small-footprint living, change agents, well-being, sustainable lifestyles

Abstract: The paper begins by providing a definition of small-footprint living through an overview of literature, practice. Then a summary of current consumption trends in Hungary is provided and compared to trends in the EU, and to a level that is considered sustainable in the literature. The aim of this analysis is to challenge the view that to achieve higher levels of well-being Hungary’s economy needs to grow and 'catch up' to consumption levels in Western Europe. It is argued that achieving and implementing sustainable lifestyles in Hungary is a different challenge from that in Western Europe as it is often not about scaling down from large-footprint lifestyles but accepting and valuing current smaller-footprint lifestyles. Following this, sustainable lifestyle campaigns are introduced. Their methodology and success in achieving and making small-footprint lifestyles attractive are detailed. Conclusions are drawn about what could be done to make these lifestyles more widely accepted.
Keywords: small-footprint living, change agents, well-being, sustainable lifestyles

This media entry was a contribution to the special session "SCORAI I: Degrowth from a sustainable consumption perspective" at the 4th International Degrowth Conference in Leipzig in 2014.