What do you think needs to be done to encourage people to consume more sustainably?
Just thinking about my friends, family and other people around me, I think that awareness that they should live sustainable, and should change lifestyles is present. However most of them do not really know what is unsustainable about the products they consume. Also there is some resistance to the idea of buying fair-trade or organic products because there’s still an image of crazy treehuggers around this which is not considered to be cool.
For me the strongest motivators to buy sustainable products are my close friends, and I suppose I am like this for them. Most of my friends care about nature, or at least about animals. By sharing ideas and new information we picked up, we are ‘greening’ each other. Also knowing that we are all relatively ‘green’, helps to keep making sustainable choices because it feels like you’re part of a group.
How does this reflect on this week’s blog topic? I think people need an example, and I think sustainable consumption should be promoted by positive action-oriented messages. People should be inspired to live sustainable. Living sustainable should be something fun.
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Great post, and I think you're right to mention that we tend to do the things that our friends/family/colleagues/community do... it feels less strange to ask for fair-trade coffee if it's something your whole group does. This seems to tap into our needs to belong and be accepted in a group - rather than our needs for food or shelter. We'll be covering these psychological needs this week...
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