SUSTAINABLE

CONSUMPTION

& PRODUCTION

Lecture One

ESPM 60

Environmental Policy, Administration & Law

Spring semester 2014

DR. RUTH DOYLE

ABOUT ME

• VISITING SCHOLAR @ UC BERKELEY, PROF ALASTAIR ILES

• RESEARCHER & LECTURER @ GEOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT,

TRINITY UNIVERSITY DUBLIN, IRELAND

• PHD SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION & INNOVATION

(CONSENSUS PROJECT)

• ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS & PUBLIC

CONSULTATION CONSULTANCY

• rdoyle4@tcd.ie

• www.consensus.ie @consensusire @doylertweets

LECTURES 1 & 2: SCP INTRO

• What is sustainable consumption & production (SCP)

– Challenges & key issues of SCP

– Ecological Footprint – how much impact do we create?

• Case study – Food

– Trends in consumption

– Trends in production

• How to promote SCP?

– Policy instruments

LECTURES 3 & 4:

BUSINESS & CITIZEN RESPONSES

• How can we encourage behavior change?

– Theoretical perspectives

– Examples of behavior change initiatives & communications

• What can businesses do?

– Greening existing businesses

– New business models

PRODUCTION-CONSUMPTION CHAIN

Extraction | Production | Access | Consumption | Disposal

(www.storyofstuff.com)

Production-side Consumption-side

THE CONSUMPTION EXPLOSION

$7 out of $10 spent on individual consumerism (i.e. 71% of US economy based on

consumerism) v’s 50% China

CONSUMPTION & WELLBEING

The consumption paradox

• Correlation between income, consumerism and wellbeing reduces beyond a

certain point.

• As a society grows richer, there is evidence to suggest that social solidarity,

participation & community relations, essential for social and psychological

wellbeing become eroded.

• Despite a doubling of personal wealth over the past 30 years in the US

reported happiness has decreased from 35% to 30% (Layard 2005)

PEAK EVERYTHING?

DEMAND PROJECTIONS

• Global economic, population & societal development trends

• “perfect storm” – food, energy & water resource scarcity

by 2020

• Concern has now widened from a focus on ‘peak oil’, to ‘peak

everything’ referring to impending declines in freshwater per

capita, climate stability, agricultural land, fish harvests, fossil

fuels, and uranium production” (Heinberg, 2007).

According to Jackson

(2009), this would imply

an economy x15 its

current size @ economic

growth of 2% pa.

POPULATION:

9BN BY 2050

(UN estimate)

50 million tones of toxic electronic

waste accumulate globally each year.

Estimated that 50-80% of the waste

collected for recycling in USA is

exported (UN, 2008)

USA = 5% world’s population, yet

consume 30% global resources, and

produce 30% waste.

.

UNEQUAL PATTERNS

OF PRODUCTION &

CONSUMPTION

MEASURING CONSUMPTION

(Simms et al., 2009)

How much

bio-productive land

required for

consumption

COMPARISON OF ECOLOGICAL

FOOTPRINTS

(Simms et al., 2009)

TYPICAL FOOTPRINT

You can calculate your footprint here: http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/

Exercise for seminar / at home?

GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINTS

Countries stretched to indicate per capita consumption - worldmapper.org

WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

• “It does not take more than a simple act of insight to realize that

infinite growth of material consumption on a finite world is an

impossibility” E.F. Schumacher 1973 “Small is Beautiful”

“One planet living”

= key goal of SCP

SCP @ UNCED 1992

“The major cause of the continued deterioration of the global

environment is the unsustainable pattern of consumption and

production, particularly in industrialized countries, which is a matter

of grave concern, aggravating poverty and imbalances” (Agenda 21 –

Rio UNCED Earth Summit 1992)

Assumptions:

1. Earth’s resources are limited

2. Environmental damage is linked to production and exploitation

of these resources to serve everyday consumption

3. Sustainable patterns of consumption need to be discovered,

promoted & encouraged.

COMPARING FOOTPRINTS:

FOOD CONSUMPTION

1. WHAT DIFFERENT FOODS DO THEY EAT & WHY?

2. WHERE ARE THE FAMILIES FROM?

3. WHAT IS THEIR WEEKLY EXPENDITURE?

4. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THEIR DIETS?

DIFFERENCES IN FAMILY

FOOD CONSUMPTION

• Food preferences – reflect trends that have emerged in the food

system & reflect local contexts

• Food miles – geographically dispersed chains of production, access &

consumption

• Packaging & Processing – large differences across cultures.

• Food stuffs – meat & dairy products v’s vegetables & grains, “luxury

foods” v’s “subsistence” – What is over-consumption?

• Food quantities, income expenditure

SUSTAINABLE

CONSUMPTION

& PRODUCTION

Lecture Two

ESPM 60

Environmental Policy, Administration & Law

Spring semester 2014

DR. RUTH DOYLE

PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION ISSUES:

U.S. Food example

DIVERSIFIED, TRADITIONAL FARMING

INDUSTRIAL FARMING

- California, Central Valley – adoption of industrialized agriculture since

mid 19th century

- Intensive crop based agriculture = use of mechanical ploughing,

chemical fertilizers, plant growth regulators & pesticides

- Mechanization allows for increase in production, yet increases

environmental pollution - erosion and agricultural chemicals

- The share of intensive crops grew from 4% in 1880 to 80% by 1930.

GEOGRAPHY OF SPECIALIZATION

GEOGRAPHY OF SPECIALIZATION

AGRICULTURE TO AGRIBUSINESS

TRENDS

– Reliance on external inputs: pesticides, insecticides & fertilisers (v’s

ecological services), fossil fuels & seeds. Creates dependency, emissions,

run-off and pollutants

– Monoculture: Farms specialise in particular crops or livestock

– Mechanised: Human labour replaced with machinery.

– Distance: Increased distance between production and consumption

(refrigeration & additives to keep food fresh).

– Large-scale, intensive farming: In 2007 in the US, 35,000 farms produced

60% total food output.

– Agribusinesses: E.G. 4 companies control over 83% of beef packing in the

US, 4 companies responsible for 51% of turkey production. Imposition of

standards

WASTE

(Foodshift.org)

WASTE: PRODUCTION & CONSUMPTION

http://www.fao.org/docrep/014/mb060e/mb060e02.pdf

SCP REQUIRES ACTION

ACROSS SECTORS

Business

Society

Policy

SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION STRATEGIES

2000’s – SCP cast as a strategy for increasing the efficiency of natural

resource use (eco-efficiency and minimizing waste). Preventative &

precautionary approach

HOW TO PROMOTE SCP?

Policy instruments (targeting producers & consumers)

1) Regulatory

Codes & standards that account for social & environmental implications of production

& consumption. Level playing field & accelerate change.

1) Economic instruments

Encouraging innovation in business & market operations – SCP issues

characterized as ‘market failure’

1) Informative / communicative / educative (*next week’s focus)

(REF: Geyer Alley & Zacarias-Farah, 2003 – ‘Policies & Instruments for promoting

sustainable household consumption’ Journal of Cleaner Production, 11, 923-926).

1) REGULATORY INSTRUMENTS

• Product design standards – e.g. minimum energy efficiency codes DOE

‘Building Energy Codes Programme’.

• Restrictions on products – e.g. pesticides – EPA.

• Bans - e.g. San Francisco - plastic bag ban & impending ban on plastic

bottles in city-owned property at end 2014.

• Labeling – requirements to reveal sustainability impacts (e.g. FDA food

labeling) or eco-standard regulation (e.g. EPA EnergyStar & WaterSense)

• Extended producer responsibility – take-back requirements

• Statutory targets – e.g. on pollution / emissions.

2) ECONOMIC INSTRUMENTS

• Eco-taxes – e.g. carbon tax – price signals, “Internalising externalities”,

pay per bag waste charges.

• Producer incentives & innovation funds – for sustainable business

operations

• Consumer subsidies – for environmentally friendly products (e.g.

energy retrofitting).

Mas. FOOD WASTE BAN

Responses

WEAK V STRONG SCP

APPROACHES

Weak SCP

- Low regulatory intervention

- Voluntary action – individuals & market

- “Green consumerism”

- Efficiency focus – greening existing patterns of consumption.

Strong SCP

- Systemic approach – recognizes macro-economic issues & requires

multi-scalar governance

- Sufficiency focus - Need to reduce overall consumption –

“contraction & convergence”

SUMMARISING KEY

CONCEPTS

• What is SCP? Production-Consumption chain

• Trends – peak everything, socio-economic trends

• Unequal levels of consumption – distributive justice &

questions of differentiated responsibility

• Food case study – industrialization of agriculture and food

waste

• Policy instruments – Regulatory & Economic

CONCLUDING

• RETURNING TO HEINBERG (Peak Everything):

• “Present patterns of development….are clearly related to the

availability of energy and other critical resources. Once we

accept that energy, fresh water, and food will become less

freely available over the next few decades, it is hard to

escape the conclusion that while the 20th century saw the

greatest and most rapid expansion of the scale, scope,

and complexity of human societies in history, the 21st

century will see contraction and simplification”.

STORY OF STUFF

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

NEXT WEEK…BUSINESS &

CITIZEN RESPONSES

• How can we encourage behavior change?

– Theoretical perspectives

– Examples of behavior change initiatives & communications

• What can businesses do?

– Greening existing businesses

– New business models

READINGS

READINGS:

• Hinton, E. & Goodman, M. (2010) ‘Sustainable Consumption: Developments, considerations and

new directions’. Chapter 16 in Woodgate, G., and Redclift M. (eds) International Handbook of

Environmental Sociology (2nd edition) , London: Edward Elgar Publishing

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/content/1/c6/03/95/42/mike4.pdf

• Fedrigo, D. & Tukker, A. (2009) ‘Blueprint for sustainable consumption and production’, SCORE!

Sustainable Consumption Research Exchange

OTHERS

• Living Planet Report 2012

http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/lpr_2012_summary_booklet_final_7may2012.pdf

• Geyer Alley & Zacarias-Farah, 2003 – ‘Policies & Instruments for promoting sustainable

household consumption’ Journal of Cleaner Production, 11, 923-926

Web resources:

• www.wwf.org.uk

• www.ecologicalfootprint.com

• www.interdependenceday.co.uk

• www.thestoryofstuff.com

In-class assignment No. 2

• Research what food companies are or aren’t doing to address

sustainability problems associated with their consumer products (for

example, Wal-Mart, ADM, Heinz, Chipolte, MacDonalds)

• What are the policies and approaches that companies use?

• Present in class on 29th April

LA SURCONSOMMATION

Can watch at home. Just 6 mins!

http://vimeo.com/61094582