Sustainable Production and Consumption

The fashion industry is often cited as one of the worst polluters, but destroying perfectly usable merchandise in an effort to maintain prestige is perhaps the dirtiest secret of them all. With Burberry coming out in 2018 about refraining from this practice anymore says more than enough about its existence in the fashion industry as a whole and not just luxury brands. Besides brands like Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Mont Blanc, fast fashion brands like H&M are also prominent practitioners of this. Luxury brands cite exclusivity and reduction in brand value as some of the reasons for doing this however with the increasing environmental deterioration luxury as a concept cannot exist without environmentally safe and sustainable practices. The objective of the research is to find out why this practice is so widespread yet not focused upon in an era where protection and conservation of natural resources is the need of the hour. The author also touches upon how this burning is being carried out, to what extent it is being followed globally and what conservation-minded shoppers can do to fight back as well as what alternatives can luxury brands seek to admit, in addition to those already in existence.
Key Words: Destruction, Usable merchandise, Environmental deterioration, Luxury brands, Sustainability

The market of juices and soft drinks in Burkina Faso is growing and it knows a quick innovation. However, marketing research in the area is very limited (Nasse et al., 2019). The present research is an overview of the market of juices and soft drinks in Burkina Faso, in order to bring out some the consumer preferences and the different factors that are influencing the juice and soft drink consumption, in order to give tips to optimize any marketing strategy. The present research is a qualitative approach and it uses descriptive statistics. The results show that consumers in Burkina Faso prefer natural beverages to industrial drinks, while they buy them massively (because they are cheaper and more available). The results also show that the nature of the juice and soft drink influence consumption and that some factors such as friendship, power, pleasure and thirst influence the consumption of juice in the context of Burkina Faso.

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate influence of marketing mix elements and macro environmental variables on Sustainable buying intention of consumers in Habitual and Extended Problem-solving-buying Situations. This can help marketers to modify their propositions as per buying situation.

Methodology – Field study was conducted  to capture consumer responses for comparing their purchase intention towards green products in two buying situations.

Findings – Findings indicate that two out of three factors that influence consumers vary with buying situations. Product Quality, Promotion and Governmental Regulations play different roles in different type of purchase situation.

Implications – Companies would realize higher product demand if they focus efforts towards Promotion and Government Regulations in Extended problem-solving-buying situation. In habitual problem-solving-buying situation, companies would benefit by focusing their efforts more towards Quality.

Future Scope – Other factors of consumer behavior like lifestyle, reference groups and their inter-linkages can be studied in global context.

Originality/Value – This paper uniquely analyzes impact of different factors on purchase intention in two types of buying situations in the context of Sustainability. This is an original research. Authors hereby give their consent for publication in the journal.

Article Classification – Research Paper

The paper aims to assess the level and predictors of regional ethnocentrism on the market of regional food products in the context of sustainable consumption. The study contributes to the theory of consumer ethnocentrism by extending our knowledge about its regional dimension. Regional ethnocentrism is the preference for products originating from the consumer's region. I conducted a survey in a representative sample of 1000 inhabitants of Poland with the use of the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) methodology. Regional ethnocentric consumers were characterized by a significantly more favorable attitude to regional food products compared to the rest of the sample. In a multiple regression model, the following eight statistically significant predictors of the regional ethnocentrism were identified: the importance of brand and retailer trust on the food market; the importance of quality signs in regional food purchases; opinion that insufficient marketing constitutes an important barrier to the development of the regional food market; buying regional products in shops owned by producers, rather than large distribution networks; frequency of purchasing regional products as a tourist; and national ethnocentrism on the regional food market. These predictors are strongly related to the three major pillars of sustainable development-economic, social, and ecological. Keywords: regional ethnocentrism; sustainable consumption; three pillars of sustainable development; local food; regional food; origin food; quality signs; consumer behavior on the food market; country-of-origin effect; region-of-origin effect

We are accustomed to think in terms of more is better as this is the central premise of the traditional market economy. Conservation goals are not part of the formal decision-making process within this paradigm as the maximization of production or consumption is encouraged. Today, environmental stakeholders believe that we need to move to a different paradigm, one where less is better, to be able to stop or reverse current processes of environmental degradation.  The more we conserve at the individual or group level, be it production or consumption, the better for all. In other words, a world where the environmental impacts of development are minimal is now desired. The goals of this paper are three: To point out in simple terms what the general structure of the more is better paradigm is; to show how the general structure of the less is better paradigm can be extracted through the placing of environmental and sustainability constraints on the status quo; and to stress the three key transitional problems that need to be overcome to
achieve a successful transition from one paradigm to another.

There are price and cost impacts on consumers and producers when public water systems are privatized, especially when done under income insecurity; and these impacts are magnified when there are water scarcity shocks due to natural causes(e.g. low rainfall) or man-made
causes(e.g. industrial contamination of water sources). As producers have the ability to pass extracosts through higher prices, poor consumers are in a situation now that raises issues of food
security and water security in the long-term as they face higher prices for food and higher fees to access water under privatization than under a public access system. One of the main goals of this paper is to highlight the expected price and cost impacts on consumers and producers resulting from implementing privatization systems under conditions of income insecurity and scarcity.

In order to change consumption patterns into something that is more sustainable, it is essential that we consider the various and conflicting meanings clothes have in people’s lives. This article presents an analysis of diaries written by consumers of different ages and occupations over a period of three months in 2015. These consumers documented their clothing and shoe purchases, took inventory of the contents of their wardrobes, and reflected upon their clothing consumption. The aim of this study is to examine consumers’ use and consumption of clothing and how they deal with dissonances in relation to what they see as ‘sustainable’. What motivated their consumption? What compromises did they make? and What were the processes that determined their choices? The authors of the diaries claimed that they wanted to consume clothing in a sustainable manner, but they found that they did not. Direct criticism of the fashion system was often elusive and difficult for them to articulate. Consequently, instead of asking for the creation of a different fashion system, the authors of the diaries blamed themselves for their failures with respect to sustainable clothing consumption. Drawing on Affect Theory, the article discusses how emotional attachments informed the authors’ relationships with their wardrobes and the conflicting emotions surrounding the pleasure and pain of fashion. In their texts, they provided a number of different explanations as to why they bought, kept, and used clothes to justify why they consumed clothing even if they did not want to consume or felt that they should not. The diarists also remarked on how this made them feel about their consumption. Some claimed to “love” fashion. Others wrote they “hated fashion”, whilst others stated that they “didn’t care at all”. However, as was the case for all of the authors, the dream of owning a ‘perfect’ wardrobe pervaded their texts and worked as a way for them to deal with the dilemmas, contradictions, and struggles of fashion.

The 3rd International Conference on "Sustainable Architecture Planning and Urban Design" addresses all the aspects of sustainability aiming to discuss sustainability from different perspectives and research areas. The meeting always attracts a substantial number of participants from all over the world. Thus, the Conference establishes an ideal platform to recent advances and research results in the fields of architecture, planning, urban design and all related areas such as engineering, education, interior architecture, technology, business, politics, social sciences and so forth. The scientific quality of the Conference provided by SPACE International Advisory Board and the variety of the topics are the most important reasons behind this success of the series. In this context, SPACE Studies of Planning and Architecture invites researchers, policymakers and social partners to share their knowledge from their fields of expertise according to the topics of the Conference.

This paper discusses the consequences and implications of China's explosive growth, and considers whether the Chinese can find a viable route to sustainability. Beginning with a discussion of what I call “urban gigantism” in today's China, I then assess the resource and energy costs of China’s urbanization. Next, I consider the many challenges and obstacles to sustainable development in China.  I then compare the environmental impacts of two very different transportation sectors – cars and rail – in order to assess how Chinese transportation might best be greened. The paper then raises the question of whether – in China, and possibly elsewhere -- authoritarian dirigisme is better able to address environmental issues than more democratic approaches. It concludes with a broader consideration of the likely prospects for sustainability in and beyond China in the future.

Considering the global threats and struggles being addressed in international policy discussions on climate change and the goals of sustainable development, the question arises as to the ways in which popular film and literary fiction address these issues, particularly how these struggles and outcomes might play out in imagined futures. In contrast to dominant trends toward dystopian, apocalyptic and techno-fantasy themes, to what degree are writers and filmmakers taking up the challenge of producing hopeful and plausible narratives portraying transitions to sustainable societies and communities?
Understandably most films and novels today are constrained by commercially risk-averse formulas of audience preference and return on investment as well as consumer culture permeated by neoliberal norms. Today film and publishing industries present audiences with an on-going stream of libertarian tropes celebrating vigilante heroes and violence in contrast to stories imagining movements and struggles leading to future worlds achieving “a higher quality of life for all”. While such imaginative visions and narratives do not yet easily fit into mainstream criteria for marketable fictional products and investments, this should not prevent writers and filmmakers from nevertheless moving beyond current conventions to develop stories exploring the kinds of challenges and possibilities involved in sustainability transitions. More than ever we need social imaginaries of how humanity manages to survive and evolve in overcoming the kinds of threats and inequalities, political quagmires and hopelessness which audiences often go to the cinema and novels to escape.
The research presented here draws on theories of sustainable transformation in conjunction with ecocinema and ecocritical theory in examining a variety of films and novels set in the near future. These are discussed with regard to creative opportunities and obstacles for filmmakers and writers in moving beyond consumer and industry demands for escapist entertainment to address the complex and controversial need for hopeful narratives of transition to ecologically and socially sustainable futures.

The paper, contribution to the international debate on the environmental matter, deals with a tool that can guide professionals and the users in choosing low environmental impact building materials with similar functional requirements, the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) or Type III Environmental Label, by highlighting strengths and limitations. The paper, besides describing the characteristics and contents of the EPDs and Product Category Rules (PCR), lists the main European EPD Programmes, analyzing two EPDs models in order to verify the comparability of the listed LCA data.

This research examines the impact of tobacco tax on government revenues and consumer's behavior towards price increases. In this examines historical trends of tobacco tax hikes in Malaysia and consumer's reaction towards anticipated price increases. Methodology consisted of qualitative and quantitative data collection for triangulation in addition to review reports and studies of governmental and independent agencies. Findings suggest that price increases has a minimal affect on consumption habits. Addiction is the primary factor causing smokers to adapt to any anticipated price hikes. Youth below the age of 18 are the most sensitive segment of the smoker population to any price increases. This is attributed to lack of disposable income amongst Malaysia youth. Findings further shows that price increases in the form of taxes are in actuality means of generating extra revenue streams.

In the face of existing obstacles in the interdisciplinary research on sustainable consumption behaviors, we argue for the need of an integrative framework from an interdisciplinary perspective. Such a framework is presented in the form of a three-dimensional cube model of sustainable consumption behavior (SCB-cube) extended by a fourth impact dimension. The model has two purposes for application: (I) to systematize existing research on different behaviors on a common taxonomy and (II) to facilitate the selection of relevant sustainable consumption behaviors in social sustainability research based on impact. We critically appraise existing intent- and impact-based research approaches on the four key dimensions of the SCBcube, focusing on the ecological and socio-economic impacts of consumption behaviors. Recommendations for the selection of relevant behaviors for empirical behavioral research are given, using the SCB-cube as a guiding heuristic. The main audience for this model is social science researchers measuring sustainable consumer behaviors on the individual level.

Purpose: Promoting sustainable consumption among young consumers has become a key priority on the research agenda in such different fields as education for sustainable development, environmental psychology, and consumer policy. Progress in this field has been hampered by a lack of sophisticated research instruments capable of measuring consumption behaviors that are relevant both in terms of their sustainability impacts and their suitability for teenagers. This study addresses this research gap and presents a scale for young consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviors (YCSCB) in the areas of food and clothing.

Design/methodology/approach: The scale was developed in a two-step, mixed-methods approach. In an initial qualitative interview study, the actual behaviors of theoretically selected young consumers (n=8) were identified with regard to acquiring, using, and disposing of consumer goods in the areas of food and clothing. The YCSCB scale was constructed using the findings of this qualitative study and then validated in a subsequent quantitative study (n=155).

Findings: The YCSCB scale is a valid and reliable scale to measure young consumers’ sustainable consumption behavior in the areas of food (n=14 items) and clothing (n=13 items).

Originality/value: The findings of this research provide a twofold contribution to advancing research on young consumers’ sustainable consumption behaviors. Firstly, it presents a consolidated scale that is explicitly constructed for teenagers and their consumption contexts. Secondly, it proposes a heuristic for developing more sophisticated measurements of SCB among young consumers that would allow comparison between studies, is focused on behaviors (instead of confounding behaviors with intentions, attitudes or values), and is impact-oriented in terms of sustainability relevance.