On this page, you can expect to learn about the controversial history of one of modern society’s most important inventions – refrigeration. In this case study, we will explore the roles of powerful actors, such as the U.S. government, international organizations, global industries, and the scientific community, as well as the relationship of knowledge and power. This case provides an important example of how business and climate solutions can align, under the proper conditions.
Refrigerators are an essential part of many peoples’ lives, and ones that we don’t often think about as political actors. However, as Dauvergne (2008) demonstrates, refrigerators are part of a larger social-political-environmental history that exemplifies some of the great success, and pitfalls, of technological innovation and the environmental movement. Drawn from Dauvergne’s (2008) case study, the above concept map depicts the socio-environmental development of refrigeration, focusing on the specific factors that allowed the environmental movement against CFCs to succeed with minimal conflict or politicization. In this map, you can observe how CFCs and refrigerators rose and fell, literally, in the public eye over time as new scientific evidence of CFC-induced climate change was discovered, alternatives were created, and the industry reacted to the public, international governments, and the scientific community. This case study also provides important examples of how Clapp and Dauvergne’s (2011) worldviews can translate into tangible actions that have serious, global, multiscalar implications for industry and environment. Connections drawn in white highlight external influences on the development of refrigeration, such as social norms, values, and economic conditions; whereas connections drawn in yellow highlight multiscalar power dynamics, such as differentially valued knowledge claims (science vs. industry vs. citizens), Global North vs. South power differentials, uneven global market forces, and international institutional regulation. It’s evident that certain conditions made environmentally-friendly changes possible, such as existing alternatives, undifferentiated risk across populations, and global cooperation. However, this context is not one-in-a-million, the case of refrigeration shows that with the proper communication between the public, the scientific community, and governments, powerful actors at every scale can help generate the political will to invest in and develop climate-friendly solutions to pressing environmental issues.