The Importance of Green Practices to Reduce Consumption

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/csp.2022.6.4.208

Abstract

In modern societies, growing consumption rates lead to the depletion of the planet’s resources and the waste generation. This paper studies green practices aimed at reducing consumption, which were published in social media communities covering separate waste collection. First, we selected nine green practices regarding separate waste collection and classified them as adaptive and transformative. Adaptive practices enhance the adaptability of a society to the deteriorating environment without implying consumption reduction. Transformative practices involve reducing substance and energy consumption due to changes in collective and individual actions. Next, we collected 1987 textual posts of six communities of Tyumen region, Russia, published in social media platform VK, and found all mentions of the nine practices using content and hermeneutic analyses. Finally, we identified transformative practices, such as the practices of exchanging, refusing from purchases, sharing, repairing, and promoting sustainable consumption. The obtained results might help some decision-makers create conditions to disseminate the described practices and to introduce new social practices targeting reducing consumption. We show the possibilities of grassroots initiatives in the greening of society.

Author Biographies

Olga V. Zakharova, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

Olga V. Zakharova, Cand. Sci. (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Department of State and Municipal Government, University of Tyumen. She leads the Green Solutions Lab, a scientific group. She is interested in global environmental changes, sustainable development issues, green practices, environmental ethics, and aesthetics.

Anna V. Glazkova, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

Anna V. Glazkova, Cand. Sci. (Technology), Associate Professor, Department of Software, Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Tyumen. Her current research interests include natural language processing and text mining, with a focus on text classification and deep learning.

Irina N. Pupysheva, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

Irina N. Pupysheva, Cand. Sci. (Philosophy), Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Tyumen. Her current research interests are related to a sociological analysis of environmental practices of Russian people. Her research was supported by grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.

Natalia V. Kuznetsova, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia

Natalia V. Kuznetsova is an associate Professor of the Department of Modern Russian Language and General Linguistics at University of Tyumen. Her research is related to the structure of discourse, discursive markers, and Internet communication. Natalia V. Kuznetsova was awarded the badge of the State Statistics Committee of Russia (2003), the Diploma of the Department of Education and Science of the Tyumen Region (2017), and the Letter of Thanks of the Tyumen Regional Duma (2019).

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Published
2022-12-30
How to Cite
Zakharova, O., Glazkova, A., Pupysheva, I., & Kuznetsova, N. (2022). The Importance of Green Practices to Reduce Consumption. Changing Societies & Personalities, 6(4), 884–905. doi:10.15826/csp.2022.6.4.208
Citation Formats
Issue
Vol. 6, No. 4 (2022)
Section
Articles