On how to make the theoretical concept of ecological citizenship empirically operational

As the discourses of ecological sustainability point towards the active involvement of individuals in the environmental work as an important prerequisite for targeting the sources of environmental degradation, one of the main foci for contemporary environmental policy and political theory is the need for comprehensive individual lifestyle-changes. Within political theory an Ecological Citizenship, reinterpreting the traditional state/individual relationship by straddling the private - public; national - global; and present - future divides, has been suggested a valuable approach to realising a personal responsibility for the environment. Empirical research analysing the prospects for ecological citizenship to function as a route towards individual environmental responsibility is, however, to date lacking in the literature. In this paper we elaborate on how the theory of ecological citizenship can be made empirically operational. Godkänd; 2009; 20091005 (simon_m)