[MCN] What is "the good life"? Sustainable consumption and the rich-country, poor-country divide

[Lance Olsen]

Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Vol. 44:157-175 (Volume publication date October 2019)
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-101718-033119 <https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-101718-033119>

Sustainable Living: Bridging the North-South Divide in Lifestyles and Consumption Debates

Bronwyn Hayward1,2 and Joyashree Roy3,4
1Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand; email: bronwyn.hayward at canterbury.ac.nz <mailto:bronwyn.hayward at canterbury.ac.nz>
2Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
3Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani 12120, Thailand; email: joyashree at ait.asia <mailto:joyashree at ait.asia>, joyashreeju at gmail.com <mailto:joyashreeju at gmail.com>
4Global Change Programme, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal 700032, India

Abstract
This article presents a critical assessment of the literature on sustainable consumption in the global North and South, in the context of accelerated and megascale transitions that are needed across all human activities, in ways that “leave no one behind,” as envisaged in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It challenges two dominant, related research foci: an emphasis on the individual and individual aspirations of the good life, and the policy incrementalism of rational, ecological modernization. Although conceding individuals must act consciously to advance sustainability, nuanced interpretations of collective sustainable living rarely feature in mainstream research. Discussion highlights values of extended family, tribe and community solidarity, and human and nonhuman interrelationships for harmonious, peaceful, spiritual, and material coexistence. Concepts such as Ahimsa (India), Buen Vivir (South America), Ubuntu (Africa), Hauora (New Zealand), or Shiawase and Ikigai (Japan), for example, can enrich understandings of sustainable living as long-term collective action for sustainable development and reducing climate change.

Keywords

sustainable consumption <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Sustainable+Consumption>, sustainable living <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Sustainable+Living>, just transition <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Just+Transition>, climate justice <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Climate+Justice>, just consumption <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Just+Consumption>, well-bein <https://www.annualreviews.org/keyword/Well-being>g

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“The factor that best explained variation in extinction risk was the level of future climate change. The future global extinction risk from climate change is predicted not only to increase but to accelerate as global temperatures rise.”

Mark C. Urban. Accelerating extinction risk from climate change.

SCIENCE 1 MAY 2015 • VOL 348 ISSUE 6234
<<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/348/6234/571.full.pdf>>

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