Building the bridge between Protected Needs and consumption corridors

Abstract

The concept of consumption corridors (CC) provides a fundament for developing sustainable consumption policies. It suggests to determine minima and maxima of consumption. Its implementation would lead to numerous policies covering a broad range of dimensions of consumption. To serve this purpose, the concept must proceed from a broad conceptualization of consumption that convincingly links a human-action lens and a natural-environment lens. The concept of CC is informed by the goal of ensuring quality of life for every human being living now and in the future. Accordingly, quality of life should be the criterion used to justify and determine corridors of consumption. This necessitates firmly linking consumption and a salutogenic definition of quality of life. This article explores how the theory of Protected Needs (PN), a quality-of-life-theory that has been specifically developed for the context of sustainability, contributes to advancing the concept of CC. In addition, drawing on the results of a Swiss survey, we show that embracing the existence of universal and incontestable human needs and endorsing the idea of limiting consumption might be part of the same worldview. The article concludes by identifying conceptual challenges to approach with a view to building a robust bridge from needs to lower and upper limits of consumption.

Keywords

• good life
• needs
• sustainable consumption
• protected needs
• consumption corridors
• quality of life
• human action
• natural environment
• integrating perspectives