Global_Environmental_Research_Vol.25No1&2
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If developing countries could emulate the current consumption patterns of developed countries, the entire world would be on equal footing regarding consumer behavior. However, this scenario could exacerbate the increasing global environmental burden. Furthermore, if consumption in developed countries are not reduced, existing problems will only be aggravated. To realize sustainable global consumption (as advocated in the ongoing discourse on planetary boundaries), developed countries’ current consumption levels and developing countries’ expected future consumption levels must be reduced. 1 Faculty of Policy Studies, Nanzan University, 2 Social Systems Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 4 Urban Institute & Department of Civil Engineering, Kyushu University, 1. Introduction This study presents an overview of our research on the association between consumption and subjective well-being (SWB) to suggest implications for sustaining SWB within the context of environmentally sustainable consumption. Future environmental burdens, such as reaching planetary boundaries, require us to suppress overconsumption. For developed countries, where the population consumes disproportionately more resources, considering how to sustain SWB even if people reduce their consumption levels is necessary. For developing countries, where people are increasing consumption as their economies develop, considering how to realize high SWB while considering future environmental restraints is imperative. Therefore, for both developed and developing countries, improving SWB-per-unit consumption is important. We conducted five surveys in rural and urban Vietnam and Japan from 2016 to 2021. Our estimation results suggest the following: (1) Paying attention to relational consumption rather than material consumption is important; (2) for material consumption, a sharing economy based on strong social capital is efficient; and (3) for material consumption, individuals who take better care of their possessions exhibit increased SWB-per-unit material consumption. We conclude that having individuals develop an attachment to material goods and value social capital is requisite for improving SWB through material and relational consumption. levels In this study, we investigated whether a lifestyle providing optimal and sustainable utility to consumers would be feasible for developed and developing countries. If such a lifestyle can be clearly defined, a viable consensus on sustainable consumption may be realized. Moreover, establishing that an increase in consumption is not necessarily correlated with an increase in subjective well-being (SWB) may suppress rampant consumption. Given the limit on the absolute level of material consumption implied by planetary boundaries, individuals in developed countries must consider how to decrease their absolute level of material consumption. As shown in Fig. 1, if the current relationship between consumption and SWB in developed countries corresponds to Path B, a decrease to significant in consumption could lead 2021 AIRIES 93 Global Environmental Research 25/2021: 093–099 printed in Japan 18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8673, Japan 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan 3 Faculty of Global Liberal Studies, Nanzan University, 18 Yamazato-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8673, Japan 744 Motooka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan *E-mail: tsurumi@nanzan-u.ac.jp Key words: material consumption, relational consumption, subjective well-being, sustainable consumption Abstract Sustainable Consumption in Terms of Subjective Well-being in Asia Tetsuya TSURUMI1*, Rintaro YAMAGUCHI2, Kazuki KAGOHASHI3 and Shunsuke MANAGI4 2. Method

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