{"id":661,"date":"2021-03-26T15:27:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T13:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/?p=661"},"modified":"2021-03-26T15:27:15","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T13:27:15","slug":"what-do-you-mean-consume-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/2021\/03\/26\/what-do-you-mean-consume-less\/","title":{"rendered":"What do you mean, \u201cconsume less\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Image by 3888952<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our high levels of consumption in Western, affluent\ncountries is contributing to environmental problems, such as climate change and\nbiodiversity loss. Efforts to make consumption \u201cgreener\u201d have so far been\nunable to halt environmental degradation, spurring a growing number of\nresearchers to argue for a need for substantial change in consumption patterns for\nhigh-consuming classes, including reducing the amount of consumption. To\n\u201cconsume less\u201d may seem like a straight-forward idea, but it is often used as an\nabstract concept without specifying what it entails in practice. When arguing\nfor \u201cconsuming less\u201d, what does that actually mean? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my recently published review article<\/a>, I suggest distinguishing between four different types of consumption changes that consuming less can entail. First, consuming less can of course mean to literally consume less, that is, to reduce the quantity of consumption. For example, not owning a television or not spending the holiday vacationing in a far-away destination that requires a flight reduces the absolute amount of consumption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, such reductions in consumption levels are\nnot always possible. In many cases consuming less doesn\u2019t mean not consuming at\nall. For instance, consuming less of one product may result in shifting to a\nless environmentally harmful alternative. For example, much research indicates that\nwe should consume less meat and dairy products. This of course does not mean that\nwe eat less; rather, we replace the meat and dairy products in our diets with\nplant-based alternatives that have a smaller ecological footprint. Similarly, research\nhas argued for the need to reduce private car use.  It is difficult to demand people travel\nshorter distances; rather, we can shift to alternative modes of transportation,\nsuch as public transport or biking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, sometimes consuming less may mean that\nwe buy less new things and keep using what we already own. For example, it is\nnot realistic to demand that we not wear clothes or own a phone, but if we\nextend the lifespan of the clothes and the electronics that we already own, we don\u2019t\nneed to buy as many new products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, sometimes we only have occasional use for a\nproduct, such as a drill or a book. In these instances, it may make the most\nsense to not buy these products for ourselves, but to borrow, rent, or in other\nways share them with others. That way, we collectively consume less, as we are\nsharing products among us instead of everyone owning their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, \u201cconsuming less\u201d is not as simple an idea as it may first appear. It can actually entail a variety of ways of changing our consumption patterns: absolute reductions in the amount of consumption, changing modes of consumption, extending product lifespans, or sharing products. Understanding the variety of consumption changes that we can make to reduce ecological footprints can help us be more successful in our efforts to address environmental degradation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maria Sandberg<\/a>,
Doctoral student \n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To read more about different ways of consuming less,\nsee my recently published article, in which I develop a typology to differentiate\nbetween types of consumption changes and discuss consumption changes in\nhousing, nutrition, mobility and other categories of consumption:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandberg, Maria (2021), \u201cSufficiency transitions: A review of consumption changes for environmental sustainability\u201d, Journal of Cleaner Production<\/em>, 293 (15 April 2021), 126097. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jclepro.2021.126097<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo: Pixabay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our high levels of consumption in Western, affluent countries is contributing to environmental problems, such as climate change and biodiversity loss. Efforts to make consumption \u201cgreener\u201d have so far been unable to halt environmental degradation, spurring a growing number of researchers to argue for a need for substantial change in consumption patterns for high-consuming classes, …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20,22],"class_list":["post-661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cers-blog","tag-consumption","tag-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661\/revisions\/665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.hanken.fi\/cers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}