In my earlier post about the National Geographic/ GlobeScan Greendex Survey, I had talked about the dichotomy between developed and developing countries in their attitudes towards the environment –
If the consumers in developed countries are not concerned about the environment, and the consumers in developing countries won’t back up their concern with proactive consumer behavior (recycling is very rare in developing countries), there isn’t much hope for the environment, is there?
On a second reading of the Greendex report, I discovered another (more interesting) dichotomy between developed and developing countries, in their attitudes towards consumption itself.
In the chart below I have plotted the top box “strongly agree” answers for respondents from each country on two questions related to the intent to consume. The first question is an indicator of the intent to consume less and the second question is an indicator of the intent to consume more.
- Question 1: As a society, we will need to consume a lot less to improve the environment for future generations.
India (along with Brazil) has emerged as the most green country and USA as the least green country in the National Geographic/ GlobeScan Greendex Survey of 14,000 consumers in a total of 14 countries.
The survey included questions on sustainable consumption behavior like energy use and conservation, transportation choices, food sources, the relative use of green products versus traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability, and knowledge of environmental issues.
The Greendex study is especially interesting to me because it is focused on the environmental sustainability of our actual behavior and material lifestyles as consumers, instead of our attitudes and concerns about the environment as citizens. Not only that, it explicitly factors in the consumption choices we pro-actively make (such as repairing or recycling products) as well as the choices that are controlled more by our circumstances (such as the availability of green products or public transport), with sixty percent of the weight to the former.
The Greendex rankings look intuitive at a superficial level, but present a paradox on closer inspection.
I can almost see what you are thinking: if money is not the reason why I have gone off consumption, it must be ideology.
But I haven’t gone off consumption to correct the unequal distribution of wealth in the world. I have no left-of-center communist tendencies in matters related to money. I’m a liberal in every sense of the word; I’m left-of-center when it comes to religion and right-of-center when it comes to economics. In fact, if at all, my going off-consumption will increase the inequality of wealth; I can almost see my portfolio manager rubbing his hands in anticipation of my higher investment outlay.
I also have nothing against big multinational brands or the marketers who manage them. I work for a conglomerate that has a fast-growing global footprint and handle one of India’s biggest brands with revenues of $1bn plus. I know no other way of making money other than by selling things (products, services, ideas, whatever). In fact, I must tell you that I love brands and I’m proud to be a marketer. Someday, hopefully before I’m thirty, I’ll teach marketing at an IIM. Before I retire, I hope that I’ll write a dozen books on marketing, including this blog-as-a-book, my first one.
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Also tagged Brands, Capitalism, Capitalist, Communism, Communist, Distribution of Wealth, Economy, Free Market, Ideology, Multi-nationals, Sustainable Development
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