186
household resources, particularly time and space saving, and expand on the
information on the cost of ownership, that is currently legally to be provided for
some consumer goods only. Regarding food calories, this information is already
standard information on food products.
On lifestyle level, companies across sectors may start working together to develop
and promote a portfolio of products for sustainable lifestyles and/or ecosystems.
4.2 Citizen: Sustainable Consumption Decisions and Lifestyles
All final consumption is decided on by the consumer, while marketing, the role
models that media personalities play, and the media in general, but also family and
friends are influencing consumption decisions. For implementing sustainable consumption to reach a sustainable life style, consumers require awareness of sustainability and need to receive sufficient and correct information to support their
consumption decisions (Wolf 2014a).
Taking more sustainable consumption decisions means purchasing, using, and
end-of-life managing products that – while fulfilling the consumer’s human needs in
at least the same degree as alternative products do – have a lower environmental life
cycle impact, including to quantitatively consider the secondary consequences, including the higher order consequences in the society and due to possibly freeing human
working time. In Sects. 2.7 and 2.8 we have already sketched a respective quantitative
measure on this last named aspect “Sustainable consumption” has been defined quite
early already, such as in (Norwegian Ministry of the Environment 1994).
8
The entirety of consumption of a citizen is facilitating the person’s lifestyle. A
lifestyle is – in its broadest sense – “Ways of life, encapsulating representations,
values and beliefs, behaviors and habits, institutions, economic and social systems.”
(UNEP 2011). In context of this chapter however, we refer mainly to the consumption of goods and services that enables the individual to create and live his or her
lifestyle, similar to the definition promoted in context of the Marrakech process:
“Sustainable lifestyles are patterns of action and consumption, used by people to
affiliate and differentiate themselves from others, which: meet basic needs, provide
a better quality of life, minimise the use of natural resources and emissions of waste
and pollutants over the lifecycle, and do not jeopardise the needs of future generations.” (Thidell 2011, adopted from CSD 2004).
The individual will aim at maximising the utility of his or her household
resources, i.e. optimize the needs fulfilment. In Sect. 3.2 it was explained why it will
be more accurate to calculate the environmental impacts of the entire consumption
profile of an individual’s lifestyle, than of individual products. We therefore argue
that it makes sense to define a range of lifestyles and calculate their overall
8 Unfortunately, in one of the most prominent and recent global efforts to “Develop recommendations for effective policies on Sustainable Lifestyles” (UNEP 2011), the reference to life cycle
approaches is essentially limited to the glossary.
M.-A. Wolf and K. Chomkhamsri
household resources, particularly time and space saving, and expand on the
information on the cost of ownership, that is currently legally to be provided for
some consumer goods only. Regarding food calories, this information is already
standard information on food products.
On lifestyle level, companies across sectors may start working together to develop
and promote a portfolio of products for sustainable lifestyles and/or ecosystems.
4.2 Citizen: Sustainable Consumption Decisions and Lifestyles
All final consumption is decided on by the consumer, while marketing, the role
models that media personalities play, and the media in general, but also family and
friends are influencing consumption decisions. For implementing sustainable consumption to reach a sustainable life style, consumers require awareness of sustainability and need to receive sufficient and correct information to support their
consumption decisions (Wolf 2014a).
Taking more sustainable consumption decisions means purchasing, using, and
end-of-life managing products that – while fulfilling the consumer’s human needs in
at least the same degree as alternative products do – have a lower environmental life
cycle impact, including to quantitatively consider the secondary consequences, including the higher order consequences in the society and due to possibly freeing human
working time. In Sects. 2.7 and 2.8 we have already sketched a respective quantitative
measure on this last named aspect “Sustainable consumption” has been defined quite
early already, such as in (Norwegian Ministry of the Environment 1994).
8
The entirety of consumption of a citizen is facilitating the person’s lifestyle. A
lifestyle is – in its broadest sense – “Ways of life, encapsulating representations,
values and beliefs, behaviors and habits, institutions, economic and social systems.”
(UNEP 2011). In context of this chapter however, we refer mainly to the consumption of goods and services that enables the individual to create and live his or her
lifestyle, similar to the definition promoted in context of the Marrakech process:
“Sustainable lifestyles are patterns of action and consumption, used by people to
affiliate and differentiate themselves from others, which: meet basic needs, provide
a better quality of life, minimise the use of natural resources and emissions of waste
and pollutants over the lifecycle, and do not jeopardise the needs of future generations.” (Thidell 2011, adopted from CSD 2004).
The individual will aim at maximising the utility of his or her household
resources, i.e. optimize the needs fulfilment. In Sect. 3.2 it was explained why it will
be more accurate to calculate the environmental impacts of the entire consumption
profile of an individual’s lifestyle, than of individual products. We therefore argue
that it makes sense to define a range of lifestyles and calculate their overall
8 Unfortunately, in one of the most prominent and recent global efforts to “Develop recommendations for effective policies on Sustainable Lifestyles” (UNEP 2011), the reference to life cycle
approaches is essentially limited to the glossary.
M.-A. Wolf and K. Chomkhamsri