceremony; a baby
shower; or fi rst car. These life-cycle landmarks
are so intertwined with their socially accepted
materialistic forms that to not receive the
expected gift or ceremony is almost shameful.
In some cases, consumer culture has created
these rites out of thin air, or so successfully
appropriated traditional methods in favour
of a self-perpetuating consumer pattern.
De Beers, for instance, has so successfully
fabricated the tradition of diamond engage-
ment rings that many people who partake in
this now-convention are unaware that it was
manufactured by a corporation who invented
it to save their declining business. A national
campaign including the now-famous line "A
Diamond Is Forever" and a fl eet of actresses in
Hollywood wearing rings as public displays of
betrothal, and this new ritual took hold on the
American public.
If the marking of a rite of passage is an
important way to connect with new social
groups, it may also by extension be a way of
connecting with the continuity of humanity. To
acknowledge the entrance to a new life-stage
is to accept one's own mortality, and simulta-
neously to recognize a place within the history
of humanity. Engaging in a tradition or ritual
surrounding this transition period is a way to
deal with these uncontrollable conditions of
life. Ritual's function in this area is to convey
a sense of continuity in time and history as
enacted through repetitive behaviours - to take
solace in the collectively familiar in an unfa-
miliar situation.
Between the previous self and new self lies a
limbo state, where the subject lies in between
and belonging to neither. Within this limbo
state between role transitions lies a highly
vulnerable point of dissatisfaction and the
[ I N T R O D U C T I O N ]
51
COULD IT NOT BE SAID AT THIS TIME IN HUMAN HISTORY WE ARE IN
SUCH A LIMBO STATE IN REGARDS TO SUSTAINABILITY A TRANSFORMA-
TION OF IDENTITY FROM ONE WE HAVE OUTGROWN INTO ONE THAT WE DO
NOT YET KNOW? WITHOUT RITUALISTIC SIGNPOSTS, OR THE SENSE OF
CONTINUITY PROVIDED BY A RITE OF PASSAGE IN PARTICULAR, WE ARE
LEFT WITHOUT TRADITION AND CONVENTION TO HELP US NAVIGATE THIS
INEVITABLE TRANSITION. AS MUCH AS THIS CONTRIBUTES TO UNEASE AND
CONFUSION, IT IS ALSO OPPORTUNITY TO ENGINEER NEW TRADITIONS AND
RITES OF PASSAGE, ONES THAT RESPOND IN A DELIBERATE AND ENLIGHT-
ENED WAY TO THE CHALLENGES THAT LIE AHEAD, ROOTED WITHIN HUMAN
POTENTIAL, CONNECTIVITY AND INTELLIGENCE IN CONGRUENCE WITH
ECOLOGICAL AWARENESS.
[CON'T] LIFE LAND MARKS
S P I R I T U A LE X E R C I S E
53
Ø4RITUAL
S P I R I T U A LE X E R C I S E
[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
55
TO SEEK UNITY WITH SOME SACRED OTHER BY LIVING IN
ACCORD WITH A DISCIPLINE, WHICH REQUIRES PARTICULAR
FORMS OF BEHAVIOUR
[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]
The UNEP (United Nations Environment Pro-
gram) study says much of the communication
around sustainable lifestyles has tended to
be from environmental groups and govern-
ment and either 'prescriptive, patronising
or disapproving'.
'Rather than turn people on to the vast
opportunities and enjoyment sustainable life-
styles can bring, they have turned people off ,'
says Townsend.
What’s lacking, she argues, is a vision.
‘Nobody aspires to live a policy. People aspire
to what they can see, feel, touch; some-
thing tangible. We don’t have a passionate,
eloquent, visual description of sustainable life-
styles, so people don’t know they want them.’
Futerra's 'Sell the Sizzle' report, taking its
"DO ENVIRONMENTALISTS
HOLD BACK SUSTAINABLE
LIFESTYLES?"
UNEP
[...]
name from a salesman’s advice to ‘sell the siz-
zle’ rather than the sausage, argues that while
the science may be what policymakers want
to talk about, it is not what people want to
hear about.
‘For years we’ve tried to ‘sell’ climate
change, but a lot of people aren’t buying,'
Townsend says. 'Threats of climate hell
haven’t seemed to hold us back from running
headlong towards it. We must build a visual
and compelling vision of low carbon heaven.
And this vision must be desirable.
‘If [it] isn’t more desirable than what we’ve
got now then why bother reaching for it?’
POOR IMAGE OF SUSTAINABILITY
57
REACHING A BIGGER AUDIENCE
However, creating a single 'desirable' vision
of a sustainable lifestyle won't be enough on
its own, according to Dr Michael Peters, from
the Research Group on Lifestyles Values and
Environment (RESOLVE) at the University
of Surrey.
‘Initiatives that attempt to connect with
people and engage in more sustainable
ways tend to attract people who are already
‘switched on’ environmentally, so there’s a big
barrier in connecting with people for whom
environmental issues are not a key priority,’
he says.
Peters says that in some cases the peripheral
benefi ts of lifestyles that exert less impact on
the environment should be highlighted, such
as the savings that can be made by running an
energy effi cient household.
‘If the moral environmental argument
doesn’t resonate, then perhaps the fi nancial
savings could.’
MEASURING HAPPINESS
Others believe that the issue goes deeper than
simply selling the benefi ts or desirability of a
sustainable lifestyle - the biggest barrier of all
may be social pressures and how we measure a
happy and successful life.
In the industrialised world especially,
this tends to be gauged in terms of material
wealth. The traditional yardstick is that of
consumption, typically viewed as an indica-
tion of well-being and wealth by economists
with GDP regarded as the last word in meas-
uring progress, development and prosperity of
a society.
But, as the UNEP study on sustainability
points out, GDP is not a reliable indicator of
happiness or satisfaction. A quick look at the
New Economics Foundation's (NEF) Happy
Planet Index reveals that those countries
with the highest GDP are not ranked as
the happiest.
In fact, the top ten countries are all Latin
American or Caribbean (bar Vietnam), with
Costa Rica topping the ranks. Rich industri-
alised nations fall somewhere in the middle
– the UK ranks 74th behind Germany, France
and Italy, while the USA is way behind at 114th
out of 143.
Juliet Michaelson, a researcher at the NEF,
agrees that the perception of what drives
happiness presents a barrier to people living
sustainable lifestyles.
‘As long as signs of success, both indi-
vidually and at a societal level, are to do with
material possessions and wealth then there is
a big incentive to gear our behaviour towards
producing those things,’ she says.
‘Those things are not the biggest driver of
well-being. Things such as your social rela-
tionships have a much bigger role to play (2).
TRAVEL
[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]
I am neither religious Nor a green activist, and
I struggle with the notion of prescribed ways
of living. But increasingly, like many people, I
have begun to subscribe to the new ‘discipline’
of sustainability through my rituals and asso-
ciated behaviours. Some of my ‘rituals’ and
choices about my lifestyle are more ration-
alised in terms of being directly informed by
discourse around sustainability (eating little
or no meat, banning strawberries in Decem-
ber etc…), some rituals have become much
more naturalized, such as recycling and drink-
ing from a reusable mug. However, one of my
rituals and choices about my lifestyle is not a
rationalised devotional act to being green but
more a devotional act to self pleasure. My cho-
sen form of transport – a bicycle.
Many people see my decision to ride a bike
as a devotional act to the ‘discipline’ of sus-
tainability. Because the car is perceived as
the normal form of transport, my decision to
adopt a behaviour outside this norm is consid-
ered alternative. However, I have a confession.
I do not ride a bike because I think I am sav-
ing the planet. I ride a bike because it makes
me feel good. It has become a highly ritualized
and extremely sacred part of my day. I do not
see each journey as some form of self-fl ag-
ellation in honour of the “great green deity”
or earth. I ride a bicycle because it gives me
great pleasure.
Lifestyle is a defi ned as a “way of using cer-
tain goods, places, times that is characteristic
of a group.” (1). Lifestyles are not passive in a
consumer culture but constructed through a
range of consumption choices. Symbolically
our lifestyle choices are tied to the construc-
tion of a desired identity. A design of a lifestyle
is not only about just daily or personal experi-
ence but a marking of status (1). The clothes
we wear, the gym to which we have member-
ship, the place we do our grocery shopping
and the way we choose to travel all link us to a
lifestyle group. And, to maintain our affi liation
to a lifestyle tier or group, we must conform to
particular forms of behaviour.
I do not drive a BMW (although I do own a
car). My transport- mobile consists of a lovely
T H E B I K E I S T H E W O R L D ' S M O ST W I D E LY
U S E D FO R M O F T R A N S P O RT.
59
NORMS
5 speed 'Dutch' designed bike. The design of
this bike dates back more than a century and,
like an Eames chair or another design artifact,
I admire my bicycle for its sophistication and
as an ingenious piece of design. Essentially, my
view is that my bike is as sophisticated a form
of transport as the BMW. I realize that this
equitable view of a bike and a car is not shared
by all people in North America. Unfortunately,
in North America, unlike in Europe, cycling
does not have as much “street cred”, respect
or acceptance. Therefore, to bike to a busi-
ness meeting as opposed to pulling up in a
Bentley in many respects does not carry the
same status.
Unfortunately the lack of street credibility
for biking in North America is shared to some
degree with the lack of credibility of sustain-
ability. In more contemporary discourse, as the
previous article suggests, the current media
image of sustainability, as with any poor mar-
keting campaign, could be hindering its sale,
acceptance or credibility. Subscriber num-
bers to this new discipline are low. Arguably
this is related in part to the way sustainability
is marketed. The practices related to this new
discipline, like more classic forms of spiritual
exercise, emphasize self-denial.
My personal case study has made me
consider, what could be argued as the
current marketing campaign around sustain-
ability. Other than the problem of its image
being lodged in 'granolafi ed' hippiedom,
unlike successful marketing campaigns, the
campaign to sell sustainability appears to be
failing to address what motivates the behav-
iours of potential 'buyers'. My decision to
ride a bike is not based on the fact that I think
my self-denial of driving a car will save the
planet. My choice of transport is motivated by
a desire to improve the quality of my life. For
me cycling is more akin to a practice like Yoga;
it is a meditative practice that has health ben-
efi ts and a form of spiritual exercise more than
a physical one. Cycling is about self-refl ection
more than ideological subscription.
Perhaps its diffi cult to consider ‘selling’
sustainability by convincing each individual
of the need to give up objects and rituals for
the “greater good” of humankind. Most good
campaigns start with addressing how to shift
someone's perception so that they begin
to value what is being sold in a new way. In
North America, for instance, a major problem
in converting more people to cycling, apart
from just convenience, is related to a percep-
tion about what value it has in terms of a mode
of transport. As the bike continues to be
viewed as uniquely as form of exercise and not
seen as an accessible and sophisticated form
of transport it will preserved as such.
It is clear that simply prescribing a disci-
pline does not lead to its adoption. Therefore
the second part of a new sustainability cam-
paign must address the types of positive
personal experience that can motivate change
in personal behaviours. Bicycling connects me
more closely to my environment, it increases
my health, it lowers my cost of living, allows
me a space for meditation, allows me to feel
more a part of community and makes me
excited about ingenious design. I believe that a
shift in the sustainability campaign away from
self-denial towards these benefi ts might be
more eff ective in achieving sustainability.
[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
61
TO RE-AFFIRM THE NORMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DISCIPLINE
[ Ø 4 S P I R I T U A L E X E R C I S E ]
"I've been riding a bicycle as my principal
means of transportation in New York since the
early 1980s. I tentatively first gave it a try, and
it felt good even here in New York. I felt ener-
gized and liberated. I had an old three-speed
leftover from my childhood in the Baltimore
suburbs, and for New York City that's pretty
much all you need. My life at that time was
more or less restricted to Manhattan-the East
Village and SoHo-and it soon became appar-
ent to me that biking was an easy way to run
errands in the daytime or efficiently hit a few
clubs, art openings, or nightspots in the even-
ing without searching for a cab or the nearest
subway. I know one doesn't usually think
nightclubbing and bike riding as soul mates,
there is so much to see and hear in New York,
and I discovered that zipping from one place
to another by bike was amazingly fast and
efficient. So I stuck with it, despite the aura of
uncoolness and the danger, as there weren't
many people riding back then. […] As I got
older I also may have felt that cycling was a
convenient way of getting some exercise, but
at first I wan't thinking of that. It just felt good
to cruise down the dirty potholed streets. It
was exhilarating.
By the late 80s I'd discovered folding bikes,
and as my work and curiosity took me to
various parts of the world, I usually took one
along. That same sense of liberation I expe-
rienced in New York recurred as I pedalled
around many of the world's principal cities. I
felt more connected to the life on the streets
than I would have inside a car or taxi for get-
ting from point A to point B; and I didn't have
to follow any set route. The same exhilaration,
the air and street life whizzed by, happened
again in each town. It was for me addictive.
This point of view-faster than a walk-slower
than a train, often slightly higher than a per-
son-became my panoramic window on much
of the world over the last thirty years-and it
still is. It's a big window and it looks out on
a mainly urban landscape. (I'm not a racer or
a sports cyclist.) Through this window I catch
glimpses of the mind of my fellow man, as
expressed in the cities he lives in. Cities, it
occurred to me are physical manifestations
of our deepest beliefs and our often uncon-
scious thoughts, not so much as individuals,
but as the social animals we are. A cognitive
scientist need only look at what we think and
what we believe to be important, as well as
how we structure those thoughts and beliefs.
It's all there in plain view, right out in the
open; you don't need CAT scans and cultural
anthropologists to show you what's going on
inside the human mind; its inner workings are
manifested in three dimensions, all around us.
Our values and hopes are sometimes awfully
embarrassingly easy to read. They're right
there - in the storefronts, museums, temples,
shops, and office buildings and in how these
structures interrelate, or sometimes don't.
They say, in their unique visual language,
"This is what we think matters, this is how we
live and play." Riding a bike through all this
is like navigating the collective neural path-
ways of some vast global mind. It really is a
trip inside the collective psyche of a connected
group of people. […]
BICYCLE DIARIES
[...]
INTRODUCTION FROM
"BICYCLE DIAIRIES"
DAVID BYRNE
63
Riding a bike won't stop climate change or many other dire predictions from happening in our
lifetimes, but maybe if some cities face climate, energy and transportation realities now they
might survive. […] I don't ride my bike all over the place because it is ecological or worthy. I
mainly do it for the sense of freedom and exhilaration. I realize that soon I might have a lot more
company than I have had in the past, and that some cities are preparing for these inevitable
changes and are benefiting the result (3).
OUR VALUES AND HOPES ARE
SOMETIMES AWFULLY EMBAR-
RASSINGLY EASY TO READ.
THEY'RE RIGHT THERE IN THE
MUSEUMS, SHOPS, AND OFFICE
BUILDINGS AND IN HOW THESE
STRUCTURES INTERRELATE,
OR SOMETIMES DON'T. THEY
SAY, IN THEIR UNIQUE VISUAL
LANGUAGE, "THIS IS WHAT WE
THINK MATTERS, THIS IS HOW
WE LIVE AND PLAY."
W O R S H I P
65
Ø5RITUAL
W O R S H I P
[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF WORSHIP
67
“MEDIA BUSINESSES HAVE A PROFOUND
IMPACT ON MARKETS AND SOCIETIES
THROUGH THEIR ABILITY TO INFORM,
EDUCATE, INFLUENCE AND ENTERTAIN;
AND THROUGH THEIR OWN CONTENT
AND THE ADVERTISING THEY CARRY,
THEY HAVE A PERVASIVE INFLUENCE
ON GLOBAL PATTERNS OF CONSUMP-
TION. AS SUCH THEY ARE CRITICAL
TO WHETHER THE PLANET ACHIEVES
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.”
INVOLVES FIVE DIFFERENT ELEMENTS,
WHICH IN PARTICULAR TRADITIONS MAY
BE GIVEN MORE OR LESS EMPHASIS
"WHY MEDIA COMPANIES
SHOULD BEHAVE
MORE RESPONSIBLY"
DAVID GRAYSON
GUARDIAN UK
[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]
WALTER CRONKITE
69
"THE TELEVISION RECEIVER IS NOT UNLIKE THE MEDIEVAL CATHEDRAL WHICH
SERVED AS A FOCAL POINT FOR THE CULTURE AND A WINDOW TO RITUALS WHICH
WERE CULTURALLY SIGNIFICANT[...]. VIEWERS RITUALISTICALLY ENTER INTO
'TELEVISIONLAND' WHICH IS NOT AS MUCH A WORLD OF FANTASIZED FACT AS IT IS
OF FACT FANTASIZED. IT IS ALSO A DREAM WORLD IN WHICH THE DEEPEST NEEDS
AND DESIRES OF THE SOCIETY ARE DEPICTED IN LIVING COLOR EIGHTEEN BROAD-
CAST HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. AND THROUGH RERUNS WE SHARE IN A
KIND OF LIVING HISTORY OF THE MEDIUM AND THE CONCERNS IT SHARED WITH THE
SOCIETY. TELEVISION VIEWING IS QUITE SIMPLY THE AMERICAN RITUAL. AND IT
WILL REMAIN THE AMERICAN RITUAL—UNIVERSAL, OMNIPRESENT, AND APPARENTLY
SATISFYING—UNTIL IT IS REPLACED BY AN EQUALLY SATISFACTORY CULTURAL
EXPERIENCE. MOST RITUALS ARE ACCOMPANIED BY CONSIDERABLE MANIFEST LIT-
URGY, BUT THE TELEVISION VIEWING RITUAL HAS BEEN LARGELY INTERNALIZED,
THUS REDUCING THE VISIBILITY OF ITS LITURGY FOR THE NON-SERIOUS CULTURAL
ANALYST[...].THIS HOUSEHOLD GOD MAY BE LARGELY TAKEN FOR GRANTED, BUT
THAT DOES NOT DIMINISH ITS AWESOME CULTURAL POWER.(1)"
"TELEVISION VIEWING
AS RITUAL"
MICHAEL T. MARSDEN
RITUALS AND CEREMONIES
IN POPULAR CULTURE
[...]
MEDIAMONO
[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]
The term worship is used classically to
describe a primarily religious enactment
of devotion to someone or something. The
subjects/objects of devotion and how this
devotion is enacted are determined by the
ideological system of the believer. In today’s
democratic and secular societies increasingly
it is the monolithic media with their celeb-
rity fi gureheads that play the largest role as
preachers and sermon givers of contemporary
mass ideologies. Thus in many ways media
contribute to determining our subjects/objects
of devotion, what we value and how we value
these subjects/objects. Most of us rely primar-
ily on TV and newspapers to keep up to date
with the state of moral climate, while enter-
tainment shows (popular culture, fi lm and
music) provide us with our idols. As stated in
the previous excerpt from Rituals and Ceremo-
nies in Pop Culture “The television receiver is
not unlike the medieval cathedral which served
as a focal point for the culture and a window
to rituals which were culturally signifi cant.
Television provides a series of common shared
experiences and images which have become
part of the collective and shared traditions
of our society.” (1). The media, much like a
church, forms the space in which social and
cultural ideologies are circulated and ulti-
mately absorbed. The media in all its forms
becomes extremely powerful as a provider
of mass collective experience and the pri-
mary circulator of ideological beliefs and
cultural norms.
Arguably one of the main omissions in
the current discourse around sustainability
is the failure to expose and demand account-
ability from the media. There are already
regulatory bodies who control standards of
language, explicit content, and advertising,
but nowhere is the media held accountable
for promoting unsustainable lifestyles. The
burden of accountability is most often found
squarely in the manifested behaviours of the
individual or corporations. A famous quote
from Allen Ginsberg, an infl uential writer
and poet in the 1960s; “Whoever controls
the media; the images; controls the culture”
quite succinctly illustrates the notion of the
power of the media in the control of cul-
ture. It stands to reason then that media,
as with any other cultural head (state or
church), is necessarily accountable in terms
of the future of cultural integration of sus-
tainability. As quoted in a recent article in the
UK’s Guardian:
“Media businesses have a profound impact
on markets and societies through their ability
to inform, educate, infl uence and entertain;
andthrough their own content and the adver-
tising they carry, they have apervasive infl uence
on global patterns of consumption. As such
theyare critical to whether the planet achieves
sustainable development.”.(2) So there is
T H E M O N O L I T H I C M E D I A H AS B EC O M E E X T R E M E LY
P OW E R F U L AS P R OV I D E R O F M AS S C O LL E CT I V E
E X P E R I E N C E A N D T H E P R I M A RY C I R C U L ATO R O F
I D EO LO G I CA L B E L I E FS A N D C U LT U R A L N O R M S.
71
little debate about the power and importance
of media in a democratic society. As discus-
sed in the introduction of the book “The
Business of Media: Corporate Media and the
Public Interest”:
“In important respects, the business of
media is unique. Unlike other industries, the
media deal in ideas, information and culture.
They inform and entertain us, influencing
how we understand ourselves and our world,
as well as how we spend our leisure time.
Because they play such significant political and
cultural roles, the media hold a unique posi-
tion in democratic societies that value free and
creative expression, independent thought, and
diverse perspectives. Indeed in recognition
of this public interest role, the only busi-
ness protected by the U.S. Constitution is the
“free press”. (3)
The power of the media in contemporary
society has come under ever increasing criti-
cism as the concentration of media ownership
has continued to be dominated by fewer and
fewer companies. Media now, like everything
else in a capitalist society, is a commercial
enterprise “whose primary function is creat-
ing profits for owners and stockholders.” (3).
News along with entertainment has become
a product to be ‘sold'. In the United States,
8 corporations own the media from which
most people derive their news. These include:
Viacom, GE (owner of NBC), News Corp.,
Microsoft, Google, AOL-Time Warner, Disney
and Yahoo (4). These profit-driven corporate
giants therefore stand at the altar of today’s
reports on culture and ultimately of the moral
climate of society.
The issue with this concentration of own-
ership and business run media is perhaps
self evident. As profit-driven mega corpora-
tions the “yardstick by which the business
performance of media companies is meas-
ured by investors includes few notches that
mark public interest concerns about creativity,
independent thought, and diversity. Instead
the measurements gauge sales, advertis-
ing revenue, and profits.” (3). William Rees
asserts that “we are trapped in a collective
cultural mythology oriented around the idea
of boundless economic growth” and that this
mythology is itself at odds with sustainability.
(5) As media stands at the centre of these cul-
tural narratives, little is set to change without a
challenge to who is standing at the altar con-
trolling the messages.
[ Ø 5 W O R S H I P ]
THIS CHALLENGE HAS BEGUN AS PARTICIPATORY MEDIA EXPANDS THANKS TO
TECHNOLOGIES LIKE THE INTERNET. USERS ARE MORE AND MORE AT THE CEN-
TRE OF CONTENT PRODUCTION, AND INFORMATION IS FOUND ACTIVELY, NOT
PASSIVELY. THEREFORE PARTICIPATORY MEDIA CAN BE UNDERSTOOD AS MEANS
THROUGH WHICH TO BOTH CHALLENGE THE MONOLITH OF MEDIA BY DEMAND-
ING TRANSPARENCY WHILE SIMULTANEOULSY INCREASING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
ON ISSUES LIKE THOSE RELATED TO SUSTAINABILITY.(5) PARTICIPATORY
[CON'T] MONO MEDIA
73
MEDIA ENABLES A TWO WAY CONVERSATION RATHER THAN A PASSIVE EXPERI-
ENCE THROUGH MEDIA. SOCIAL STAKEHOLDERS ARE EMPOWERED RATHER THAN
UNIQUELY FINANCIAL. IN THE DRIVE TO SHIFT CURRENT CULTURAL MYTHOLOGY,
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT POWER LIE NOT UNIQUELY IN THE HANDS OF THOSE
WHO ARE INVESTED IN PROTECTING UNSUSTAINABLE CULTURAL PARADIGMS FOR
THEIR OWN SELF INTEREST.
S H A M A N S
75
Ø6RITUAL
S H A M A N S
[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SHAMANSMANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF SHAMANS
77
TO AUGMENT PERSONAL POWER/STATUS, TO RE-ATTACH THOSE
WHO ARE MARGINAL BY VIRTUE OF ILLNESS, WEAKNESS,
OR DEPRESSION. TO AUGMENT SENSE OF CONFIDENCE
T R A N S
[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]
Modern-day ‘shamans’ exist in abundance
in our culture; our popular media is littered
with self-appointed 'experts' of all kinds. One
of the more obvious cultural spaces inhabited
by these shamans is the makeover TV show.
Highly visible TV show personalities act as
dispensers of advice, facilitators of change
and transformers of lives, and pitchers of mer-
chandise. Their subjects are the participants,
members of society who feel, for whatever
reason, that some portion of their lifestyle and
identity leads them to fall outside the realms
of acceptance and by implication, to not reach
their full potential. The subjects look to these
pseudo-shamans to fi x whatever they think is
broken in their lives. The shamans critique,
analyze, and revamp lifestyles with the aim
of facilitating a transition to a new realm, the
realm of mainstream acceptance. The vehicle
for such a transformation, and thus apparent
acceptance, could be anything from losing
weight, plastic surgery, a new wardrobe, dance
lessons, or purging clutter.
Mostly these TV shamans facilitate a move
from the fringes of society to the center of the
mainstream consciousness. In a consumer
society, one's belongings— cars, houses or
pets, act as appendages of self, therefore
a bodily transformation can extend to the
artifacts of their lifestyle ("Pimp My Ride")
("Debbie Travis' Facelift") ("Dog Whisperer").
For one to be ‘cured’ and to attain acceptance
everything must fi rst be seen as broken and
then be looked at critically. So if a shaman's
power lies in reinforcing norms, might they
not also be eff ective in a challenging of the
centre, the heart of mainstream values? (1).
According to makeover shows and the majority
of media discourse in today’s society, the only
cure for social malaise is by buying into domi-
nant cultural paradigms. However, what does
it look like to buy into a sustainable life? What
needs to be exorcised and how?
Makeover TV is perhaps a response to "…a
heightened sense of cultural vulnerability, cou-
pled with declines in tradition, religion, and
politics". (1) With fewer of these traditional
structures and the fi gureheads associated with
them, the role of the spiritual and cultural
leader has increasingly fallen upon the shoul-
ders of personalities in the media. Those who
feel as if they have fallen outside the realms
of acceptance look for guides and leaders that
can help them to take the necessary meas-
ures to fi nd their path back to acceptance,
accordingly "[m]akeover logic can bring the
margins to the centre”.(1) Therefore can make
over logic be applied to bring sustainability to
the centre?
These 'experts' begin a 'recovery' by a
critical analysis and assessment of the partici-
pant’s bothersome ailments. Like a spiritual
shaman, these lifestyle shamans must diag-
nose and identify the source of the plague in
order to exorcise it. This process is normally
carried out by walking through the partici-
pant’s house, riff ling through their wardrobe,
M O D E R N - DAY ‘ S H A M A N S’ E X I ST I N
A B U N DA N C E I N O U R C U LT U R E ; O U R
P O P U L A R M E D I A I S L I T T E R E D W I T H
S E L F-A P P O I N T E D ' E X P E RTS ' O F
A LL K I N D S
79
FORMERS
Green TV shamans have already begun
to appear. A program called Green Kerala
Express has emerged in India. It is a reality
show which off ers a large cash prize to the
residents of the state of Kerala who can suc-
cessfully integrate more sustainable practices
into their communities. There has been a
huge response; the network has received over
250 entries, ranging from eliminating pesti-
cides in farming practices, turning waste into
biofuel, and replacing incandescent bulbs.
The state of Kerala is comprised of rural com-
munities, so the solutions will most likely be
low-cost and creative, further adding to the
ingenuity of the show. Most interestingly,
however, is that their defi nition of 'green'
includes everything from agriculture, water
conservation, food and social security, to
health, education, energy, housing, and wom-
en's rights - a much more holistic view of the
constituents of 'sustainability' than is most
often presented. The goal of the game is the
overall health and well being of these commu-
nities, in both the ecological environment and
the social environment.
This approach is perhaps a more pro-
gressive way to self-improvement; given an
incentive (such as a lump sum of cash from
the government), each community is encour-
aged to examine localized ways to improve
their lives. Participants then are no longer
passive in the decisions involved in the
makeover process but instead they become
involved in determining the change. There is
no prescription from government, managers,
directors or “ higher ups” on the process to
achieve this improvement however ingenuity
and creativity are encouraged. Of course, hav-
ing access to people with specialized training
is key, and pooling knowledge and skills
is essential to achieving joint goals. In this
example, the environment after the makeover
means a stronger community web, increased
community self-suffi ciency, and the new-
found ability to call upon the wisdom and
power of the community as a whole to solve
problems and improve lives.
watching video of their daily life or bringing
out the tape measure. Our pseudo-shaman
'experts', through their role as shepherds to
'health', act as representatives of society at
large. For the audience watching on TV, their
value systems are being reaffi rmed by the
shaman—being fat, living in a dated house,
or driving a bland car is at best, undesirable,
and at worst, completely unacceptable. Once
the problem is diagnosed the participant then
embarks on the path to the cure, a process
dictated by the shaman. This could mean any-
thing from a boob job to throwing away half
their wardrobe. This process can be painful as
the participant is relinquishing control of their
identity to the shaman, but along with the
cure lies the promise of a new self. The par-
ticipant, after being cured, is then presented to
the audience with the notion that this altered
vision was always present 'underneath it all'.
Increasingly, there are more and more
pseudo-tv-shamans who pop up prescrib-
ing a sustainable lifestyle. The problem with
these kinds of prescriptions is that rather than
addressing unsustainable cultural paradigms,
they often simply prescribe 'greener' ways
down the same path, They “implicitly assume
that the problem can be solved through greater
material and economic effi ciency and techno-
logical “fi xes,’” (2). This ignores “the evidence
that, to date, such strategies have actually
increased the human ecofootprint” (2). While
experts, both self-proclaimed and genuine,
cannot agree on the constituents of a truly sus-
tainable lifestyle, what remains clear is that a
new approach needs to be taken on a cultural
level. Unlike green shamans, the TV shamans
tend to look at the motivators of underlying
behaviour - the disease and not the symptoms
- in order to integrate long term solutions. For
someone to loose 50+ lbs it is not enough to
tell someone to go on a diet. What needs dis-
cussion and action is the reason that leads
a person to overeat in the fi rst place. In that
way, when it comes to sustainability, maybe
we all need a good shaman guiding the way,
assessing what motivates our ever increasing
desire to ‘over eat’.
[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF SHAMANS
81
TO SEEK SACRED POWER, USUALLY BY SEEKING
TO HAVE A MYSTICAL LIKE EXPERIENCE; TO CALL
UPON EXTRAORDINARY SACRED POWERS TO HEAL,
GAIN POWER OR WISDOM
[ Ø 6 S H A M A N S ]
83
E T I Q U E T T EE T I Q U E T T E
85
E T I Q U E T T EE T I Q U E T T E
Ø7RITUAL
[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE ]
LATENT SOCIAL FUNCTION OF ETIQUETTE
87
TO REGULATE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN PERSONS IN
DIFFERENT SOCIAL POSITIONS, TO RE-ASSERT
VALUES OF THESE POSITIONS
CULTURE
[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE]
E T I Q U E T T ES A R E C O D ES T H AT G OV E R N
T H E E X P ECTAT I O N S O F S O C I A L B E H AV I O U R
AC C O R D I N G TO T H E C O N T E M P O R A RY
C O N V E N T I O N A L N O R M W I T H A S O C I E T Y,
S O C I A L C L AS S O R G R O U P
In thinking about etiquette I was reminded of
a memorable scene from the emerging cult
TV series “Mad Men”. Don and Betty Draper,
the protagonists of the show set in 1960, are
shown enjoying a picnic in the countryside
with their children. To a modern day viewer,
it is shocking to witness the family’s seem-
ing lapse in decorum as they packed up their
quintessential picnic basket and drove away
leaving a huge pile of rubbish on the ground
behind them. It is interesting to note, however,
the sharp contrast in the values of the viewer
and the characters on the show; the Draper
family conforms to almost every social code
of the day.
The show itself serves as a visual memoir
of mid-century America, illustrating not only
the style, but the values and ideologies that
drove the social landscape of the time. What
this scene, and the show in general, illustrates
is the shift in paradigms, and ultimately eti-
quettes, that have occurred between then and
now. Whereas in the past it was bad etiquette
to refuse a cigarette and scotch mid-morning
at work or it was not considered bad etiquette
to litter, today we frown up, discourage and
legislate against these acts.
Often in academic discourse etiquettes
are omitted in the discussions around social
theory in favour of discussion on ethics and
morality. “Mad Men” illustrates the power
that etiquettes have on regulating behaviours.
Etiquettes are codes “that govern the expec-
tations of social behaviour according to the
contemporary conventional norm with a soci-
ety, social class or group” (1). Hence, before
the widespread Litter Bug campaigns in North
America that illustrated throwing your gar-
bage on the ground as a bad social practice,
littering was not considered particularly bad
form. Marketing and education are the vehi-
cles for spreading new ethical codes, however,
I would argue that the mechanisms by which
these codes are embedded relates more to
how they are socially regulated in systems for
recognition and identifi cation of a person's
89
CUES
“ faux pas” or bad behaviour. Growing up as
part of the "litterbug" school of thought I do
remember as a child the diff erence between
being told by teachers that littering was bad
and being made fun of by my friends if I threw
litter on the ground. I would argue that the
stigma attached to doing something deemed
socially poor by my peers was signifi cantly
more potent in its eff ect. The fear of being
excluded socially for committing a social faux
pas is extremely motivating.
Etiquettes, like taboos, act as counter-
vailing mechanisms to regulate behaviour.
Etiquettes “usually refl ect formulas of con-
duct in which society or tradition have
invested […] and therefore refl ect an under-
lying ethical code.” (1). As such, etiquettes
are embedded not only in dominant global
cultural paradigms but are also culturally
specifi c. For example, most Western busi-
nessmen have experienced the anxiety in
dealing with disparity in etiquette when
travelling to Asian countries, even with a
simple customary greeting. This specifi city
of cultural regulators presents an interesting
challenge when considered in relation to the
necessary global implementation of sustain-
ability. Etiquettes will continue to regulate
culturally specifi c traditions but they will need
to shift and expand to respond to emergent
global paradigms.
All the ritual categories in this book con-
tinue to contribute to the way we negotiate
through our cultural architecture but they
do not dictate the foundations. As the “Mad
Men” episode described earlier suggests,
etiquettes and indeed ethical codes are not
genetically inherited and are not inevitabili-
ties (2). Rather they are responsive to evolving
ethical codes. Increasing global capitalism
has caused many Western rituals (and indeed
the underlying ethical codes that determine
them) to be adopted across the globe. Indeed
many people now aspire to white weddings,
two-car garages and the vision of a life that
was born out of characters like Betty and
Don Draper. It seems fair to assume that if the
widespread adoption of rituals that are under-
pinned by global capitalism can transgress
cultural specifi city, then so can the rituals that
underpin sustainability.
[ Ø 7 ETIQUETTE]
MANIFESTED OBJECTIVE OF ETIQUETTE
91
TO INDICATE APPROPRIATE FORMS OF BEHAVIOUR
IN RELATION TO PARTICULAR SETTINGS
93
WORKS CITED
Ø Ø INTRO
Ø 1 TABOO
[ W O R K S C I T E D ]
THE WORKS CITED, AS WITH THE WORKS REFERENCED, IS INTENDED TO PROVIDE READERS WITH A PLACE TO GO
FROM HERE IN TERMS OF READING ON THE CULTURAL INTEGRATION OF SUSTAINABILITY. THIS REPRESENTS A SUM-
MARY OF OUR FINDINGS AND RESEARCH. THE WORKS CITED IS BROKEN UP PER SECTION AND CITES THE SOURCES
QUOTED DIRECTLY IN THE EDITORIAL . HAPPY READING.
1 _ UN General Assembly Distr: General 11 December 1987. UN DOCUMENTS:REPORT OF THE WORLD COMMISSION
ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT. 12 September 2010.
<un-documents.net/a42r187.htm>
2 _ Brocchi, Davide. THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABILITY. 6 March 2008. 12 November 2010. (27, 28).
<http://www.davidebrocchi.eu/doks/2008_newfrontier.pdf>
3 _ Nurse, Keith. CULTURE AS THE FOURTH PILLAR OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT. University of the West Indies
Tr inidad and Tobago. Prepared for Commonwealth Secretariat Malborough House Pall Mall London UK. June
2006. 12 October 2010.(33)
<fao.org /sard/common/ecg /2700 /en/Cultureas4thPil larSD.pdf >
4 _ Assadourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: THE RISE AND FALL OF CONSUMER CULTURES. (3, 6)
<blogs.worldwatch.org /TRANSFORMINGCULTURES>
5 _ Browne, Ray. B. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State
University Popular Press. 1980.
6 _ Rook, Dennis W.. RITUAL BEHAVIOR AND CONSUMER SYMBOLISM Advances in Consumer Research.
University of Southern California. Volume 11, 1984 (279-284). 20 October 2010. [ . . .]
<acrwebsite.org /volumes/display.asp?id=6258>
7 _ Rees, Wil l iam E . (2009) THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS AND SELF-DELUSION: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE BUILDING
SECTOR”, BUILDING RESEARCH & INFORMATION, 37:3,300-311.
1 _ Browne, Ray. B. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State
University Popular Press. 1980 (29)
2 _ Assadourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: THE RISE AND FALL OF CONSUMER CULTURES.(3)
<blogs.worldwatch.org /TRANSFORMINGCULTURES>
3 _ Rees, Wil l iam. WHAT’S BLOCKING SUSTAINABILITY? HUMAN NATURE, COGNITION, AND DENIAL . School of
Community and Regional Planning, University of Brit ish Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Sustainabil ity: Science,
Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2. 10 October 2010.
<ejournal .nbii .org>
4 _ Brocchi, Davide. THE CULTURAL DIMENSION OF SUSTAINABILITY. 6 March 2008. 12 November 2010. (27, 28).
<davidebrocchi.eu/doks/2008_newfrontier.pdf>
Ø 2 PURIFICATION
Ø 3 RITES OF PASSAGE
1 _ Dittmar, Helga and Hall iwell , Emma. CONSUMER CULTURE, IDENTITY AND WELL-BEING: THE SEARCH FOR THE
GOOD LIFE . Psychology Press, East Sussex. England, 2004.
1 _ Browne, Ray. B. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State
University Popular Press. 1980
2 _ Bell , Catherine. RITUAL: PERSPECTIVES AND DIMENSIONS. Oxford University Press, 2009.
95
3 _ Schouten, John W. PERSONAL RITES OF PASSAGE AND THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SELF. Advances in Consumer
Research Volume 18, eds. Rebecca H. Holman and Michael R. Solomon, Provo, UT : Association for Consumer
Research. 1991(11)
4 _ Mahdi, Louise Carus. CROSSROADS: THE QUEST FOR CONTEMPORARY RITES OF PASSAGE . Carus Publishing
Company, 1996.(55)
Ø 4 SPIRITUAL EXERCISE
Ø 5 WORSHIP
Ø 6 SHAMANS
Ø 7 ETIQUETTE
1 _ Evans, David and Tim Jackson. TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGY OF SUSTAINABLY LIFESTYLES. Resolve Working Paper.
Resolve. 03-07.
2 - Byrne, David. BICYCLE DIAIRIES. London, UK. Faber and Faber Ltd. 2009 (1-3)
3 _ Guardian (UK): DO ENVIRONMENTALISTS HOLD BACK SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLES .United Nations Environment
Programme. The Environment News. Friday 06 August 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
<unep.org /cpi/briefs/2010 Aug06.doc>
1 _ Marsden, Michael T. RITUALS AND CEREMONIES IN POPULAR CULTURE . Bowling Green, OH. Bowling Green State
University Popular Press. 1980 (100-110)
2 _ Grayson, David. WHY MEDIA COMPANIES SHOULD BEHAVE MORE RESPONSIBLY. Guardian.co.uk. 13 August 2009.
2 November 2010.
<guardian.co.uk/sustainabil ity/media-sustainable-development-corporate-responsibil ity>
3 _ Croteau, David and Wil l iam Hoynes. THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA: CORPORATE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST.
California, US. Pine Forge Press. 2006.
1 _ Weber, Brenda R. MAKEOVER T V; SELFHOOD, CITIZENSHIP AND CELEBRITY. Duke University Press, 2009. (p 112)
2 _ Rees, Wil l iam. WHAT’S BLOCKING SUSTAINABILITY? HUMAN NATURE, COGNITION, AND DENIAL . School of
Community and Regional Planning, University of Brit ish Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Sustainabil ity: Science,
Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2.
<ejournal .nbii .org>
1 _ “Etiquette” Reference.com. 28 November 2010.
<reference.com/browse/Etiquette
2 _ Rees, Wil l iam. WHAT’S BLOCKING SUSTAINABILITY? HUMAN NATURE, COGNITION, AND DENIAL . School of
Community and Regional Planning, University of Brit ish Columbia, Vancouver, BC. Sustainabil ity: Science,
Practice, & Policy Fall 2010, Volume 6. Issue 2.
<ejournal .nbii .org>
IMAGES
WHEREVER POSSIBLE WE HAVE USED OUR OWN PHOTOS FOR THE IMAGES THROUGHOUT THE BOOK, HOWEVER THE
OTHERS WERE SOURCED FROM THESE OTHER CITES. THEY ARE GREAT RESOURCES FOR RIGHT’S FREE IMAGES.
America from the Great Depression to World War I I : Color Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1939-1945
<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsachtml/fsacSubjects01.html>
Flickr – The Commons
<fl ickr.com/commons>
<fl ickr.com/photos/nationaalarchief/>
PHILIPS-Design Probes Downloads
<design.phil ips.com/sites/phil ipsdesign/probes/downloads/food.page>
Smithsonian Images Archive
<http://smithsonianimages.si .edu/siphoto/siphoto.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=home>
Timelife Pictures
<timelifepictures.com/ms_timepix/source/home/home.aspx?pg=1>
Wikipedia:Public domain image resources
<en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources>
United Nations Environment Programme
<postconfl ict .unep.ch/sudanreport/sudan_website/index_photos_2.php?key=water%20 pollution
97
WORKS REFERENCED & OTHER READING
Adassourian, Erik. STATE OF THE WORLD: TRANSFORMING CULTURES 2010. Worldwatch Blog. 29 November 2010.
<blogs.worldwatch.org /transformingcultures/contents/media/>
Bell , El izabeth. Theories of Performance. Sage Publications Inc. 2008
Boons, Frank and Howards-Grenvil le, Jennifer, eds. THE SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS OF INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY. Edward
Elgar Publishing, Inc. 2009.
Clay, Jason: HOW BIG BRANDS CAN SAVE BIODIVERSITY. Ted.com. August 2010. 20 September 2010.
<ted.com/talks/lang /eng /jason_clay_how_big _brands_can_save_biodiversity.html>
Dunstan, Joseph C. and Swan, Geoffrey M. THE ETHICS OF SUSTAINABILITY. The George Wright Society, 7th
Conference on Research & Resource Management in Parks and on Public Lands, November 19, 1992.
<nps.gov/sustain/spop/ethics.html>
Kohn, Jorg. SUSTAINABILITY IN QUESTION: THE SEARCH FOR A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK. Glos, UK. Edward Elgar
Publishing Limited. 1999.
Lemonick, Michael . D. Top 10 MYTHS ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY. Scientif ic America Online. 9 March 2009.
( September 2010.)
<scientif icamerican.com/article.cfm?id=top-10-myths-about-sustainabil ity>
Rockstrom, Johan. LET THE ENVIRONMENT GUIDE OUR DEVELOPMENT. Aug 2010. 20 September 2010.
<ted.com/talks/johan_rockstrom_let_the_environment_guide_our_development .html>
Sachs, Jonah. IS SOCIAL MARKETING OUR LAST CHANCE TO CHANGE PEOPLE? Ecologist .13 Apri l 2010.
11 November 2010.
<.theecologist .org /how_to_make_a_difference/culture_change/462379/is_social_marketing _our_last_
chance_to_change_people.html>
Storey John. CULTURAL CONSUMPTION AND EVERYDAY LIFE . Hodder Arnold. 1999
Thackara John. IN THE BUBBLE: DESIGNING IN A COMPLEX WORLD. Massachusettes, US. MIT Press. 2006.
Zuckerman, Ethan. JASON CLAY AND A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE THROUGH CORPORATE COLLUSION.
Worldchanging.com. 19 July 2010. 20 October 2010.
<worldchanging.com/archives/011395.html>
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