Paper short abstract:

In this paper I explore the relationship between how people aspire to live in environmentally sustainable ways in their homes, how they imagine possible sustainable activities, and the contingencies of everyday life that frame the ways in which everyday mundane forms of sustainable living actually emerge.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I explore the relationship between how people aspire to live in environmentally sustainable ways in their homes, how they imagine possible sustainable activities, and the contingencies of everyday life that frame the ways in which everyday mundane forms of sustainable living actually emerge.

In doing so I unpack the messy and contingent ways through which particular forms of environmentally sustainable activities become part of people's imaginary, practical or possible lives. I will argue that environmentally sustainable everyday life in the home is usually necessarily partial. It is constituted and navigated through a range of practical material, sensory and imaginary activities, narratives and desires. However it is always entangled with the contingency of life as it is lived out, wider ambitions and complex socialities.

What then does an equally messy and contingent future mundane everyday life look like - and how does it compare with the visions driven by the technological 'possible' that features so centrally in futures initiatives.