Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
clear threats to ecosystem health.
61
However, securing change in pat-
terns of consumption is hugely challenging.
62
Thefactthatconsumption
is intrinsic to economic growth and to conceptions of what is needed for
a good quality of life makes its reduction problematic.
63
It is also some-
thing that cannot be addressed through policy alone, but which would
require substantial change in everyone
s lifestyles and values.
64
Despite
this, much can be done through governmental action to in
'
uence indi-
vidualandsocialbehaviour.
65
The provision of appropriate opportuni-
ties and fora for participation in ecological governance by the state can,
as I argue in
Chapters 4
and
6
, increase the likelihood that people will
come to accept that governmental action to protect ecosystems is both
necessary and legitimate, and choose themselves to live in ways that reduce
demand on resources. It is also only through decision-making at this level
of governance that change might be made to the current economic model
so that it is less reliant on continual increases in the amount we consume.
66
The formation of a coherent strategy for reducing consumption must
therefore, despite the attendant dif
rst consideration in
devising a government-wide programme and associated policies for reduc-
ing risks of ecological harm.
The
culties, be the
rst principle for policy-making that I propose is that the reduc-
tion of levels of consumption and consideration of how governmental
action might be used to promote this should be prioritised in policy
formation. This principle is given practical effect by a requirement at the
strategy formation stage that a credible package of measures for tackling
consumption should be produced. Whilst this is a
'
issue in that the factors which drive it are highly interconnected, it might
also be considered from the perspective of discrete policy areas. For
'
whole of government
61
Ross,
'
Sustainable Development
'
, pp. 302
-
4; D. Farber,
'
Sustainable Consumption,
6.
62
D. L. Goldblatt, Sustainable Energy Consumption and Society: Personal, Technological, or
Social Change? (Dordrecht: Springer, 2005), p. 67.
Energy Policy, and Individual Well-being
'
(2012) 65 Vanderbilt Law Review, 1483
-
63
I. Røpke,
in C. Lever-Tracy
(ed.) Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Society (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010),
pp. 121
'
Ecological Economics: Consumption Drivers and Impacts
'
-
30;T.Jacksonetal.,
'
Beyond Insatiability: Needs Theory, Consumption and
Sustainability
in L. A. Reisch and I. Røpke (eds) The Ecological Economics of
Consumption (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004), pp. 79
'
-
110.
64
Curry,
'
Ecological Ethics
'
, pp. 21
-
3; Røpke,
'
Ecological Economics
'
, pp. 123
-
4,
pp. 128
-
9.
65
Ross,
'
Sustainable Development
'
, pp. 302
-
4; Farber,
'
Sustainable Consumption
'
,
1502
21;T.Jackson,Prosperity without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet
(London: Earthscan, 2009), pp. 158
-
-
61.
66
Jackson,
'
Prosperity without Growth
'
,pp.158
-
61, 166
-
9.
