Ferrosilicon is one of the fundamental building blocks of modern society, yet seldom discussed outside the factory halls in which it is produced. Products from the ferrosilicon industry end up in everything from cars to ...

Self-help literature has attempted to change people’s mindsets for more than a century, but its potential to make a difference for the environment has barely been studied before. This thesis uses an interdisciplinary ...

The Ebola epidemic of 2014-2015 was the largest Ebola outbreak ever, killing over 11,000 people. In this thesis, I explore the Norwegian response to this crisis, focusing particularly on two projects conducted by the ...

Drawing on cultural sociology and memory studies, this thesis offers a new framework for understanding post-industrial urban development. Focusing on the case of the Lower Area of Vítkovice in Ostrava, the Czech Republic, ...

Las protestas de los movimientos contra la industria extractiva, particularmente en Guatemala, han sido enfrentadas en la mayoría de los casos con respuestas violentas de parte del Gobierno y de las compañías mineras. El ...

Vietnam’s recent economic and social transformations are manifested in the streets of its capital city through millions of motorbikes and a rapidly growing presence of cars. Based on ‘motorbike ethnography’ in the streetscapes ...

The private car comes with promises of modernity and comfortable mobility for the growing middle class in Vietnam. Vietnam’s government has also targeted the domestic automobile industry as a “spearhead industry” in an ...

Indian democracy has often been characterized as "a puzzle" that "defies theories". But any theory on democratic practice will need to take into account the world's largest democracy. We assert that Indian democracy is ...

This thesis provides a critical overview of the theoretical evolution of CSR and current international frameworks. It also examines the drivers and institutional environment for CSR in China today, before discussing the ...

The increasing use of internal carbon pricing among companies demonstrates the possibility of an interaction between business and environmental interests. An internal carbon price is a price that is voluntarily placed on ...

This thesis looks at Parque 3 de Febrero and Parque Las Heras in Buenos Aires in an attempt to establish the role of public greenspace in ‘modernizing’ a city. Rather than looking at modernity as a stagnant collection of ...

A direction which sustainable development in energy systems could take is towards electricity ‘co-provision.’ Here, centralised fossil-powered generation is partly replaced by decentralised, renewable micro generation ...

The nature of global development has changed substantially over the past three decades in step with the intensified globalisation of capitalism and its imperatives of growth and expanding consumption. Most significant is ...

Inspired by research on rural sustainability and development in China, this thesis presents a case study on The Loess Plateau Watershed Rehabilitation Project (LPP), a state-led, World Bank-funded environmental improvement ...

This thesis seeks to examine how food consumption and provisioning practices involving the fridge and other supporting appliances are being shaped in São Paulo. Everyday practices are becoming energy intensive in affluent ...

This research looked into the emerging role of ‘slow fashion’ within the Danish clothing market and the factors that enabled this nation to become an industry leader. The research employed both primary and secondary research ...

This thesis sets out to investigate the factors that challenge a reduction of food waste within households of young adults in Norway. Food wastage is one of the biggest barriers to ensuring a sustainable food system, with ...

The topic of elites has always been controversial in Latin American social sciences. Elites have been studied indirectly as landowners, capitalists, business-leaders or politicians, and have also been approached directly ...

Global interest in and attention to forests have grown as concerns about global warming and climate change have taken a heightened position in international policy debates. Forests have been repositioned in international ...

Electricity provides a range of desirable services such as the electric light and the use of mobile phones and is regarded as a conditional factor for economic growth. Gender equality and women's empowerment are also ...

It is difficult, if not impossible, to satisfactorily answer the question ‘Why does poverty persist?’ Nonetheless, there appear to be two approaches that can provide a useful start. One alternative is to examine why poverty ...

This thesis is based on a longitudinal study and it examines the social impacts of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) soya in Santa Cecilia, an agricultural colony located in northern Argentina. Two additional ...

Household energy consumption accounts for the largest proportion for the emissions of greenhouse gas emissions. These gases are the main contributors to global warming. World leaders have set a goal to limit warming to a ...

In spite of the realization that Norway and other rich, industrialized countries need to move towards a less meat-heavy diet, and in spite of a blossoming general interest in vegetarian practices, not much research has ...

Consumption of red meat has been recommended reduced from a climate and health perspective. In Norway, National Nutrition Council has pointed it out through their dietary advice published in 2011. Meat production is an ...

The study looked on differences of cycling culture between Dar es Salaam and Tanga cities in Tanzania. The study attempts to find factors behind a thriving cycling culture in Tanga and factors for a weakening cycling culture ...

This thesis intends to explore and analyse the discrepancies that exist between the accepted global narratives that promote investing in hydropower projects with the argument that it will bring development, economic growth ...

This thesis is a case study based on the urban development project Harstadpakken . It seeks to 1) identify leading discourse or discourses in the projects planning documents and how this, or these discourses influence the ...

Barcarena, a city located in the Brazilian Amazon, was a small town until the 1970 s, but a massive aluminium production plant was built in the region in the 1980 s and the alumina and primary aluminium plants were responsible ...

Background: There is extensive use of polystyrene (PS6), polypropylene (PP5) and other plastics in packaging practices in Iceland today, despite these materials being a threat to the environment. As Iceland is portrayed ...

The objective of this thesis is to find out how music festivals in Norway communicate environmental awareness to their audience. Through the use of mixed methods for collecting data, I measure the impact that the music ...

This thesis sets out to explore the factors that have challenged the introduction of Meat-Free Monday in the Norwegian Armed Forces. The need to address the unsustainable levels of meat consumption, especially in the West, ...

This thesis discusses political participation, democracy and development in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. It looks at channels for participation and how participation relates to issues of democracy and development. In South ...

It is often contended that individuals and states fail to act on knowledge of climate change as it is too abstract and intangible. What then of the so-called hotspot communities situated in the most dramatically impacted ...

This thesis is concerned with the significant cultural, physical, and emotional losses of the Ojibwe people and their current efforts to use food as a means of regaining their sovereignty and self-sufficiency. In Ojibwe ...

The Blue Nile Basin has for the past century been characterized by Egyptian dominance, both directly and through British colonial rule. This dominance is institutionalized through the Nile Water Agreements and the Anglo-Italian ...

¿Qué es lo que motiva a investigadores de las ciencias sociales de un país pequeño, periférico y lejano como Noruega a estudiar fenómenos sociales en América Latina? ¿En qué medida podemos decir que el pensamiento social ...

In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the use of in-home displays affects daily practices and electricity consumption. Through two pilot projects, in-home displays were installed in 33 Norwegian homes, and we ...

The rapid developments in Vietnam since the economic reforms (doi moi) initiated in 1986 have led to a transformation of urban mobility. In less than 20 years, motorbike ownership in the country increased tenfold, and there ...

The purpose of this dissertation is first to provide a historical overview and discuss the progress of the status of indigenous knowledge in Mexico. How has it advanced from being a repressed tradition to becoming part of ...

Mauna Kea is located on the Big Island of Hawai i. It is a dormant volcano and the highest mountain in the world measured from sea bottom. Mauna Kea first attracted astronomers in the 1960s. Since then there has been a ...

Since the 1960s democratic member based organizations (DMOs) have formed the back bone of the Norwegian environmental movement (NEM). A series of recent developments, however, have challenged both their dominant position ...

Cabins have a special place in the hearts of Norwegians. A main aspect of cabins is their function as meeting places between nature and civilization. It is therefore meaningful to read the cabin as a symbol of Norwegian ...

This study was conducted in Moshi-Tanzania. The research topic is Coping with Power Interruptions in Tanzania.An Industrial Perspesctive:A Case Study of one Small Scale Animal Food Processing Industry in Moshi Municipality.The ...

The focus of this work is on the phenomena surrounding the increasing consumption that has been occurring among the poor in developing countries over the past decades. People who were confined to subsistence levels of ...

Over the last couple of decades, the number of bilateral free trade agreements has accelerated on a global scale. Close geographic proximity seems to matter little, as new arrangements around trade are emerging. About one ...

Acts of resistance against forced displacement can manifest itself through a wide variety of social and cultural expressions. This thesis explores resistance against the dam-induced displacement in the highlands of Georgia ...

How genomic selection enables species to adapt to divergent environments is a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. We investigated the genomic signatures of local adaptation in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) along ...

Background: Rural livelihoods relying on agriculture are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Climate models project increasingly negative effects on maize and sorghum production in sub-Saharan Africa. We present a ...

Background: Maize is the most produced crop in Sub-Saharan Africa, but yields are low and climate change is projected to further constrain smallholder production. The current efforts to breed and disseminate new high ...

In this thesis, I examine the main constraints to the propagation of bicycle commuting in Oslo. Furthermore, recommendations for the promotion of bicycle commuting in Oslo through policymaking are made. Data has been ...

This project examines the problem of inaction in environmental behavior and explores why a proliferation of environmental knowledge has not generally inspired sustainable change. What explains this information-behavior ...

This study was conducted in Kisiju-Pwani village, Mkuranga District in Tanzania. It was conducted from the on-going project on sustainable energy system for the provision of rural electrification services under PITRO. This ...

This study is dedicated to understanding broadly what kind of role do mobile phones play in a health system and what is the impact of mHealth programs on the lives of people in Kenya. This thesis investigates some of the ...

This thesis studies the relationship between the ecosystem services of the Nujiang Valley in Yunnan province in south-west China and the wellbeing of the local population, and how this relationship will be influenced by ...

Modern food production and consumption practices release greenhouse gases and other pollutants, contributing to global warming, as well as causing resource depletion and environmental degradation of local landscapes. As ...

Ecovillages are small scale communities, striving for environmental sustainability and social integration. This thesis is based on a fieldwork of three months duration in a Danish ecovillage. The thesis explores their ...

One of the most significant multifaceted national challenges in Ghana is the spread of illegal gold mining activities. This type of informal mining is a major source of employment in many parts of a country. This study ...

Ethics - how we ought to live and act in relation to other human beings - is an integrated part of our everyday lives, and it is accepted as an important part of public debates. But other human beings are not the only ones ...

The success of the garment and textile industry has contributed immensely to a culture of mass consumption. In 2011 Norway accounted for 16.2 billion NOK worth of clothing imports (Garberg, 2012), with households spending ...

This thesis is an attempt to approach the questions of environmental ethics from a Rortyan, anti-foundationalist perspective. I draw on the writings of Richard Rorty in order to construe a perspective on environmental ...

This study sets out to examine the potential of four Oslo museums / learning centers for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD has gained ground in the course of UNESCO`s Decade for Education for Sustainable ...

The term voluntary simplicity is attributed to the social reformer Richard B. Gregg, who in 1936 wrote an influential pamphlet in favour of the conscious and deliberate simplification and repurposing of life, to the ...

A common conclusion of studies on Central America’s democracies and political economy is that the weakness of institutions and the strength of elites are a main reason for the region’s problems. Recently, a set of studies ...

As Uganda is about to start exploiting its petroleum reservoirs, it is apparent that there is a genuine fear of it becoming the next country on the list of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffering from a resource curse ...

This interdisciplinary and comparative study explores environmental public debate on the Arctic in the context of Russian and Norwegian media. The aim of the study is to define how environmental public debate is constructed ...

In Norway, a vast majority of the population supports scientific findings of climate change. At the same time, Norway´s emissions are increasing, while support for the environmental movement is decreasing. One might ask ...

This thesis explores the food blogosphere as a potentially transformative space in which bloggers and readers alike have the opportunity to engage in an environmentally conscientious discourse about food. Through the mixed ...

The aim of this paper is to examine people’s attitudes towards electricity and electricity consumption within the Norwegian market context. The empirical material is based on 18 in-depth interviews and eight focus group ...

Why do NGOs and companies form a relationship and how, if at all do they implement it in order to create value? These are central questions that are addressed in this paper, and the answers are sought by taking a closer ...

In the modern era cattle ranching in Nicaragua has become a principle economic activity for a number of reasons, with the result that as much as 30% of the country´s forested lands have been converted to pasture for grazing. ...

This thesis is based on a case study of a planned wind power park in Vindafjord municipality in western Norway. It seeks to understand how the stakeholders involved in the plan talk about the proposed wind power park, ...

This quantitative study took place in Oslo and focused on the motives for owning an electrical car. The main objective of the study was to identify the most important motivations of electrical car owners and explore the ...

The focus of this thesis is to explore how Burundian coffee producers and traders perceive direct trade influences on producer’s wellbeing. Direct trade in coffee is still a newly establishing approach to the coffee trade ...

As a German citizen with a background in business I have been inspired to research how Norway’s financial elite takes part in the green transition: firstly, by a correlation that is sometimes made in the literature, between ...

Concerns regarding touristic commodification and its effects on host communities have long been a staple of tourism research. While on one hand, tourism is often heralded as a powerful tool for promoting economic development, ...

Large scale land acquisition for commercial agriculture is a fast-evolving type of investment in many developing countries. However, such investments entail negative impacts particularly on the local communities, who see ...

The opposition in Belarus and the international organizations cooperating with them are fighting an uphill battle for a more democratic and less authoritarian political system. The main tool of this cooperation is party ...

Hvordan involveres medlemmer og lokallag i klimaarbeid i store medlemsbaserte miljøorganisasjoner? Hvordan kan disse organisasjonene bidra til at klima kan gjøre "lokalt"? Denne oppgaven utforsker lokalt klimaarbeid i to ...

The Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline (NGP) is the proposed 1177 km link to bring crude bitumen from the Alberta Tar Sands over to the BC coast for Asian-bound super-tankers, presenting unique risks; crossing 1000+ salmon ...

This thesis analyzes the design intentions of architects in the Norwegian National Tourist Routes. Since architecture is not an isolated concept, this analysis incorporates philosophical and theoretical ideas in an ...

Poverty and inequality have risen dramatically in Britain since the late 1970s leaving the country today with one of the lowest levels of social intergenerational mobility in the developed world. Drawing upon qualitative ...

This thesis set out to investigate Norwegians’ attitudes towards beef consumption. UNEP calls for a worldwide dietary change, away from animal products. Still, the Norwegian authorities do not address the problem of ...

The Solar Transitions project initiated and implemented Ikisaya Energy Centre, a social enterprise providing solar powered electricity services in Ikisaya village in Kenya. This study explores to what extent participatory ...

The aim of this project is to determine how heat pumps, as technical objects, impact energy consumption in Norwegian homes. Much of the previous research on energy consumption has focused on what motivates users to reduce ...

This research seeks to explore and address the dynamic organisational aspects and the mechanisms of construction, maintenance and diffusion of a socio-technical innovation network revolving around the spread of large-scale ...