Communicating Sustainable Production and Consumption: Challenges and Strategies
Presented at 2nd Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption conference, Shanghai, June 2014
Assessing the range of ecological and socio-economic threats afflicting the planet, the causal chain eventually leads back to various underlying configurations of unsustainable production and consumption practices, policies and systems. Awareness of these drivers and the need to address them has evolved over the past four decades, resulting in the 2002 declaration at the World Summit on Sustainable Development that changing unsustainable production and consumption is one of the “overarching objectives” of and essential to sustainable development. However, the message and values of sustainable production and consumption tends to clash with those of mainstream consumer culture and the global advertising industry, as well as political ideologies promoting unlimited economic growth. This paper examines some of the challenges facing organizations involved in communicating the concepts and values of sustainable production and consumption among different audiences and stakeholder groups, with attention to different strategies addressing these challenges.
Assessing the range of ecological and socio-economic threats afflicting the planet, the causal chain eventually leads back to various underlying configurations of unsustainable production and consumption practices, policies and systems. Awareness of these drivers and the need to address them has evolved over the past four decades, resulting in the 2002 declaration at the World Summit on Sustainable Development that changing unsustainable production and consumption is one of the “overarching objectives” of and essential to sustainable development. However, the message and values of sustainable production and consumption tends to clash with those of mainstream consumer culture and the global advertising industry, as well as political ideologies promoting unlimited economic growth. This paper examines some of the challenges facing organizations involved in communicating the concepts and values of sustainable production and consumption among different audiences and stakeholder groups, with attention to different strategies addressing these challenges.
communicating_spac_2014.pdf | |
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Mapping Communities of Practice Towards Sustainable Production and Consumption
Presented at the 1st Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption conference, Rio de Janeiro, June 9, 2012
This paper explores the challenge of mapping the many practices and approaches aimed at achieving sustainable production and consumption (SPC). Over the past forty years an expanding spectrum of actions and ideas has evolved in response to the social and ecological impacts of unsustainable production and consumption systems. These actions range from consumer boycotts and street protests to eco labels and education campaigns; from innovations in technology and product design to social experiments in community living. These practices are also often tied to dedicated research and analysis to understand the problem and to identify alternative paths forward. The challenge of mapping these actions and paths involves not only assessing the variety and spread of SPC practices around the world but considering the values, interpretive frames and political/cultural contexts shaping these practices. Altogether we have a population of practices, organizations and communities of practice engaged in a collective project aimed at transforming the global economic system. This project is not only difficult to achieve but a challenge to map. A key unit of analysis is the social network; another is the community of practice. Navigating a path through this complex landscape, not to mention locating potential allies and identifying obstacles, calls not only for maps but the sharing of knowledge and experience about the territory. This paper examines some possible schemas and tools to help with this task
This paper explores the challenge of mapping the many practices and approaches aimed at achieving sustainable production and consumption (SPC). Over the past forty years an expanding spectrum of actions and ideas has evolved in response to the social and ecological impacts of unsustainable production and consumption systems. These actions range from consumer boycotts and street protests to eco labels and education campaigns; from innovations in technology and product design to social experiments in community living. These practices are also often tied to dedicated research and analysis to understand the problem and to identify alternative paths forward. The challenge of mapping these actions and paths involves not only assessing the variety and spread of SPC practices around the world but considering the values, interpretive frames and political/cultural contexts shaping these practices. Altogether we have a population of practices, organizations and communities of practice engaged in a collective project aimed at transforming the global economic system. This project is not only difficult to achieve but a challenge to map. A key unit of analysis is the social network; another is the community of practice. Navigating a path through this complex landscape, not to mention locating potential allies and identifying obstacles, calls not only for maps but the sharing of knowledge and experience about the territory. This paper examines some possible schemas and tools to help with this task
grf-2012-rio-barber.pdf | |
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Still Waiting for Delivery
Presented at the 18th Session of the United Nations Commission of Sustainable Development, 2010
The 18th UN Commission on Sustainable Development called for a review of progress on the implementation of 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development’s mandate to develop a 10- year framework of programs on sustainable consumption and production. Still Waiting for Delivery was ISF's contribution to this review from a civil society perspective. This report draws from a wide range of views and perspectives from different parts of civil society, compiled within a single narrative, a single snapshot looking back over the past decades. One objective of Still Waiting is to remind us and policymakers of the discussions and understandings that have already taken place, lessons learned, reminders of promises and commitments made years ago, perhaps forgotten but nevertheless embedded in our history. Our task is to not lose this history but build upon it. Still Waiting for Delivery draws on a series of interviews and discussions as well as responses to an open-ended questionnaire about progress and possible programs to further progress, the lively exchanges and recommendations produced by the NGO Forum at the 2007 International Experts Meeting on the 10 Year Framework in Stockholm, the nine major group papers submitted to the CSD, the many meetings and reports organized by the Marrakech Process Secretariat at UNEP and UNDESA, as well as the rapidly expanding research and analysis addressing the many facets of production, consumption and the quest for sustainable economies taking place around the world, both in and outside of governments and the United Nations.
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