LOHAS & SRI

LOHAS – LIFESTYLE OF HEALTH AND SUSTAINABILITY

My lecture tour through Austria and Italy, teaching sustainability and sustainable resource use, gives me the opportunity to meet people of all walks in life, especially leaders on sustainable living. The new trend is LOHAS – Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability. It already has an enormous following. Market research shows a third of consumers are part of this trend and it’s growing fast. LOHAS means focusing on sustainable living, social justice, health and living green with a small eco-footprint. It promotes an awareness of the impact on planet earth through our consumption, a change from our throw-away mentality to a more aware society that closes the loops in our open-ended economic system. It means also that shareholders and investors change their direction to more ethical investment.

New Business and Investment Ethics

Another new trend is SRI – Socially Responsible Investment. Over 100 billion Euros in Europe are invested in SRI. People are investing in businesses that have ethics based on sustainability and are creating their own shares. I come across many impressive models, for example 466 people bought “Solar Shares” in a local shoe factory that retrofitted its buildings to solar energy. In return they get discounts on shoes.

Another example, an organic farm installed a solar energy system (bio-gas, photo-voltaic and solar hot water heating) by issuing shares, similar to CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) so shareholders get vouchers for produce in season on the farm. Basically it means people are investing in their own community, relocalising their economy.

So what does all this mean for New Zealand? Well, we can learn from these examples and start applying them at home in our communities. Also become aware of how well we are placed with our “clean, green image” and our “solar economy” (solar energy-photosynthesis-grass production system). It should be New Zealand showing the rest of the world how to live sustainably and I do agree with our Prime Minister we have to become a zero waste, carbon neutral and sustainable nation. More info: www.lohas.com, www.lohas.de

University for Soil and Agriculture, Vienna, June 2007