Harald Heinrichs · Pim Martens Gerd Michelsen · Arnim Wiek Editors

Chapter 24
Consumption and Sustainability
John Harlow, Michael J. Bernstein, Bastien Girod, and Arnim Wiek
Abstract Moving consumption toward sustainable patterns has been a key goal of 
sustainability science since the 1990s. However, a large knowledge gap remains 
between identified consumption problems that restrict social and ecological devel-
opment and progress toward solutions. Unfortunately, “sustainable consumption” is 
generally discussed in a rational context and does not address how culture, pleasure, 
identity, and communication drive consumption. This exclusively rational framing 
limits innovation in problem-solving research methodologies based on the other 
drivers of consumption. Marketing, however, excels at capitalizing on all the drivers 
of consumption. Consumers are the targets of countless behavior change strategies, 
and this article offers perspective on how the nonrational drivers of consumption 
can be leveraged to instead pursue sustainable consumption. Bridging the behavior 
change knowledge gap can be relevant for many sustainability impasses, as many of 
them stem from human behavior, and boundary work drawing on behavioral science 
can effectively navigate norms and expectations at the interface of science and soci-
ety. The better researchers understand the behaviors of relevant actors, the better 
their behavior change strategies will support sustainability transitions.
Keywords
Behavior • Behavioral science • Consumption • Sustainable consump-
tion • Sustainability
J. Harlow (
*
) • M.J. Bernstein • A. Wiek
School of Sustainability, Arizona State University,
PO Box 875502, Tempe, AZ 85287-5502, USA
e-mail: 
[e-mail]
; 
[e-mail]
; 
[e-mail]
B. Girod 
Department of Management, Technology, and Economics, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology (ETH) Zurich, Weinbergstr. 56/58, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
e-mail: 
[e-mail]

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