MichaelLyonstheconsumer

 __The Consumer__

The need for the development of knowledge and a change in behavior amongst consumers in regards to sustainability



- Addictive consumption submerges our concerns about ourselves, others and the earth, we buy things to define ourselves and use things mindlessly with little awareness of why we use them or where they came from (1) - We all live as individuals, absent from the rest of the world operating with “continuous partial attention,” we lose a sense of engagement in what we do and compromise awareness of underlying concerns that may exist in our actions (1) - Consumers aren’t actively involved in their daily activities, they have little knowledge of the impact of their daily needs and purchases - Most people gather their information on their daily purchases during the shopping experience itself as well as from conventional media and advertising(3) and little information is actively voiced through these methods to the consumer about the sustainability of the products they purchase - Price, quality, convenience, and brand familiarity are primary purchasing decision criteria (5) - Resistance to change has always existed among society, we need to evolve into a human species that “carries a torch” for the environment and thinks about what we do and how we could possibly operate more sustainably, a species widely aware of the impact of themselves on the environment - Consumer demand and consumer awareness of issues is a means as well as an end in that different purchasing patterns can reduce our waste, energy and pollution effects but also this awareness can become a large lobbying power against corporate corruption, corporate pollution and natural resource devastation as larger scale issues - An interesting article about consumption and sustainable products: []
 * The Problem with Consumers**

- Many sources show that sustainability is simply not a primary purchasing criteria for the average consumer in various industries - Many of the articles involving sustainability and consumer behavior cite an attitude-behavior discrepancy where even if consumers do view environmental products positively very little of these same people purchase or utilize them - In Sweden 75% of households said they would serious consider purchasing “green” energy and 40% would purchase it at a cost increase but in this same year only 1% actually did (6) - 67% of respondents reported that a free electronic recycling program would influence their buying decision but only 38% were aware of the existence of these programs and 8% had participated in one (4) - A United Kingdom study showed that people are generally unaware of the sustainability impacts of their clothing(3) - When these same people were given adequate information in regards to the energy impacts of laundry and social impacts of clothing production they were open to changing their habits but their clothing choices were still majorly derived from identity and economy considerations(3) - People are often positive about organic foods but don’t purchase them for reasons such as perceived limited availability, premium price and satisfaction with the conventional food supply (2) - Study in Sweden concluded that consumers in general do not consider “organically produced” to be an important purchase criterion (2) - Fewer than half of consumers of technology products claim they investigated or considered the environmental aspects of their purchase (4) - For more information on consumer awareness and behavior patterns regarding some of these specific industries see the links listed here: Consumer Behavior and Organic food:[] Consumer Behavior and Green Electricity: [] Consumer Behavior and Sustainable Clothing: []
 * Statistics and studies**

- Most common motivations for purchasing organic foods were found to be personal health(2) but frequent buyers versus less frequent were found to cite more often things such as environmentally sound production and animal welfare for reasons of purchase over personal health concerns (2) - More frequent buyers of a variety of sustainable goods purchased for reasons that were brought about by issues that required reflection by the consumer such as “environmentally sound production,” “ethical and political considerations,” and “animal welfare” (2) - People are unaware of the problems with their current purchases and are quite content with what is available in the market, maybe they wouldn’t be if they knew the impact of some of the products and developed the knowledge necessary to reflect on the issues that are present - Detailed models have been established in economic journals to determine the effect environmental concern by consumers may have on price competition as seen here: []
 * Reasoning behind current consumer behavior**

- Everyday consumption practices are heavily driven by convenience and habit, solving problems such as overworking and treadmills of production could help open up time for people to make less convenient purchasing of more sustainable products(5) - Eco-labeling although full of problems itself is a strong start to force people to interact with environmental issues during the shopping experience itself - Advertising and mass media could easily be altered to voice issues on sustainability, this is an established far reaching network which if utilized in a different fashion could get some of the major sustainability information out there to large sections of the population - Although dependent on consumer initiative to watch them documentaries can hold a large potential to inform people on both specific and large-scale issues - Documentaries such as those watched during this Sustainability Problems class provide immensely concentrated information on topics - Here are some of the top environmental documentaries of 2009 as well as a website offering free viewing of a variety of documentaries: [] [] - It can becomes very hard to develop a knowledge of the impact of everything we use and do when the earth runs on such a global scale and sustainability itself is such a complex topic - Solution might be to scale down and receive more of your daily needs from the local community so you are assured of what went into making your products which also develops a sense of community, responsibility and dependence to and on those around you
 * Conclusion and Solutions**

References

1. Ehrenfeld, J. R. (2006, December 1). //Feeding the Beast//. Retrieved March 27, 2010, from Fast Company: [] 2. Shepherd, R., Magnusson, M., & Per-Olow, S. (2001). Determinants of Consumer Behavior Related to Organic Foods. //Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment//, 352-359. 3. //Public Understanding of Sustainable Clothing.// (2008, November). Retrieved March 27, 2010, from [] 4. //Benefits of Going Green//. Retrieved March 27, 2010, from [] 5. Vermeir, I., & Verbeke, W. (2006). Sustainable Food Consumption: Exploring the Consumer "Attitude - Behavioral Intention" Gap. //Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics//, 1-26. 6. Ek, K., & Soderholm, P. (2008). Norms and economic motivation in the Swedish green electricity market. //Ecological Economics//, 169-182.