Most of us Spaniards associate the sustainable consumer profile with the millennial generation. However, the profile of those who have a more sustainable lifestyle is that of a woman older than 55 years. This is revealed by the first study Sustainable Consumption Monitor.
It is older women who to a greater extent separate waste at home. The ones that save water and energy the most. Those looking for sustainable packaging or products with natural ingredients. And the ones that reuse the most or give a second life to the products.
There are only three more frequent sustainable behaviors among young people than among senior women: sustainable mobility, second-hand shopping and the adoption of vegan diet.
They are also the ones who express in a greater proportion feeling committed, satisfied and proud with sustainability. In contrast, the millennialsespecially men, say they feel angry or upset when asked about sustainability.
they, caretakers
There are several reasons why senior women pull this bandwagon. First, care orientation. Sustainable consumption is care work and care tasks are usually carried out to a large extent by women, and more by those of that generation.
surveys over 65 show that this segment seeks to care as a vital purpose. It is plausible to think that for this generation protecting natural resources is one more reflection of that purpose of care.
It is striking, for example, that the profile of the most sustainable consumer coincides with the profile of the volunteer senior: woman with higher education studies.
A legacy to the world
And it is that in this third stage of life the generativitywhen you begin to think more about what you are going to leave to the world than what the world has given you.
Generativity explains the generation of objectives linked to the common good, because it entails the awareness of nurturing and accompanying those who will be adults tomorrow, and of maintaining the institutions and resources that the following generations need to survive.
survive the shortage
The last reason is socialization. This generation suffered times of severe scarcity or was raised by parents who lived through them. In this context, the smart thing to do was to extend the life of the resources –it was not easy to replace them– and to use resources that they knew were scarce.
These practices were internalized from childhood, generating habits of austerity that continue to this day. In contrast, millennials have lived in times of consumerism and an overabundance of resources. As much as it is the generation that has grown up hearing about environmental problems, their consumption habits are far from being the most sustainable.
For the senior generation, the adoption of sustainable lifestyles is a natural extension of other practices that they were already doing, or a recovery of practices that they had carried out or observed in their youth.
The pending issue now is that these generations manage to transfer these practices to the next, which, although they involve small daily efforts, have a very important impact on the health of the planet.
If your children and grandchildren have already taken the sewing machines and toolboxes out of the storage room with the movement do it yourselfWhy not try to get them back to traditional resource management?
Carmen Valor Martinezprofessor and researcher at the Faculty of Economic and Business Sciences (ICADE), Department of Marketing, Comillas Pontifical University and Isabel Carrero Bosch, Professor of the Department of Marketing. Researcher in the E-SOST Group, Comillas Pontifical University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. read the original.
