Lifestyles in transition
SinceLifestyles in transition
Our lifestyles and consumption patterns partly determine the impacts of our society on the environment of our planet, and science explores their possible long-term evolution in order to reduce the environmental impacts of our society (e.g. identification of a diet that allows us to stay within the global environmental limits). Indeed, our lifestyles are not fixed: they are and have always been evolving, more or less rapidly. While the question of the individual's responsibility in the ecological transition is rising in the public debate and raises questions, what place could lifestyle changes take in this transition?
Answering this question requires opening a new work agenda organized around several questions: what are the current societal changes and what types of populations are they affecting? What political legitimacy can the public authorities have to support or even encourage them? How can these changes go hand in hand with a simultaneous and more structural change in the modes of production and organisation of our societies, which is essential for a successful transition?
The "Lifestyles in Transition" initiative organizes its work around three activities:
- Carry out case studies in collaboration with IDDRI programmes in order to further take into account lifestyles and decipher the issues they raise in the Institute's various fields of expertise (e.g. evolution of food habits, inclusion of lifestyles in the prospective scenarios of the ecological transition).
- Identify controversies on the different ways of approaching the issue of lifestyle changes and propose a political framework.
- Lead a collective internal and external reflection, allowing to cross sectoral and disciplinary perspectives in order to create a relevant approach to the issue.
