Sustainabilty: Conceptual Approaches

Saving energy in the home or the ever-growing demand for organic and fair trade products are all well and good, but as long as people carry on taking airplanes to go on their annual holiday and driving their cars every day, there really can be no talk of sustainable consumer behaviour. Consumers' aspirations and reality, along with the power and the morals they have, is the subject of a survey being carried out by an interdisciplinary study group called “Klima” (climate) as part of the “Scholars in Residence” (SiR) program at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen.

Against the background of the ever looming threat of a climate catastrophe at the Centre for Responsibility Research (CRR) for quite a few years now they have been delving into the question of just how responsible people in highly complex societies are. Their approach at CRR has been from the cultural science point of view - a combination of philosophical, economic, sociological and political observations. Under the management of philosopher, Ludger Heidbrink, the players, institutions and organisations of a society are examined with the aim of establishing any perspectives for sustainability. Alongside topics like the future of the market economy, the relationship between morals and economics, climate change and the state of liberalism, the focus of attention has increasingly shifted to the consumer since 2008.

In the eco-rankings Germany is trailing way behind

The consumer’s role as the actual puppet master when it comes to a rethinking of the global economic system cannot be ignored. When it boils down to it, all kinds of things are dependent on consumer demand – not only investment, but also product design right up to the observance of social and environmental standards in the production and disposal of goods. This is why the consumer enjoys a certain decisive power. Opinions however differ on whether he is actually aware of this power. The explosive growth in alternative markets and ethical funding is one thing, but if only every one in ten people is applying his ecological views in his everyday life, as was reported in a survey carried out by the German Federal Environment Agency, it is hardly surprising that in 2010 the Germans only ranked 12th out of 17 in the National Geographic's Greendex Survey (a survey of the ecological performance of various countries) - trailing way behind the Indians, Brazilians and the Chinese.

One might think this could be compensated for by such movements as LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability), which is also well represented in Germany, but that is not the case. This organisation that, due to its consumer awareness, would also go so far as total refusal, sees itself as the avant-garde of sustainable consumerism. With its purchasing power of an estimated 200 billion euros it might well have considerable influence in possible changes in production and marketing methods, but in view of the fact that their apparent ecological awareness might be just a mere fad and as a result might not have any real sustainable effects, experts also fear that they run the danger of provoking an equally demonstrative counter-movement, along the lines of “Now more than ever!”

Consumerism as a political issue

In an evaluation on the “Opportunities and Limits of Consumer Responsibility” that resulted from a CRR event of the same name that was held at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen Wolfgang Ullrich, among others, held a paper, comparing the compensation for CO2 emissions to a modern-day “selling of indulgencies” in which frequent fliers can financially absolve themselves of their climate sins. This cultural-scientist from Karlsruhe wirtes on a new “Three-Class Society” in which hyper-moral “consumer citizens”, with the aid of re-education programs, conduct a crusade against an immoral "consumer proletariat" and at the same time punish the “luxury consumers”, who are only into having fun and status, with contempt and exclusion.

On the other hand the publicist, Tanja Busse, author of the book Die Einkaufsrevolution (The Shopping Revolution) defends the moralisation of consumption and has promoted it to a political issue. “Just as about 150 years ago subjects became citizens, emotionally gullible and easily seduced buyers now have to become enlightened and emancipated consumers who are ready to accept their responsibility as consumers.” Internet forums represent a definite step in the right direction as they can guide people when they are buying ecological and fair trade products.

A “global turnaround” per Internet

The best example of this would be Utopia, whose declared aim is nothing less than the “global turnaround”. It is endeavouring to get millions of people to sustainably change their consumer behaviour and their lifestyle. “In cooperation with the Utopians we want to provide an incentive for the corporate world which will induce it to act sustainably - on an economic, ecological and social level,” as they state on their website. “Utopia wants to promote a dialogue on the subject of sustainability among all of society’s players and to become the driving force behind a ‘green economic miracle’”.

Imke Schmidt, a PhD candidate at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen, is also looking at the chances of cooperative interaction between companies and consumers with the aim of increasing the awareness of their joint responsibility when it comes to sustainability. She is also taking part in the “Scholars in Residence” program that is being sponsored by the Goethe Institut. She is now able to proudly boast that at the end of October 2011 she will be working with not one, but two, transnational exchange partners for research exchange - Ryoko Yamamoto from Japan and Carolina Castro Osorio from Colombia.

Interdisciplinary exchange

“The Japanese woman is an environmental engineer and is studying the CO2 footprint of products throughout their entire life cycle. In this field Japan has adopted a very progressive approach, including the appropriate logo,” Schmidt explains. “The Colombian woman is a cultural scientist like myself and is focusing on sustainability in conurbations, using Bogotá as her example. An interdisciplinary exchange between the natural and cultural sciences like this was thought to be particularly exciting.”