Abstract
To date, efforts by non-governmental organizations to encourage reduced meat consumption in light of climate change have been quite limited, particularly among environmental non-governmental organizations. This study sought to examine the factors influencing non-governmental organization decisions to establish and sustain dedicated public education and/or policy advocacy campaigns on this issue. More specifically, a grounded theory approach was used to examine environmental, food-focused, and animal protection non-governmental organizations in the U.S., Sweden, and Canada. Results indicate that the relatively limited degree of engagement is primarily attributable to the fact that few non-governmental organization staffers felt that addressing meat consumption within a climate change context was a part of their core missions. Reduced meat consumption was also seen as an issue with limited social and political appeal. Further, many environmental non-governmental organizations appeared to be reluctant to mount campaigns explicitly encouraging personal behavior change of any type. Cross- non-governmental organization collaboration or the creation of additional non-governmental organizations with missions focused on this specific issue may be needed to increase the level of campaigning on this issue.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 32-40 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Global Environmental Change |
Volume | 29 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 1 2014 |
Keywords
- Climate change
- Decision making
- Meat consumption
- Policy
- Public education
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Global and Planetary Change
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Ecology
- Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law