GREEN ECONOMICSWorkshop 2:

Christians as consumers

Christian Ecology Link conference, 5th March 2011End of the Age of Thorns: Surviving consumerism

Tim Cooper

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION?

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

distinctive• Discussion

IS THERE A PROBLEM?

• Climate change• Excessive waste• Resource scarcity • Release of toxic materials• Loss of biodiversity

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?

...AND WE DON’T SEEM TO BENEFIT!

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

UNDERLYING CONSUMPTION: SOCIETY

Drivers include...

– Persuasion– Emulation– Fashion– Innovation – Leisure

…and greed

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)

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!

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

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

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

Bagozzi

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)

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…..

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’?