Practicing environmental responsibility: local and global dimensions

Purpose - The successful identification and management of environmental risks remains one of the most important challenges facing mankind. The global nature of environmental risks makes the assumption and practice of environmental responsibility difficult. This paper aims to examine the nature of this difficulty, arguing that although environmental responsibility remains global, it is situated and practiced at the local level. Design/methodology/approach - Using a case study methodology, the paper examines three family dairy farms in Belsize, New South Wales, Australia. Repeated interviews with adult members of the farming families explored their perspectives of the past, present and future of the farm, eliciting rich narratives about relationships between farm, environment, community and individual, and the role that responsibility plays in negotiating these relationships. Findings - Environmental responsibility is established as multi‐faceted, and negotiated between social actors as one of myriad other, competing responsibilities. Responsibility is positioned as a critical factor in the generation and maintenance of social relationships, but one which is often mobilized as a mechanism of governance. The paper argues that this can result in tension for some social actors. Originality/value - This paper positions responsibility generally, and environmental responsibility in particular, as situated on the junction between local and global networks. This occurs as a result of the intrusion of the global into the local, and the corresponding need for individuals to act on the global stage through the medium of their local contexts. In managing the changes in behavior and identity necessary to do this successfully, responsibility is identified as one means of establishing social identity and group members, and a way of defining specific social roles.