CHAPTER 5 DESCRIPTION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE ENTRY TEXT
85. Key actions
5.2.1 Textual characteristics which, in the interpretation phase, may be useful as evidence of strategic absences and concealment of information (Table 4.2)
Although demand-side strategies are suggested for the use of water (83), possibly significant is the absence of demand-side strategies with regard to energy
consumption, agricultural production, mining production and consumption and production in general. For example:
• Instead of reduced consumption, the document suggests “changed consumption” (150).
It is suggested that agriculture develop a marketing strategy for sustainable agriculture (121) and establish continual improvement processes (134), but nothing is mentioned about the possibility of reducing unnecessary agricultural production or encouraging agricultural production to occur in the regions it will be consumed to reduce environmentally costly transport of goods.
• Whilst it is suggested for example that “technologies, products and services”
are resource efficient (170,171), there is no suggestion that industry and business reduce the quantities of resources that they use.
Also possibly significant is the absence of strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. There is no mention of mining activities and activities associated with procuring fossil fuels. There is no mention of world-wide dissent with regard to these issues (Hansen,13 July 2006).
Grammatical strategies are inconsistently employed. In the first half of the document (13 – 84), which considers non-production/consumption-related networking and frame-work building opportunities, almost all of the main headings have an agent who, it is suggested, “should” carry out certain tasks. When the document moves on to look at energy and agriculture, resource use and production and consumption (85 to end), it becomes less specific about who the agents should be.
The Monterrey recommendations do not suggest that companies attain set environmental standards. They only suggest that companies establish continuous improvement (134).
A surprising absence was reference to gender issues and issues related to marginalized social groups, with the exception of the youth and the elderly.
5.2.2 Textual characteristics which, in the interpretation phase, may be useful as evidence of the reproduction of unequal social relations (Table 4.3)
The nature of the document as a “high-level” seminar is by definition exclusive (i.e.
excludes those in the ‘low-levels’). Furthermore, agency is allocated to non-human collectives such as business, financial institutions, governments, industries,
multinational corporations and perhaps environmental experts (not specifically mentioned, but there presence is assumed). These entities are given active roles, for example they: develop (19), establish (36), support (43), collect (76), build (99), expand (109), and identify and share (191). However, consumers and other
community groups such as the youth, the elderly, local entrepreneurs and developing countries are given passive roles. For example, the active groups: support them (30), change their behaviour (77), involve them (108), engage them (162), communicate to them (166) and enhance their capacities (218).
5.2.3 Textual characteristics which, in the interpretation phase, may be useful as evidence for a tendency to avoid discussion and dissent and thus potentially avoid challenges to the status quo (Table 4.4).
The appearance of the text in a journal published by the United Nations, along with other markers of professionalism, such as the desk-top publishing style text layout and photographs of important people which precede it, give the text institutional
legitimation even before one reads it.
The participants at the Monterrey seminar also legitimate their right to make these recommendations by:
• suggesting they are responding to the WSSD mandate to develop a ten-year framework on sustainable consumption and production; and
• suggesting they are building on the activities already initiated under the Marrakech process
• suggesting they are taking into account the global priorities of the Millenium Declaration.
The WSSD mandate, the Marrakech process and the Millennium Declaration were arrived at through a process of international consensus and it is implied that this consensus gives the Monterrey seminar participants the right to make the recommendations.
The language of the text is also very definite (strong modality). There are no textual markers of epistemological uncertainty, such as ‘perhaps’, ‘maybe’ or ‘possibly’. A characteristic of all the sentences is that they are written as imperatives.
The document assumes that knowledge is something already in existence, merely needing to be collected (76) and/or developed (115, 118, 121, 127) into something user-friendly. The consequence for education is that knowledge needs merely to be integrated into curricula (156, 184), applied (78, 88), developed into “packages” as
“total solutions” (62), transferred (140), showcased (130), shared and replicated (203), communicated (147, 159, 166), transmitted (157) and made available (207).
5.2.4 Textual characteristics which, in the interpretation phase, may be useful as evidence of the author’s political orientation (Table 4.5).
The metaphors in the text are drawn largely from military, civil engineering and mechanical sources, such as: “build” (6, 99), “concrete partnerships” (36), “concretise and strengthen” (13), “tools” (41, 64, 88), “strategies” (51, 79, 87, 121, 156, 199, 222, 223, 224), “practical on-the-ground action” (129), “models”(115, 136, 200, 202, 206, 213, 221), “mechanisms” (145, 173, 180, 220), “mobilize” (90, 159) and “campaigns”
(76, 168). Well-defined headings and bullet points dominate the text structure. Those things perceived to be of value have been re-described as products and educational
processes have become marketing strategies. Thus, for example, a “marketing strategy” should be developed for sustainable agriculture, “so as to educate buyers, engage producers and generally improve the image of sustainable agricultural products” (124, 125).
5.2.5 Textual characteristics which, in the interpretation phase, may be useful as evidence that indicates relatively concealed challenges to the status quo (Table 4.6).
A textual presence, which may indicate a concealed challenge to the status quo, is the non-typical use (in environmental activist circles) of the words “consumption and production”. Environmental critics of the current world system usually use these words when referring to the problems associated with a ‘consumer society’ and
‘excessive production’. They tend to call for a decrease in consumption and production. For example, in the environmental club guidelines distributed by the Zimbabwean environmental activist group, Environment 2000 (n.d.), the “Four Rs” of the conservation movement have been described as ‘recycle, reuse, reduce and
refuse’. In the Monterrey document, the words ‘consumption’ and ‘production’ are used in a way that does not mean decreased consumption and production. Attention is strongly drawn to these words because they are part of the heading, printed in large font and in a different colour from the rest of the text (Figure 5.2) and are repeated regularly (consumption 9 times, production 5 times and the acronym SCP,
‘sustainable consumption and production’, 18 times).
The document also appears to be ‘speaking to’ (responding to) critiques often made of business and industry, which implies the presence of these critiques. For example, there is mention of poverty reduction (28), triple bottom line reporting (31), environmental/social responsibility (32), partnerships between multinationals and developing countries (37, 38), greening the supply chain (41, 42), local entrepreneurs (108), youth (162) and the elderly (166).