Sustainable Consumption Institute

The SCI’s Dale Southerton and Dan Welch have guest edited a special issue of online magazine Discover Society on sustainable consumption. The issue includes contributions from 15 SCI researchers, as well as contributions from colleagues further afield.

Dale and Dan introduce the issue with an essay on ‘New Directions in Sustainable Consumption’ which draws out the SCI’s distinctive ‘reconfiguration’ approach. Victoria Johnson and Frank Boons provide the issue’s Policy Briefing, assessing the track record of the new Government and suggesting an innovative approach to sustainability policy appraisal. Marc Hudson interviews Matthew Bell, CEO of the Climate Change Committee. Sherilyn MacGregor asks why gender matters in energy consumption research? Jessica Paddock and Alan Warde speculate on the future of eating out. Luke Yates challenges assumptions about the environmental threat of diminishing household size. Why do sustainable transport innovations flourish in some places and not in others, ask Mike Hodson and Andy McMeekin. Victoria Johnson and Frank Geels draw out lessons for low carbon policy from the diffusion of biomass district heating in Austria. The sustainability challenges of the rise of Chinese consumer society are explore by the SCI’s Alison Browne, along with colleagues Leonie Dendler, Zhu Di, and Dunfu Zhang. The topical issue of household food waste is explored by Jennifer Whillan’s analysis of a major SCI survey. And are we just too busy to be sustainable, ask Dale Southerton and Jo Mylan.

From beyond the SCI: Harold Wilhite (University of Oslo) looks at sustainable consumption in the Indian context; Steve Connor, CEO of Creative Concern, reflects on the agency’s sustainability communications work; and last but not least Margit Keller (Tartu University) and Bente Halkier (University of Roskilde) explore our struggles for consumer competence in a media saturated world.