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DEFINING THE PROBLEM

The problem of sustainable consumption is intuitively obvious yet it is difficult to define in economic or quantitative terms. What does it encompass? Finite resources? Material resources? Renewable resources? All goods in the marketplace? All production?

Many individuals and groups have tried to define the problem. When United Nations delegates gathered in Rio in 1992 and issued Agenda 21, they knew what consumption was, but they did not precisely define it. The challenge again arose when the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development hosted a meeting on the problem in December 1994. The President's Council on Sustainable Development also faces this dilemma. The Norwegian government took the international lead on this challenge and convened two roundtables in Oslo on sustainable production and consumption. In 1994, the Oslo Symposium proposed a working definition of sustainable consumption: "the use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations."

Most conference participants accepted this as a broad definition, although some, especially the economists, remained dissatisfied with its imprecision. There was some discussion in small groups of the need for further research to clarify the definition of consumption in economic terms. Others people pointed out that while such research may be important, a multi-year research agenda could become an excuse for inertia. Still others suggested that the term consumption provides a framework for looking at inter-connected issues but does not define a finite problem. While unsustainable consumption may be difficult to define or quantify, those at the conference agreed that the problem is real, immediate, and in need of attention.