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This book reflects upon and critiques the potential of citizen-consumer's to alter their natural consuming habits and to 'shop ethically, 'care for the environment' and 'think glocally' so as to reduce environmental harm. The author argues that our present conceptual understanding of what drives peoples' environmental behaviour (that environmental remedies can be realized by determining fixed ends which citizen-consumers could strive for) is inadequate and that environmental policies based on these perspectives of human behaviour yield poor results and will not change citizen-consumer behaviour. Developing a substantial challenge to the existing accepted theories, this book sets out a groundbreaking approach to understanding citizen-consumer behaviour from the perspective of evolutionary theory. The evolutionary theory of human nature shows that firstly, environmental concern is not a universal element across different cultures and secondly, that neglecting one's environmental harm through striving for individual accumulation of wealth is not a characteristic of human nature. Instead, it is social motivation, rather than rational choice that is the driving force behind human agency and recognizing the importance of social motivation is essential as a basis for the advancement of sustainable development and adaptation of the norms and practices of citizen-consumers, markets and politics. The book concludes by discussing how the evolutionary perspective on human behaviour can constitute the basis for the development of practical environmental projects and policies.

This chapter looks at political consumerism in the toy sector, offering a brief history of consumer concerns and distinguishing among four strands of political consumerist research in this sector. A primary factor facilitating political consumerism of toys is that toy companies are extremely concerned about their reputation. Manufacturers cannot assume that parents and other carers do their usual risk-benefit analysis with the same level of risk acceptance concerning toys. Factors constraining political consumerism in this sector include long product chains and difficulties in discovering unethical practices and dangerous substances. Actors involved in the political consumerism of toys come from all societal spheres, including retailers. Regulators take action when risks have been discovered by civil society actors or scientists, but international divergence in regulation constitutes an obstacle to concerted action. Future research needs to examine synergies and trade-offs among various risks in toy products.

Agricultural policies have always had a tendency to be controversial. In many cases they generate major transfers of welfare between different groups of people, and hence are favoured by some and criticised by others. They also frequently cause trouble at the international level as domestic programmes interfere with trade flows and affect the wellbeing of people in other parts of the world. In addition to these more ―traditional‖ problems though, agricultural policy makers have more recently been faced with several issues that are even more controversial. Animal welfare, environmental implications, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), quality and safety of food products and social conditions of production are just a few examples of issues where modern societies have concerns, often arising out of widely diverging views on what is right and wrong. Responding appropriately to such societal concerns and identifying the ―best‖ policies to solve these issues has often proven difficult for policy makers, be it in a domestic setting or typically even more intricate — in an international context. In order to throw at least some light on such policy problems, the OECD has decided to invest some effort in analysing such societal concerns and the respective policy responses. The workshop of which an overview is provided here was part of this effort. Societal concerns are a multi-faceted phenomenon — and the presentations and discussions throughout the workshop were equally multi-faceted. They originated from a wide spectrum of disciplines, all the way from philosophy, through political science, law, veterinary science and economics, to practical policy making. The perspectives brought to bear on the issue of how to deal with societal concerns ranged from academic thought through international organisations, industry and agriculture to decision making in governments. The mood among participants of the workshop oscillated between slight frustration with the complexity of the issues covered, to mild optimism regarding the availability of practical options for policy responses to at least some of the concerns society expresses about what happens in the field of agriculture and food. The workshop covered many dimensions of the theme, but in the limited amount of time available could not possibly have dealt with everything one would want to know about the nature of and constructive policy responses to societal concerns. This overview is an attempt, necessarily somewhat subjective, at highlighting some of the major lessons learned during the workshop, while also indicating some of the open questions remaining. It begins by commenting on the nature of societal concerns, proceeds to looking at possible resolutions, poses some questions not much covered by the workshop, and ends by drawing some tentative conclusions regarding the potential role of international organisation in dealing with societal concerns.

Recognizing the great potential of civil society organizations (CSOs) as drivers of social change, this study examines how CSOs' work directed towards consumers—in this case, to make food consumption sustainable—could be analyzed and improved through insights in practice theory. This research scope adds to the sustainable consumption literature by shifting the lens from the rich body of scholarship examining the practices of households or organizations themselves to how CSOs can influence household practices. Interviews with five different Swedish CSOs serve as the study's main empirical basis. To analyze CSO activities that target households, we use practice theorist Alan Warde's well-established categorization of four integrative social practices of eating: (1) the supplying of food, (2) cooking, (3) the organization of meal occasions, and (4) aesthetic judgments of taste. Unlike some perspectives in sustainable consumption research that focus on consumer attitudes and behavioral change, a practice theory perspective encourages a view of consumption patterns as arising from complex and necessarily social configurations of human action formed in relation to evolving infrastructures and institutions in a cultural and historical context. In agreement with this, we suggest that the CSOs would generally benefit from focusing on particular practices, practice elements, and communities of practice. The different preconditions under which CSOs operate—such as material resource constraints and symbolic power resources—should further inform their chosen types of activities. However, we also conclude that the scale of the necessary societal changes ultimately requires increased integration and coordination of practical and political activities, not just among CSOs but throughout all spheres of society. Finally, we briefly outline avenues for further research. ; QC 20210113 ; Mistra Sustainable Consumption

The political objectives on national and international levels towards a larger proportion of renewable energy require considerable planning activities on a local level. These activities inevitably must relate to the local community and its various groups; their culture, economy, social activities as well as their views on environmental problems and nature values. This applies to all energy plants. Wind power has previously been regarded as small-scale in character, as it has often been built as small groups of windmills. In recent years, wind power projects on a larger scale have been developed and established, making wind power more significant for the local community and its inhabitants. The present report is based on a study of views expressed by locals as regards a special kind of wind-power plant, namely large-scale, offshore wind power. The report aims at examining the coordination between different stakeholders; decision-makers, communities and entrepreneurs concerning two wind power projects: Lillgrund in The Sound (Öresund), and Utgrunden II in the Kalmar Strait (Kalmarsund). The report is intended to provide an understanding of attitudes and perceptions of risks and possibilities of various local stakeholders in these two cases. Conceptual tools are borrowed from our own studies as well as other researchers' previous studies of attitudes, values, and forms of public participation. Since the study objective has been to seek the stakeholders' own formulations of problems and opportunities concerning the projects, we have used a qualitative research design. Three types of techniques have been used to gather information: document analysis, field observations and in-depth interviews. Important to note is that the report is not based on statistical data of public attitudes. Positive as well as negative attitudes towards the two wind power projects have been analyzed in both regions. The positive attitude is mainly based on ethical values (wind is seen as an environmentally sound energy source that we should invest in), and for some also on material values (projects can create jobs and economic growth in the local community). The negative attitude is partly based on aesthetic values (scenery and local nature values are thought to be threatened) and a combination of substantive and ethical values (wind power is seen as unprofitable and inefficient). The analysis shows that there is need for increased knowledge, both through the provision of facts about economic and technical conditions of wind power and, as a reversed mediation of knowledge, by better understanding of local stakeholders' conceptions of wind power projects. Criticism of wind power is largely based on a view that it could not be an effective way to produce energy, and that it could not possibly bear its own costs. Thus, wind power entrepreneurs should clearly show environmental benefits, profitability and efficiency in a specific project draft. Moreover, negative emotions towards wind power projects are closely associated with aesthetic values. We were able to note that the scale of the projects had given rise to greater hesitation and more concern about visual intrusion. It is therefore essential to take human experience seriously, for example by maintaining a dialogue around each specific project from an aesthetic point of view in order to establish what local values and experiences are thought to be threatened, and how the project might be altered.