Voices of Green: Videotaped Island Encounters with Local Ownership in Transition Businesses

Abstract

This is a companion piece to the “Voices of Green” film. Watch the film here: Voices of Green

This companion piece to the ethnographic film Voices of Green by Hannah Birch examines local perspectives on green transitions in Denmark, focusing on how inhabitants on the Danish island of Bornholm organize and act on climate change through business development centered around local ownership. Drawing on fieldwork conducted at two field sites – a local renewable energy project and a regenerative farm – in the autumn of 2024, our initial analytical aim was to understand co-ownership between the locals and the nation-state. However, our interlocutors stressed that co-ownership could not be understood or practiced without local ownership, which they viewed as a form of organization in which residents themselves drive transitions in and from local businesses. Yet, they experienced multiple political and economic obstacles to develop these transition-oriented businesses based on local ownership. In this companion piece to the film, we argue that visual anthropology opens up the concept and practice of ownership, which is crucial for both understanding and supporting local action in developing businesses capable of contributing to the green transitions called for.