Book | Chapter
(2013) The ethics of consumption, Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publishers.
Starting from the discussion of the concept of responsibility, the paper asks to what extent the issue of counteracting climate change by different food consumption patterns can be broken down to the level of individuals. As no one is obligated beyond what he or she is able to do ("Ought presupposes Can"), one has to ask for the limits of individual responsibility. Green Food Consumption is not limited to consumers changing their shopping lists in replacing conventional by green products. It rather requires more encompassing lifestyle changes in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. If one agrees that consumers with green shopping lists are to be the solution, then one implicitly agrees that markets are the mechanism to solve the problem. An opposite view calls for the state as problem-solving mechanism. However, there are mechanisms beyond market and state. The paper asks to what extent these other institutional mechanisms alter the assessment of individual responsibility.
Publication details
DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-784-4_25
Full citation:
Meisch, S. (2013)., Green food consumption: whose responsibility?, in H. Röcklinsberg & P. Sandin (eds.), The ethics of consumption, Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publishers, pp. 160-165.
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