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1997
Sustainable Lifestyles

Socrates may never have used the term sustainable consumption, but his marketplace comment "I am always amazed to see just how many things there are that I don't need," suggests that he intuitively knew what it meant. Over 2000 years later, a growing unease amongst consumers in the industrial world about the environmental impacts of their lifestyles had begun to emerge, but it wasn’t until 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, that the goal of sustainable consumption was first put on the international policy agenda.

Organised jointly by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Foundation’s Seventh Consultation looked at the roles that both individuals and organisations can play in changing consumption patterns. With a multi-stakeholder theme, the diversity of the participants was reflected in lively discussions. Despite a significant number of government representatives, all charged with making sense of the sustainable consumption agenda, it was clear that a great deal of work still needs to be done to move from well-intentioned words to real-world action in markets and high streets.

A highly complex challenge

Among the key conclusions:

• A huge range of actors and stakeholders has a legitimate interest in this debate.
• The issues remain complex – and surprisingly unexplored, at least in the depth that would permit effective policy action.
• A common vision was seen to be possible, although with different actors and stakeholders proposing significantly different objectives and mechanisms for achieving progress.
• Again, the issue of language surfaced, with participants seeing a growing need to engage advertising agencies and others involved in communicating direct with the public, whether as consumers or citizens.

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