14 What do you think of when you hear about sustainable lifestyle? As it was indicated in Module 1 “Climate Change and Sustainable Development” the United Nations Environment Programme defines sustainable living as “understanding how our lifestyle choices impact the world around us and finding ways for everyone to live better and lighter.” According to the 2022 Revision of World Population Prospects, by 2050 the world’s population may reach 10 billion, which understandably necessitates more food, more water, more housing, fashion, and all aspirations at all levels. With the world stretching to its limits for resources, each day is becoming more challenging concerning biodiversity and climate change. The planet is at great risk, but we are aware of the fact that most people do not have the intention to harm the environment. At the same time, most people don’t have the intention to help either. This is simply because some struggle to meet basics needs, while others are merely occupied by the ongoing life demands, work, family, how to relax or travel, what food to buy, or how to get education. From a scientific aspect, Environmental psychology has developed methods and models that assess how sustainable lifestyle may influence human wellbeing without damaging the environment. Hence, sustainable behaviours could be envisaged as actions that contribute to the quality of life – both present and the future. To this end, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development foresees that sustainable lifestyle constitutes one of major actions that need to be taken for accomplishing the SDGs. In particular, The 12th goal: Responsible consumption and production aims precisely to ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. Sustainable consumption and production is about doing more and better with less. It is also about decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, increasing resource efficiency and promoting sustainable lifestyles. For decades, scientists have been explaining the ways in which humanity is driving the three planetary crises of climate, biodiversity and pollution, all of which are linked to unsustainable production and consumption. Changes in consumption and production patterns are needed and can help to promote the decoupling of economic growth and human well-being from resource use and environmental impact. They can also trigger the transformations envisaged in global commitments on biodiversity, the climate, and sustainable development in general. The following figure depicts the different aspects that SDG 12 covers. Source:http://aslamsaja.com/sdg-12-responsible-consumption-and-production-engineers-are-in-the-forefront-of-developing-solutions/
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