Sustainable Production and Consumption

Inspired by the commercial desires of global brands and retailers to access the lucrative green consumer market, carbon is increasingly being counted and made knowable at the mundane sites of everyday production and consumption, from the carbon footprint of a plastic kitchen fork to that of an online bank account. Despite the challenges of counting and making commensurable the global warming impact of a myriad of biophysical and societal activities, this desire to communicate a product or service's carbon footprint has sparked complicated carbon calculative practices and enrolled actors at literally every node of multi-scaled and vastly complex global supply chains. Against this landscape, this paper critically analyses the counting practices that create the 'e' in 'CO2e'. It is shown that, central to these practices are a series of tools, models and databases which, in building upon previous work (Eden 2012; Star and Griesemer 1989) we conceptualize here as 'boundary objects'. By enrolling everyday actors from farmers to consumers, these objects abstract and stabilize greenhouse gas emissions from their messy material and social contexts into units of CO2e which can then be translated along a product's supply chain, thereby establishing a new currency of 'everyday supply chain carbon'. However, in making all greenhouse gas-related practices commensurable in enrolling and stabilizing the transfer of information between multiple actors these objects oversee a process of simplification reliant upon, and subject to, a multiplicity of approximations, assumptions, errors, discrepancies and/or omissions. Further the outcomes of these tools are subject to the politicized and commercial agendas of the worlds they attempt to link, with each boundary actor inscribing different meanings to a product’s carbon footprint in accordance with their specific subjectivities, commercial desires and epistemic framings. It is therefore shown that how a boundary object transforms greenhouse gas emissions into units of CO2e, the outcome is of distinct ideologies regarding ‘what’ a product's carbon footprint is and how it should be made legible. These politicized decisions, in turn inform specific reduction activities and ultimately advance distinct, specific and increasingly durable transition pathways to a low carbon society.

Ultimately climate change is the product of consumption; greenhouse gases are produced by making things and energy, moving things, and carrying people around. Simply put, more people are using more energy and creating and using more “stuff” than ever before in the history of the planet. Besides lamenting the passing of low-impact village-level societies, what does anthropology have to say about consumer culture which might actually be useful in thinking our way towards more sustainable levels of consumption? I argue that a drastic re-orientation of the way we teach anthropology is in order; what do we want our students to learn about the world and what kind of skills do they need? The same argument can be made for the public messages we extend in our popular publications.

This article introduces how one can design for product longevity through eliciting consumer-product attachment in order to restrain the rate of product replacement. The research disclosed the design tool ”Contexts of Experience” (COE) which combines strategies of consumer–product attachment and associated psychological phenomenon. The COE was disclosed and analyzed through case study.

A common ground is emerging for social and cultural studies of design. Design history is exploring the socially constructed and networked nature of our material surroundings; at the same time, STS is investigating design as the interface between humans and technology. This common ground is particularly interesting where it intersects with the rapidly growing fields of environmental history and environmental humanities. Today, environmental concerns, especially issues of sustainability, are essential parameters in all design practices. However, this ‘green revolution’ is a glaringly white spot on the design historical map, still awaiting its scholarly historicization. Historical understanding of, and critical reflection on, the rise of sustainability as the primordial trope in design discourse is essential to building a solid knowledge base and to underpin present and future decision-making. This article will argue for the urgency of charting this terrain, and call for design history, design studies, STS and environmental history to join forces in the pioneering efforts at studying histories of sustainable design.

Cite the conference (APA citation). Valenzuela-Zapata, Ana G. (15 de marzo de 2022). Agave spirits: A sustainable production? [Keynote Speaker]. James B. Beam Institute Industry Conference, March 14-16, 2022.  The University of Kentucky. KY, USA. Valenzuela-Zapata, Ana G. (15 de marzo de 2022). Agave spirits: to a sustainable production? [Conferencista principal]. Conferencia en James B.

The purpose of this study is to provide a further explanation of the attitude-behavior gap in the context of renewable energy systems adoption by examining the relative importance the environmental benefit compared with other relevant product attributes such as functional risk and the display monitor. The empirical study consists in simulating a real evaluation of Photovoltaic systems using a conjoint experiment in order to uncover 51 environmentally conscious households' preferences in terms of these attributes when assessed simultaneously. This approach gives an insight that is different from environmental behavior literature which is predominantly based on attitude models and which focus on the trade-off situations that people perceive more intensely in multi attributes evaluation contexts. The results indicate that in more realistic green energy attributes evaluation contexts, like choice situations, people's adoption decision becomes more determined by the functional risk than by the products' environmental friendliness. Additionally, the energy display monitor seems to be useful to reduce the functional risk perception. Moreover, the psychological price study demonstrates that in the Tunisian context, Photovoltaic systems cost is still a barrier to the adoption of this technology.

Reliable and safe access to drinking water is important to ensure the financial and social sustainable development of human communities. This task requires a multi criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method to select alternatives for brand new water supply infrastructure. These alternatives represent sizable economic assets and are established for a long lifespan. To support decision-making inside the context of building new water supplier infrastructure, this have a look at advanced an MCDA method that a hierarchy of non-economic blessings and the expected expenses into a worldwide index. Water utilities especially in the developing nations keep on working with impressive wasteful aspects as far as water and income misfortunes. With expanding water request and shortage, utilities require successful techniques for ideal utilization of accessible water assets. Various water misfortune decrease alternatives exist. The outcomes show that the most favored choices are those that improve water flexibly unwavering quality, general well being and water preservation measures. This investigation exhibits how choice hypothesis combined with operational research procedures could be applied practically speaking to explain complex water the executives and arranging issues.

In a world where nearly one billion people are undernourished and hungry (FAO, 2010), and where unique natural habitats are being destroyed to make space for growing crops, up to half of the food we make globally is wasted. Stuart's important book goes some way towards exploring the reasons behind this absurd situation, but leaves many important assumptions about change is social practice unexplored.

Sposoby produkcji jedzenia oraz jego związek z tożsamością mieszkańców Europy stały się u progu XXI wieku przedmiotem licznych dyskusji. Ich skutki dostrzec można w powstających rozwiązaniach prawnych – najlepszy przykład stanowi tu Wspólna Polityka Rolna Unii Europejskiej. Unijne miliony przeznacza się na dofinansowanie europejskiego rolnictwa, które w Polsce wciąż jest jednym z największych i najważniejszych sektorów gospodarki. Oprócz pieniędzy z Brukseli przyszły do nas także systemy jakości żywności. Unijni i krajowi eksperci jasno określili granice „regionalności” i „tradycyjności” produktów. Jednak czy to oni decydują o ich autentyczności?

Biodiesel fuel has shown great promise as an alternative to petro-diesel fuel. Biodiesel production is widely conducted through transesterification reaction, catalyzed by homogeneous catalysts or heterogeneous catalysts. The most notable catalyst used in producing biodiesel is the homogeneous alkaline catalyst such as NaOH, KOH, CH3ONa and CH3OK. The choice of these catalysts is due to their higher kinetic reaction rates. However because of high cost of refined feedstocks and difficulties associated with use of homogeneous alkaline catalysts to transesterify low quality feedstocks for biodiesel production, development of various heterogeneous catalysts are now on the increase. Development of heterogeneous catalyst such as solid and enzymes catalysts could overcome most of the problems associated with homogeneous catalysts. Therefore this study critically analyzes the effects of different catalysts used for producing biodiesel using findings available in the open literature. Also, this critical review could allow identification of research areas to explore and improve the catalysts performance commonly employed in producing biodiesel fuel. © 2012 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S1226086X1200233X/1-s2.0-S1226086X1200233X-main.pdf?_tid=50c78832-025e-11e4-81c6-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1404356663_16f5c3634e9df5dde08af967d97c1a2c 
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1226086X1200233X

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of people who do not eat some or all animal products, called vegetarians. We asked if we could call them a subculture of consumption in terms of the scientific definition. Is there any sign about this? We tried to confirm some parts of the definition by discovering the connection between brands, products and values of vegetarians, using the results of our research based on projective techniques. We concluded that they have in common relatively big part of a definition of a subculture and further research on should be made.

O alimento orgânico tem por base uma produção agrícola considerada alternativa que propõe a manutenção das características originais dos alimentos, minimizando o impacto da presença
de contaminantes químicos, além de agregar aos produtos gerados, a preocupação com exigências sociais e ambientais. As tendências atuais de consumo dos alimentos apontam para a utilização dietética que promovam a saúde e, ao mesmo tempo, sejam ambientalmente
sustentáveis. Assim, os alimentos orgânicos apresentam-se como um tipo de produto que atende às expectativas de um segmento crescente de novos consumidores, preocupados com a saúde e o bem-estar. Contudo, os benefícios desse tipo de produção não são acessíveis à maioria da população, pois este produto tende a ser comercializado de forma diferenciada, atingindo somente um mercado restrito de consumidores, situados nos estratos, economicamente mais favorecidos. Desta forma, o objetivo do trabalho foi analisar a
interferência do capitalismo no mercado de alimentos orgânicos, pois com a inclusão de grandes empresas no comércio e produção desse tipo de alimento, o mesmo foi direcionado para grandes empresas varejistas e atacadistas, com maior poder de barganha para disputa
destes mercados internos e externos. Inicialmente, a produção alternativa de alimentos contestava o capitalismo, negando as práticas convencionais na produção de alimentos, as quais eram empregadas no espaço rural, mais recentemente, este novo setor produtivo vem
sendo cooptado por este mesmo sistema, ao adotar estratégias típicas desta ideologia, com o claro objetivo de ampliação dos mercados na área de alimentos e o consequente aumento na geração de lucros. O presente estudo foi baseado em pesquisas bibliográficas e documental,
abrangendo publicações virtuais, bem como bases de dados, buscando avançar com o estudos sobre o mercado de alimentos orgânicos no Brasil. Os resultados obtidos evidenciam que as empresas agropecuárias e redes de distribuição de alimentos, restringem os ganhos dos pequenos produtores de alimentos orgânicos, ao estabelecerem barreiras para a sua produção, como por exemplo, a exigência de selos de certificação ou mesmo a garantia na regularidade
de entrega destes produtos para comercialização. Foi verificado ainda, que a gastronomia moderna, atenta a este novo mercado, utiliza os alimentos orgânicos como uma oportunidade de agregar valor aos produtos finais, os quais são elaborados em restaurantes direcionados
para um mercado sensível à tendências de sustentabilidade e promoção da saúde. Este tipo de estratégia permite ampliar e fidelizar um novo tipo de comensal, agregando um diferencial competitivo ao estabelecimento. Com base nessa análise, são feitas recomendações e
evidenciadas implicações, bem como são sugeridas pesquisas futuras para um aprofundamento do tema, o qual requererá um estudo inter e transdisciplinar.




Organic food is based on agricultural production considered alternative proposes to maintain
the original characteristics of the food, minimizing the impact of chemical contaminants, as
well as adding to the products generated, concern for social and environmental requirements.
Current trends in food consumption point to the dietetic use to promote health and, at the same
time are environmentally sustainable. Thus, organic foods are presented as a type of product
that meets the expectations of a growing segment of new consumers, concerned about the
health and well-being. However, the benefits of this type of production are not accessible to
the majority of the population, as this product tends to be marketed differently, reaching only a
limited market of consumers at the strata, more economically prosperous. Thus, the aim of this
study was to analyze the interference of capitalism in the organic food market, because with
the inclusion of large companies in the trade and production of this type of food, it was
directed to large retailers and wholesalers with greater power bargaining dispute to these
internal and external markets. Initially, the production of alternative food challenged
capitalism, denying conventional practices in food production, which were employed in rural
areas, more recently, this new productive sector is being co-opted by the same system, to
adopt strategies typical of this ideology, with the clear objective of expanding markets in the
food and the consequent increase in the generation of profits. This study was based on
literature searches and document covering virtual publications, as well as databases, looking
forward with studies on the organic food market in Brazil. The results show that agricultural
companies and food distribution networks, restricting the earnings of small organic food
producers, by creating barriers to its production, such as the requirement of certification seals
or even guarantee the correctness of delivery of these products to commercialization. It was
also verified that the modern cuisine, attentive to this new market, uses organic foods as an
opportunity to add value to the final products, which are prepared in restaurants targeted to a
market sensitive to trends in sustainability and health promotion. This type of strategy allows
to enlarge and retain a new type of dinner, adding a competitive edge to the establishment.
Based on this analysis, recommendations are made and highlighted implications, and future
research are suggested to a deepening of the theme, which will require an interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary study, involving cultural, motivational and psychological

For over 10 years, the olive oil sector has been largely studied through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Thus, a review of the numerous results and the different evaluated scenarios is relevant for future LCA studies on this important agro-economic sector of the Mediterranean region. The herein present work, based on scientific and technical literature aims to compare system boundaries, functional units, life cycle inventories, allocation, impact assessments, and interpretations from the currently existing LCAs of olive oil. Furthermore, an analysis of the assessment of biogenic carbon has been carried out among the reviewed papers. As a result, 23 relevant LCA studies on olive oil production or olives cultivation (for olive oil production) were identified. Analysis of the literature converged on an unequivocal environmental hotspot, the agricultural phase; which represents the most impactful phase of the olive oil life cycle, due in particular to fertilisation, pesticides treatment, a...

Existing and emerging financing mechanisms for SCP businesses
RECP in investment decisions of financial institutions
Challenges, barriers and limitations
Economic benefits of investment in SCP: Case-Studies
IBIS: Igniting Business Investments in Sustainable Lifestyles –solution for SCP

The book introduces students to the background and key issues of sustainability and suggests ways in which these concepts can be applied in business practice. Though the book takes a business perspective, it is interdisciplinary in its nature and draws on knowledge from socio-economic, political, and environmental studies, thereby providing a practical understanding of sustainability in the changing paradigm of global business.

For green technology firms, government's shifting preference for sustainable products and services is likely to become an increasingly important market factor. Green technology firms are thus in an excellent position to respond to greater calls for environmentally friendly products and services and derive market advantages from doing so. Moreover, green technology firms possess the knowledge, expertise, and experience that can increase local governments' SPP adoption and implementation success. Drawing from the results of two recent studies, this paper presents five reasons why green technology firms should care about local governments' recent trend toward SPP adoption.

Few studies have investigated the use and performance of conventional and sustainable building technologies of
use in low-income housing construction. Hence, this study investigates the use and performance of the conventional
and sustainable building technologies used in low-income housing construction towards proposing the
most sustainable technological solution for low-income housing development in South Africa. Using a case study
research approach, the study developed a rating tool for use in assessing the sustainability performance of the
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) low-income houses within the nine provinces of South
Africa with measures drawn from the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) technical manual.
Findings of this study show that the most commonly used method of construction for low-income housing in
South Africa are concrete floor slab, brick and mortar for the external envelope and a combination of timber
structures fitted with Inverted Box Rib (IBR) sheeting for the roof system. The results also show that conventional
building components had a much lower sustainability level due to the high use of concrete and that innovative
building components have a lower environmental impact due to the low carbon dioxide emission associated with
the manufacturing process. The study concludes with regards to the socio-economic and environmental dimensions
of sustainability that buildings constructed using sustainable technologies are more sustainable than
those produced using conventional methods. The study recommends that public sector clients involved in the
provision of low-income housing should encourage the use of sustainable construction technologies. Further, the
research also suggests that the GBCSA should develop measures which specifically targets low-income housing
development to allow for the determination of both the socio-economic viability and environmental impact of
the RDP houses produced in South Africa.

Research on the importance of psychological variables in sustainable consumption decisions suggests that self-efficacy beliefs (i.e., the perceived ability to successfully bring about desired outcomes) play a role in purchases of sustainable products. Most studies in this line of research measured self-efficacy with regard to environmental preservation and focused on pro-environmental consumer behavior as the outcome variable (e.g., Berger & Corbin, 1992; Straughan & Roberts 1999).
In the present study, we took a broader perspective: We addressed consumer behavior that contributes to a sustainable development (more specifically, intentions to purchase “sustainable” groceries, i.e., groceries that help to promote environmental preservation, a socially fair distribution of resources, and economic welfare) and measured self-efficacy with regard to sustainable development (SDSE, i.e., beliefs in one’s ability to contribute to a sustainable development).
In an online survey among students (N = 194) of different majors we explored the dimensionality of SDSE and investigated if SDSE predict intentions to purchase sustainable groceries (PI). SDSE was measured by means of 28 questionnaire items and PI was measured by means of 31 questionnaire items.
A factor analysis indicated that six facets of SDSE can be distinguished (67 % explained variance, cumulated): Four facets represent self-efficacy beliefs regarding one’s ability to directly contribute to different aspects of sustainable development (i.e., the perceived ability 1. to contribute to social fairness and economic welfare, 2. to contribute to environmental preservation and securing the needs of future generations, 3. to help improving social services and securing the basic needs of people in developing countries, 4. to reduce the ecological stress from agriculture); Two facets represent self-efficacy beliefs regarding one’s ability to indirectly contribute to sustainable development through motivating other consumers to promote sustainable development (i.e., the perceived ability 1. to encourage other consumers to purchase sustainable groceries and to think about environmental preservation, 2. to draw other consumers’ attention to a socially fair distribution of resources and economic welfare).
Multiple regression analyses revealed that the six SDSE facets differed with regard to their role in predicting PI. Two SDSE facets were particularly important in predicting PI: Consumers’ perceived ability to reduce the ecological stress from agriculture and consumers’ perceived ability to draw other consumers’ attention to a socially fair distribution of resources and economic welfare.
Our findings suggest that self-efficacy beliefs regarding one’s direct and indirect contribution to sustainable development play a role in decisions to purchase sustainable groceries. An interesting question for future research is if interventions to strengthen SDSE allow for promoting sustainable consumption.

The means of design and manufacturing require a shift of course to meet with the need of a future sustainable consumption. Innovative design strategies to create emotionally durable products have emerged from the research fields of sustainable design and user attachment. Emotionally durable products can contribute to change the pattern of consumption and therefore restrain manufacturing globally. However, most of these strategies are inadequate as design methods. In order to actuate such strategies into design concepts, new methods are needed. This lead to the research question: How can the combination of research from psychology and design affect designers’ ability to create sustainable product concepts? This article introduces the new design approach “psychology-based design approach” (PSYDA) were research from design and psychology are combined.
The expected learning outcome through the use of the PSYDA in design education is to be able to create a design process in order to evoke specific feelings through product concepts. The PSYDA was the basis for a case study arranged for students in product design education. This lead to the definition and illustration of the design parameter named “inclusive exclusivity” i.a., seemingly contradictory values, combined in one solution. The analysis of the case study indicates that the approach can be used as a tool to define and create product concepts that evoke feelings of user attachment. Working with PSYDA seemed to have had a good effect on the learning environment since the approach urged students to think beyond the traditional design process.

Community-level innovation or action for sustainability is an important strand for sustainable development. As such, researchers investigated grassroots innovations, community-driven development or bottom-up approach. Many studies have focused on expert-led poverty alleviation projects, market-led social enterprises, or activists-led social movements for sustainable development. Relatively little attention has been paid to rather spontaneous, unorganised, citizen's collective actions. This paper, therefore, aims to analyse one such example in the UK from the perspective of Design for Sustainable Behaviour; and to suggest how behavioural insights could feed into the development of strategies for scaling up collective actions towards sustainability. The selected action (or behaviour) is individual upcycling – creation or modification of any product from used materials for a product of higher quality or value than the original. Interviews with 23 British residents with practical upcycling experience were analysed to identify some characteristics in individual upcycling behaviour. The results expand current understanding of individual upcycling in terms of the variance in behaviour, behaviour context and group differences based on demographic attributes. The paper further links the analytic insights to the ideas of scaling-up.

This is a case study of corporate-guided market failure: Coca Cola Inc’s new branded product Coke Life, launched in 2013. ‘Brand failures’ are an accepted part of the business world and regularly feature in the business strategy literature. Here brand failure is reframed as corporate-guided market failure. The study begins by extending the conventional concept of ‘market failure’. Next, it sets-out the context of under-spending on soda drinks which prompted Coca Cola to instigate a new market. Then it analyses of the actions of the Coke Life brand managers within the framework of the seven aspects of a corporate-guided market. Lastly, it evaluates why Coke Life failed to stimulate sufficient sales.

Özet Sanayi İnkılabı ile hız kazanan, günümüzde de doruk noktasına çıkan doğal kaynakların aşırı kullanılması beraberinde ekonomik, sosyal ve çevresel sorunları da getirmiştir. Bu sorunlara çözüm olarak ortaya sunulan kavramlardan birisi olan sürdürülebilirlik/sürdürülebilir kalkınma kavramı da birçok kesimde taraftar bulmuştur. Sürdürülebilir kalkınmanın gerçekleştirilebilir bir hale gelmesi ise, onun gündelik ve ekonomik hayatta uygulanabilmesine bağlıdır. Sürdürülebilirliğin hayata geçmesini sağlayacak uygulamalardan birisi de sürdürülebilir üretimdir. Sürdürülebilir üretimde; üretim esnasında çevreye olabilecek olumsuz etkileri en aza indirmek, doğal kaynakları tüm kapasite ile kullanıp geri dönüştürmek ve çalışanların memnuniyetini sağlamak amaçlanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada; Türkiye'nin önemli sanayi bölgelerinden birisi olan Manisa Organize Sanayi Bölgesi (MOSB)'ni sürdürülebilir üretimin kendine has prensipleri ile (enerji, su kullanımı ve arıtımı, atık yönetimi ve geri dönüşüm, alt yapı, ulaşım ve lojistik ile çalışanlara yönelik hizmetler) incelenerek bir rol model olarak alınıp alınamayacağının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Bu kapsamda MOSB sahasında incelemeler yapılarak bölge yöneticileri ile görüşmelerde bulunulmuştur. Çalışma sonrasında MOSB'un uyguladığı plan ve programlarla Türkiye'de sürdürülebilir üretimin gerçekleşmesinde önemli bir model olabileceği görülmüştür. Abstract: The excessive use of natural resources has reached its peak at present, which has accelerated with the Industrial Revolution and it has also brought economic, social and environmental problems. One of the concepts presented as a solution to these problems is the concept of sustainability/sustainable development has also found many supporters. The fact that the concept of sustainability depends on the ability to apply it in daily life and economic life. One of the applications that will enable to sustainability is sustainable production. In sustainable production aims to decrease the negative effects that may occur to the environment during production, to recycle natural resources with full capacity, and to satisfy the employees. In this study; it is aimed to examine Manisa Industrial Park (MIP) one of the important industrial regions of Turkey, with its own principles of sustainable production (energy, water use and treatment, waste management and recycling, infrastructure, transport and logistics, and services for employees). Within this scope, MIP field reviews were conducted and negotiations were held with regional managers. As a result with implemented plans and programs of MIP is could be an important model for sustainable production in Turkey.

Urban form and lifestyle patterns of a city's residents are determining factors in resource consumption. An urban metabolism study combined with life cycle analysis is used to assess the consumption of Medellin, Colombia. This data in turn is used to yield an ecological footprint assessment that indicates the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to supply the resources that are consumed and sequester the wastes that are produced. The method of analysis also enables exploration of potential changes to the built environment and lifestyle choices of urban residents that could help reduce consumption of resources with the aim of balancing the city's ecological footprint so that it does not exceed what is available biologically from surrounding natural areas and the global commons. This paper explores the consumption characteristics of Medellin and its ecological footprint as a means to probe opportunities for advancing urban sustainability in a Latin American context.

‘Experience economy’ and ‘event culture’ are two concepts and phenomena that represent the tight interrelation between culture and economy. These two areas have always been closely linked, but in the past 25 years their relationship has been extended. These are times where cultural institutions such as museums and libraries communicate their relevance affectively, where cities, universities and even social movements become increasingly aware of their brand value, and where individuals search for meaning in their lives by actively investing in intense, life changing experiences. This paper begins by giving an overview of the literature that has conceptualised this new mode of economic organisation. The three classical perspectives identified come from marketing-, consumer-, and cultural- studies. We move on to argue that the ‘experience economy’ is more than just a market phenomenon, but that it actually represents a new way of being in the world. We believe that this ontological shift affords both the risk of novel expressions of power that operate through the manipulation of the body and its movement, but also, the opportunity for sociocultural and political transformation that in the same manner, works by potentiating the body towards a specific ethos. We conceptualise these processes within the shift from ‘culture’ to ‘event-culture’ that is evident both in the cultural industry in a strict sense, but also more broadly, in the increasingly hyper-stimulated and intense realm of the everyday. We move onto highlight three critical readings as well as three modes of critique within the experience economy and event culture. We conclude that these phenomena can be used as a) a marketing strategy, b) an analytical lens and c) a way of re-enchanting the world that may well be political.

This report summarises the findings from PhD research carried out by Claire Hoolohan, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and Thames Water, and supervised by Alice Larkin (Tyndall Centre, University of Manchester) and Alison Browne (University of Manchester).

The findings explore alternative framings of water efficiency intervention that step away from conventional psycho-economic approaches that are favoured in the water industry, towards those that contribute to social, cultural and technological change to bring about more sustainable patterns of everyday water use. The research is based on Case studies of two innovative case study initiatives, interviews with stakeholders across the water industry and workshops with representatives from across the water companies.

For more information contact the author: claire.hoolohan@manchester.ac.uk

This report provides a compilation of information on current trends in European and global resource use. The report combines the presentation of scientific findings with illustrative case studies. We tell the global story of resource use, dealing with the environmental and social problems related to resource extraction, growing international trade of resources, and resource consumption, which often takes place far away from the extraction of resources. In the final chapter, we suggest a set of short- and medium-term measures which could help making European resource use more sustainable.
This report focuses on biotic and abiotic materials, and is intended to be the first in a series of reports on different aspects of natural resource use, such as water use or land use.

Excess use of disposable to-go-cups constitutes a severe sustainability threat. Behavioral economics and economic psychology suggest various antidotes. In the present paper, we report two studies – a large-scale intervention field study and an experiment – that constitute independent, pre-registered, and open replication attempts of a recently-introduced intervention procedure: dynamic social norms. We tested whether a dynamic norm, along the lines of “more and more customers are switching from to-go-cups to a sustainable alternative. Be part of this movement and choose a reusable mug” – can help café customers to avoid disposable to-go-cups. Data from a fourteen-week intervention experiment with a total of 23,946 hot beverages sold – 18,019 in disposable cups and 5,927 in reusable mugs – suggest that a dynamic-norm intervention for sustainable consumption helps customers avoid disposable cups and increases their use of reusable alternatives by 17.3% (or 4.1 percentage points). A follow-up online experiment corroborates this pattern and shows advantageous effects of a dynamic norm relative to a no-norm control condition, a static norm, an injunctive norm, and a combination of static-and-injunctive norm. In light of inconsistent and, at times, failed or even reversed replication results for seminal social norms studies, the present pre-registered studies indicate that dynamic norms are an effective means to facilitate sustainable behavior. We discuss scientific and applied implications and avenues for future research.

How does the relationship between business and profit affect social and ecological sustainability? Many sustainability scholars have identified competition for profit in the market as a key driver of social exploitation and environmental destruction. Yet, studies rarely question whether businesses and markets have to be profit-seeking. The widespread existence of not-for-profit forms of business, which approach profit as a means to achieving social benefit, suggests that there are other ways of organizing business and markets that might be more sustainable.

In this thesis, I use a critical institutional economics lens and systems thinking to synthesize existing theory and knowledge about how business, markets, and profit affect sustainability outcomes, in order to explain how alternative approaches to these institutions might produce different outcomes. The result is a new theory about how relationship-to-profit (the legal difference between for-profit and not-for-profit forms of business) plays a key role in the sustainability of an economy, due to the ways in which it guides and constrains actors’ behavior, and drives larger market dynamics.

In Paper 1, I develop a conceptual framework for understanding the tradeoffs and synergies between profit and social-ecological sustainability. I show how profit-seeking strategies can be examined to assess whether they derive profit from: efficiency gains; willing and informed contributions from social stakeholders; or exploitation of social or ecological stakeholders. These bounded sources of profit imply limits to profit. Therefore, in order for businesses and markets to be sustainable, they should treat profit as a means rather than an end in itself. In Paper 2, I explain that whether profit is treated as a means or an end manifests through both voluntary objectives (i.e., if a business explicitly pursues profit as a goal) and financial rights (i.e., the right or obligation to distribute profit to private owners).

Some forms of business encourage profit-as-an-end more than others. In Paper 3, I outline ideal types of for-profit and not-for-profit economies, and describe the expected dynamics of these systems based on the regulative aspects of relationship-to-profit. The legal purpose, ownership (i.e., private financial rights), and corresponding investment structures of for-profit forms of business all encourage firms to treat profit as an end. The pursuit of unlimited financial gain and the private distribution of the surplus by for-profit businesses tend to drive the growth of consumerism, environmental degradation, inequality, market concentration, and political capture. In a not-for-profit type of economy, businesses do not have a financial gain purpose or private financial rights. Profit in such a system is used as a means to achieve social benefit. This results in higher levels of equality and opens up the space for more effective sustainability interventions.

Yet, relationship-to-profit is only one dimension of business that is important for sustainability. In Paper 4, I develop a framework to structure analyses and wider discussions of post-growth business around five key dimensions of business: (1) relationship-to-profit, (2) incorporation structure, (3) governance, (4) strategy, and (5) size and geographical scope.

The theory developed in this thesis offers an explanation of how key institutional elements of business and markets drive social and ecological sustainability outcomes.

""In the endeavour to reduce the energy consumption of households, Home Energy Management systems (HEMS) have been receiving increasing attention as a potential solution. HEMS are devices that give eco-feedback on household’s energy consumption. In recent years several studies have reported on the energy savings that HEMS can achieve. These figures seem impressive, often ranging from 5 to 15% reductions in electricity or gas consumption. However, researchers tend to focus on the resulting direct energy reductions within the home and often over a limited period of time. They have not taken the overall life cycle impact of the HEMS itself into account. As there is evidence that the achieved savings decrease over time and that HEMS become obsolete before their technical lifespan has ended, a more holistic approach is necessary to assess whether or not HEMS can effectively contribute to household energy savings.
A trade-off needs to be made between the energy needed for production, use and disposal of the device versus the amount of energy saved by using it. Therefore a life cycle assessment and cumulative energy demand (CED) method were used to analyse three distinct types of HEMS. Based on literature, several scenarios were developed in order to find the break-even point, where e invested = e saved. The results show that the overall impact is dependent on the type of HEMS, and that if the duration of use is short or the achieved savings are small, the benefits do not always outweigh the (environmental) costs.
In light of the uncertain long-term effects of HEMS it can be argued that these devices should not be developed as stand-alone products, but should be integrated in existing products instead. Care should be taken that HEMS are not developed with unnecessarily elaborate parts or functionalities and that their own electricity consumption is minimized.""

This report includes findings from online surveys tracking the dietary habits, goals, perceived barriers, and motivators for participants in seven reduction and vegan campaigns in the UK over a six-month period. This includes the largest sample of meat reducers, pescatarians, vegetarians, and vegans (veg*ns) in any research project to date (n=1,587) and also includes findings from participant focus groups (n=33) and interviews with campaign staff members (n=13).

The COVID-19 Pandemic has become a major public health concern worldwide, which can impact environmental sustainability and social responsibility, as well as people's quality of life. In this context, environmental awareness, sustainable consumption and social actions of people have been effectively changed, as a period of quarantine, social isolation and health crisis caused by Pandemic has been experienced. This study aims to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on environmental awareness, sustainable consumption and social responsibility, in the perception of Baby Boomers, X and Y generations, residents in Brazil and Portugal. The method used was quantitative research, of a descriptive character, through a survey applied to 3236 people, which was analyzed with the use of Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicate that COVID-19 Pandemic is an important vector in people's behavioral change, which reflects on environmental sustainability and social responsibility. It is noteworthy that the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic had a greater influence on sustainable consumption , followed by environmental awareness, and to a lesser extent, on social responsibility. There was also greater relevance in Portugal, as well as the perception of the Baby Boomers generation. This study also provides a framework such as metrics to measure a transformational event, which is the COVID-19 Pandemic in socio-environmental aspects and conscious consumption.

Closed loop or ‘circular’ production systems known as Circular Economy and Cradle to Cradle represent a unique opportunity to radically revise the currently wasteful system of production. One of the challenges of such systems is that circular products need to be both produced locally with minimum environmental footprint and simultaneously satisfy demand of global consumers. This article presents a literature review that describes the application of circular methodologies to education for sustainability, which has been slow to adopt circular systems to the curriculum. This article discusses how Bachelor and Master-level students apply their understanding of these frameworks to corporate case studies. Two assignment-related case studies are summarized, both of which analyze products that claim to be ‘circular’. The students' research shows that the first case, which describes the impact of a hybrid material soda bottle, does not meet circularity criteria. The second case study, which describes products and applications of a mushroom-based material, is more sustainable. However, the students' research shows that the manufacturers have omitted transport from the environmental impact assessment and therefore the mushroom materials may not be as sustainable as the manufacturers claim. As these particular examples showed students how green advertising can be misleading, applying “ideal” circularity principles as part of experiential learning could strengthen the curriculum. Additionally, this article recommends that sustainable business curriculum should also focus on de-growth and steady-state economy, with these radical alternatives to production becoming a central focus of education of responsible citizens.

To date, the primary focus of research in the field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been on the strategic implications of CSR for corporations and less on an evaluation of CSR from a wider political, economic and social perspective. In this paper, we aim to address this gap by critically engaging with marketing campaigns of so-called ‘ethical’ bottled water. We especially focus on a major CSR strategy of a range of different companies that promise to provide drinking water for (what they name as) ‘poor African people’ by way of Western consumers purchasing bottled water. Following Fairclough’s approach, we unfold a three-step critical discourse analysis of the marketing campaigns of 10 such ‘ethical’ brands. Our results show that bottled water companies try to influence consumers’ tastes through the management of the cultural meaning of bottled water, producing a more ‘ethical’ and ‘socially responsible’ perception of their products/brands. Theoretically, we base our analysis on McCracken’s model of the cultural meaning of consumer goods, which, we argue, offers a critical perspective of the recent emergence of CSR and business ethics initiatives. We discuss how these marketing campaigns can be framed as historical struggles associated with neo-liberal ideology and hegemony. Our analysis demonstrates how such CSR strategies are part of a general process of the reproduction of capitalist modes of accumulation and legitimation through the usage of cultural categories.