Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development

Page created by Jorge Yates
 
CONTINUE READING
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
This article was downloaded by: [87.188.145.2]
On: 31 August 2015, At: 10:06
Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick
Place, London, SW1P 1WG

                                Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable
                                Development
                                Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:
                                http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/venv20

                                The Challenges of Changing Dietary Behavior
                                Toward More Sustainable Consumption
                                                a                          b
                                Tim O'Riordan & Susanne Stoll-Kleemann
                                a
                                    University of East Anglia in Norwich, England
                                b
                                 University of Greifswald, Germany
                                Published online: 31 Aug 2015.

Click for updates

To cite this article: Tim O'Riordan & Susanne Stoll-Kleemann (2015) The Challenges of Changing Dietary Behavior
Toward More Sustainable Consumption, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, 57:5, 4-13, DOI:
10.1080/00139157.2015.1069093

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00139157.2015.1069093

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”)
contained in the publications on our platform. Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no
representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose
of the Content. Versions of published Taylor & Francis and Routledge Open articles and Taylor & Francis
and Routledge Open Select articles posted to institutional or subject repositories or any other third-party
website are without warranty from Taylor & Francis of any kind, either expressed or implied, including,
but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.
Any opinions and views expressed in this article are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not
the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and
should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor & Francis shall not be liable
for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities
whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising
out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Terms & Conditions of access
and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

It is essential that you check the license status of any given Open and Open Select article to
confirm conditions of access and use.
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
by Tim O’Riordan and Susanne Stoll-Kleemann
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                                                                                                          View of cattle being fed for

                                                       The Challenges of                                                                                            factory farming.

                                                           Changing Dietary Behavior
                                                           Toward More
                                                           Sustainable Consumption
                                                                 S   hifting socially accustomed and personally habitual behavior is a tough task,
                                                                     and achieving dietary change away from livestock-based foods in developed, emerging, and
                                                                     developing economies offers particular challenges. This article seeks to investigate the more
                                                                  personal behavioral factors that inhibit dietary change, bearing in mind the reinforcing and

                                                       4   EnvironmEnt                          www.EnvironmEntmagazinE.org                            voLUmE 57       nUmBEr 5
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
offers ways to embark on fresh social           On Diet, Lazy Thinking,
                                                                                                                  learning through new networks of col-           and Habit
                                                                                                                  lective engagement, and a willingness
                                                                                                                  to embrace new ethical frameworks.                 Aspects of personal behavior change
                                                                                                                  Such an approach requires innovative            are examined first to illustrate that shift-
                                                                                                                  approaches to knowledge brokering by            ing individual behavior through vol-
                                                                                                                  governments and by business and com-            untary encouragement does not work.1
                                                                                                                  munity organizations, as well as to more        This is followed by a survey of the more
                                                                                                                  open discussion of ethical dilemmas.            convoluted combinations of collective
                                                                                                                      Finally, this article examines the role     behavior shifts in the context of policy,
                                                                                                                  of sustainability science in activating         economics, social awareness, learning
                                                                                                                  these two forces for enabling consen-           tactics, and global food systems.
                                                                                                                  sual dietary change. This form of science
                                                                                                                  combines established forms of scientific
                                                                                                                                                                  Fast Thinking in a
                                                                                                                  evidence gathering and analysis, with
                                                                                                                                                                  Personal Context
                                                                                                                  coordination and engagement from bus-
                                                                                                                  iness, government, civil society, and              The distinguished Nobel Econom-
                                                                                                                  community organizations, to form new            ics Laureate Daniel Kahneman is well
                                                                                                                  perspectives and transformational energy        known for his distinction between
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                                                                  across all involved. Sustainability science     spontaneously automatic “system 1” or
                                                                                                                  is still fledgling and shadowy. It is by no     “fast thinking” and more carefully de-
                                                                                                                  means either understood or embraced by          liberative “system 2” or “slow thinking”
                                                                                                                  academia or its other sector bedfellows.        (see Boxes 1 and 2).2 The two styles are
                                                                                                                  Seeking to alter dietary behavior could be      very connected and can readily morph
                                                                                                                  one of the early test cases for the success-    into each other. Nevertheless, there
                                                                                                                  ful introduction of sustainability science      are distinctions between the two ways
                                                                                                                  onto the world stage.                           of reasoning that are relevant for our

                                                                                                                                Box 1: Fast Thinking and Habitual Behavior
                                                                                            iStock/David Hughes

                                                                                                                         The fast thinker generates impressions, feelings, and inclinations that shape
                                                                                                                     the more rational variants of beliefs, attitudes, and intentions.2 (pp. 21, 22, 105) Fast
                                                                                                                     thinking enables problems to be interpreted narrowly, often with immediacy,
                                                                                                                     and segmentally. Fast thinking also responds more strongly to losses than to
                                                                                                                     gains, favors low probabilities especially of risks, neglects ambiguity and sup-
                                                                                                                     presses doubts, seeks to confirm through readily accessible beliefs, responds to
                                                                                                                     available evidence so tends to ignore absent evidence, and generates patterns
                                                                                                                     of ideas from a historical “bank” of experiences and past judgments that seem
                                                       interacting systemic impediments in-                          intuitively “right.” Kahneman points out that fast thinking “links a sense of cog-
                                                       troduced in the first article in this se-                     nitive ease to illusions of truth, pleasant feelings, and reduced vigilance.”2 (p. 105)
                                                       ries, “The Sustainability Challenges of                           One barrier at the individual level to progressive diet switching is the influ-
                                                       Our Meat and Dairy Diets.” This article                       ence of habitual behavior. Here we discover the essence of fast thinking. Habits
                                                       examines the patterns of thinking that                        tend to be repetitive, routine, reliable, reinforcing, and rewarding. Habits are
                                                       discourage the search for relevant infor-                     often triggered by cues or stimuli (hunger or social routine in the dietary case)
                                                       mation and inhibit exposure to inner-                         and are characterized by intrinsic, intuitive actions that are comfortable because
                                                       most ethical norms, including “existing                       they are familiar and patterned. Habits are also efficient as they do not require
                                                       habituation” supported by processes of                        attention to detail or to new information (which often can safely be ignored).
                                                       dissonance avoidance, and “lazy” belief                       Indeed it is precisely because habitual behaviors “fit” into personality, to experi-
                                                       reinforcement.                                                ence, to custom, to social networks, and to culture, that they are so unexamined.
                                                          This article also seeks to explore the                     As a consequence, habitual behavior does not require constant refreshment of
                                                       external collective aspects of behavior                       the weighing of gains and losses, nor does it make any demands on uncom-
                                                       change, especially the degree of pre-                         fortable, dissonance-exposing self-searching of possible losses against estab-
                                                       paredness to engage with credibly of-                         lished gains.
                                                       fered but challenging knowledge. This

                                                       SEPtEmBEr/oCtoBEr 2015                                       www.EnvironmEntmagazinE.org                                           EnvironmEnt            5
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Most people view eating
                                                                                                                                                                                      animals as a
                                                                                                                                                                                  cultural norm, rather
                                                                                                                                                                                     than a choice.

                                                                                                                                                                             set of social and psychological defense
                                                                                                                                                                             mechanisms hides the contradictions
                                                       iStock/adlifemarketing

                                                                                                                                                                             between values and behaviors, allowing
                                                                                                                                                                             exponents to make exceptions to what
                                                                                                                                                                             would normally be considered unethi-
                                                                                                                                                                             cal. This view is encapsulated by Lough-
                                                                                Consumption of meat is a learned habit.                                                      nan et al.3 (p. 107):
                                                                                                                                                                                Eating animals can also be viewed
                                                                                appraisal of possible shifts in personal       highlights the moral dilemma involved            as an extended case study on hu-
                                                                                dietary behavior.                              in eating animals, a dilemma that all            man morality. By examining a
                                                                                    Fast thinking helps the portrayal of       people eventually have to resolve if di-         single moral behavior, we can il-
                                                                                meat and dairy products for a major-           etary change is to take place. Garnett           luminate how emotions (pleasure,
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                                ity in developed countries as “healthy,”       et al.1 find that meat eating is flattening      disgust, guilt), cognitions (catego-
                                                                                affordable, unconnected to negative            out except in East Asia. The drivers for         rization, attribution, justification),
                                                                                distant (in time, space, and emotion)          reducing meat consumption are rising             and personality characteristics
                                                                                                                                                                                (values, beliefs, identities) combine
                                                                                outcomes, and enjoyable.2 (p. 82) Food bus-    cost, health concerns, and animal wel-
                                                                                                                                                                                when people face everyday moral
                                                                                inesses encourage such thinking in the         fare considerations. Environmental as-
                                                                                                                                                                                problems. In doing so, researchers
                                                                                ways in which they market, place prod-         pects receive less attention because they
                                                                                                                                                                                have shown how emotion regula-
                                                                                ucts on shelves, advertise, and seduc-         are afforded less exposure.2                     tion, mind perception, and moral
                                                                                tively manage prices.                             Most people view eating animals as a          judgment are intimately connected.
                                                                                    Most people eat meat yet care about        cultural norm, rather than a choice. In
                                                                                animals. Research has begun to examine         meat-eating cultures around the world,           Fast thinking buttresses the systemic
                                                                                the psychological processes that allow         people typically don’t think about why        forces that encourage the meat eater not
                                                                                people to negotiate this “meat paradox.”3      they find eating dogs disgusting and          to delve deeply into more inner beliefs
                                                                                Many engage in a diet that requires            eating cows appetizing or vice versa,         and into other social cues over personal
                                                                                animals to be killed and to suffer. This       or why they eat any animals at all. A         and collective morality. Such patterns
                                                                                                                                                                             are strengthened by habit. Both are re-
                                                                                                                                                                             flections of the policy circumstances in
                                                                                                                                                                             which livestock products are translated,
                                                                                         Box 2: Slow Thinking in a Learning Social Context                                   interpreted, and unexamined.
                                                                                                                                                                                The significance of this combination
                                                                                        In the Kahneman perspective, slow thinking rests on conscious awareness,
                                                                                                                                                                             of perspective lies in the activation of
                                                                                    acuity, criticality, and, above all, active learning engagement. It requires effort,
                                                                                                                                                                             norms and the scope for examining per-
                                                                                    attention, analysis, and considered judgement.2 Kahneman summarizes the at-
                                                                                                                                                                             sonal ethics. Cognitive dissonance pro-
                                                                                    tributes of the slow thinkers: “They are more alert, more intellectually active,
                                                                                                                                                                             cesses may subdue the scope for deeply
                                                                                    less willing to be satisfied with superficially attractive answers, more scepti-
                                                                                                                                                                             addressing ethical positioning, even if
                                                                                    cal about their intentions.”2 (p. 46) Overall, the slow thinkers are more likely to
                                                                                                                                                                             such perspectives come from external
                                                                                    be both analytically reflective and rationally engaged. They search memory,
                                                                                                                                                                             valued sources (such as science or the-
                                                                                    they deliberately compute seemingly contradictory argument, they compare
                                                                                                                                                                             ology or role models). But such mod-
                                                                                    evidence along chosen lines of assessment, and they plan their behavior to suit
                                                                                                                                                                             els have their limitations. Shove4 (p. 1278)
                                                                                    their intentions and ethical norms.
                                                                                                                                                                             stresses that the embedding context also
                                                                                        A start to analyzing relevant cognitive patterns for any diet changing assess-
                                                                                                                                                                             has to shift; it is almost impossible to alter
                                                                                    ment is some appropriate mix of fast and slow thinking. The intuitive elements
                                                                                                                                                                             personal behavior if the external contra-
                                                                                    of fast thinking shape the search processes of the slower and more purposeful
                                                                                                                                                                             dictory cues do not change, and indeed
                                                                                    evidence seeker and assessor characteristics. Changing habitual behavior re-
                                                                                                                                                                             may be reinforced:
                                                                                    quires shifts in ingrained outlooks, a willingness to stand apart from self-judged
                                                                                    peer group acceptance, and being supported by coordinated incentives and rel-               Relevant societal innovation is
                                                                                    evant information.                                                                          that in which contemporary rules
                                                                                                                                                                                of the game are eroded; in which

                                                                                6    Environment                                 www.environmentmagazine.org	VOLUME 57                                        NUMBER 5
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Susanne Stoll-Kleemann
                                                          the status quo is called into ques-
                                                          tion and in which more sustainable
                                                          regimes of technologies, routines,
                                                          forms of know-how, conventions,
                                                          markets and expectations take hold
                                                          across all domains of daily life.
                                                           By activating a mix of personal and
                                                       socially encouraged norms, it is possible
                                                       to begin to make a link between the ac-
                                                       tual and acquired knowledge basis of
                                                       any framing of action (awareness). This
                                                       in turn depends on the manner in which
                                                       critically alerting knowledge is offered,
                                                       repeated, clearly organized, credible in
                                                       both content and sourcing, and devoid
                                                       of confusion and contradiction. Equally
                                                       important are the personal cognitive
                                                       processes of organizing all of this infor-
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                       mation into a coherent package.

                                                       Adopting Non-Livestock Diets:
                                                       The German Example

                                                          In our companion article we sum-
                                                       marized the underlying motivations for
                                                       shifting to vegetarianism and veganism.
                                                       The most important driver is concern
                                                       over animal welfare, followed by per-
                                                       sonal health. Environmental, religious,
                                                       and social reasons are becoming more
                                                       important but do not match other influ-
                                                       ences such as cost, health, and animal
                                                       welfare.3 Social justice aspects are begin-
                                                       ning to carry more weight and may well
                                                       rise in influence as food availability and
                                                       food price leaps afflict the hungry and
                                                       impoverished.
                                                          Around a billion people worldwide
                                                       are vegetarians or vegans. Germany cur-
                                                       rently has among of the highest propor-
                                                       tions of vegetarians (10%, 7.8 million)
                                                       and vegans (1.1%, 900,000) in the West-
                                                       ern world.8 A recent survey (“Forsa”)
                                                       estimates that 42 million Germans are         Sign from a vegan restaurant touting a healthy diet.
                                                       part-time vegetarians (flexitarians).
                                                       This means that the majority of Ger-
                                                       mans (52%) consciously avoid eating                                                                  “It is healthful, nutritionally ade-
                                                       meat on three or more days per week.9                                                             quate, and may provide health benefits
                                                          There is a steadily expanding range
                                                                                                                              Experts estimate that by   in the prevention and treatment of cer-
                                                       of vegetarian and vegan products in the                                 2020 at least one-fifth   tain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian
                                                       supermarkets and in the menus of res-                                  of Germans will consume    diets are appropriate for individuals
                                                       taurants, organizational cafeterias, and                                   a predominantly        during all stages of the life cycle, in-
                                                       college cafeterias. The American Di-                                        vegetarian diet.      cluding pregnancy, lactation, infancy,
                                                       etetic Association actively recommends                                                            childhood, and adolescence, and for
                                                       a permanent vegetarian or vegan diet.                                                             athletes.”10

                                                       SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015                                          www.environmentmagazine.org	environment                                 7
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
This position is supported by the                     Establishing a fresh                   The food companies and the food
                                                                          German Official Agencies and is more                      moral framing might                 service sector already provide nonmeat
                                                                          understood and admitted by the whole                                                          or lower meat convenience meal alter-
                                                                          medical health sector.
                                                                                                                                  enable those switching                natives. In response to persistent peti-
                                                                              Experts estimate that by 2020 at least                away from livestock-                tioning by PETA (People for the Ethi-
                                                                          one-fifth of Germans will consume a                    based diets to feel pride              cal Treatment of Animals), IKEA sells
                                                                          predominantly vegetarian diet. The de-                 and personal esteem in                 vegan meatballs to signal a significant
                                                                          cisive influences here are the compelling               “doing the sustainably                reduction in carbon and methane emis-
                                                                          arguments against meat while vegetar-                   right thing” even when                sions. A marketing director of IKEA ex-
                                                                          ian food is becoming increasingly avail-                                                      plains that this sends a strong signal to
                                                                          able, more varied, and less expensive.
                                                                                                                                   others around are not
                                                                                                                                                                        large target groups.13
                                                                              Many prominent role models are                          doing the same.                      In Israel, change agents in civil soci-
                                                                          taking a lead. One is a popular 33-year-                                                      ety groups are bringing about a national
                                                                          old vegan chef and cookbook bestseller                                                        shift toward veganism. Some 1 million
                                                                          and fitness model (German with Turk-                                                          consumers, out of Israel’s population of
                                                                          ish roots) Attila Hildmann.11 Actors,              The particular reasons why there           8 million, no longer eat meat, and 40%
                                                                          singers, presenters, and sportsmen              are so many more vegetarians in Ger-          claim that they have friends or relatives
                                                                          are also making their views publicly            many compared with other developed            who have shifted to nonmeat diets over
                                                                          known. The German Vegetarian Asso-              countries are not well researched. The        the past year. Overall, this wave of di-
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                          ciation (VEBU) has launched a service           whole issue is attractively promoted in       etary change has increased in demand
                                                                          portal for community gastronomy. The            the media (TV, print press, social media,     for vegan dishes in restaurants by more
                                                                          aim is to improve and expand the veg-           and movies) as a very modern and re-          than one-third. Segal suggests that this
                                                                          etarian offerings in restaurants, cafete-       sponsible lifestyle. In adventurous Ber-      pattern has been encouraged by me-
                                                                          rias, hospitals, and schools, and above         lin it is really “in” to be “veggie,” with    dia celebrities, by exposés of animal
                                                                          all to make it more appreciated as being        a vast food infrastructure responding         suffering and by scandals in the food
                                                                          “sustainable.” In-house cookery train-          to this life choice.12 There is also a cul-   industry.14
                                                                          ing programs are adopting vegetarian            tural mood of high social responsibility.
                                                                          recipes adapted for use in large-scale          A lot of younger Germans have learned
                                                                          kitchens. Together with the Compass             in schools and through civil society that
                                                                          Group, the biggest catering company             they have the power in their own ac-          A New Moral Framework
                                                                          worldwide, VEBU has a specific policy           tions to change not only their individual
                                                                                                                                                                            Establishing a fresh moral fram-
                                                                          of advocating meat-free and sustainable         moral norms, but also those of society
                                                                                                                                                                        ing might enable those switching away
                                                                          food in the workplace.                          as a whole.
                                                                                                                                                                        from livestock-based diets to feel pride
                                                                                                                                                                        and personal esteem in “doing the sus-
                                                                                                                                                                        tainably right thing” even when others
                                                                          Preparing vegetarian healthy food is fun and simple.                                          around are not doing the same. The
                                                                                                                                                                        strength of this moral framework may
                                                                                                                                                                        lead to individuals encouraging others
                                                                                                                                                                        to adopt the same moral perspective. It
                                                                                                                                                                        is likely that a deep sense of moral com-
                                                                                                                                                                        mitment may form a key component in
                                                                                                                                                                        shifting and retaining new forms of di-
                                                                                                                                                                        etary behavior.
                                                                                                                                                                            All of this is very much easier to pro-
                                                                                                                                                                        claim than to deliver. To be credible, evi-
                                                                                                                                                                        dence of the links between biodiversity
                                                                                                                                                                        losses and ecosystem disruptions needs
                                                                                                                                                                        to be set in the consequences for future
                                                                                                                                                                        generations: likely price hikes, possible
                                                                                                                                                                        socially unjust and perverse outcomes
                                                                                                                                                                        for the already poor and hungry, and
                                                                                                                                                                        such outcomes for “identifiable” biodi-
                                                       iStock/skynesher

                                                                                                                                                                        versity (beloved animal and invertebrate
                                                                                                                                                                        species and plant life). Then there is the
                                                                                                                                                                        moral case for intervention. This will

                                                                          8    Environment                                   www.environmentmagazine.org	VOLUME 57                                     NUMBER 5
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
require much thoughtful discussion,          ambiguities that arise between sourc-         This exercise will also require conso-
                                                       including theologians, philosophers,         ing meat consumption and shifting at-         nant mainstream and social media en-
                                                       politicians, and ethical investment and      titudes and values. To be effective, a        gagement, which also needs to be exam-
                                                       trading enterprises. There is also a fas-    social marketing strategy also needs to       ined in preparatory research. Research
                                                       cinating conversation to be instigated       target the key stakeholders in the entire     projects connected to sustainability sci-
                                                       around “people’s social values”: the role    “governance” system, such as regulatory       ence offered in this article could provide
                                                       of mentors, drawn from familiar com-         bodies, retailers, producers, service pro-    backing for this set of approaches.
                                                       munities, acting as ambassadors, refer-      viders, media, and others.
                                                       ents, and enablers helping to meet the           We offer four avenues to achieve this     Progressive and
                                                       requirements of “keeping at it” and pro-     framework.                                    Continuous Campaigns
                                                       viding encouragement and support.
                                                          Culture shifts away from meat eating                                                        Business leaders and influential role
                                                       create a growing sense of “dissonance        Interactive Learning                          models could proclaim the advantages
                                                       discomfort” and alert contradictory or                                                     of lower livestock linked diets in the
                                                       incomplete beliefs influenced in turn           An interactive learning process            light of these various “collective con-
                                                       by personal histories and social con-        should be conducted in schools,               versations.” In response to the “nega-
                                                       texts. Social marketing strategies can       churches, social and mainstream me-           tive” points made in the preceding,
                                                       be developed to alleviate cognitive dis-     dia, and where people gather to con-          there should be “positive” messages
                                                       sonance and reduce the consumption           verse and to learn. These dialogues           about dietary flexibility, animal health,
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                       of factory-farmed meat in favor of or-       should make use of organized informa-         environmentally and socially friendly
                                                       ganically produced and more environ-         tion to show that the many outcomes           production and marketing, choice of lo-
                                                       mentally friendly livestock foods. Social    associated with livestock-product-rich        cal and cultural foods, personal health
                                                       marketing research places greater em-        diets will lead to more costly and wasted     guarantees, and freedom of self-identity
                                                       phasis on exploring motivations for be-      food, to more socially unwanted dis-          set in terms of longer life (health ben-
                                                       havioral change, in particular the values    tress, to a weakened planet for offspring,    efits), gender (choice benefits), and
                                                       and attitudes that bring about and/or        and to poorer personal health—in es-          youth (ecological and generational be-
                                                       increase the behavioral and structural       sence, to socially unwanted outcomes.         quest benefits). To make these positive

                                                                                  Box 3: Collective Behavior Change and New Habituation
                                                              We are entering a world of norms and intent. This world is also infused with social relations, and the many interconnec-
                                                          tions between personal acts and external drives and biases such as economic incentives and regulations, policy domains, and
                                                          shifting cultural values. Andrew Darnton provides a full survey of the relevant social psychological approaches.5 He points
                                                          to the connections between automacity or fast thinking habits: intent or expectation arising from any act, and conformity to
                                                          emerging social referents. Ultimately, sustainability eating should become just another element of personal convention and
                                                          household routine: day-to-day conformity in a “new habituation.” To get there will require some form of shakeup of preex-
                                                          isting behavioral stabilities and systemic biases. This may result through emotional reaction to new information or biasing
                                                          conditions, especially if such information is offered in unusual ways (such as falling into personal ill health, being exposed
                                                          to scenarios of environmental castrophes over many generations, and/or impacts that go against norms of social justice).
                                                          This may also be triggered by the activities of consumer and environmental organizations working to alter cultural norms.
                                                              Kurt Lewin sees habit as being both resistant to change and the engine of change. If social norms shift, so do relevant
                                                          external cues. If it is the “norm” to link meatless foods with regard to personal health, to community-based relations, and to
                                                          next generation decency, then readjusted habits could form in the wake of the “new conformity.” Lewin showed that loyalty
                                                          and conformity to social reference groups help to determine beliefs, interpretations and personal norms. If the beliefs of the
                                                          reference group shifts and their behavior is opened up to refreshing reinterpretation, then “new habituations” can form and
                                                          progress.6
                                                              A step in this direction is the work by Fisher et al. around the joins between information, motivation, and behavior.7 This
                                                          has been applied to health-related actions such as avoidance of HIV exposure and of liver failure through excessive alcohol
                                                          consumption. The critical feature here is attentiveness to learning propensity. This means targeting information to the inter-
                                                          ests and existing knowledges of the participant, triggering the sense of efficacy and self-motivation, and introducing social
                                                          norms in the context of the learner’s referent group values. In the context of dietary change, the school or the church or the
                                                          youth center could form a valued basis for such learning dynamics. Information should be offered as loops of innovative
                                                          discovery.

                                                       SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015                         www.environmentmagazine.org	environment                                               9
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
Why not put exciting                  research area is to identify the willing          in food production more generally. Gar-
                                                            vegetarian foods in school               first movers in livestock-based food              nett et al. stress the patchy understand-
                                                                                                     businesses who are ready to change the            ing of dietary behavior in developing
                                                             cafeterias and again ask                rules of the game.                                countries, the lack of consistency in the
                                                             pupils or their parents to                                                                messages and the policy outcomes of
                                                              argue for a meat-based                 Promotion of “Healthy Food”                       focusing on health-related prods and
                                                                    alternative?                     Towns and Streets                                 environment-sustainability gains, the
                                                                                                                                                       failure to move far beyond voluntarism
                                                                                                        Participants and residents can gain            in regulation, and the paucity of case
                                                                                                     pride in their new “conforming” behav-            work in experimental approaches to the
                                                       messages stick, there will need to be         ior and begin to acquire “sustainable di-         “knowledge–action gap.” Above all, they
                                                       supportive arrangements for business          etary habits.” We address this in our new         bemoan the absence of integrated ap-
                                                       backing, for the breakup of the global        habituation section (Box 3): There is a           proaches to research, experimentation,
                                                       and national lobbies, and for the cham-       lot of supportive literature over com-            and learning.1 (pp. 75–85)
                                                       pioning of new social cultures of lower       munity-based engagement and social                    An unexamined moral dilemma
                                                       livestock diets. In addition, there should    learning, which we cover in our review            takes up the invisible baton conducting
                                                       be research, supported by business and        of community-based behavior change                much of this from this article. This is to
                                                       by consumer organizations, to explore         in Germany and elsewhere.                         apply the same processes of “sustain-
                                                       how fresh approaches to “nudging”                                                               able diet habituation” to those releasing
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                       might be pursued. For example, why not                                                          themselves from poverty and underem-
                                                       offer vegetarian (and vegan) foods in all                                                       ployment in emerging economies; those
                                                       catering and on planes, in all hospitals,
                                                                                                     The Policy Dilemmas
                                                                                                                                                       who are beginning to occupy burgeon-
                                                       and at conferences, and ask customers            There are still many intractable policy        ing cities; those who are less connected
                                                       to sign in to asking for meat-based al-       measures that need to be redesigned in            to the natural world; and those who
                                                       ternatives as an expression of “dietary       order to support the direction of travel
                                                       requirements”? And why not put excit-         in lowering animal product consump-
                                                       ing vegetarian foods in school cafeterias     tion. These include measures to alter                     Nearly four-fifths of pigs
                                                       and again ask pupils or their parents to      perverse subsidies toward favoring meat                     reared in China are
                                                       argue for a meat-based alternative? If        production and supportive subsidies for
                                                       nothing else, the exercise of suggesting
                                                                                                                                                               housed in very intensive
                                                                                                     soybean farmers in the United States
                                                       such nudging would cause the kinds of         such that these soybeans are mainly used
                                                                                                                                                               units, full of antibiotics
                                                       learning processes that lie at the heart of   for feeding animals but also exported to                    and hormones, and
                                                       the new habituation.                          China, and incorporating relevant and                     creating huge problems
                                                                                                     linked social and environmental costs                        of waste effluent.
                                                       Mentoring

                                                           Mentoring fits in perfectly with the
                                                       practices of shifting social and cultural
                                                       referents and for assisting the socially
                                                       and economically disadvantaged to
                                                       address diet changes with a degree of
                                                       calm and progressive purpose. Success-
                                                       ful mentoring is undertaken by those
                                                       trusted by those who are mentored, with
                                                       whom they can engage with a high de-
                                                       gree of comfort. Here surely is a place
                                                       for social enterprise to flourish, as men-
                                                       toring is a creative job market, attracting
                                                       self-starting social entrepreneurs. Such
                                                       a creative program of learning and men-
                                                       toring fits in well with the social and
                                                                                                                                                                                                    iStock/vladacanon

                                                       moral aspects of behavior change. And
                                                       it should be paid for through the many
                                                       health and environmental benefits that
                                                       diet change can create. So another key        Typical view of pigs representative of factory farming.

                                                       10    Environment                               www.environmentmagazine.org	VOLUME 57                                         NUMBER 5
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
iStock/smithcjb
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                       A great variety of organic vegetables appetizingly displayed in a shop.

                                                       want to make a statement about their              beginnings of a policy interest in more      that we are not being advocates here—
                                                       newfound prosperity. Here is a real dif-          efficient livestock production systems,      just pointing out the policy dilemmas in
                                                       ficulty. For these consumers, the kinds           a move away from fat-enhancing veg-          prospect.
                                                       of processes outlined in this analysis are        etable oils, greater concern over animal
                                                       not as likely to prove effective.                 welfare, and, with growing urban afflu-
                                                           Take the case of the expanding pig            ence, a shift to more quality foods, in-     Implications for
                                                       production and consumption of pros-               cluding a move away from meat.16 Their       Sustainability Science
                                                       pering China.15 The average Chinese               analysis also points out that the public
                                                       eats 35 kg of pork per year, five times           health and environmental aspects of              We conclude by providing a sustain-
                                                       what their predecessors consumed in               Chinese livestock production are by no       ability science perspective of the genu-
                                                       1979. Nearly four-fifths of pigs reared           means a matter of public concern or po-      ine challenges that face campaigners
                                                       in China are housed in very intensive             litical attention.16 The authors are also    and motivated people when addressing
                                                       units, full of antibiotics and hormones,          convinced that these matters are bound       this theme. One critical blockage here
                                                       and creating huge problems of waste               to become more critical in the light of      is the need to work with regulators and
                                                       effluent. For every kilogram of pork,             the Chinese commitment to greenhouse         food corporations, whose ethos does
                                                       6 kg of soya or corn feed is required.            gas emission reduction, land use deg-        not normally extend to moving diets
                                                       Even though China produces much                   radation, pollution more generally, and      away from livestock-based products,
                                                       home-grown feed, more than half of the            public health in particular.                 yet whose cooperation will be required
                                                       global soya production and well over                  To establish a diet-changing recipe      by researchers working in sustainabil-
                                                       one-third of corn trade is destined for           will require prior commitment by the         ity partnerships if voluntary dietary
                                                       Chinese hogs.15 China has not signed              big livestock-consuming countries and        change is to be attempted. We also note
                                                       up for sustainable roundtables of either          polities to face up to the kinds of chal-    the research evidence summarized by
                                                       soya or corn, and is currently pursu-             lenges we offer here. Here surely is where   Garnett et al. showing that consumers
                                                       ing agricultural land purchases in the            the learning and behavior-shifting pro-      will not be sufficiently moved to switch
                                                       United States and Africa to assure its            cesses will require a global campaign of     their livestock diet preferences in a
                                                       porcine trade flows. Garnett and Wilkes           awareness raising, of corporate buy-in,      hurry, nor by any whiff of compulsion
                                                       point to a possible 50% increase of meat          of much-improved redistribution of           or moral hassle. Here is a test case for
                                                       consumption in China over the decade              consumer affordability, and of commu-        the emerging success of sustainability
                                                       2010 to 2020 with a 70% take of world             nity-encouraged moral transformation,        science. Like it or not, the world has to
                                                       soya trade (from 63% in 2010) by the              which are the hallmarks of social trans-     confront the necessity of engaging with
                                                       end of the decade.16 They also note the           formation for sustainability. We stress      the wider (moral, societal, equitable,

                                                       SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015                               www.environmentmagazine.org	environment                                         11
Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development
iStock/SolStock
                                                                                                                                                                    Before retiring in July 2005, Tim O’Riordan was a pro-
                                                                                                                                                                    fessor of environmental sciences at the University of East
                                                                                                                                                                    Anglia in Norwich, England.
                                                                                                                                                                    Susanne Stoll-Kleemann is Professor and Chair of Sus-
                                                                                                                                                                    tainability Science and Applied Geography at the Univer-
                                                                                                                                                                    sity of Greifswald, Germany, with previous positions at
                                                                                                                                                                    Humboldt University of Berlin, at the Potsdam Institute
                                                                                                                                                                    for Climate Impact Research, and at the Swiss Federal In-
                                                                                                                                                                    stitute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich with research on
                                                                                                                                                                    biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.

                                                                                                                                                                    Notes

                                                                                                                                                                          1. T. Garnett, S. Mathewson, P. Angelides, and F.
                                                                                                                                                                    Borthwick, Policies and Actions To Shift Eating Patterns:
                                                                                                                                                                    What Works? A Review of the Evidence of the Effectiveness
                                                                                                                                                                    of Interventions Aimed at Shifting Diets in More Sustain-
                                                                                                                                                                    able and Healthy Directions (Oxford, UK: Food Climate
                                                                                                                                                                    Research Network (FCRN) and Chatham House, 2015).
                                                                                                                                                                          2. D. Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (London,
                                                                                                                                                                    UK: Penguin, 2011).
                                                                                                                                                                          3. S. Loughnan, B. Bastian, and N. Haslam, “The Psy-
                                                       School children should get accustomed to eating healthy vegetables as early as possible.                     chology of Eating Animals,” Current Directions in Psycho-
                                                                                                                                                                    logical Science 23 (2014): 104–8.
                                                                                                                                                                          4. E. Shove, “Beyond the ABC: climate change policy
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                                                                                                                    and theories of social change,” Environment and Planning
                                                       health, intergenerational) prompts for            a key marker is the scope to convene the                   42 (2010): 1273–1285.
                                                                                                                                                                          5. A. Darnton, Reference Report: An Overview of Be-
                                                       shifting diets, because of the enormity           kinds of global information and knowl-                     haviour Change Models and Their Uses. GSR Behaviour
                                                       of the consequences in the coming                 edge that touch the hearts and minds of                    Change Knowledge Review (Westminster, UK: Centre for
                                                                                                                                                                    Sustainable Development, University of Westminster,
                                                       decade of letting livestock consump-              people in meaningful ways.17 This places                   2008).
                                                       tion rip, and the unavoidability of               a new dimension on sustainability sci-                           6. K. Lewin, Field Theory in Social Sciences; Selected
                                                       ignoring it.                                      ence being part clinical and analytical,                   Papers on Group Dynamics (New York, NY: Harper &
                                                                                                                                                                    Row, 1951).
                                                           Here possibly is a role for the major         part advocate, and part ambassadorial,                           7. J. Fisher, W. Fisher, A. Bryan and S. Misovich,
                                                       science institutions to act in an equiva-         all the while connecting the personal to                   “Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model–Based
                                                                                                                                                                    HIV Risk Behavior Change Intervention for Inner-City
                                                       lent manner to the climate scientists un-         the social to the contextual. Grappling                    High School Youth,” Health Psychology 21, no. 2 (2002):
                                                       der the banner of the Intergovernmental           with dietary behavior change provides                      177–86.
                                                                                                                                                                          8. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, quoted in
                                                       Panel on Climate Change. Because of               the setting for this exciting new science                  VEBU, Anzahl der Vegetarier in Deutschland, https://
                                                       the many dimensions to diet and people            to flourish.                                               vebu.de/themen/lifestyle/anzahl-der-vegetarierinnen
                                                                                                                                                                    (accessed June 3, 2015).
                                                       and the planet, not to mention the in-
                                                                                                                                                                          9. Organic-market.info, The Vegetarian Lifestyle Is
                                                       ternational aspects and cultural and re-                                                                     a Long-Term Development, http://organic-market.info/
                                                       ligious features, such a process needs the         Note                                                      news-in-brief-and-reports-article/vegetarian.html (ac-
                                                                                                                                                                    cessed 5 May 2015).
                                                       interdisciplinary and interactive charac-          © Tim O’Riordan and Susanne Stoll-
                                                                                                                                                                          10. U.S. National Library of Medicine, http://www.
                                                       teristics of sustainability science.17 This        Kleemann.                                                 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864 (accessed May 7,
                                                                                                                                                                    2015).
                                                       is especially the case in light of the new         Published with license by Taylor &
                                                                                                                                                                          11. A. Hildmann, Attila Hildmann—Vegan Chef and
                                                       habituation and social conformity that             Francis Group, LLC.                                       Book Author, http://www.attilahildmann.com/en/vegan-
                                                                                                                                                                    chef-attila-hildmann.html (accessed May 5, 2015).
                                                       low-livestock-input diets should reflect.              This is an Open Access article.
                                                                                                                                                                          12. Care2, The Best City for Vegans?, http://www.
                                                       In any case, it is also essential that sus-        Non-commercial re-use, distribution,                      care2.com/greenliving/a-vegan-uprising-in-germany.
                                                       tainability science shows that its very            and reproduction in any medium,                           html (accessed May 5, 2015).

                                                       special qualities are precisely required           provided the original work is properly                          13. A. Slavik, Schwedische Falafel. Vegane Kött-
                                                                                                                                                                    bullar von Ikea, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, http://www.
                                                       of this dietary and cultural shift (not to         attributed, cited, and is not altered,                    sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/vegane-koettbullar-von-
                                                                                                          transformed, or built upon in any way,                    ikea-schwedische-falafel-1.2427628 (accessed June 6,
                                                       mention the reduction of dissonance
                                                                                                          is permitted. The moral rights of the                     2015).
                                                       and of corporate lobbying that such a              named author(s) have been asserted.                             14. E. Segal, Is Israel going to be the first vegan na-
                                                       new habituation must engender). Thus,                                                                        tion? The Vegan Women, 2014, http://www.thevegan
                                                                                                                                                                    woman.com/israel-going-first-vegan-nation/ (accessed
                                                                                                                                                                    June 5, 2015).
                                                                                                                                                                          15. The Economist, “Empire of the Pig. Swine in
                                                                                                                                                                    China,” December 20, 2014, http://www.economist.com/
                                                                                                                                                                    news/christmas-specials/21636507-chinas-insatiable-
                                                            Like it or not, the world has to confront the necessity                                                 appetite-pork-symbol-countrys-rise-it-also          (accessed
                                                           of engaging with the wider (moral, societal, equitable,                                                  May 5, 2015).
                                                                                                                                                                          16. T. Garnett and A. Wilkes, Appetite for Change.
                                                            health, intergenerational) prompts for shifting diets,                                                  Social, Economic and Environmental Transformations in
                                                                                                                                                                    China’s Food System (Oxford, UK: Food Climate Research
                                                         because of the enormity of the consequences in the coming                                                  Network, 2014).
                                                                decade of letting livestock consumption rip,                                                              17. T. O`Riordan and C. le Quéré, “Future Earth: A
                                                                                                                                                                    Science Agenda for Sustainability and Human Prosper-
                                                                     and the unavoidability of ignoring it.                                                         ity,” British Academy Review 22 (2013/14): 25–29.

                                                       12   Environment                                    www.environmentmagazine.org	VOLUME 57                                                                NUMBER 5
The MIT Press
                                                                                           THINKING LIKE A MALL                             CHEMICALS WITHOUT HARM
                                                                                           Environmental Philosophy after                   Policies for a Sustainable World
                                                                                           the End of Nature                                Ken Geiser
                                                                                           Steven Vogel                                     “Pragmatic, ambitious, comprehensive,
                                                                                           “Can there be environmental philoso-             and humane, here is a systematic yet
                                                                                           phy after the end of nature, a philoso-          visionary blueprint for bringing smart
                                                                                           phy without romantic idealization of an          politics together with good science to
                                                                                           authentic natural order? Steven Vogel’s          create tomorrow’s clean economy.”
                                                                                           brilliant new book offers just such a            —Daniel Sarewitz, Codirector and
                                                                                           philosophy. It is the environmental              Cofounder, Consortium for Science,
                                                                                           philosophy for our time.”                        Policy and Outcomes
                                                                                           —Andrew Feenberg, author of                      Urban and Industrial Environments series • $30
                                                                                           Between Reason and Experience and
                                                                                           The Philosophy of Praxis                         LIQUID POWER
                                                                                           $29                                              Contested Hydro-Modernities
                                                                                                                                            in Twentieth-Century Spain
                                                                                           CIVIC ECOLOGY                                    Erik Swyngedouw
                                                                                           Adaptation and Transformation
                                                                                                                                            An examination of the central role
                                                                                           from the Ground Up
                                                                                                                                            of water politics and engineering in
                                                                                           Marianne Krasny and Keith Tidball                Spain’s modernization, illustrating
Downloaded by [87.188.145.2] at 10:06 31 August 2015

                                                                                           “Civic Ecology is an inspirational account       water’s part in forging, maintaining,
                                                                                           of the ecological and civic renewal of           and transforming social power.
                                                                                           broken places, such as areas of urban de-        Urban and Industrial Environments series • $29
                                                                                           cline. It describes how local people can,
                                                                                           through stewardship based on sound               ENDING THE FOSSIL FUEL ERA
                                                                                           social-ecological principles, re-create          edited by Thomas Princen,
                                                                                           sustainable communities and environ-             Jack Manno, and Pamela Martin
                                                                                           ments where people and nature thrive.”
                                                                                                                                            A provocative call for delegitimizing
                                                                                           —F. Stuart Chapin III, Professor
                                                                                                                                            fossil fuels rather than accommodating
                                                                                           Emeritus of Ecology, University of
                                                                                                                                            them, accompanied by case studies
                                                                                           Alaska Fairbanks
                                                                                                                                            from Ecuador to Appalachia and from
                                                                                           Urban and Industrial Environments series • $27
                                                                                                                                            Germany to Norway.
                                                                                                                                            $28
                                                                                           POWER DENSITY
                                                                                           A Key to Understanding Energy
                                                                                                                                            FAILED PROMISES
                                                                                           Sources and Uses
                                                                                                                                            Evaluating the Federal Government’s
                                                                                           Vaclav Smil                                      Response to Environmental Justice
                                                                                           “There is no author whose books I look           edited by David M. Konisky
                                                                                           forward to more than Vaclav Smil.”
                                                                                                                                            A systematic evaluation of the imple-
                                                                                           —Bill Gates
                                                                                                                                            mentation of the federal government’s
                                                                                           $32
                                                                                                                                            environmental justice policies.
                                                                                                                                            American and Comparative Environmental Policy series
                                                                                           WHY ARE WE WAITING?                              $25
                                                                                           The Logic, Urgency, and Promise
                                                                                           of Tackling Climate Change                       ORGANIC STRUGGLE
                                                                                           Nicholas Stern                                   The Movement for Sustainable
                                                                                           An urgent case for climate change                Agriculture in the United States
                                                                                           action that forcefully sets out, in              Brian K. Obach
                                                                                           economic, ethical, and political                 “. . . an important book for everyone
                                                                                           terms, the dangers of delay and                  who produces, buys, or considers buy-
                                                                                           the benefits of action.                          ing organically produced foods. This is
                                                                                           The Lionel Robbins Lectures series • $27.95      a well-researched and utterly riveting
                                                                                                                                            history of the issues that unite and
                                                                                           ENGAGING THE EVERYDAY                            divide organic farmers and consumers,
                                                                                           Environmental Social Criticism and               firmly grounded in the political context
                                                                                           the Resonance Dilemma                            of classic social movements.”
                                                                                           John M. Meyer
                                                                                                                                            —Marion Nestle, New York University;
                                                                                           “Engaging the Everyday isn’t a book you          author of Eat, Drink, Vote: An Illustrated
                                                                                           read every day. Yet again, John Meyer,           Guide to Food Politics
                                                                                           one of the most interesting environ-             Food, Health, and the Environment series • $29
                                                                                           mental philosophers, thinks outside the
                                                                                           box. This time it is about how we rather
                                                                                           than ‘the system’ or ‘corporations’ could
                                                                                           limit the harm to the environment.”
                                                                                           —Avner de-Shalit, The Hebrew Uni-
                                                       The MIT Press mitpress.mit.edu      versity, coauthor of The Spirit of Cities
                                                                                           $24
You can also read