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.
Author(s): Stephen Jacobs
Series: Routledge Studies in Sustainability
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 210
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
The Context: Fear Won’t Do It!
Practical Utopianism
Remote, Yet Not Too Far!
Methodology
Continuity and Change
Themes
Radical But Not Too Radical!
Inside Or Outside?
Individual Lifestyle Or Systemic Changes?
Technology and Science
Communication and Education
CAT’s Networks
Structure of the Book
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
Notes
References
1 The Context and Early History of the Centre for Alternative Technology
Introduction: The Historical Context
Ambivalence About Science, Technology and Industrialisation
Only One Planet Earth!
The Counterculture and the Environment
Popularising Environmental Science
Alternative Technology: What Is in a Term?
CAT: The Beginning
The Quarry: ‘A Happy Combination of Vision and Place’
Pioneering Days
Consolidation
Community Or Outreach?
What the Locals Thought
Gearchange
Notes
References
2 From Community to Network
Introduction
The Site Community
What Is CAT: Commune, Cohousing, Ecovillage Or Intentional Community?
Bonding and Bridging Social Capital
Sharing
Locality
Ideas
Resources
Lifestyle
Self-Sufficiency
The Site Community: Integral Or Peripheral?
Living Off-Grid
Comfort and Convenience
The Demise of the Site Community
From Community to Network
Notes
References
3 Decision Making
Introduction
The Pioneering Days: Anarchy Or Autocracy?
Egalitarian Experiments and Structures
Interminable Meetings: Consensus Or Compromise?
Ogres and Rotas
Streamlining Consensus
Everyone Is Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others!
Pay
The Demise of Egalitarian Experiments
Restructuring Management
The End of the Flat-Pay Structure
The Saga of the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE)
Notes
References
4 Communication, Education and Persuasion
Introduction
Green Rhetoric
Informing Others
The Visitor Centre
The Curious and the Pilgrims
Renewable Energy
Sustainable Building
The Garden
The Restaurant and Bookshop
Tourism
Education
Schools and Colleges
The Graduate School of the Environment
Digital CAT
Notes
References
5 Zero Carbon Britain
Introduction
From the Margins to the Mainstream
An Alternative Energy Strategy for the United Kingdom
Zero Carbon Britain: An Alternative Energy Strategy
The ZCB Report
Developing the ZCB Project
Making It Happen
Notes
References
Conclusion
References
Appendix: People
Index
