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Understanding and Shaping Sustainable Lifestyles – Key Vocabulary

Lifestyle vs. Sustainable Lifestyle

  • Lifestyle = social “print” of daily habits; shapes identity, health, resource use.

  • Sustainable lifestyle = patterns enabled by institutions that minimize resource use & waste while promoting equity and well-being.

Veblen’s “Leisure Class” & Globalization

  • Conspicuous consumption/leisure = status display by elite.

  • Globalization spreads consumerist ideals → worldwide pecuniary emulation, larger luxury demand, higher ecological load.

Global Middle Class

  • Fast-growing group with discretionary income.

  • Adoption of resource-intensive habits drives environmental pressure (energy, water, GHG, waste).

  • Also key leverage point for sustainable transitions (policy, affordable green options).

Product Life-Cycle Impacts

  • Every purchase passes through extraction → manufacturing → distribution → use → disposal.

  • Impacts: resource depletion, energy use, pollution, waste, biodiversity loss, labor issues, inequality.

Environmental “Hot-Spot” Domains

  • Food
    • Diet, sourcing, waste; nearly 1/3 of food lost/wasted.

  • Housing
    • Buildings = up to 30\% of global GHG, 40\% energy use; materials cause mining impacts.

  • Mobility
    • Transport = 13\% of GHG, 23\% of energy-CO_2; mode & distance critical.

  • Goods/Services
    • Extraction, manufacturing, e-waste, fast fashion.

  • Leisure
    • Tourism, electronics, second homes → energy use, e-waste, cultural & biodiversity stress.

Supply-Chain Lens on Lifestyle Choices

  • Food: diet choice ↔ land, water, energy, packaging, transport, waste.

  • Housing: size/materials ↔ extraction, construction energy, heating/cooling, demolition.

  • Mobility: vehicle type & use ↔ material input, fuel burn, infrastructure footprint.

Factors Shaping Consumption

  • Motivations (internal): functional need, status, convenience, pleasure, health, ethics.

  • Drivers (external enablers): income, values, ability, awareness/knowledge, social norms, media, prices, technology, infrastructure, policies.

  • Determinants (meta-conditions):
    • Attitudes/values/social norms.
    • Facilitators/access (time, money, networks).
    • Physical & systemic infrastructure locking in behaviour.

Key Takeaways

  • Daily choices in food, housing, mobility, goods, and leisure dictate personal & collective footprints.

  • Conspicuous & middle-class consumption trends amplify global resource strain.

  • Effective change targets motivations, supporting drivers, and enabling determinants simultaneously.

  • Policy, business innovation, and individual action must align to embed sustainable lifestyles within societal systems.

Lifestyle vs. Sustainable Lifestyle

  • Lifestyle = social “print” of daily habits; shapes identity, health, resource use.

  • Sustainable lifestyle = patterns enabled by institutions that minimize resource use & waste while promoting equity and well-being.

Veblen’s “Leisure Class” & Globalization

  • Conspicuous consumption/leisure = status display by elite.

  • Globalization spreads consumerist ideals → worldwide pecuniary emulation, larger luxury demand, higher ecological load.

Global Middle Class

  • Fast-growing group with discretionary income.

  • Adoption of resource-intensive habits drives environmental pressure (energy, water, GHG, waste).

  • Also key leverage point for sustainable transitions (policy, affordable green options).

Product Life-Cycle Impacts

  • Every purchase passes through extraction → manufacturing → distribution → use → disposal.

  • Impacts: resource depletion, energy use, pollution, waste, biodiversity loss, labor issues, inequality.

Environmental “Hot-Spot” Domains

  • Food

    • Diet, sourcing, waste; nearly 1/3 of food lost/wasted.

  • Housing

    • Buildings = up to 30\% of global GHG, 40\% energy use; materials cause mining impacts.

  • Mobility

    • Transport = 13\% of GHG, 23\% of energy-CO_2; mode & distance critical.

  • Goods/Services

    • Extraction, manufacturing, e-waste, fast fashion.

  • Leisure

    • Tourism, electronics, second homes → energy use, e-waste, cultural & biodiversity stress.

Supply-Chain Lens on Lifestyle Choices

  • Food: diet choice ↔ land, water, energy, packaging, transport, waste.

  • Housing: size/materials ↔ extraction, construction energy, heating/cooling, demolition.

  • Mobility: vehicle type & use ↔ material input, fuel burn, infrastructure footprint.

Factors Shaping Consumption

  • Motivations (internal): functional need, status, convenience, pleasure, health, ethics.

  • Drivers (external enablers): income, values, ability, awareness/knowledge, social norms, media, prices, technology, infrastructure, policies.

  • Determinants (meta-conditions):

    • Attitudes/values/social norms.

    • Facilitators/access (time, money, networks).

    • Physical & systemic infrastructure locking in behaviour.