Special Issue "Sustainability and Consumption"

Guest Editor
Dr. Jack Barkenbus
Climate Change Research Network within the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy & Environment, PMB 407702, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, 37240 TN, USA
Website: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/vcems/barkenbus.html
E-Mail:
Interests: sustainable development; energy; climate change; clean technology

Dear Colleagues,

It is clear that our current consumption patterns are producing environmental degradation that imperils future generations. More prudent resource consumption must replace over-consumption in the wealthier states and accompany growing consumption in the developing states. While these principles are widely-acknowledged, the path to a more sustainable future is still unclear. Low-carbon technologies, of course, have an important role to play; but they must be accompanied by resource consuming behaviours capable of sustaining a global population of 9 billion inhabitants in the year 2050.

This issue seeks manuscripts that highlight research at the intersection of consumption and sustainability. Multidisciplinary contributions are welcome ranging from a social-psychological perspective on individual behaviour change to a broader institutional approach. It is recognized that consumption occurs in a collective socio-cultural context, and policy tools designed to address contextual influences can be important. Articles dealing with consumption from a comparative perspective are especially welcome, revealing established habits and practices across states, as well as segmentation of the populace within states. The results of efforts to frame or transform consumption in new, more resource-conserving, ways, need highlighting as well, looking at how the media can be enlisted in the cause. Though earth-friendly lifestyles are not uncommon in any society, the challenge is to make such lifestyles palatable and attractive to the mainstream; this issue seeks to explore wide-ranging policy approaches that attempt to do so.

Dr. Jerry V. Mead
Guest Editor

• sustainable lifestyles
• policy framing and policy tools
• behavioural change
• socio-psychological research
• cultural change
• resource conservation systems
• comparative perspectives
• market segmentation
• behavioural economics

Title: Ecological citizens: Identifying values and beliefs that support individual environmental responsibility among Swedes
Author: Sverker C. Jagers
Affiliation: Department of Political science, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; E-Mail: sverker.jagers@pol.gu.se
Abstract: As it has been suggested that involvement of individuals in environmental work is necessary for halting environmental degradation, one focus for contemporary environmental policy and political theory is the need for comprehensive individual lifestyle changes. Ecological Citizenship (EC) has been suggested within the field of political theory as an approach to realise personal responsibility for the environment. However, empirical research on whether EC can serve this purpose is still lacking. Based on a survey sent to 4000 Swedish households, this paper makes the theory of EC empirically operational and explores whether and to what extent people in general hold values and beliefs in line with what is expected of EC, in order to shed light on the feasibility of cultivating ecological citizens in Sweden. The study concludes that a significant proportion of the respondents do demonstrate a value base consistent with EC, i.e. non-territorial altruism and the primacy of social justice. While additional tests and studies are needed, the results support the use of EC as a theoretical model for behavioural change.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Energy and Resource Overconsumption due to Unsustainable Technological Lifestyle
Author: Jun Fujimoto
Affiliation: Research Center for Advanced Science & Technology, The University of Tokyo, Japan; E-Mail: junf@rcast.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Abstract: Discussed here are possible root causes of current environmental problems, such as overconsumption of energy and resources. In our previous research, we examined the impact of a technological lifestyle, i.e. lack of social consciousness with ICT (Information Communication Technology) diffusion. We proposed that if current approaches to technological utilization are continued, various forms of “emptiness” i.e. lack of meaning, boredom, anxiety, could be accelerated thus encouraging overconsumption.. This paper points to possible approaches to large scale solutions that take into account the global and social backdrop which seems to have a role in fuelling unsustainable behaviour. First, we outline a selective sample of issues related to socio-economic and behavioural research, and then describe how ICT can contribute to possible solutions thereby facilitating the development of a sustainable society through the integration of social consciousness and environmental issues.
Keywords: Overconsumption, Being/ Having, Sustainable society, ICT

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Can New Perspectives on Sustainability Drive Lifestyles?
Authors: MR. Partidario, G. Vicente, C. Belchior
Affiliation: Maria Rosário Partidário, Gustavo Vicente, Constanca Belchior Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Instituto Superior Técnico, Av Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal; E-Mails: mrp@civil.ist.utl.pt (M.R.P.); gvicente@civil.ist.utl.pt (G.V.); c.c.belchior@gmail.com (C.B.)
Abstract: Understanding sustainability engages multiple views in a wide spectrum of technological, social and political positions. Over the last two decades it appears that an evolutionary process reflects a changing sustainability paradigm. At the basis of this changing paradigm remain strong principles of dematerialization, reflected in cuts in natural resources consumption, changing pathways to overcome lock-ins, mastering the art of economic innovation with ecological principles. This may engage new consumption attitudes and behaviour. This review paper adopts an holistic and integrated sustainability perspective, to look into principles of consumption behaviour and people's motivation in choosing their lifestyle.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Achieving a 'Synergy-of-Synergies' by Cultivating a 'Diversity-of-Diversities'
Author: John Wood
Affiliation: Department of Design, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London SE14 6NW, UK; E-mail: j.wood@gold.ac.uk
Abstract: Achieving behavioural change is a vital part of combating ecological crisis. However, governments fail because they prioritize economic growth. Where customary ‘targets and penalties’ approaches are relatively ineffective (Meadows, 1995) ‘design thinking’ (Simon, 1969; Brown, 2009) looks promising, as it works directly at the level of lifestyle. We have developed an eco-mimetic framework (i.e. 'metadesign') that challenges the received logic of ‘sustainability’ by cultivating (free) synergies by combining existing resources, ‘bisociatively’ (Koestler, 1964). Buckminster Fuller (1975) once described nature as a maximum 'synergy-of-synergies'. In aspiring to this state, metadesign teams will cultivate auspicious ‘diversities-of-diversities’.

Title: Temporal Objects: Design, Change and Sustainability
Author: Stuart Walker
Affiliation: ImaginationLancaster, Lancaster University, UK; E-Mail: s.walker@lancaster.ac.uk
Abstract: In this paper, design for change is explored as a means of contributing to socio-economic equity while minimising environmental damage. To create a material culture capable of accommodating technological progress and aesthetic development while also adhering to the principles of sustainability, it becomes important to recognise the potential role of design for change. This theme is explored here by considering design within an integrated strategy that includes mass- and local-scale manufacturing, service provision and re-manufacture. General design objectives are developed that provide a basis for generating ‘critical design’ concepts. Engagement in the process of designing requires a transmutation from generalisations to specific design decisions. This process enriches our understandings of design for change and the concepts presented here articulate the ideas via form, function, materials and aesthetics. In doing so, they provide tangible expressions of the strategic implications. These ‘temporal objects’, which in this case rely on a relatively stable technology, highlight the importance of localisation and more distributed forms of innovation. In addition, they clarify the designer’s role in developing useful things that are capable of being continually transformed through time, with continuous use of technological components and changing aesthetic components that, through creative employment of materials, have virtually no detrimental environmental impacts.
Keywords: design for change; sustainability; temporal objects; localisation; emerging enterprise models

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Consumption of Non-renewable Mineral and Energy Raw Materials from an Economic Geology Point of View
Authors: Volker Steinbach and Friedrich-W. Wellmer; E-Mails: fwellmer@t-online.de (F.-W.W.); Volker.Steinbach@bgr.de (V.S.)
Abstract: On the basis of 2003 statistics from before the recent extreme movements of the commodity markets it was estimated that the population of the world annually consumed about 35 billion tonnes of mineral resources with a corresponding value of about € 800 billion. How long can this consumption be sustained and is there a chance to fulfil the requirement of a “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (Brundtland-Report 1987)?
Analysing our raw material consumption we have to conclude that not the metal or raw material itself but a function intrinsic to its material properties is important. Taking copper for example, electrical conductivity is an intrinsic property. It is used for transmitting news, however, other commodities can perform this function, often in conjunction with fundamentally different technologies.
So, using any raw material essentially means: finding solutions for functions. For this purpose there are three resource pools available:
1. All the resources from the geosphere, i.e. primary resources.
2. All the resources from the technosphere, i.e. secondary resources which can be reused via recycling.
3. And, last but not least, human ingenuity and creativity.
Concerning resources from the geosphere we have two extremes: natural resources which are totally consumed and cannot be recycled and natural resources which can be totally recycled and used again. Total consumption applies to fossil fuels as energy raw materials. The other extreme of usage, not consumption, is illustrated by water, which can always be recycled provided enough energy is available, and by metals in principle. In the technosphere the absolute amount of metals is continuously increasing along with consumption. This offers the possibility for increased replacement of primary resources from the geosphere through recycling. At present the shortfall of secondary metal is mainly due to consumption growth combined with the lifetime of the metal products and collection efficiency. Pure metal scrap is the preferred source for producing new metal because less energy than for primary resources is needed. The more diluted the metal scrap and the more dissipated the metal, the higher is the necessary energy input for producing new metal. The optimum mix of primary and secondary resources minimizes energy input.
The tendency in our modern society to combine more and more elements to produce ever more sophisticated products is another aspect of mixing primary and secondary metals. It produces deposits far more complex in the technosphere than in the geosphere. These combinations become even more complex at the successive recycling stages. Recycling results in off-specification secondary metals and alloys. Therefore, it is current practice to mix low-quality secondary metals and primary metals to prevent losses and achieve optimized recycling rates.
When the curve of consumption flattens the chance exists to come to an equilibrium where a major proportion of the metals needed can be recovered from the technosphere and only the remaining need is produced from the geosphere. At this stage and keeping in mind that not a raw material as such, but an intrinsic property to fulfil a function is needed, a scenario can be envisaged that metals as so-called non-renewable resources practically become renewable resources and fulfil the condition of sustainability. However, there are two essential conditions:
1. enough energy at affordable prices must be available. Concerning sustainable development a hierarchy of natural resources has been proposed placing energy resources at the top. For reaching the final goal, the exclusive use of renewable energies has to be achieved; fossil fuels and nuclear power can only be bridging technologies.
2. ingenuity is required to find solutions for functions, to optimize processes, and to minimize losses in the technosphere. The feedback control system of raw material supply, the incentive being the market price, in a free economy will ensure that solutions will be found.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Life(Style) Politics For Sustainable Consumption; Analyzing the Role of Citizen-consumers in Global Environmental Change
Authors: Gert Spaargaren and Peter Oosterveer
Affiliation: Wageningen University, Environmental Policy Group, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands; E-Mails: Gert.Spaargaren@wur.nl (G.S.); Peter.Oosterveer@wur.nl (P.O.)
Abstract: The roles which individuals can adopt or get assigned in processes of global environmental change can be analyzed with the help of three ideal-type forms of commitment: as environmental citizens, as political consumers, and as individual moral agents. We offer a discussion of these three roles, and argue for the use of social practices as the proper units of analysis. Using a practice approach helps avoid individualist and privatized accounts of the role of citizen-consumers while emphasizing the intimate connections between the personal and the planetary as reproduced in the sets of consumption practices that make up our everyday lives.
Keywords: lifepolitics; lifestyles; citizen-consumers; social practices; sustainable consumption

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Consumers’ Sustainability Perceptions of the Supply Chain of Locally Produced Food
Author: Ari Paloviita
Affiliation: School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, Finland; E-Mail: ari.paloviita@jyu.fi
Abstract: The article is based on a qualitative focus group study of how sustainability of supply chain of locally produced food is perceived by consumers. Sustainability perceptions are grouped according to different phases of the supply chain: production, food processing and transporting, retailing, consumption and activities of the public sector. From this research, it becomes clear that socio-cultural aspects of locally produced food form the most important sustainability dimension for consumers. Contrary to some previous studies, discussion on food miles is more associated with freshness of the food rather than climate change. Besides the small and limited sample of this focus group study, 19 consumers in Central Finland, it is argued that sustainability of locally produced food should be promoted via socio-cultural arguments rather than economic or environmental arguments. It is concluded that the development of local food networks requires direct personal relationships with producers, social networking and consumer education.
Keywords: locally produced food; supply chain; sustainability; consumer perceptions; focus group

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Framing Devices in the Creation of Environmental Identity: A Case Study from Sweden
Authors: Karin Skill and Per Gyberg
Affiliation: Department of Thematic Studies - Technology and Social Change, University of Linköping, S-581 83 Linköping, Sweden; E-mail: per.gyberg@liu.se (P.G.)
Abstract: The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between identity and sustainable development within an ecological master frame. The material is based on a case study with Swedish householders and focus on how the interview persons construct their identity in relation to specific and detailed environmentally friendly activities. The argument put forth is that individuals construct what is possible and reasonable by identifying themselves in relation to the multitude of others and by doing certain symbolic activities. The conclusions suggest that the householders consider themselves to have a responsibility for the environment, but that they do enough when performing symbolic activities like recycling. Thereby the case study shows how the individuals are discussing their individual responsibility, and construct their identity in relation to an ecological master frame.).
Keywords: environmental identity; framing device; Sweden; household; ecological master frame

Title: Eco-Self-Build Housing Communities: Can They Lead to Sustainable and Low Carbon Lifestyles?
Authors: Steffie Broer and Helena Titheridge
Affiliation: UCL Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, University College London, London, UK; steffie@brightgreenfutures.co.uk (S.B.); h.titheridge@ucl.ac.uk (H.T.)
Abstract: This paper concerns how sustainable and low carbon living can be enabled in new housing developments in the UK. It is here recognised that consumption of energy and resources is not just what goes into the building, but also long-term through occupancy and activities. Current approaches, which require housing developers to reduce the carbon emissions of the homes they build through a mixture of energy efficiency and renewable energy systems, do not sufficiently contribute to the carbon emission reduction which are necessary for meeting UK Government targets and to avoid dangerous climate change. Purchasing a home ties people in not just to direct consumption of energy (heating, hot water, electricity), but also effects other areas of consumption such as the embedded energy in the building and activities associated with the location and the type of development. Behaviour changes are required and housing developers seem unable to catalyse such behavioural change. Conventional business models, operating under current government regulations, policies and targets have failed to develop housing which encourages the adoption of sustainable lifestyles and takes whole life consumption into account. An alternative business model of eco-self-build communities is proposed as a way to foster such behaviour change. The feasibility of this business model and its scope for supporting low carbon sustainable lifestyles is assessed through stakeholder interviews, and through quantitative assessment of costs, carbon emission reduction potential, and other sustainability impacts of technical and lifestyle options and their combinations. The research shows that the business model is both feasible and has the ability to deliver low carbon lifestyles. In addition in comparison to the conventional approach it has further advantages in terms of delivering wider social, environmental as well as economic sustainability objectives. If implemented correctly it can succeed in making sustainable lifestyles attractive, and foster the development of pro environmental social norms. Recommendations are made as to what the UK government can do to support the development of these types of communities.
Keywords: sustainable lifestyles; behaviour changes; comparative perspective; housing