The refrigerator-CFC case study by Peter Dauvergne gives a detailed view of a complicated story. This case study is important because it changed our views and understanding of how we affect the environment as a society (both locally and globally). This case study shows how every aspect of society is needed to interact together in order to reach a new (more sustainable) solution to an issue that affects everyone (like having a fridge). A key to the map is provided below.

Reference: Dauvergne, Peter. 2009. Shadows of consumption. Chapter 8. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

I have laid out my take of the case study through the use of a flowchart concept map. The color coding represents different spheres of society: blue = social, red = economic, green = environmental, orange = political, while purple = existing externalities from the political sphere, and yellow is simply the “evolution” of freon relative to fridges. This helps showcase how all different spheres of society are needed to make a change. The highlighted terms in the map indicate terms that might not be common knowledge and therefore need an explanation. Corporate social responsibility is the accountability of business for society and the environment, collective action is group action taken to solve a problem, community governance is relatively self-explanatory, and environmental management is the control or “management” of resources and the environment. I have also provided a link to the definitions of terms used in this map, here.