Reflections on green and sustainable consumption in contemporary society

Abstract

The main objective of this essay is to reflect on the interrelations between the concepts of green consumption and sustainable consumption. Having in mind the existence of a widely disseminated environmental discourse in society, as well as the centrality of consumption in this same universe, one can perceive the existence of two opposite models concerning the forms of thinking and acting. While the former is configured as a model of consumption imposed by capitalism itself, and essentially resigns its practices and adopts a discourse that is to some extent convenient, the latter positions itself in a critical way and counts on essentially transformative logic. This reflection, however, does not deal with a comprehensive or definitive view on the subject. It is an exercise that starts from an interdisciplinary reading about the main points shownin the literature. Thus, the texts chosen for the preparation of this work serve not as a systematic review on the subject but, as it were, as inspirers of a reflection that seeks to better understand the issue of consumption in our contemporary society. The points of convergence and divergence in the chosen texts will be duly pointed out in the sense of drawing a path that highlights the understanding of the nature of consumption, especially sustainable consumption.

Keywords:
Sustainable Consumption; Green Consumption; Environmental crisis; Symbolic Consumption