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GREEN ECONOMICS Workshop 2: Christians as consumers

GREEN ECONOMICS Workshop 2: Christians as consumers. Tim Cooper. Christian Ecology Link conference, 5th March 2011 End of the Age of Thorns: Surviving consumerism. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION?. Key issue in industrial societies What underlies the ‘consumer society’?

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GREEN ECONOMICS Workshop 2: Christians as consumers

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  1. GREEN ECONOMICSWorkshop 2: Christians as consumers Tim Cooper Christian Ecology Linkconference, 5th March 2011 End of the Age of Thorns: Surviving consumerism

  2. SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION? • Key issue in industrial societies • What underlies the ‘consumer society’? • Christian insights into consumption • Why Christians’ lifestyles may not be distinctive • Discussion

  3. IS THERE A PROBLEM? • Climate change • Excessive waste • Resource scarcity • Release of toxic materials • Loss of biodiversity

  4. CONSUMPTION AND LIFESTYLE • Why do we consume? • necessary or luxury? • Is it right to consume as we do? • ethics and responsibility • Could we change our consumption? • level or type?

  5. ...AND WE DON’T SEEM TO BENEFIT!

  6. CRITICS OF CONSUMPTION • John Stuart Mill (1857) ‘stationary state of capital and wealth’ • Thorstein Veblen (1899) ‘conspicuous consumption’ • Arthur Pigou (1920) The Economics of Welfare • R.H.Tawney (1921) The Acquisitive Society • Vance Packard (1962) ‘planned obsolescence’ • 1992 Rio Earth Summit - consumption unsustainable • 2002 WSSD - 10 year framework of programmes for sustainable consumption

  7. UNDERLYING CONSUMPTION: SOCIETY Drivers include... • Persuasion • Emulation • Fashion • Innovation • Leisure …and greed

  8. GOVERNMENT’S ROLE • Develop alternative indicators to growth • Promote sustainable design • Ensure prices reflect environmental costs • Require appropriate product information • Create suitable infrastructure • Reconsider merits of free trade • Pro-environmental behaviour change (Defra)

  9. CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES • Start with humility • church is relatively affluent • church is culturally conservative “We have done the things which we ought not to have done….” 1662 Book of Common Prayer • Be mindful of theological extremities • asceticism • prosperity theology Matter matters!

  10. THINKING THROUGH THEOLOGY • What’s our ‘world view’? • ‘ambiguous ecological promise’ (Santmire) • ‘the Earth is the Lord’s’ • Holism, not dualism • incarnation: the ‘Word was made flesh’ (sacramental theology) • Inclination towards restraint • gleaning, camels/needles, food and clothing • demonstrated through Lent, Sabbath

  11. ACHIEVING CHANGE • Theories of social change • Institutional, educational, economic, etc. • The ‘attitude-behaviour gap’ • Behaviour is cognitive, affective and normative • What are Christian values? • Can faith be a motivating influence? • Church as community

  12. WHY CHRISTIANS AREN’T DISTINCTIVE • Attitudes • Consumption does enhances wellbeing • Consumption shapes our identity positively (creativity, individuality) • Motivation • Uncertain outcomes • Past failings • Opportunities • Excessive effort • Lack of information • Much is ‘inconspicuous’ / ordinary • Not ‘deliberate’ (habits, routines) • Emotional • Values • Underlying world view

  13. Bagozzi

  14. BUT WE COULD BE! • Assuming responsibility • Answerable to God, so cannot be passive (Rowan Williams) • Beliefs about outcomes • The refined Earth (Peter) • Normative social influences • Church as sizeable community • ‘Values’ improves predictability of behavioural models • Some evidence of minor impact (Pepper)

  15. BEING EFFECTIVE • Consuming differently…or consuming less? • Consumer sovereignty…or choice editing • ‘subordination of individual choice to community choice’? • Uncertainty over where change in consumption is most effective • Housing (buildings, furniture, appliances, heating) (20-35%) • Food and drink (20-30%) • Private transport (15%) • Clothing (<10%) (EIPRO study) • Can use carbon calculators, but…..

  16. FOR DISCUSSION • Is there a distinctively Christian approach to consumption? • Do festivals play a role in this? • Should Christians be more active in redeeming Lent, Christmas, the Sabbath and Harvest? • Propose banning the sale of Hot Cross Buns before Lent? • Refuse to engage in Christmas shopping before Advent? • Re-engaging in opposition to Sunday trading? • Celebrating ‘sustainable Harvests’?

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