ABSTRACT
The notion that people's ‘lifestyle’ may need to move in more sustainable directions has rapidly become a focus of environmental policy and popular commentary on environmental issues. There is considerable speculation around the possibility of a ‘cultural shift’ affecting the scale and patterns of consumption and behaviour in ways that will lead to a lower impact, less energy intensive and potentially more community oriented society (Defra, 2008; Thogersen, 2005). This transition in the discourse from sustainable ‘consumption’ to sustainable ‘lifestyles’ implies a shift in the salient source of meaning away from consumption towards specific values, rules and social practices which are shared by groups of persons and constitute their ‘way of life’ (Evans and Jackson, 2007).
