Resource CONSUMPTION & EVERYDAY PRACTICES Australia is the worlds driest inhabited continent. Yet, on a per capita basis,
SCHEME WATER USE
we are one of the highest consumers of water in the world. Lower than
71%
average rainfall has contributed to a sharp drop in stream flows into dams. This has resulted in substantial decrease in the average yield from dams and an increase in the reliance of groundwater and desalinated water supplies.
Of all scheme water collected is used in households
Even with a decrease in consumption over the last 10 Years, Perth still remains one of the highest water using cities in Australia.
From the late 19th Century to the first three-quarters of the 20th Century Australia adopted a ‘build and supply’ model, whereby resource engineers provide additional pipes and infrastructure to meet escalating consumption
The overriding ethos is one of meeting what are taken to be nonnegotiable consumer ‘needs’ production
The average person in Perth uses around 106 kilolitres of scheme water pear year in the home.
52%
Over half of all household water use is consumed indoors
The problem is that we view water conversation behaviour as a set of broad models. First, the rational-ecenomic model is based on the assumption that, when provided with the ‘right’ information about the costs and benefits of consumption, individuals will make rational and autonomous choices that result in more efficient resource use. This assumes that users are aware of the relevant information, or are willing to seek it, and are aware of the consequential impacts of their choices. Second the attitude-behaviour model is abased around the idea that an individual's behaviour is determined by their attitudes towards a particular issue, such as water conversation, and that their behaviours can be changed by influencing their attitudes. This model, more often, assumes that individuals may not be aware of psychological factors at play in their decisions.
consumption
In focusing on either empowering consumers to reduce their demand or From the last half of the 20th Century and early 21st Century models have shifted towards a ‘demand management’ system through consumption feedback, financial incentives, market mechanisms, education and efficiency measures
Approaches which study behaviour as a function of
In order to understand and influence water
designing more efficient supply systems and household technologies, demand managers reinforce a production/consumption divide and overlook
conservation we need to focus on the internal and
processes and characteristics external to the individual
external influences. When we model behaviour as
focus on factors such as fiscal and regulatory incentives,
a function of process and characteristics which are
institutional constraints and social practices. Important external influences are the rewards and penalties
internal to the individual we focus on attitudes,
related to the behaviour, the behaviours and attitudes
values, habits, personal norms, psychological
reasons why people use resources, how these ‘needs’ and ‘wants’ are
motivations, differing needs for status and identity
constituted and how they are changing within the broader context of
and emotions.
of others, the prevailing social norms and positive or negative experiences related to the behaviour.
everyday life where day-to-day practices, such as bathing, cooking, laundering and house cleaning, take place.
TOTAL OVER TIME There is a clear gap between consumer beliefs on individual responsibility to conserve energy and day-to-day usage behaviour
Underlying premise of my investigation becomes the management of what people do and why they do it. In doing so new forms of expectation and ‘normality’ may emerge that appear just as mundane and inconsequential as the ones we take for granted.
Devise a list of prescriptive practices that should be recommended or enforced
mind the gap Identify opportunities for assisting with the reconfiguration of practice components
charles skender
NO YES
PRACTICE OVER HABIT
ENGAGING SYSTEM
During 19th Century, economist and
Habit is a product of social history - of
Feedback needs to engage with the
logician William Stanley Jevons
education, upbringing and social
changing expectations and parameters
found that better steam engines
experiences. The problem is that habits now
of normal everyday life. By focusing on
made coal a more cost effective fuel
start to define our practices. To define habit
what can be counted, saved and shaved
source which lead to the use of more
through practice we need to collectively
(litres), rather than the meanings,
steam engines which increased total
reconfigure the material infrastructures,
feedback may mask and legitimize the
coal consumption. The growth of use
rules and/or common understandings of
practices water consumption
consumed any resource saved
existing practices or facilitate the exchange
implicates. A new system, where
through conservation. Instead of
of practical knowledge about how to
perceived ‘needs’ to maintain certain
monitoring time a new paradigm in
undertake them. Through routine
standards and the ritual associated with
which we co-monitor resources and
performance, new practices can be
showering are fundamentally engaged,
behaviours needs to evolve.
sustained and transformed into habit.
needs to be developed.
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social + sustainable