Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life What does it mean to live a good life in a time when the planet is overheating, the human population continues to steadily reach new peaks, oceans are turning more acidic, and fertile soils the world over are eroding at unprecedented rates? These and other simultaneous harms and threats demand creative responses at several levels of consideration and action Written by an international team of contributors, this book examines in-depth the relationship between sustainability and the good life Drawing on a wealth of theories, from social practice theory to architecture and design theory, and disciplines, such as anthropology and environmental philosophy, this book promotes participatory action-research-based approaches to encourage sustainability and wellbeing at local levels It covers topical issues such as the politics of prosperity, globalization, and indigenous notions of “the good life” and “happiness” Finally, it places a strong emphasis on food at the heart of the sustainability and good life debate, for instance binding the global south to the north through import and exports, or linking everyday lives to ideals within the dream of the good life, with cookbooks and shows This interdisciplinary book provides invaluable insights for researchers and postgraduate students interested in the contribution of the environmental humanities to the sustainability debate Karen Lykke Syse is Associate Professor at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway Martin Lee Mueller is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway Routledge Environmental Humanities Series editors: Iain McCalman and Libby Robin Editorial Board Christina Alt, St Andrews University, UK Alison Bashford, University of Cambridge, UK Peter Coates, University of Bristol, UK Thom van Dooren, University of New South Wales, Australia Georgina Endfield, University of Nottingham, UK Jodi Frawley, University of Sydney, Australia Andrea Gaynor, University of Western Australia, Australia Tom Lynch, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, US Jennifer Newell, American Museum of Natural History, New York, US Simon Pooley, Imperial College London, UK Sandra Swart, Stellenbosch University, South Africa Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota, US Paul Warde, University of East Anglia, UK Jessica Weir, University of Western Sydney, Australia International Advisory Board William Beinart, University of Oxford, UK Sarah Buie, Clark University, US Jane Carruthers, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa Dipesh Chakrabarty, University of Chicago, US Paul Holm, Trinity College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland Shen Hou, Renmin University of China, Beijing Rob Nixon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, US Pauline Phemister, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, UK Deborah Bird Rose, University of New South Wales, Australia Sverker Sorlin, KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden Helmuth Trischler, Deutsches Museum, Munich and Co-Director, Rachel Carson Centre, LMU Munich University, Germany Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University, US Kirsten Wehner, Head Curator, People and the Environment, National Museum of Australia The Routledge Environmental Humanities series is an original and inspiring venture recognising that today’s world agricultural and water crises, ocean pollution and resource depletion, global warming from greenhouse gases, urban sprawl, overpopulation, food insecurity and environmental justice are all crises of culture The reality of understanding and finding adaptive solutions to our present and future environmental challenges has shifted the epicentre of environmental studies away from an exclusively scientific and technological framework to one that depends on the human-focused disciplines and ideas of the humanities and allied social sciences We thus welcome book proposals from all humanities and social sciences disciplines for an inclusive and interdisciplinary series We favour manuscripts aimed at an international readership and written in a lively and accessible style The readership comprises scholars and students from the humanities and social sciences and thoughtful readers concerned about the human dimensions of environmental change Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities Jodi Frawley and Iain McCalman The Broken Promise of Agricultural Progress An environmental history Cameron Muir The Biosphere and the Bioregion Essential writings of Peter Berg Cheryll Glotfelty and Eve Quesnel Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life Interdisciplinary perspectives Edited by Karen Lykke Syse and Martin Lee Mueller ‘Unlimited growth has not only damaged the biosphere, but also disrupted solidarity and cohesion within and between human groups Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life presents and questions various adaptations to the environmental crises The book is timely as it challenges and reframes issues of consumption and well-being to meet the demands of an overheating planet.’ Peder Anker, New York University, USA ‘Living well is an aspiration freighted with environmental, economic and ethical import It pulses through contemporary society, just as it did the ancient world In this book, affirmative responses are found to critical questions about new designs for life, always mindful of twenty-first century challenges It gives us insights into how consumptive habits can become more just and wise, as well as answerable to needs and relations scaled from the personal to the planetary In these pages, our own reckoning is identified as the means for a powerful reawakening.’ Hayden Lorimer, University of Glasgow, UK Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life Interdisciplinary perspectives Edited by Karen Lykke Syse and Martin Lee Mueller First published 2015 by Routledge Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2015 Karen Lykke Syse and Martin Lee Mueller The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978-1-138-01300-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-79552-2 (ebk) Typeset in Goudy by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton Contents List of figures and tables List of contributors ix xi Introduction KAREN LYKKE SYSE AND MARTIN LEE MUELLER Enough is enough? Re-imagining an ethics and aesthetics of sustainability for the twenty-first century LAWRENCE BUELL The essayistic spirit of Utopia 27 THORUNN GULLAKSEN ENDRESON Towards a sustainable flourishing: democracy, hedonism and the politics of prosperity 43 KATE SOPER Is the good life sustainable? A three-decade study of values, happiness and sustainability in Norway 55 OTTAR HELLEVIK Well-being and environmental responsibility 80 BENGT BRÜLDE The problem of habits for a sustainable transformation 100 HAROLD WILHITE Well-being in sustainability transitions: making use of needs FELIX RAUSCHMAYER AND INES OMANN 111 viii Contents Human needs and the environment reconciled: participatory action-research for sustainable development in Peru 126 MÒNICA GUILLEN-ROYO On the good life and rising electricity consumption in rural Zanzibar 146 TANJA WINTHER 10 Celebrity chefs, ethical food consumption and the good life 165 KAREN LYKKE SYSE 11 Follow the food: how eating and drinking shape our cities 183 JESPER PAGH 12 Caged welfare: evading the good life for egg-laying hens 204 KRISTIAN BJØRKDAHL 13 Being salmon, being human: notes on an ecological turn in the modern narrative tradition 224 MARTIN LEE MUELLER 14 Afterword: beyond the paradox of the big, bad wolf 244 THOMAS HYLLAND ERIKSEN Index 257 List of figures and tables Figures 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 7.1 Values and value dimensions of the Norwegian Monitor 57 Position on the materialism–idealism dimension and choice between five wishes one would most like to have fulfilled (per cent; NM 2003–2011 combined) 58 Dimensions of value preferences as discussed by Inglehart, Flanagan, Schwartz and Hellevik 60 Position on the materialism–idealism value dimension and subjective well-being (per cent; NM 2003–2011) 61 Position on the materialism–idealism dimension and actual versus perceived necessary income (in NKr 1,000; NM 2003–2011) 62 Position on the materialism–idealism dimension and attitude towards Norwegian aid to developing countries (per cent; NM 2003–2011) 64 Trend for the materialism–idealism dimension (per cent deciles distribution and average deciles score times 10; NM 1985–2011) 67 Trends for selected value indexes (transformed to vary 0–100; NM 1985–2011) 68 Trends in subjective well-being (level of happiness and level of satisfaction; NM 1985–2011) 69 Trends in average actual and perceived necessary income (in NKr 1,000; NM 2001–2011) 70 Trends in subjective economic situation (percentages; NM 1985–2011) 70 Trends in environmental attitudes and behaviour (percentages; NM 1989–2011) 71 Percentage agreeing to the statement: “We should solve the problems in our own country before spending money on helping other countries” (NM 1985–2011) 72 Trends in civic attitudes (percentages; NM 1985–2011) 72 Sustainable human flourishing 115 252 Thomas Hylland Eriksen who live in an exceptionally brutal and insensitive dictatorship with huge inequalities There are other interesting variations and correlations as well Hondurans report a far higher quality of life than Latvians; the two nationalities have roughly the same life expectancy, and the ecological footprint of the Latvians is more than twice that of the Hondurans This difference reflects the importance of cultural values and cultural style, network types and trust, but also intangible but real factors such as the experience of improving versus deteriorating trends in societal development As mentioned, small, manageable island societies with relatively dense networks and short social distances, incidentally, did well in the earlier versions of the report, when they were included The most interesting finding is perhaps that the countries which best in the Happy Planet Index are neither those at the top nor those at the bottom of the UNDP Human Development Index, but those in the middle The inhabitants of the poorest countries suffer from all kinds of deprivations, while the richest countries pollute far more than others without this being compensated through increased well-being or longevity The spiralling growth which has led to a doubling in world energy consumption since 1975 has done little to improve the quality of life among those who were already reasonably well off then The first OECD country on the Index is New Zealand, in 28th place, followed by Norway (the impact of petroleum exports is not included in the footprint measurement); both countries are ranked below Indonesia and the Philippines and just above India and the Dominican Republic The first Muslim country is Bangladesh, in 11th place, while the Gulf States are near the bottom of the table due to their huge carbon footprint, with Qatar and Bahrain in 149th and 146th place, respectively (the total number of countries in the index is 151) The USA is, owing to its very high carbon footprint, ranked as number 105 and China as number 60 In spite of Western propaganda to the effect that the Chinese are now the worst polluters in the world, the average Chinese leaves a modest carbon footprint (less than a third of the Americans), lives beyond 70 years and report (possibly with some subtle indirect nudging from the Party) that he is quite content The report confirms the provisional conclusions made earlier and strengthens arguments developed in the other chapters of this book, namely that it is not necessary to destroy the planet’s ecology or to pester one’s neighbour in order to be content with life The opposite may indeed often be the case Most people, one may presume, would prefer to be liked rather than feared, and now that we increasingly find ourselves in a catch-22, a double-bind (Bateson 1972) between growth and sustainability where it is being confirmed every day that you cannot have it both ways, it is far from unlikely that many members of the global middle class will change their priorities Driving gas-guzzling cars will appear tasteless and stupid if you live in the city: the oversized SUV becomes a sign indicating that the owner is out of kilter, analogous to showing off your prestige by parading a dozen welltrained slaves in New Orleans in 1870 Flying becomes an increasingly rare Afterword 253 necessity as long as it lasts, and will then slowly be phased out (provided solarpowered planes not take over the market) Science fiction? Daydreaming? Perhaps, but not necessarily The dramatic transformation in the public attitude towards tobacco smoking shows that cultural mores and habits may change rapidly Beginning in California in the 1980s, negative attitudes towards smoking spread like wildfire during the next decade and into the twentieth century By 2010, smoking in public spaces had become anathema in large parts of the world, from India to South Africa, from Ireland to Colombia When the smoking ban in restaurants and bars was introduced in Norway in 2004, pundits predicted that half of these establishments would be out of business before Christmas Yet, it took only a few months before the absence of tobacco smoke, even in brown cafes patronised by workmen and heavy drinkers, had been naturalised and internalised Smokers were literally left out in the cold, and today, some think wistfully, albeit with a tinge of disgust about the dim and distant past more than twenty years ago when everything smelled vaguely of tobacco smoke This may be the ultimate fate of ecological irresponsibility as well Now that it has been conclusively proved that it is not necessary for human beings to undermine the conditions for their continued existence in order to be happy, there are no good arguments for continuing on that particular path The small, mountainous country of Bhutan – east of Nepal, north of India and south of Tibet – is often mentioned in the happiness literature as a counterexample to Western ‘affluenza’ In 1976, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck declared that it would be wise not to open the country to Western influence His son, King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, largely follows up his father’s policy, but has decided on a few reforms, such as introducing television and political elections There is still no mass tourism in Bhutan, and it is a McDonald’s-free country with little commercialisation This is in itself far from a guarantee for a high quality of life; neither the Cambodia of Pol Pot nor Stalin’s Soviet Union were particularly McDonaldised However, Bhutanese authorities have decided on ‘gross national happiness’ instead of the Western standard ‘gross national product’ as a yardstick for measuring how well the country is doing Unlike Pol Pot, they not massacre people who can read, and unlike Stalin, they are not obsessed with beating the Americans in childish competitions within sport, chess or space travel Recently, the Centre for Bhutan Studies in Thimphu has begun to operationalise criteria for national happiness They include obvious dimensions such as health, education and good governance, but also less common criteria such as cultural vitality, ecological diversity, time use and psychological well-being Interestingly, Bhutan is not included in the Happy Planet Index due to a lack of comparable data The Bhutanese authorities try to learn from the mistakes of the West without having to commit them The Bhutanese have a life expectancy about ten to 15 years shorter than that of the global middle class, so the health care system arguably leaves a bit to be desired; yet, the average lifespan in Bhutan is the same as what Louis Dublin, back in 1928, estimated to be the highest possible average for a society In South America, the popular movements 254 Thomas Hylland Eriksen associated with the concept of buen vivir (living well) – based on local, often indigenous, notions of sustainability and the good life – follow a similar logic (Escobar 2013), with growing success locally in countries such as Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia Much could have been different here as well A growing proportion of the global middle class not only believe that it is necessary to reduce consumption, but positively yearn for a life bringing them into closer contact with themselves and the ecology of which they are part Of course, consumption does have its rewards (even if short-lived) To some, buying shoes gives a form of pleasure that may be compared to the pleasure others experience when listening to jazz Modernity can be an extraordinarily rewarding epoch in which to live; the point is that it is possible to continue leading a modern life without destroying the planet, and without reducing one’s quality of life Soon, perhaps, people who love shoes will again begin to have them repaired instead of throwing them away, and perhaps they will start buying shoes that have not been sent halfway around the planet in a shipping container There are some intuitively understandable, liberating aspects of a slower, less consumption-intensive life Rather than working oneself to death on the stock exchange, we can be herders in the morning and fishermen in the afternoon, and in the evening we may hold our beloved’s hand as much as we wish, provided we prefer that to criticising A revolution is not required in order to reach this kind of a situation, which many desire The question remains, however, as to why nothing has happened so far, after decades of increasing affluence, which has not led to a concomitant increase in life-satisfaction, but instead threatens to undermine its own conditions A short answer, to with path dependency, is that business as usual is always the easiest option Both the powerful and the less powerful have invested so much in the presently hegemonic model for growth and prosperity that changing the course will require a new mentality Since the fossil fuel revolution around the year 1800, development and increased happiness have been associated with increased energy use What is now called for may seem tantamount to reversing the arrow of time, which seems intuitively wrong For this reason, it is necessary to show that an ecologically sustainable future does not amount to turning the clock back Two main arguments have been proposed against the hegemonic world order in this regard: It did not just create wealth, but also poverty; and it destroys the environment and the life opportunities for our descendants To this I have added a third argument: The growth model which did lead to an increased quality of life (and not just a higher standard of living) for millions in the past two centuries no longer helps make people happier The positive effect of affluence on the quality of life decreases and eventually vanishes when basic needs are satisfied Granted that this is the case, a new language, new models for thought and a new epistemology are needed in order to talk about development and progress, where ecological footprints and life quality, not economic growth and increased production, form the baseline What is needed more than anything is a net growth in the domain of political imagination Afterword 255 In a society with considerably lower disposable monetary income than what is typical of the rich world today, it would suddenly seem rational to begin to look after one’s belongings again Services would become cheaper; goods would become more expensive There would again emerge a demand, in the richest countries, for tailors and furniture upholsterers When your scanner broke down, you would have it repaired instead of buying a new one There would be fewer meetings and less reliance on Microsoft Outlook More poetry and live music Fewer costly, alienating and ecologically destructive construction projects More small-scale enterprises, fewer megacorporations More free time and less rubbish You might even take a boat from Portsmouth to Buenos Aires instead of a plane; the trip would you good, and it would take 13 days rather than 13 hours Late in the evening, over a drink, most people, including politicians, agree with this reasoning What is required today – following the latest reports from the IPCC about climate change, the newest research on what makes people happy and the last news stories about the proportion of Americans who take pills every day just to keep going – are politicians and community leaders who have the courage to declare, without caveats, that the spiral of growth must be reversed as from next year, that the richest should start, and that there are good reasons to rejoice in our ability to this In order to shake off the syndrome of the big, bad wolf, a large, collective project is necessary Such a project would enable us to transcend ourselves, to something both difficult and necessary, to reap other people’s recognition for it, to take part in an encompassing and encouraging community and to perform some morally defensible acts in the world Such a project would reconnect politics and everyday life among the global middle classes with planetary needs At the moment it may seem remote, but we have reached a historical crossroads where it is becoming visible Details must by necessity be worked out locally, but some common elements are environmental responsibility, justice, slow time, personal challenges and a reasonable balance between rights and duties The time since the global turn towards neoliberalism, around 1980, has been a long period of transition Material scarcity had been overcome in the global middle classes, and there were no plans for the future beyond the consolidation of affluence Self-realisation became an objective in itself, an empty signifier with no ulterior goal The treadmills were filling up, literally and figuratively speaking Irony became the preferred mode of engagement With the hindsight of the early twenty-first century, it is clear that ways out of this impasse are within reach What is on the horizon is a difficult, necessary, collective project with the promise of simultaneously saving the planet and enabling the global middle classes to shake off the syndrome of the big, bad wolf Bibliography Bateson, G (1972) Steps to an Ecology of Mind New York: Ballantine Easterbrook, G (2003) The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse New York: Random House 256 Thomas Hylland Eriksen Eriksen, T H (2001) Tyranny of the Moment: Fast and Slow Time in the Information Age London – Sterling, VA: Pluto Press Escobar, A (2013) ‘Teritorios de la diferencia: La ontología política de los “derechos al territorio”’ Document prepared for the SOGIP workshop Los pueblos indígenas y sus rerechos a la tierra Paris, 18–21 June 2013 Morgan, K (2002) ‘Forecasting Long Life: How low can human mortality go?’ in Sci SAGE KE 2002 (19), nw62 New Economics Foundation (2013) The Happy Planet Index www.happyplanetindex.org (accessed October 2013) Offer, A (2006) The Challenge of Affluence Oxford: Oxford University Press Wilkinson, R (2005) The Impact of Inequality London: Routledge Wilkinson, R and Pickett, K (2009) The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better London: Allen Lane Index 1984 (Orwell) 37 Abram, David 224 Acostambo 127, 130–42 actor network theory (ANT) 102 Adorno, Theodor 45 advertising 48, 73, 214–16 affluence 1, 44, 254; affluent lifestyle 27–8, 47, 52n4; food consumption 169; moral and social constraints 66; value changes 66; young people 73; see also prosperity; wealth agency 102, 103, 105 agriculture: bioregionalism 14; fertilisers 130, 138; food consumption 169, 173–4; industrial farming 176; organic vegetable gardens 135–6, 137–40; Peru 131; see also egg-laying hens Akrich, Madeleine 102 alienation 51, 169 Alliance for Natural Health 233 alternative hedonism 3, 5, 28, 33, 36, 46–52, 177, 179–80 altruism 64, 68, 74 The American Frugal Housewife (Child) 11–12 Amish 10, 13 Andersson, D 91–2 Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Kingsolver) 15 Animal Machines (Harrison) 209 Animal Protection Act (Norway) 205, 210, 211, 212–13, 221 Animal to Edible (Vialles) 176 animals: Cartesian split 227; egg-laying hens 5–6, 204–23; food and animal welfare 166, 167–8, 169, 171, 173–4, 180, 245; meat production 176–7; pets 92; salmon 6, 224, 228–32, 233–4, 238, 239–40, 241; in zoos 239 Animal’s People (Sinha) 19 anthropocentrism 6, 8, 130, 225, 226 anthropology 167 apathy 29–30 Appadurai, A 103 AquaBounty Technologies 229–32, 233–4, 239–40 AquAdvantage Salmon 229–32, 233–4, 241n2 archaeology 102–3 architecture 5, 185–8, 193, 194–6, 198–201 Aristotelianism 51, 52 Aristotle 2, ascetic moralism 11 asceticism 48, 50 asistencialismo 134–5, 140, 141, 142 atomism 226–8, 229, 234, 236, 238 attitudinal change 81 authentic happiness 85 authoritarian values 59, 60, 66 ‘avant-garde nostalgia’ 48 Bacon, Francis 32 Bangladesh 81, 252 basic needs 44–6, 49, 66, 254 battery eggs 5–6, 204–23 Bauhaus 187 Bauman, Z 198 Baumann, S 178 Beard, Charles 32 Beavan, Colin 12, 16, 22, 82 behavioural change 81–2, 86 Being 227, 235, 238 Belasco, Warren 169, 176 Bellamy, Edward 18, 31–2, 34 Benett, David 225 Berger, John 169, 176 Berger, Kjersti 205, 206, 207, 210, 221 Berg-Hansen, Lisbeth 229 Berry, Thomas 238–9 258 Index Berry, Wendell 9, 14, 15, 16 Bhutan 253 bicycling 33, 51–2, 92, 106, 108, 115 Billund Aquaculture 228 bioregionalism 13–16, 21 biotic community 235 Björck, A 81 Bjørkdahl, Kristian 5–6, 204–23 Bloomberg, Michael 196 Bolivia 254 Botsman, R 101, 105–6 Boundaries of Genre (Morson) 33 ‘boundary works’ 33–4, 39 Bourdieu, Pierre 101–2, 147, 169 Brown, K W 73, 91 Brown, P 107 Brülde, Bengt 4, 80–99 Brundtland report 7, 16, 111, 127 Buchanan, R 186, 187 Buddha 11 Buell, Lawrence 3, 7–26, 28 Burdett 195 caged welfare 205–6, 213, 214 Callenbach, Ernest 14 Callicott, J Baird 226, 227, 228, 234–5, 237–8, 240 Campaign against Caged Hens 209–11, 215 Campbell, Colin 36 Canada 230–1, 233, 234 capabilities 114–15, 116 capitalism 16, 49, 200; culture of 101; vagabond 197–8, 199 car use 105–6, 120–1 Carpentaria (Wright) 19–20 Carr, M 13, 16 Carson, Rachel 28–9, 30 Cartesian thinking 227, 228, 235 celebrity chefs 5, 165, 166, 168, 169, 170–7, 178–9, 180 Child, Lydia Maria 11–12 children 92 China 252 choice 4, 100, 147, 151, 169 Chopra, M 107 Churchill, Winston 187 Clements, Frederic E 235, 236 climate change 20, 28, 127, 246–7, 250, 255; denial about 29–30; films on 29; greenhouse gas emissions 80–1, 87, 88, 90, 91–2, 93, 95; as imaginative resource 40; impact on well-being 80, 82; values 73 Cobb, J 128 co-evolution of choice 147, 151 Cohen, Lizbeth 10 Cohen, Stanley 30 coherence 155–6 cohort analysis 56, 67 collaboration and sharing 105–6 Colombia 96n8, 254 commodification 18–19, 49, 50 communal ownership 37 The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency (Seymour) 175–6 conservation 59, 60 consumer culture 43, 45, 47, 50–1 ‘Consumer Republic’ 10 consumerism 28, 43, 44, 46–7; bioregionalism 16; critiques of 49–50, 90; disenchantment with 47, 48–9 consumption 2, 52, 100–1, 254; alternative hedonism 33; ecological utopias 32–3; electricity 5, 146–7, 160; energy 246–7; food 5, 15–16, 107–8, 167; habits 103, 108; happiness relationship 1, 88–90, 91; materialistic values 56–7; Norwegian Monitor study 75; practice theory 147–8; social drives for 147, 160; sustainable 43, 44, 45, 46, 51; television 162; Utopia 36 cookbooks 166, 170–3 Copenhagen 5, 106, 185, 188–93, 196–201 Costa Rica 96n8, 127, 251 Counihan, C M 157 counterculture 176 country living 92, 174–5 Cramer, Janet 166, 168, 180 Critical Theory 49 Cuba 8, 96n8 cuisine de terroir 165, 175 cultural capital 177, 180 culture of capitalism 101 Curry, Patrick 226, 240 Daly, H 128 Das Kapital (Marx) 32 Dawson, S 60 The Day After Tomorrow 29 De Geus, Marius 32–3, 37–8, 39, 40 De Obaldia, Claire 34, 38, 41n10 de-growth 179 Democritus 227 Denmark 173, 175, 184, 185, 188–201 dependence (asistencialismo) 134–5, 140, 141, 142 Index 259 Descartes, René 227 designers 102 desire, objects of 153, 155, 160 desire-fulfilment theories of well-being 83–4 development 5, 45, 48, 129–30; see also sustainable development development aid 64 dialogue 38, 39, 118–19 digital media 105 Dobres, Marci 102–3 doctrine of internal relations 238 domestication processes 147, 156, 162 Dominica 251 Dominican Republic 252 Douglas, Mary 147, 151, 167 DR Concert Hall, Copenhagen 190; see also Koncerthuset Dublin, Louis 246, 253 Dynamic Facilitation 119, 123n4 dystopian visions 29, 30–1, 40 Eckersley, Robyn 16, 20–1 Eco, Umberto 32 ecological footprints 111, 127, 254; Cuba 8; definition of 23n2; Happy Planet Index 96n8, 251; income relationship 88, 91; Masai and Amish people 10 ecological literacy 241 ecological turn 224, 236–8, 239, 240, 241 ecological utopias 32–3, 37–8, 39 ecology 225, 226, 234–5, 236, 237, 238 economic growth 8, 10, 128, 246; impact on happiness 87; sustainable development 126; urban development 196–7; values 56–7, 64, 68, 76 The Economics of Attention (Lanham) 29 economy, steady-state 50 ecosocial equity 17–21 Ecotopia (Callenbach) 14 ecotopias 32–3, 36 Ecuador 254 Eder, Klaus 175 education 48, 51, 57, 149–50, 245 Egg Central 214–16 egg-laying hens 5–6, 204–23 egotism 64, 68, 74 El Salvador 251 electricity 5, 146–7, 148–9, 150, 151–4, 160, 162; food preparation 157, 158, 159, 161; television 155, 156 Elliott, Robert 33 embodiment 102 Emerson, Ralph Waldo 11 enculturation 103 The End of Over-consumption (De Geus) 32–3 Endreson, Thorunn Gullaksen 3, 27–42 energy 100, 246–7, 254; attitudes to 71; energy intensity 91–3; habits 4, 101, 106–8; income and consumption 88; low-energy practices 108–9; see also electricity ‘enoughness’ 7, 18 environmental awareness 94 environmental crises 16, 20, 28 environmental degradation 19, 21, 73, 127, 141 ‘environmental doublethink’ environmental justice (EJ) 19–21, 119 environmental protection 9, 55, 63–4, 68, 71, 76 Epictetus Epicurus equality 10, 17, 37, 44, 76, 249, 250 Equatorial Guinea 251 equity, ecosocial 17–21 Eriksen, Thomas Hylland 6, 244–56 escapism 178 Esping-Andersen, Gøsta 185 essaying 38–40 ethical food consumption 166, 168, 171, 177, 178, 179–80 EU battery egg ban 216–17, 218, 219 eudaimonia 51, 52 eudaimonic well-being 116 euphemisms 204, 206, 216–18, 219, 220, 221 experiential consumption 89, 90–1 fair trade 168, 177 family relations 156, 161 FDA see Food and Drug Administration fear 30–1 Fearnley-Whittingstall, Hugh 165, 170–1, 174, 175, 177, 178–9, 180 fertilisers 130, 138 festivals 161–2 field theory 235–6, 237 films 29 final value concept 83–4, 85 Finland 251 Finnis 112 Flanagan, Scott 59, 66 flourishing 2, 11, 21, 44, 45–6, 112, 115 food 107–8, 165–82, 201, 245; bioregionalism 15–16; celebrity chefs 5, 165, 166, 168, 169, 170–7, 178–9, 180; 260 Index cities 183; egg-laying hens 204–23; food nostalgia 175, 176–7, 178; Food Safety Modernization Act 241n5; food tourism 183; genetically modified 232–3, 241n3; Torvehallerne Market 188–90, 192; Zanzibar 5, 146–7, 149–50, 157–60, 161 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 230, 231, 232, 233, 241n5 foodies 168, 169, 177–8 foraging 173, 177, 179 Ford, Henry 10, 41n9 foreign aid 64 Fors, F 88, 92 Frederikssund 185, 191–2, 193, 197, 199 freezers 152, 153, 159–60, 161, 162 functional requirements 66 future generations 4, 45, 73–4; capabilities 115; inter-generational tensions 117; sustainable development 126; wellbeing 80 The Future of Environmental Criticism (Buell) 28 Gadgil, Mahdav 21 Gaia Theory 19, 236 Gandhi, Mahatma 10, 11, 12 Garrard, Greg 31 Garver, G 107 gastro culture 166 Gehl, Jan 194–5, 196 Gell, Alfred 103 gender: gender relations in Zanzibar 150, 158–9, 161; values 76; see also women genetically modified salmon 229–34, 238, 240 Genette, G 38 Georgieva, S 141 Germany 251 Ghosh, Amitav 19 Giæver, Marte 180 Gleditsch, Ulf 210 global food systems 176, 179 globalization 18, 197, 198, 201 goals 60, 62, 73 good life 1–3, 7, 22, 51, 52, 100–1, 225–6, 248; alternative hedonism 47, 48; Aristotle on the 8; celebrity chefs 174; collaboration 105; consumerist consumption 43, 46–7; diverse conceptions of the 44; ecological literacy 241; idealistic values 4, 55, 65; idleness 28; life-affirming narrative of the 240; Norway 163n8; seven prerequisites of the 8–9; theories of well-being 83–5; Zanzibar 146, 147, 149–51, 160–1, 163n8; see also happiness; well-being Goody, Jack Gore, Al 29, 30 Gray, Charles 12 Great Britain 165, 170, 175, 177 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions 80–1, 87, 88, 90, 91–2, 93, 95 Gregg, Richard 10–11 Gropius, Walter 187 Guha, Ramachandra 21 Guillen-Royo, Mònica 4, 126–45 Gulf States 252 Gunnløgsson, Halldor 195 habitats 239, 240 habits 4, 100–10 habitus 101–2 Hagens, Hans Peter 185, 188–9, 199, 200 Hannesson, Rögnvaldur 224, 225 happiness 1, 2, 10, 85–95, 249–50; alternative hedonism 48, 52; Aristotelianism 51; Bhutan 253; determinants of 86–7; egg-laying hens 209, 210; energy 91–3; happiness theory of well-being 84; Happy Planet Index 96n8, 127, 251–2; health and 94; income and consumption 88–90; materialism and idealism 60, 90–1; nature relatedness 94; Utopia 36–7; values and 4, 55, 60–3, 69–70, 73; wealth relationship 51, 87–8; working hours 93; see also well-being Happy Planet Index 96n8, 127, 251–2 Hardy, Thomas 14 Harrison, Ruth 205, 209 Harvey, David 19, 103, 186, 188, 200 health 47, 245–6; happiness and 94; idealists 90; Norwegian Monitor study 57, 74; Zanzibar 149–50 The Heart of Redness (Mda) 19, 20 Hedenus, F 81 hedonic adaptation 89–90, 95 hedonic calculus 51 hedonic well-being 116 hedonism 27, 59; alternative 3, 5, 28, 33, 36, 46–52, 177, 179–80; hedonistic theories of well-being 83–4; Norwegian Monitor study 75 Hegermann, Helen 209 Heidegger, Martin 226 Heise, Ursula 16 Index 261 Hellevik, Ottar 4, 55–79, 96n12 heritage breeds 165 Hodgkinson, Tom 27, 28, 41n1, 41n9 Hogan, Linda 19 holistic thinking 226, 237–8 Honduras 252 hopelessness 248 Houser, Heather 20 How to be Idle (Hodgkinson) 27, 31 HSD see Human Scale Development Hulme, Michael 29, 30, 40 Human Development Index 8, 251, 252 human needs see needs Human Scale Development (HSD) 4, 126–30, 133–4, 136, 138, 140–1, 142 Hungry City (Steel) 183 The Hungry Tide (Ghosh) 19 hybrid view of happiness 84 Ibelings, H 186, 193, 194, 198, 199, 201 idealism 4, 55, 56–8, 60, 73; doctrine of internal relations 238; earnings of idealists 96n12; happiness 90–1; subjective well-being 60, 61–3; sustainability 63–5, 71; value changes 66–8 identity: food as marker of 157, 161, 166, 169; multiple identities 147; Trinidad 161–2; women 159 idleness 27, 28 incomes 55–6, 61–2, 63, 69–70, 88–90, 246; see also affluence; wealth An Inconvenient Truth 29, 30 Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) 128 India 81, 252 individualism 10, 18, 27 Indonesia 252 industrial farming 176 inequality 17, 18–19, 21, 23n10, 76, 246, 249, 251 information economy 29 Inglehart, R 58–9, 65, 66–7, 73, 77n5 interdependence 128, 130, 138–9 inter-generational tensions 117, 119, 120 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 246–7, 255 internal relations, doctrine of 238 internet 105 intra-individual tensions 116–17, 118, 119, 120 intra-societal tensions 117, 120 Irving, Miles 173 Ishimure, Michiko 19 Jackson, Wes 14 Jacobsen, Arne 195 Jamaica 251 Jefferson, Thomas 14, 17 Jensen, Derrick 239 Johnston, J 177, 178, 180 Jordan, A 121 Kagan, S 96n5 Kalchenko, Tetyana 218 Kapstø, Tatiana 215–16 Kasser, T 73, 91 Katz, C 197, 198 Kearns, Peter 232 Keynes, John Maynard 41n9 King, Martin Luther 12 Kingsolver, Barbara 15, 16, 22 Kjærnes, Unni 168 Knutsen, Kåre 214 Koncerthuset, Copenhagen 188, 190–3, 197, 199 Kopytoff, I 103 Kvorning, J 193, 198 Lahire, B 102, 107 Lane, R E 112 Lanham, Richard 29 Larsson, J 97n14 Latin America 128, 251, 253–4 Latour, Bruno 225 Latvia 252 Lauritzen, Vilhelm 195 Lave, Jean 104 Le Corbusier 194 learning 103, 104 Leary, Timothy 100 leisure 92, 151, 245 Leopold, Aldo 235 Leucippus 227 Lévi-Strauss, C 167 Lewis, T 175, 176 liberal market ideology 250–1 libertarian values 60, 66 Lien, Marianne 168, 170, 174 life 225, 240 life expectancy 1, 245–6, 251, 253 life satisfaction 51, 55, 84, 249; commodified sources of satisfaction 50; Happy Planet Index 251; subjective well-being 60–3, 65, 69, 73; see also well-being lifestyle changes 81, 82, 86, 94–5 Limits to Growth (Meadows et al.) 49 literature 3, 19–21, 27–42 262 Index Living Downstream (Steingraeber) 19 Living in Denial (Norgaard) 29–30 Livy local provenance 168, 175 locavores 178 Looking Backward (Bellamy) 18, 31–2, 34 Lovelock, James 19, 236 Lü Jiamin 19 Lucian 34, 35 luxury 177 machine metaphor 227–8 Malinowski, B 167 Margulis, Lynn 236 Marx, Karl 32 Marx, Leo Marxism 49, 50, 169 Masai 10, 13 Maslow, Abraham 128, 142n2 material culture 103 materialism 4, 9, 46, 55, 73; atomistic 226, 227, 229, 234; critique of 50; earnings of materialists 96n12; happiness 90–1; subjective well-being 60, 61–3; sustainability 63–5; value changes 66–8; value dimensions 56–8, 59–60 Mauss, Marcel 101–2, 103 Max-Neef, Manfred 114, 126, 127–9, 130 Mayers, Paul 232 McCarthy, Cormac 29 Mda, Zakes 19 Meadows, D 49 meat nostalgia 176–7 Medaas, A E 183 media 73, 210–11, 212, 214–15, 217–19 Merchant, Carolyn 227 metaphysical consensus 226 Metveit, Toralf 212 Meyer, Claus 166–7 middle class 1; bioregionalism 16; global 198, 244–5, 246, 247, 249, 252, 254, 255 Miele, Mara 169 Miller, Daniel 147, 161–2 Millstone, Erik 233 model readers 32 modern values 56, 57, 60 modernism 194–5 modernity 1, 8, 254 Monbiot, George 29 money 2, 10, 149, 246, 247; see also incomes; wealth Monocle 183–4 Monsanto 232, 241n5 Montaigne, Michel de 38, 39, 41n10 Moore, Henrietta 147 moral arguments 95 moral change 81 moral constraints 59, 60, 66 morality 4, 168 More, Thomas 32, 33, 34–40 Morowitz, Harold 235–6 Morris, William 32, 34 Morson, Gary Saul 33–4 Moser, Susanne C 29, 30, 31 Moses 11 Mueller, Martin Lee 1–6, 224–43 multiple identities 147 Munkejord, Svein 229 Næss, Arne 2, 7, 16, 21, 33, 236–7 Nässén, J 88 nature 1, 175, 235 nature relatedness 94 needs 112–16, 126; actualisation of 137–8; basic 44–6, 49, 66, 254; Brundtland report 111; day-to-day car use 120–1; Maslow’s hierarchy of 128, 142n2; matrix of 113, 128–9, 133; nutrition 168–9; satisfiers 127, 128, 129, 132, 133–4, 138–9, 141; self-reliance 129–30; strategies 112–14, 119, 121; tensions 118 neoliberalism 45, 255 neoliberalization 188 Nerlich, B 168, 170, 174 Netherlands 248 New Atlantis (Bacon) 32 New Economics Foundation (NEF) 251 New Kitchen Manifesto 166–7 New Zealand 248, 252 News from Nowhere (Morris) 32, 34 Nicholsen, Shierry Weber 30 Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle) No Impact Man (Beavan) 12, 16 NOMA 166 nonmaterialism 59, 60 Norgaard, Karen Marie 29–30 normalisation 147, 155, 156, 160–1 Norway: carbon emissions 249; egg-laying hens 204–23; food and celebrity chefs 171, 172–3, 175, 176; good life 151, 163n8; Happy Planet Index 252; quality of life 251; salmon farming 224, 229; smoking ban 253; standard of living 246; vacations 245 Norwegian Monitor study 4, 55–79 Index 263 Norwegian Society for Protection of Animals (NSPA) 211–13, 214–15 nostalgia: ‘avant-garde’ 48; food 175, 176–7, 178; self-sufficient poultry keeping 220 Nouvel, Jean 191, 193 novelties 152, 153, 155, 162 Nussbaum, Martha obesity 1, 47, 107, 165 objective list theory of well-being 83–4, 85 objects of desire 153, 155, 160 offal 174 Official Foodie Handbook (Barr et al.) 169 Oklahoma City 107–8 Oliver, Jamie 165, 166, 171, 172, 175, 177, 179, 180 Olsen, Bjarne Hald 228 Omann, Ines 4, 111–25 ‘One tonne life’ project 81, 82 ontology 227, 235, 237 openness to change 59, 60 organic food 165, 168, 170, 175, 177, 180 organic metaphysical foundation 237 organic vegetable gardens (OVGs) 132, 135–6, 137–40, 142n6 Orr, David 241 Ortner, Sherry 102 Orwell, George 37 ownership 37, 104–5 oxymorons 39, 204–6, 207, 211–12, 213–14, 216, 219, 220–1 Pagh, Jesper 5, 183–203 Pan, A 94 Panama 230–1, 234 Pantzar, Mika 147, 152, 153, 155 Paradise in the Sea of Sorrow (Ishimure) 19 paradox 37, 38, 39 paratext 38 Parfit, D 83, 84, 96n5 Parry, Jovian 176–7 participatory action research (PAR) 127, 130–42 paternalism 49, 50 patriarchy 37 ‘patriotic shopping’ 10, 48 Paus, Ole 246 period effects 67, 71, 73 peritext 38 Peru 127, 130–42 pets 92 Philippines 252 physics 226, 237 Pickett, Kate 17, 18 Plato 34–5, 37, 38, 41n8, 41n10 pleasure 3, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50, 51–2 Pliny 34 Plum, Camilla 173, 175, 177, 179, 180 policies 87, 90, 91, 94; habits 100, 106–8; well-being and happiness 86 Pollan, Michael 165, 174 pollution 47, 68, 100, 129; attitudes to anti-pollution taxes 63, 71; fertilizers 130; Happy Planet Index 251, 252 Poole, Stephen 166, 177–8 population growth 45, 80 post-consumerism 3, 52 postmaterialism 59, 60, 65–6, 67, 73 postmodernism 194 poverty 131, 133–4, 141, 147, 151, 161, 246, 248, 254 practice theory 147–8 principle of substantial equivalence 232–3, 234, 241n5 privatization 77, 190, 197, 199 progress 1, 5, 48, 161, 254 pro-social spending 89, 91 prosperity 3, 10, 33, 39; Norway 55–6, 73; sustainable consumption 46; value changes 65–6; see also affluence Protestant work ethic 11 Proust, Marcel 169–70 public debate 206 public transport 90, 92, 120 quality of life 112, 251–2, 253, 254; see also life satisfaction; standard of living quantum theory 237 Quinn, Anthony 228 Rabeder, Karl 12 Rauschmayer, Felix 4, 111–25 realism 225 recognition 249 redistribution of wealth 10, 12–13, 44, 45; attitudes to 55, 64, 65; bioregionalism 16; Peru 142; values 76; see also wealth reductionist thinking 100, 227, 234 relationships 238, 239, 240 relative deprivation 250 religion 9, 75, 90, 149–50 res cogens 227 resources 66 retreats 175 rhetorical evasion strategies 205–6, 218, 219, 220, 221 Richards, Audrey 167 264 Index Richins, M L 60 Rinpoche, Sogyal 111, 115 Rittel, H W J 187 River Cottage (Fearnley-Whittingstall) 170–1, 172, 179 The Road (McCarthy) 29 Robbins, R 101 Roemer, Kenneth 28, 31, 32, 40 Rogers, R 101, 105–6 Rong Jiang 19 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 27, 50, 100 Royal Society of Canada 233 Ruppert, Peter 33, 38 Sadik-Khan, Janette 196 Sahakian, M 107, 108 salmon 6, 224, 228–32, 233–4, 238, 239–40, 241 satisfiers 127, 128, 129, 132, 133–4, 138–9, 141 Schumacher, E F Schwartz, Shalom 59 scripts 102, 148 self-actualization 59, 142n2 self-enhancement 59, 60 self-realization 47, 57, 68, 75–6, 249, 255 self-reliance 128, 129–30, 139–40 self-sufficiency 166, 174–6, 179, 220 self-transcendence 59, 60 Sen, Amartya 114–15 Sense of Place and Sense of Planet (Heise) 16 Serres, Michel 13 Seymour, John 175–6, 180 Shakespeare, William 204, 205 Shepard, Paul 228, 235 Shi, David 9–10 Shiva, Vandana 234 shopping 10, 48, 50, 81, 90, 178, 189; see also consumerism Shove, E 151, 155 Sidalsky, Robert and Edward Silent Spring (Carson) 28–9, 30 Simon, Herbert 199 simplicity, voluntary (VS) 9–13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 33, 82 Singer, Peter 12–13 Sinha, Indra 19 Slow Food 165, 175 Small is Beautiful (Schumacher) 8, smoking 253 Snyder, Gary 14, 16 social constraints 59, 60, 66 social control 162 social learning theory 104, 118–19 social relations 75, 149, 150–1 social sanctions 156, 157 socialism 250–1 Solar Storms (Hogan) 19 solidarity 1–2, 51, 116, 156, 249, 250 Soper, Kate 2, 5, 27–8, 33, 43–54, 177, 179 Speaks, Michael 196 The Spirit Level (Wilkinson & Pickett) 17, 18 spirituality 50, 90 Spretnak, Charles 227 standard of living 46, 47, 65, 66, 95, 244, 246; see also quality of life Starr, M 168 Stein, Gertrude 173 Steingraeber, Sandra 19 Sterling, Bruce 200 Stotish, Ron 231–2 strategies 112–14, 115, 116, 117–18, 119, 121 stress 47 subjective economic situation 62, 63, 70 subjective well-being (SWB) 112, 143n7, 246, 249; Happy Planet Index 251; synergic satisfiers 139; values and 55, 59, 60–3, 65, 69–70, 73; see also wellbeing substantial equivalence, principle of 232–3, 234, 241n5 Sumner, L W 84 superorganism concept 235 sustainability 2–3, 4, 7, 44, 55, 111; architecture 200; celebrity chefs 171–2, 180; definition of 168; growth versus 247, 252; health and happiness 94; resistance to 112; strategies for meeting needs 112–14; sustainable consumption 43, 44, 45, 46, 51; sustainable lifestyles 82, 86, 94–5; tensions 116–20, 122; transitions 111–12, 116–20, 121–2; urban planning 184; utopian narratives 40; values 59, 63–5, 71–2 sustainable development 7, 16, 111, 114, 119; definition of 126; Human Scale Development 4, 126–30, 136, 140–1, 142 Suvin, Darko 38 SWB see subjective well-being Sweden 81, 88, 93, 96n3 Sylvan, Richard 225 synergic satisfiers 129, 132, 133–4, 138–9 Syse, Karen Lykke 1–6, 165–82 Index 265 taxation 65, 72, 77, 81, 91 Taylor, Michael 232, 241n5 technological utopias 32 technology 74, 105, 229 television 5, 146–7, 149, 152, 153, 154–7, 160–1, 162 temporality 86 tensions 116–20, 122 THANCS 117–20, 121, 122 Thomas, Keith 175 Thoreau, Henry David 11, 12, 32, 100 threshold hypothesis 127–8 Tocqueville, Alexis de 17 Todorov, Tzvetan 40 Torvehallerne Market 5, 185, 188–90, 192, 193, 195, 196–201 tourist urbanism 197–8 trade unions 49–50 traditional values 56, 57, 60 transport 92, 105–6; day-to-day car use 120–1; tensions 116–17, 118, 119–20 Trinidad 161–2 Tuan, Yi-Fu Turner, P 35, 39 Under the Feet of Jesus (Viramontes) 19 unemployment 93 United Nations (UN) 8, 126 United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development 167 United States: bioregionalism 14; climate change 30; ‘Consumer Republic’ 10; culture of capitalism 101; genetically modified food 230, 241n3; GHG emissions 81; Happy Planet Index 127, 251, 252; Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare 128; inequality 17, 23n10; life expectancy 246; literary history 18; Oklahoma City 107–8; pill taking 255; salmon 231, 234; suburban ghettoization 194; voluntary simplicity movement 9, 10, 33 urban space 5, 91, 108, 183–203 Utilitarianism 51, 52 Utopia (More) 32, 33, 34–40 utopian narratives 3, 31–40 vagabond capitalism 197–8, 199 values 4, 55–79, 162, 247; celebrity chefs 180; changes in 66–72, 83, 250; environmental 179; food 166; prosperity and 65–6; social drives for consumption 147; subjective well-being 55, 59, 60–3, 65, 69–70, 73; sustainability 59, 63–5, 71–2; value dimensions 56–60 Vanuatu 251 Vialles, Noelie 176 Viestad, Andreas 171, 172–3, 175, 177, 180 Viramontes, Helen María 19–20 voluntary simplicity (VS) 9–13, 14, 15, 16, 22, 33, 82 Von Linné, Carl 235 Walden (Thoreau) 11, 32 walking 33, 92, 107, 108 Wallenborn, G 104 Warde, Alan 147 Warnier, J P 103 wealth 51, 65–6, 87–8, 244, 251; see also affluence; incomes; materialism; money; redistribution of wealth Weaver, P M 121 Webber, M M 187 Weeks, Edward 32 welfare state 55, 65, 71, 185 well-being 2–3, 50, 80–99, 116, 126, 246, 249; alternative hedonism 48, 52; definition of 96n1; economic growth as measure of 8; egg-laying hens 209; Happy Planet Index 251; low-energy practices 109; measurement of 51, 143n7; synergic satisfiers 139; theories of 83–5, 96n5; threshold hypothesis 127–8; values 55, 59, 60–3, 65, 69–70, 73; see also happiness Welzer, H 108 Wettre, Karl 212, 213 Whitman, Walt 17 Why We Disagree About Climate Change (Hulme) 30 wicked problems 187 wild salmon 234, 241 Wilhite, Harold 4, 100–10 Wilkinson, Richard 17, 18 Williams, Raymond 49, 169 Wilson, J 91, 94 Winther, Tanja 5, 146–64 Wolf Totem (Rong Jiang) 19, 20 women: food preparation 158–9, 161; idealistic values 57; organic vegetable gardens in Peru 137; Utopia 37; Zanzibar 149–50 Woolf, Virginia 27 266 Index work and over-work 48 working hours 36, 41n9, 87, 93, 97n14, 245 world as living organism 235, 236 World Bank 80 World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) 111, 126 Wright, Alexis 19 Wright, Clarissa Dickson 173 Wuthnow, Robert 11, 14 young people 66, 67, 73 Zanzibar 5, 146–64 Zipcar 106 zoos 239 ... globalization, and indigenous notions of the good life and “happiness” Finally, it places a strong emphasis on food at the heart of the sustainability and good life debate, for instance binding the global... disrupted solidarity and cohesion within and between human groups Sustainable Consumption and the Good Life presents and questions various adaptations to the environmental crises The book is timely... ‘Sustainability’ and the good life are both very elastic terms – so elastic as to raise suspicions of bad faith.1 On one hand, what many consider the good life is ecologically unsustainable On the other