Kategorie Publikation
Verfuerth, C., Henn, L., & Becker, S. (2019). Is it up to them? Individual leverages for sufficiency. GAIA - Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society, 28(4), 374-380. doi:10.14512/gaia.28.4.9.

Abstract

Sufficiency aims at a total reduction of resource consumption, which is urgently needed to achieve our climate and sustainable development goals. This paper explores individual attitude towards a sufficiency-oriented lifestyle as a driver of a low carbon footprint. Survey data of 310 participants was analyzed to test whether individualsufficiency attitude manifests in people’s carbon footprint. The resultsprovide evidence for this relationship but its strength varies between behavioral domains – that is, heating, electricity, food consumption, everyday mobility, air travel. Potential structural and individual barriers to reducing CO2emissions are discussed as possible factors that could explain differences between the behavioral domains. We argue that intrapersonal factors matter for sustainable lifestyles but that policy-making and structural change should complement and facilitate voluntary endeavors to achieve low-carbon lifestyles.

DE