Full Description
Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: a Language for our Common Future curates a shared vocabulary of concepts that enables a society-wide conversation about sustainable consumption and lifestyles, the future of consumer society, and ways to transcend it.
Since the United Nations (UN) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the global environmental and social consequences of mass consumption have been well documented, yet progress is slow. Overconsumption and extractive practices continue to drive ecological overshoot. Set against this backdrop, each of the eighty-seven essays in this book imparts a meaning to a concept, highlights its history, and offers different perspectives, interpretations, and applications for social change. The two premises of this book are that we need to transition to a society in which the well-being and dignity of people are achieved with a much smaller footprint; and that technological solutions are inadequate for the challenge. Policies and actions are greatly lagging behind the growing understanding of the system of production-consumption because social change is often slow, and sustainable consumption does not have a clear political champion. The book addresses tensions that also interfere with progress, such as science vs. politics, economic winners vs. losers, traditions vs. uncertain future, and present needs vs. future costs.
This innovative volume is an important resource for students, scholars, policymakers, grassroots activists, and agents of change interested in sustainable consumption and sustainable living more broadly.
Contents
Cluster I: Daily Household Decisions and Lifestyles 1. Consumerism1. 2 Household Income versus Carbon Footprint 3 Conspicuous/Positional Consumption 4 Hedonic Treadmill 5 Choice Paralysis 6 Generational Consumption Differences (in China) 7 Gender 8 Attitude-Behavior Gap 9 Behavior Change 10 Energy Consumption Behavior 11 Repair 12 Fast fashion 13 Moments of Change 14 Quiet Sustainability 15 Voluntary Simplicity 16 Mindfulness 17 Work-Life Balance 18 1.5 Degree Lifestyles Cluster II: Concepts, Frameworks and Applied Theories 19 Freedom of Choice 20 Social Practice Theory 21 Rebound Effects 22 Moral Licencing 23 Risk Perception 24 Living Lab 25 Convivial Technology 26 Beauty 27 Stocks versus Flows 28 Food Miles 29 Sufficiency 30 Consumption Corridors 31 Fair Consumption Space 32 Social Tipping Points Cluster III: Political Economy 33 Political Economy of Consumerism 34 Consumer Scapegoatism 35 Energy Overshoot 36 Carbon Inequality 37 The Role of Business 38 Money 39 Climate Justice 40 Eco-Social Contract 41 Ecological Economics 42 Wellbeing Economy 43 Foundational Economy 44 Steady-State Economy 45 Doughnut Economics 46 Degrowth 47 Sustainable Finance 48 Sharing Economy 49 Circular Economy and Society Cluster IV: Value Shifts and Social Activism 50 Alternative Hedonism 51 Well-being versus Income 52 Spiritual Consumption 53 Values and Consumption 54 Buen Vivir and Buenos Convivires55 Ubuntu 56 Education for Sustainable Consumption 57 Social Norms 58 Consumer-Citizen 59 Social Movements 60 Subvertising 61 Boycott and Buycott 62 Green Parenting 63 Grassroots Innovation 64 Prosumerism 65 Alternative Consumer Cooperatives 66 Community Supported Agriculture 67 Fair Trade 68 Food Sovereignty 69 Eco-Communities Cluster V: Governance, Policy, and Choice Architecture 70 Product-Service Systems 71 Universal Basic Services 72 Urban Planning and Spatial Allocation 73 Sustainable Housing 74 Sustainable Mobility 75 Protein Shift 76 Choice Editing 77 Green Nudging 78 Ecolabeling 79 Advertising 80 Greenwashing 81 Ecodesign 82 Extended Producer Responsibility 83 Product Returns and Right of Withdrawal 84 Information and Communication Technology 85 Consumption-Based Accounting 86 Personal Carbon Allowance 87 Co-Benefits of Climate Policy
