Pre-defence seminar with Nikolaj Blichfeldt

Low-Carbon Life in Dongping Lane:
an ethnography of climate change campaigning in urban China

The thesis is a study of a climate change mitigation campaign among retired residents in an urban community in Hangzhou. The study aims to uncover how the idea of climate change is interpreted and acted on by local officials and residents. Urban reform and changing notions of citizenship in China form the backdrop of the processes of cultural interpretation of what the new idea of low-carbon life means as residents are being asked to recycle and save energy. How do campaign participants make sense of climate change? This question is addressed in the study through 1) an examination of low-carbon life as a set of practices aiming to alter parts of everyday community life and 2) an examination of residents' rationales for low-carbon life practices. Tracing the connections residents make between climate change and other issues of concern, the study aims to show how low-carbon life engenders a recasting of climate change that embeds it in everyday community life.