Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: A Language for Our Common Future

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Lewis Akenji Philip J. Vergragt (Clark University, USA)

Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles

A Language for Our Common Future

Lewis Akenji, Philip J. Vergragt (Clark University, USA), Halina Szejnwald Brown (Clark University, USA) , Thomas S.J. Smith

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English

Routledge
29 September 2025

Development studies; Consumerism; Social impact of environmental issues; Sustainability

Series: Routledge-SCORAI Studies in Sustainable Consumption

Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: a Language for our Common Future curates a shared vocabulary of concepts that enables a society-wide conversation about sustainable consumption and lifestyles, the future of consumer society, and ways to transcend it.

Since the United Nations (UN) Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the global environmental and social consequences of mass consumption have been well documented, yet progress is slow. Overconsumption and extractive practices continue to drive ecological overshoot. Set against this backdrop, each of the 87 essays in this book imparts a meaning to a concept, highlights its history, and offers different perspectives, interpretations, and applications for social change. The two premises of this book are that we need to transition to a society in which the well-being and dignity of people are achieved with a much smaller footprint and that technological solutions are inadequate for the challenge. Policies and actions are greatly lagging behind the growing understanding of the system of production-consumption because social change is often slow, and sustainable consumption does not have a clear political champion. The book addresses tensions that also interfere with progress, such as science versus politics, economic winners versus losers, traditions versus an uncertain future, and present needs versus future costs.

This innovative volume is an important resource for students, scholars, policymakers, grassroots activists, and agents of change interested in sustainable consumption and sustainable living more broadly.

Edited by: Lewis Akenji, Philip J. Vergragt (Clark University, USA), Halina Szejnwald Brown (Clark University, USA), Thomas S.J. Smith, Laura Maria Wallnöfer
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 254mm, Width: 178mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781032952482
ISBN 10: 1032952482
Series: Routledge-SCORAI Studies in Sustainable Consumption
Pages: 410
Publication Date: 29 September 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Cluster I: Daily Household Decisions and Lifestyles 1. Consumerism1. 2 Household Income versus Carbon Footprint 3 Conspicuous/Positional Consumption 4 Hedonic Treadmill 5 Choice Paralysis 6 Generational Consumption Differences (in China) 7 Gender 8 Attitude-Behavior Gap 9 Behavior Change 10 Energy Consumption Behavior 11 Repair 12 Fast fashion 13 Moments of Change 14 Quiet Sustainability 15 Voluntary Simplicity 16 Mindfulness 17 Work-Life Balance 18 1.5 Degree Lifestyles Cluster II: Concepts, Frameworks and Applied Theories 19 Freedom of Choice 20 Social Practice Theory 21 Rebound Effects 22 Moral Licencing 23 Risk Perception 24 Living Lab 25 Convivial Technology 26 Beauty 27 Stocks versus Flows 28 Food Miles 29 Sufficiency 30 Consumption Corridors 31 Fair Consumption Space 32 Social Tipping Points Cluster III: Political Economy 33 Political Economy of Consumerism 34 Consumer Scapegoatism 35 Energy Overshoot 36 Carbon Inequality 37 The Role of Business 38 Money 39 Climate Justice 40 Eco-Social Contract 41 Ecological Economics 42 Wellbeing Economy 43 Foundational Economy 44 Steady-State Economy 45 Doughnut Economics 46 Degrowth 47 Sustainable Finance 48 Sharing Economy 49 Circular Economy and Society Cluster IV: Value Shifts and Social Activism 50 Alternative Hedonism 51 Well-being versus Income 52 Spiritual Consumption 53 Values and Consumption 54 Buen Vivir and Buenos Convivires55 Ubuntu 56 Education for Sustainable Consumption 57 Social Norms 58 Consumer-Citizen 59 Social Movements 60 Subvertising 61 Boycott and Buycott 62 Green Parenting 63 Grassroots Innovation 64 Prosumerism 65 Alternative Consumer Cooperatives 66 Community Supported Agriculture 67 Fair Trade 68 Food Sovereignty 69 Eco-Communities Cluster V: Governance, Policy, and Choice Architecture 70 Product-Service Systems 71 Universal Basic Services 72 Urban Planning and Spatial Allocation 73 Sustainable Housing 74 Sustainable Mobility 75 Protein Shift 76 Choice Editing 77 Green Nudging 78 Ecolabeling 79 Advertising 80 Greenwashing 81 Ecodesign 82 Extended Producer Responsibility 83 Product Returns and Right of Withdrawal 84 Information and Communication Technology 85 Consumption-Based Accounting 86 Personal Carbon Allowance 87 Co-Benefits of Climate Policy

Lewis Akenji is the executive director of the Hot or Cool Institute in Berlin, a public-interest think tank that explores the intersection between society and sustainability. Lewis has served as the executive director of SEED, founded as a United Nations partnership to promote entrepreneurship for sustainable development. He has consulted with multilateral institutions, including the UN, the Asian and African Development Banks, the European Commission, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and has served as technical or policy adviser to several national governments. He serves on several boards and international committees, including as a Full Member of the Club of Rome and Commissioner on the Transformational Economics Commission of Earth4All. Philip J. Vergragt is a climate activist, professor emeritus of technology assessment at TU Delft, the Netherlands, and a research professor at Clark University, USA. He is one of the co-founders and a current board member of SCORAI. He co-chairs the Electric Vehicles Task Force and is an advisory member of the Energy Commission at Newton, MA. His current research interests are sustainable consumption, sustainable cities, and systemic change. He is the co-author of more than 100 scientific publications and five books. Philip holds a PhD in physical chemistry at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands (1976). Halina Szejnwald Brown is professor emerita of environmental science and policy at Clark University. Her recent academic research has focused on the interface between culture, technology, and policy in facilitating a transition beyond the current consumer society. She is a co-founder and board member of Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative and chairs Citizens Commission on Energy in her home city of Newton, Massachusetts. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, fellow of the International Society for Risk Analysis, and fellow of Tellus Institute in Boston. Brown holds a doctoral degree in chemistry from New York University. Thomas S.J. Smith is a researcher, writer, and editor based in the north of Spain. He received his PhD in geography and sustainable development at the University of St Andrews and has since held numerous roles including postdoctoral researcher in environmental studies at Masaryk University, Brno, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow in geography at Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU), Munich. He is a member of the Community Economies Institute (CEI) and on the board of the Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI). His research interests relate to social ecological transformations, economic localization, and degrowth. Laura Maria Wallnöfer is a postdoctoral research and teaching associate at the Institute of Marketing and Innovation, Department of Economics and Social Sciences at BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna. She has an interdisciplinary background in energy and transport management and sustainable development and did her PhD on the Integration of Perspectives and Concepts about Individuals as Change Agents at the Doctoral School for Transitions to Sustainability at BOKU University. Her current research focuses on the intersections of different transition actors’ influence spheres and how the multi-actor process required for a sustainable transformation can be better coordinated if those intersections are known.

Reviews for Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: A Language for Our Common Future

""Our society has taught us since birth to consume, and the results include the alienated and overheating world we now experience. So learning a new vocabulary for consumption is a fine first step towards changing that – as this book makes clear, it's a way of learning to actually feel the water through which we otherwise unconsciously swim."" Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature ""As humans transgress planetary boundaries at ever-increasing speed, this book could not be more timely. We need to consume within ecological limits. This pathbreaking book – the result of an unprecedented, cross-national and cross-disciplinary collaboration – can help. Ideal for teaching, research, and for anyone who wants to consume sustainably."" Juliet Schor, author of The Overspent American and Four Days a Week ""Given that one of the roots of today's global ecological crises is the profligacy of the Global North, and its cornering of the planet's ecological space, this book is a welcome addition to literature on concepts and practices that the world's rich need to listen to and adopt, complementing other books whose focus is on learning from the Global South."" Ashish Kothari, Global Tapestry of Alternatives, and co-editor of Pluriverse: A Post-Development Dictionary ""Much of the time, our attention goes to the environmental impacts we face as a society. This is logical, since this is what we experience. But to avoid these impacts, more attention should be given to the drivers and pressures leading to them – and here the contributions of the authors of this collection are vital and important."" Janez Potočnik, Co-Chair, UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) ""Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: A Language for Our Common Future is a treasure trove of timely briefings about concepts that have potential to guide humanity towards a more humane, more sustainable future. It offers much-needed clarity and consistency, and thus the potential to underpin more fruitful conversations and more impactful action."" Katherine Trebeck, writer-at-large, Edinburgh Futures Institute ""This book offers a powerful and timely reimagining of how we think about consumption and lifestyles in a world facing ecological and social crises. With clarity and depth, it weaves together transformative concepts and perspectives, providing an essential guide that will inspire and empower changemakers across disciplines and sectors."" Giorgos Kallis, author of The Case for Degrowth