
Sustainable Living at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Radical Ideas and Practical Solutions
Stephen Jacobs(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 9. October 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
204 pages
978-1-032-07563-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book presents a detailed exploration into the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), an enterprise concerned with finding and communicating sustainable ways of living, established in Wales in 1973. Playing a central role in the global green network, this study examines CAT's history and context for creation, its development over time and its wider influence in the progression of green ideas at the local, national and international levels.
Based on original archival and ethnographic research, this book provides the first in-depth analysis of CAT and uses the case study to explore wider issues of sustainability and environmental communication. It situates the Centre within current environmental and political discourse and emphasises the relevance and reach of CAT's practical solutions and creative educational programme. These practical solutions to the destruction of the environment of human activity are increasingly vital in today's context of climate change, loss of biodiversity and rising levels of pollution. It debates the spectrum of attitudes between environmentalism and ecologism evident at CAT and in broader conversations surrounding sustainability.
Woven throughout the text, the author makes clear what we can learn from CAT's almost 50 years of experiments and experiences, from his first-hand account of working at the site. This will be a fascinating and revealing read for academics, researchers, students and practitioners interested in all aspects of sustainability and environmental issues.
Based on original archival and ethnographic research, this book provides the first in-depth analysis of CAT and uses the case study to explore wider issues of sustainability and environmental communication. It situates the Centre within current environmental and political discourse and emphasises the relevance and reach of CAT's practical solutions and creative educational programme. These practical solutions to the destruction of the environment of human activity are increasingly vital in today's context of climate change, loss of biodiversity and rising levels of pollution. It debates the spectrum of attitudes between environmentalism and ecologism evident at CAT and in broader conversations surrounding sustainability.
Woven throughout the text, the author makes clear what we can learn from CAT's almost 50 years of experiments and experiences, from his first-hand account of working at the site. This will be a fascinating and revealing read for academics, researchers, students and practitioners interested in all aspects of sustainability and environmental issues.
Reviews / Votes
"We are living through a series of multiple, interrelated and international crises where climate emergency, poverty and inequality seem like wicked problems with no solution. This study offers a timely account of the 'practical utopia' created in the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT). The account of 50 years of innovation, survival, education and renewal offers readers hope - that practical solutions can be found to the environmental crisis, that change can happen and that alternative organisations have a central role to play in creating more inclusive and sustainable societies."Anita Mangan, Senior Lecturer in Organisation Studies, University of Bristol, UK
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic and Postgraduate
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
330 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-07563-1 (9781032075631)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Stephen Jacobs
Sustainable Living at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Radical Ideas and Practical Solutions
E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€53.99
Available for download

Stephen Jacobs
Sustainable Living at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Radical Ideas and Practical Solutions
Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€185.90
Shipment within 10-20 days

Stephen Jacobs
Sustainable Living at the Centre for Alternative Technology
Radical Ideas and Practical Solutions
E-Book
10/2022
1st Edition
Routledge
€53.99
Available for download
Person
Stephen Jacobs is Senior Lecturer in Media, Religion and Culture at the University of Wolverhampton, UK. His recent publications include The Art of Living: Foundation: Spirituality and Wellbeing in the Global Context - a multisited ethnographic study of an international meditation organisation. He has had an interest in environmental issues and sustainability since working at the Centre for Alternative Technology in the 1980s. He was awarded a Leverhulme Research Fellowship for this project.
Content
Introduction; Chapter 1. The Context and Early History of the Centre for Alternative Technology; Chapter 2. From Community to Network; Chapter 3. Decision Making; Chapter 4. Communication, Education and Persuasion; Chapter 5. Zero Carbon Britain; Conclusion