The Days of Overconsumption

Everyone is well acquainted with the twelve days of Christmas, in the modern era, that is being replaced by 6 days of overconsumption. The period around Thanksgiving is the busiest U.S. shopping period of the year. Thanksgiving has long been a spectacle of consumer overindulgence, but now this rampant consumerism extends well beyond Black Friday. Marketers are finding more ways to entice consumers, but they ignore the fact that we cannot sustain our current rate of consumption.

How to Help Make Black Friday More Green from C2ES

While less shopping is always the more ecologically aware choice, here are some ideas for making Black Friday greener from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES).

Practice precycling. Precycling is the practice of avoiding the purchase of items that will produce waste such as packaging, whether that waste is recycled or not. After all, the most environmentally friendly product is the one that minimizes resources altogether. Find some tips on precycling.

Tips to Make Black Friday More Green from FatWallet

Black Friday is a consumer spectacle that is rife with excess and waste. However, FatWallet offers some tips on how to make your black Friday more green. Try to find products that that are made from recycled or biodegradable materials. For example, several book publishers now only print books made from recycled paper. In terms of appliances and electronic devices, check for items that are rechargeable or energy-efficient. They should have the Energy Star logo on them if they are verified efficient machines. Another tip is to look for products that use minimal packaging. After all, if the box and plastic wrappings are going to be thrown away, why pay extra for them and add to the landfills? When it is time to pay, use a green credit card whenever possible. These are credit cards where a portion of each transaction that a customer makes goes towards support for green charities or causes. Finally, pack all of the new purchases into reusable shopping bags instead of reaching for a pile of plastic bags.

Consumer Spending for a Greener World

It should be obvious that we cannot sustain our current trajectory of consumption. We simply cannot afford traditional consumerism. By putting their spending power to work on less environmentally harmful products and services, consumers can dramatically lessen their impacts on the Earth. To be green consumers we need to be more mindful of what we are purchasing and why.

Green Consumers

Consumers have tremendous power to improve our world. While buying less is always well advised, there are ways we can put consumer dollars to work to advance the green economy. Green shopping implies spending money on products that are less harmful to the environment. In the final analysis where we spend our money determines the type of world we create. When we make green purchases we are helping to build a more sustainable economy.

Educating Consumers about Sustainable Consumption

Businesses need to address consumer confusion about sustainability. A 2011 WBCSD report reviews how business can help to take sustainability from a niche market to the mainstream. As reviewed in the report, businesses need to be part of the effort to explain sustainability to consumers. Ultimately consumers need to understand that sustainability is about a pragmatic approach to solving the climate change crisis we are facing.

One of the chief obstacles that businesses face has to do with the false choice between the economy and the environment. Many consumers fear that sustainable consumption will translate to a decrement in their standard of living. However, sustainable consumption does not have to mean a lower standard of living, just a higher level of intentionality about encouraging more sustainable products, systems and services.

The Frugal Green Consumer

During the recession we have seen evidence that consumers are shifting their focus from premium green products to frugality. While there is demand for green products and services, people are price conscious and cost is an impediment to wider adoption.

Frugality is an important element shaping today's green consumer. The increasing number of people growing their own food, and reusing things they would have otherwise discarded are illustrations of the point. People are increasingly buying only what they need and making purchases that are designed to last. Essentially people are looking for good value for their money

The recession and slow recovery is changing our behavior and making consumers more value conscious. Value is not just a buzzword in business, it reflects a growing trend that an increasing number of consumers are demanding.

Sustainability is the Future of Consumption

According to research entitled ‘Consumer Futures 2020’ the future of consumption is going to be radically different from what we see today. This research presents four scenarios exploring possible patterns of consumption in 2020, all of which indicate that consumerism will become more sustainable.

Based on these two parameters, Prosperous vs. Less prosperous – by 2020 will our economy be flourishing or subdued? And Do-it-yourself vs. Do-it-for-me – will consumers take the initiative to satisfy their needs or expect brands to do this for them? They created a two-by-two matrix, which in turn enabled them to create four scenarios:

The Revolutionary New Model of Consumption

There is a revolution underway that is transforming consumption. If the twentieth century was marked by hyper-consumption the twenty-first century will be marked by collaborative consumption. This new form of consumption is being facilitated by a wide range of technological innovations. Social media is a great example of technologies that contribute to the new model of consumption. Examples include things like localized bartering and exchange, gifting and freecycling, local networking clubs, and websites that help people to find what they are looking for.

Craigslist is one of the best examples of the new model of consumption. The DIY movement is another example of the new model of consumption. People are doing things for themselves this both reduces costs and minimizes consumption. Even the ways we access information are being radically transformed by new technology. The extraordinary growth of citizen journalism and the proliferation of online content shows how information is being disseminated without having to buy a newspaper or magazine.

The World's First Global Carrotmob Campaign

The carrotmob is a powerful new way that people can influence business to be more responsible. In a Carrotmob campaign, a group of people spend money to support a business that engages in socially redeeming initiatives.

An Overview of the Carrotmob Model:
1) organizers of a campaign make an agreement with a business
2) a mob of people spend money at the business
3) the business makes a change to its practices to become more responsible (eg sustainable)

Apple's Reversal on EPEAT Says a Lot About Consumers

After dropping Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) certification, Apple succumbed to pressure and reversed its decision. In June Apple announced that it will withdraw from EPEAT, than on Friday July 13, Apple said it will return to EPEAT certification program (with the exception of its new MacBook Pro Retina model). The decision says two things, the first it says that Apple will go where the money is. What is really noteworthy is that fact that the public is interested in green certification and it is willing to let companies know about it.