"Sustainable consumption is an emerging research topic in the academic discourse on sustainable development and global environmental change. Informed by a number of disciplinary perspectives, this book is structured around four key themes in sustainable consumption research: Living, Moving, Dwelling and Futures. The collection successfully balances theoretical insights with grounded case studies in several forms of sustainability, such as mobility, heating, washing and eating practices and concludes by exploring future sustainable consumption research pathways and policy recommendations"--
This anthology of essays focuses on alternatives to current patterns of resource use. It is the result of a project called CONSENSUS (consumption, environment, and sustainability) funded by the Irish government's department of environmental protection. The contributors are largely Irish, with a few other Europeans, but they focus on global problems. They come from many different academic fields. Their primary concern is that many people are now talking about the environment and sustainable resource use, but the patterns of use in most nations have changed very little. The book's first section looks at living, and includes general overviews of the project, policy issues, and research strategies. The second part, Moving, looks at commuting. Part three, Dwelling, looks at heating, washing, and eating. The last part is an essay on recommendations for actually creating more sustainable practices in the future. Annotation ©2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Sustainable consumption is a central research topic in academic discourses of sustainable development and global environmental change. Informed by a number of disciplinary perspectives, this book is structured around four key themes in sustainable consumption research: Living, Moving, Dwelling and Futures. The collection successfully balances theoretical insights with grounded case studies, on mobility, heating, washing and eating practices, and concludes by exploring future sustainable consumption research pathways and policy recommendations. Theoretical frameworks are advanced throughout the volume, especially in relation to social practice theory, theories of behavioural change and innovative visioning and backcasting methodologies.
This groundbreaking book draws on some conceptual approaches which move beyond the responsibility of the individual consumer to take into account wider social, economic and political structures and processes in order to highlight both possibilities for and challenges to sustainable consumption. This approach enables students and policy-makers alike to easily recognise the applicability of social science theories.
