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Sustainability Transitions Through the Lens of Lifestyle Dynamics

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Sustainable Production Consumption Systems

Abstract

Satisfying an ever-increasing consumer demand puts a strain on the environment as increasing amounts of space, material and energy are needed (Guinee 2002; Princen et al. 2002; Redclift 1996; Stern et al. 1997; Shove and Warde 1998). Material intensive consumption is accompanied by increasing amounts of waste and emissions. According to our own assessment, about 19 million tons of industrial CO2 emissions (25% of the total) can be attributed to direct lifestyle and consumption related human activities, most of which occur in the industrialized world, but with a growing share from rapidly developing countries such as China or India (Reusswig et al.).1 Despite their still (very) low level of material consumption and related emissions on a per capita basis, the total carbon footprint of these emerging economies has reached significant levels. 2 Due to catch-up processes and globalization effects, the dynamics and the environmental effects of modern consumer society is no longer confined to its historical region of origin: the United States (US), Western Europe, and – more recently – Japan. Economic growth, political modernization and cultural globalization do not only lead to the overall growth of resource use and emissions, they also change the internal composition of societies. Myers and Kent (2003) account for 1,059 million additional people having joined the global consumer class. This includes the expanding middle class in countries such as China, India or Brazil (Bhalla et al. 2003; Consumers International 1997; MGI 2006, 2007; Robison and Goodman 1996; Sridharan 2004; van Wessel 2004). Global studies show that the propensity to consumerism and the associated dreams and hopes – often fuelled by advertising and other global mass media products – of the emerging consumer class fuel future production and consumption processes especially in countries with a higher proportion of poor people (Environics 2002).

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Notes

  1. 1.

     If indirect (induced) resource flows and emissions are included, the environmental impact of consumption is even higher (Hertwich et al. 2005), contributing substantially to the total ‘ecological footprint’ of a society (York et al. 2004), or its metabolism (Fischer-Kowalski and Amann 2001).

  2. 2.

     China has already passed the US as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases. The rapid growth of overall emissions will also affect the accumulated emissions over time. While the US, Europe and Japan are still ‘leading’ in overall emissions, this will change in the near future when China is expected to overtake the U.S. in 2021 and India will keep up with Japan 10 years later (Botzen et al. 2008).

  3. 3.

     The measured increase in GMT is about +0.76°C; additional +0.6°C are already ‘in the pipeline’, but have not materialized yet due to inertia of the Earth system. The two-degree goal thus leaves us with a very limited window of opportunity for reducing emissions.

  4. 4.

     Per capita emissions of greenhouse gases in European countries are about 10 t per year, while they amount to almost 20 t in the US.

  5. 5.

     For a brief summary of this debate see Tomlinson (2003).

  6. 6.

     For an overview, cf. Zukin and Maguire (2004). This debate has clear consequences for environmental sociology addressing consumption issues: if the production advocates are right, every attempt to achieve more sustainable consumption via the consumption side is futile.

  7. 7.

     It is worth noting that wind energy alone will of course not suffice to provide sufficient electricity for the economy of a highly industrialized country. Other renewables will have to step in too. Photovoltaic and solar thermal systems have a smaller market share, but show impressive growth rates in Germany, covered by the Renewable Energy Law. The future of the transportation sector is open, as many options are followed (electricity, fuel cell, hybrids, agrofuels, and methanol). For a transition period, even the option of Carbon Capturing and Sequestration (CCS) is a climate neutral possibility, buying time for the renewables to gain momentum. The future of wind energy will very much depend upon the development of offshore facilities, which has just begun.

  8. 8.

     By coincidence, 1986 was also the year when the public debate on climate change gained momentum in Germany (Weingart et al. 2000). As nuclear power generation is associated with much less CO2 emissions than coal, oil or gas powered plants, the rise of climate change as a major issue in the environmental discourse could easily have led to a strengthening of the pro-nuclear option – a route that many nuclear power advocates clearly intended to take. Nevertheless it did not work out: the majority of the German public (and, in particular, the ‘alternative milieu’ of these days) was concerned about climate change (in the media often termed ‘climate disaster’, Klimakatastrophe), but at the same time remained deeply skeptical about the risks of nuclear power. For German environmental sociologist Ulrich Beck the year 1986 was crucial as well: the first edition of his ‘Risk Society’ was published immediately after the Chernobyl event, offering unprecedented public resonance to a work by a sociologist.

  9. 9.

     GROWIAN is the abbreviation for Grosse Windenergie-Anlage (Large Wind Energy Facility).

  10. 10.

     Social milieus can be read as a modernized version of social class, as they combine social status with values and everyday cultural practices.

  11. 11.

     These two terms mean different things. However, in social discourses, the scientific term ‘ecology’ has been transformed (during the 1970s and early 1980s) into a value based political concept.

  12. 12.

     For reasons of brevity I cannot illustrate this statement. The rise of organic food in many Western countries, especially in the UK, the US and Germany, would provide another example. The organic movement, with a history dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century, experienced similar rigidities and was supported by similarly marginal groups as renewable energy. Over time, advocacy groups were able to influence national and international (European Union) legislation (labeling, production standards, subsidies etc.), changing the boundary conditions of the system. Growing consumer demand together with citizen based policy reforms have led to intensified growth. Distribution channels have changed accordingly (from farmer markets to supermarkets), price premiums diminish due to economy of scale, the pressure on organic farmers is growing too, and by now many pioneers ask themselves whether this systemic change was really intended – or if it would not be better to go back to the ‘pure’ origins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, 14412, Germany

    Fritz Reusswig

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  1. Fritz Reusswig
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Louis Lebel

  2. SERI Deutschland e.V., Glatzer Str. 1, Overath, 51491, Germany

    Sylvia Lorek

  3. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Rajesh Daniel

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Reusswig, F. (2009). Sustainability Transitions Through the Lens of Lifestyle Dynamics. In: Lebel, L., Lorek, S., Daniel, R. (eds) Sustainable Production Consumption Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3090-0_3

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