This thesis begins with the simple observation that the term ‘green consumption’ would have appeared, at the very least, oxymoronic to those concerned with environmental issues some thirty years ago. Yet now it is a commonplace aspect of popular, academic and policy discourse in the global north. In recognizing the diversity of products and services that fall under the rubric of ‘green consumption,’ this project situates it as a form of discursive positioning and a potential set of a practices that indicate a ‘friendly’ or benign association between consumption and the environment. The thesis has three components. Firstly, it reviews the literature on consumer culture and environmentalism, highlighting relevant thematic debates concerning the critique of consumer culture and its potential effects upon the environment. Secondly, the thesis constructs a post-Foucauldian ‘analytics of green consumption’ in order to understand such a radical shift in representations of consumption and environmental thinking. Thirdly, the thesis employs this analytics to examine two dominant ‘environmentalities’ or programmes of green consumption – Eco Labelling and the Ecological Footprint – wherein the advanced liberal rhetorics of ‘choice,’ ‘freedom’ and ‘responsibility’ are found to operate in different ways. Drawing upon the work of Rose (1999), Barry et al. (1996) and others, the thesis shows how these ‘informational’ techniques are predicated upon and reproduce specific conceptions of consumer behaviour, encouraging the formation of ‘green consumer-subjects.’ It is argued that the terrain of consumption has become the primary locus where political, social, economic and cultural elements overlap to shape the decisions of consumers. The field of consumption is being restructured around lifestyle choice-driven models of responsible subjectivity, with consumption becoming the key means for shaping the conduct of individual citizens. The thesis goes on to argue that such a market-based approach to engendering green consumption is problematic in terms of its conception of how consumer choice and freedom are constrained, raising difficult issues for policy efforts in this area. The thesis also points toward the limits of post-Foucauldian analyses of green consumption, especially the impossibility of knowing whether, and for what reasons, practices of green consumption are taken up by consumers. / Thesis (Master, Sociology) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-25 08:48:47.876

This practicum, "Death Perception: Envisioning a cemetery landscape for the 21st century", is a proposal for an alternative cemetery landscape, responding to changes in Western culture. An investigation into the historical, sociological and psychological evolution of Western society’s culture of death followed. Discerned patterns and conclusions were supplemented by sociological research and select interviews with professionals, regarding 20th century Western customs for dying, death and bereavement. The conclusions stemming from this research were then assessed for their implications regarding the landscape, particularly that of the cemetery. Cultural theory was translated into a culturally responsive landscape through further research regarding landscape theories and precedents of therapeutic landscapes, where people connect with nature, themselves and humanity. This research has informed a landscape design for Winnipeg, Manitoba that anticipates and responds to the emerging needs of the dying, the bereaved and the funerary industry of contemporary society.

I compared understorey communities under Alnus viridis ssp. crispa (Ait.) Pursh (green alder) and Corylus cornuta Marsh. (beaked hazel) in two boreal jack pine forests. There was no difference in inorganic soil nitrogen, but alder plots had lower species richness at Star Lake and higher evenness in the Sandilands. I incubated chopsticks and litterbags containing natural litter assemblages underneath A. crispa and C. cornuta in the field, and litterbags containing artificial litter mixes in a dark growth chamber. There was no significant difference between treatments for litterbags or chopsticks in the field, nor between mixes with or without alder in the growth chamber.

No description available.

No description available.

When speakers of different language varieties come into contact with each other, one variety often becomes dominant (based on relative social, economic, and/or political prestige), even to the point where it totally supersedes the other variety. This is what has occurred in Green Point, Pennsylvania, a small rural mountain community whose members once spoke Pennsylvania Dutch (a German dialect). This language was superseded by English several decades ago, and for at least two generations residents have spoken their own variety of the language, Pennsylvania Dutchified English (PDE); today even that variety is threatened by the overpowering influences of the standard variety of English spoken in the region. In addition to briefly describing the some linguistic features of PDE, this study examines the forces behind the Pennsylvania Dutch--Pennsylvania Dutchified English--regional standard of English language shift that has taken place in this community, in two ways--first by looking carefully at the historical and economic factors that have played a role in residents' language choices in the past, and then by investigating the influence of certain social variables that may be linked to residents' choices between PDE and the regional standard today. The paper concludes with a discussion of the prospects for the survival of PDE in this area and offers some suggestions for actions that PDE speakers can take to preserve their dialect, if they choose to do so. / Department of English

Undersökningen ämnar öka förståelsen för och analysera hur fastighetsföretag marknadsför gröna argument och hur de uppfattar att intressenterna bemöter dessa. I uppsatsen studeras följande forskningsfrågor: * Vilka strategier används hos fastighetsföretag inom ramen för green business? * Hur kommunicerar fastighetsföretag green business genom grön marknadsföring? * Hur uppfattar fastighetsföretagen att intressenterna bemöter deras gröna marknadsföringsargument? / The study intends to increase the understanding of and to analyze how real-estate companies market green arguments and how they perceive that stakeholders respond to these. The paper studied the following research questions: * What strategies are used by real-estate companies within green business? * How do real-estate companies communicate green business through green marketing? * How do the real estate companies perceive that stakeholders respond to their green marketing pitch?

This practicum, "Death Perception: Envisioning a cemetery landscape for the 21st century", is a proposal for an alternative cemetery landscape, responding to changes in Western culture. An investigation into the historical, sociological and psychological evolution of Western society’s culture of death followed. Discerned patterns and conclusions were supplemented by sociological research and select interviews with professionals, regarding 20th century Western customs for dying, death and bereavement. The conclusions stemming from this research were then assessed for their implications regarding the landscape, particularly that of the cemetery. Cultural theory was translated into a culturally responsive landscape through further research regarding landscape theories and precedents of therapeutic landscapes, where people connect with nature, themselves and humanity. This research has informed a landscape design for Winnipeg, Manitoba that anticipates and responds to the emerging needs of the dying, the bereaved and the funerary industry of contemporary society.

I compared understorey communities under Alnus viridis ssp. crispa (Ait.) Pursh (green alder) and Corylus cornuta Marsh. (beaked hazel) in two boreal jack pine forests. There was no difference in inorganic soil nitrogen, but alder plots had lower species richness at Star Lake and higher evenness in the Sandilands. I incubated chopsticks and litterbags containing natural litter assemblages underneath A. crispa and C. cornuta in the field, and litterbags containing artificial litter mixes in a dark growth chamber. There was no significant difference between treatments for litterbags or chopsticks in the field, nor between mixes with or without alder in the growth chamber.

No description available.