Unsustainable Consumer Behaviors

Answer

Unsustainable Consumer Behaviors

                Consumers have a personal responsibility to the environment through their consumption patterns and behaviors. According to Rajagopal (2010), the behaviors of consumers in the market enhance social and environmental performance, while at the same time, meet their needs. A study of sustainable consumer behavior provides insight into how and why customers should include sustainability issues within their consumption activities. Sustainable consumer behavior is an important consideration which can be relayed through word of mouth. Unsustainable consumer behavior is evident in the market and can arise in cases where consumers fail to adopt more sustainable products. The fact that consumer behavior can influence the total consumption process suggests the need to adequately understand consumer behavior to know how consumers relate with the sellers. This research examines the concept of unsustainable consumer behavior within a market and how they can implement sustainable practices within their purchasing activities.

Personal Inventory and Reflection

                Unsustainable consumption is regarded as the source of all environmental concerns noted in the current 21^st century. Komppula, Honkanen, Rossi, and Kolesnikova (2018) reiterates this by outlining that the products purchased from the market directly or indirectly influence the environment through climate change, pollution, resource depletion, and biodiversity loss. After completing a personal inventory table for two days, I was able to outline some unsustainable consumption practices. Some of them include the use of cars to commute to different towns and the use of a dishwasher to clean utensils after every meal. Moreover, I attended a friend's party whereby 90% of the food consumed was beef steak and pork.

Potential Consumer Resistance to Sustainable Solutions

                A financial barrier is one of the factors which hinder sustainable consumer behavior. The economists’ perspective relays that economic growth is precedence rather than the welfare and rights of the people. The notion presents that a shift should be noted in how the consumers treat the environment as an economy to treating it as a part of the environment. As a result, the consumers will understand the need to maintain it through sustainable production. Innovation barrier is also a factor which hinders sustainable consumer activities. Komppula et al. (2018) explain that the education sector lacks innovation-oriented research. This suggests the need for a closer connection between the economy and research institute. As a result, people will gather knowledge about how to overcome environmental problems which they further apply to real-life. Social barriers also hinder sustainable consumption. Rajagopal (2010) supports this concern by providing that unsustainable consumption, production patterns of the wealthy and population growth are the significant social challenges which hinders consumers from sustainable behaviors. Moreover, political barriers also inhibit sustainable consumption behaviors through inadequate policies which favor sustainable development. Poor evaluation and monitoring systems common in different parts of the globe is also hindered efforts of sustainable consumption. Arguably, decision-makers have failed to outline useful data which can be used to track the progress of viable development options. The challenge about the systems can be addressed through stringent access of the socio-economic impact of the consumer behaviors rather than just the outcome to make it possible for the state to draft effective policies which favor sustainable development efforts.

Adopting a Sustainable Approach and Reflection

Taking a sustainable approach is an important measure which can be considered to conserve the environment. The outlined factor can be achieved by changing unsustainable consumption behaviors such as the use of cars for commuting. For three days, I decided to travel to different parts of the town by cycling. The experience was desirable despite proving more demanding and tiresome. During the period, the amount of carbon emitted to the environment was reduced since I did not have to use my car to commute. Having in mind that I was used to driving to different destinations almost on a daily basis, I found it quite challenging to move around and I was eager to get back to driving. Through this, it is evident that developing a sustainable consumer culture is a challenging process. Barriers such as lifestyle and cultural values make it difficult for consumers to implement sustainability in their consumption practices. In support of this, Lineman (2013) posits that green consumerism remains a factor of imagination to a significant degree. The outlined factor stems from the notion that people provide their comfort with a priority to the environment, thus making it difficult for them to transform their consumer behaviors for the better.

Conclusion

                Conclusively, unsustainable consumer behavior is the leading factor in generating severe environmental impacts. Activities such as commuting with cars rather than cycling to one’s destination results to increased carbon emission percentage into the environment, which prompts climatic changes. Embracing sustainable consumer behaviors have proven quite a challenge as a result of several constraints such as cultural values and lack of awareness. When consumers are not well informed about the impacts of their activities on the environment, it is highly likely that they will not see the need to change their consumption behaviors to implement sustainability.