Environment, sustainability and development: Ethical or moral dimensions of consumption (Essay Sample)

Environment, sustainability and development: Ethical or moral dimensions of consumption Student: Professor: Course title: Date: Environment, sustainability and development: Ethical or moral dimensions of consumption Even if there is lots of buzz with regard to the notion of ethical consumption at present, the realism of actual ethical consumption is very depressing. For instance, the share of the market that green products hold is terribly low. In the past 20 or so years, the role played by ethical or moral concern in determining the behaviour of consumers has become more and more crucial. Even so, what actually constitutes ethical consumption is still debatable. According to Popke, consumption as a social practice could have ethical or moral dimensions. Using a commodity case study example, this paper discusses what is really meant by this statement. Ethical consumption, on one hand, may be understood relative to certain objects of ethical or moral concern. As such, various issues can be defined as ethical such as safety and health risks, environmental sustainability, human rights, labour conditions, fair trade, as well as animal welfare. Alternatively, focusing on consumption of goods and services as a way of acting ethically or morally towards certain objects of concern extends throughout different types of practice such as shopping, decisions on investment, pensions, as well as personal banking. The range of practices as well as objects which may comprise ethical consumption is underlined by taking into consideration the range of organizational forms which may be classified within this grouping. These basically include lobby groups such as the Soil Association; ethical trading associations such as Body Shop, Traidcraft, and Oxfam; fair trade campaign organizations such as Christian Aid and Oxfam; consumer boycott campaigns such as Stop Esso and anti-Nestle; co-operative movements such as the Co-Op in the United Kingdom; as well as no-logo anti-globalization campaigns for instance against McDonalds, Gap, and Nike. This brief listing illustrates the considerable level of overlap that exists between different organizations, the variety of issues and strategies taken up, as well as the unpredictability or inconsistency of scales at which activities of ethical consumption actually operate. Sustainable consumption is understood as the consumption of services and goods which have least environmental impact, are financially viable and socially equitable, while satisfying the fundamental needs of humans all over the world. It is notable that sustainable consumption basically targets everybody worldwide in all sectors, from governments to individuals to multinational corporations. In the past 5 decades, people worldwide have consumed more services and goods compared to the combined total of all the earlier generations. In essence, this considerable increase in consumption has served to foster economic growth and improved the quality of life for millions of people. It has also fostered degradation of the environmental. Nonetheless, the patterns of consumption vary considerably between developing and developed countries. The poorest 1/5 of the world account for roughly 1% of consumption whereas the richest 1/5 account for an estimated 86% of consumption. At present, the unsustainable and unethical patterns of consumption are in fact depleting the stocks of natural resources; destroying the environment; distributing resources in a manner that is inequitable; hindering sustainable development efforts; and contributing to social problems for instance poverty. Sustainable consumption serves to compliment sustainable production practices as well as achievements. Ethical or moral consumers are understood as consumers who when shopping, take into consideration ethical, animal, and environmental issues, including oppressive regimes as well as armaments. Also known as ethical consumerism, ethical consumption behaviours include decision-making, acquisitions, as well as other consumption patterns affected by the ethical or the moral concerns of the consumer. Ethical consumption is essentially about withdrawing support from bad, unethical companies and supporting those companies that are good and ethical. There are 4 sorts of ethical consumerism. These are negative ethical purchase behaviour; positive ethical purchase behaviour; lobbying or consumer action; and fully-screened approach. (i) Negative ethical purchase behaviour entails avoiding or boycotting goods that have unethical traits. This may entail the consumer shunning products which he or she disapproves of, such as gas-guzzling cars or battery eggs. (ii) Positive ethical purchase entails purchasing goods that have ethical traits. This may entail, for instance, preferring certain ethical products like energy saving bulbs. (iii) Company-based purchasing or consumer action involves activities for instance direct action regarding an issue, or even lobbying. In this form of ethical consumption, the consumers target a corporate organization as a whole and avoid each product made by that specific organization. In the United Kingdom for instance, the Nestle boycott targeted all the subsidiaries and brands of Nestle in protest so as to get Nestle change how it markets its baby milk formula worldwide. (iv) Fully-screened approach – this is when a consumer looks at products and at organizations and evaluates the product that is the most ethical. Whereas consumers who assume ethical behaviour could be seen as ethical consumers, the reverse is not essentially true. For instance, a company or an individual who does not buy a fair trade product cannot be essentially seen as being unethical. Ethical concerns of consumers have resulted in the growing popularity of organic food, and have increased consumer concerns as regards farming practices and environmental damage. Ethical consumption can also be described as the premeditated and cognisant choice to make particular consumption decisions by reason of ethical or personal beliefs. The phrase ethical consumption is broadly utilized and has in fact resulted in the emergence of marketing practices targeting the ethical consumers. These include the market for organic produce; growing supplier power and corporate responsibility; market for fair trade goods; interest of the media in issues pertaining to fair trade; and market for ethical investment products. Ethical consumers are commonly influenced by ethical or environmental considerations when they choose services or products to purchase for consumption. According to Devinney, Auger and Eckhardt, what is commonly seen as ethical consumer behaviour is actually in flux. Some people may ask themselves: is boycotting Chinese products as a way of protesting unethical employment practices really good when the boycott might lead to less jobs for the Chinese people who do not have job alternative? If one looks at the marketplace from the point of view of thinkers like Baudrillard and Karl Marx, even though shoppers might claim that they desire to alter the marketplace through their behaviours, they are in the end blinded by the seduction which is inherent in consumer goods. In essence, this implies that ethical buyers and green consumers are both myths. Even though surveys have shown that shoppers describe themselves as being all caring, they in fact continue ignoring social issues given that they persist with their usual product purchases and preferences. This results in a substantially lower level of socially responsible consumption of goods and services than would in fact be predictable basing on data from research studies. Ethical products are turning out to be more extensively available, and a lot of items have just appeared in recent times in retail outlets. This might be helpful in explaining why concerns with regard to availability – and thus purchasing effort – might not be very pertinent any longer for lots of products. In the study by Bray, Johns and Kilburn, the study subjects raised their complaints in relation to having inadequate information to pick goods consistent with their moral standards and attitudes. These authors stated that apparently, more information is needed in point of sale merchandising, and that the growing interest and awareness in such issues over the past 10 years might have increased the appetites of consumers to be informed. According to the study by Bray, Johns, and Kilburn, a vital characteristic of ethical consumption was post-purchase dissonance in the form of guiltiness at not selecting the ethical option. For the study subjects, cost was a vital impediment to purchasing ethical products. The respondents thought that the benefactor from their moral decisions has to be the poorly paid labourer or producer, although they resentfully thought that a lot of companies profit from such goods. In addition, the consumers questioned the quality of ethical products except local foods, and lots of Fair Trade goods were believed to be of poor or sub-standard quality. Bray, Johns, and Kilburn found that the common view was that if a corporate organization focuses largely on sustaining ethical standards, the quality of its goods may be lower. Furthermore, the consumers, who were the respondents in the study, demonstrated great image consciousness as well as brand loyalty in such a way that when other factors for instance price were disregarded, purchasing inertia and brand loyalty still prevented these consumers from purchasing an ethical alternative. Although the scope of the study by Bray, Johns and Kilburn is limited by scope, it offers insight into the main factors that hamper or prevent consumers from engaging in ethical consumption. Whereas a range of consumption choices may be made, studies have given emphasis to the rising occurrence of ethical consumption, with shoppers choosing goods that are marketed as Organic ...