TOPIC 8 SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION. “Changing consumption and production patterns is the heart of...

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TOPIC 8 SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

Transcript of TOPIC 8 SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION. “Changing consumption and production patterns is the heart of...

Page 1: TOPIC 8 SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION. “Changing consumption and production patterns is the heart of sustainable development”

TOPIC 8

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION

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“Changing consumption and productionpatterns is the heart of sustainable development”

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STANDARD OF LIVING AND QUALITY OF LIFE

• Standard of living refers to the consumption of goods and services by an individual.

• It relates directly to the economic development whereas the well-being or quality of life of a population refers to a combination of attributes that provide physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing.

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Lets Play Quizzes

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Does either of these descriptions fit you?

You buy several summer outfits for your as-yet-unborn baby, then it turns out he outgrows those clothes before the weather warms up.

You’re an over-buyer!

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You often lay in huge supplies of items like shampoo or cough medicine.

You’re an over-buyer!

You buy saline solution, which you use every morning and night, one bottle at a time.

You’re an under-buyer.

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You’re suspicious of specialized objects and resist buying things.

You’re an under-buyer.

You often make a purchase, such as a tool or tech gadget, with the thought, “This will probably come in handy.”

You’re an over-buyer!

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You find yourself throwing things away — milk, medicine, even cans of soup — because they’ve hit their expiration date.

You’re an over-buyer!

cutlery for children, hand cream, or rain boots.

You’re an under-buyer.

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If you must buy something, you buy as little as possible – say, by putting $10 of gas in the car.

You’re an under-buyer.

You think, “Buying these things shows that I’m responsible, organized, and thoughtful.”

You’re an over-buyer!

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RECAP: SUSTAINABILITY

• Sustainability is the action oriented variant of Sustainable Development. There are some principles of sustainability which include the following :

– Protecting Nature– Thinking long-term– Understanding systems within which we live– Recognizing limits– Practicing fairness– Embracing creativity

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• SUSTAINABLE GROWTH– For growth, we need resources and the rate of depletion of

resources cannot be matched with the regenerating capacity of earth, as it is finite, not-growing and materially closed. Therefore, Sustainable growth is an impossible theorem (a general proposition not self-evident but proved by a chain of reasoning)!

• SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION– Sustainable consumption is related to production and

distribution, use and disposal of products and services and provides the means to rethink our lifecycle. The aim is to ensure that the basic needs of the entire global community are met, excess is reduced and environmental damage is avoided.

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Why The Need For Sustainable Consumption?

• Consumption is an integral part of our life. In the course of time we become aware of the negative impact of our consumption patterns on the environment. This allow us to change and join the sustainable development approach.

• Consumer patterns change for both micro and macro reasons. At the micro level, changes are attributable to individual consumer's changing tastes. At the macro level, such changes occur because of structural shifts in the environment. This affects our behavior, lifestyle, values and needs which implicate the change of our consumption patterns, which can vary between and within different countries and cultures

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About 35 million tons of food waste reach landfills and incinerators each year in the United States.

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For these extreme couponers, saving money is a lifestyle and they never (ever!) pay full price.

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Consumption and Wealth: A Culture of Consumerism

• Relatively wealthy consumers account for by far the greatest per-capita share of consumption expenditure and environmental footprint.

• According to estimates by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), three planets would be required if everyone were to adopt the consumption patterns and lifestyles of the average citizen from the United Kingdom; five planets, if they were to live like the average North American. (WWF, Living Planet Report, 2006).

• According to WWF, humanity’s “ecological footprint” (a measure of the pressure on Earth from human consumption of natural resources) has increased to 125% of global carrying capacity and could rise to 170% by 2040. (WWF, Living Planet Report, 2006).

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An international agenda

• The sustainable consumption challenge emerged as a key issue in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

• Ten years later, at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the international community was called upon to improve global living conditions and to “encourage and promote the development of a ten-year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production (SCP) in support of regional and national initiatives to accelerate the shift towards SCP.”

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Towards a Definition of Sustainable Consumption (SC)

• There are many definitions of SC, but most share the following common features:

– Satisfying basic human needs (not the desire for 'wants' and luxuries

– Favoring quality of life over material standards of living;

– Minimizing resource use, waste and pollution;

– Taking a life-cycle perspective in consumer decision-making; life cycle of a product referring to its production, transport and retailing, use and disposal.

– Acting with concern for future generations

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Definition of Sustainable Consumption

• These five emphases feature in a definition that has come to be seen as one of the most authoritative in recent years.

"Sustainable production and consumption is the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better qualify of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials

and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations."

Symposium: Sustainable Consumption. Oslo, Norway; 19-20 January 1994.

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RECYCLED PRODUCTS

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Linking Sustainable Consumption with Sustainable Production

• This definition is seen as a good one because it links sustainable consumption closely with sustainable production - by dealing with both the production and disposal phases of the product life-cycle as well as the transport, retailing and consumption of goods and services.

• It also assumes a two-way process of social change through which producers can influence consumption through product designs and marketing with consumers, in turn, influencing production through their market choices.

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A Summary : A Way Forward

• Getting the world onto a sustainable consumption course will take decades.

• Societies are locked into unsustainable patterns of consumption over which individual consumers have little influence.

• Furthermore, many unsustainable patterns of consumption are deeply rooted in cultural habits, despite increasing evidence that many citizens are now ready to re- examine their lifestyles.

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• As a result, action to develop infrastructures and cultural norms that enable rather than constrain sustainable consumption choices will have to take place gradually, with the full participation of all stakeholders.

• Sustainable consumption is an umbrella term that brings together a number of key issues, such as meeting needs, enhancing the quality of life, improving resource efficiency, increasing the use of renewable energy sources, minimizing waste, taking a life cycle perspective and taking into account the equity dimension.

• Integrating these component parts is the central question of how to provide the same or better services to meet the basic requirements of life and the aspirations for improvement for both current and future generations, while continually reducing environmental damage and risks to human health.

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• A key issue is therefore the extent to which necessary improvements in environmental quality can be achieved through the substitution of more efficient and less polluting goods and services (patterns of consumption), rather than through reductions in the volumes of goods and services consumed (levels of consumption).

• Political reality in democratic societies is such that it will be much easier to change consumption patterns than consumption volumes, although both issues need to be addressed.