The Importance of Green Practices to Reduce Consumption

Abstract

In modern societies, growing consumption rates lead to the depletion of the planet’s resources and the waste generation. This paper studies green practices aimed at reducing consumption, which were published in social media communities covering separate waste collection. First, we selected nine green practices regarding separate waste collection and classified them as adaptive and transformative. Adaptive practices enhance the adaptability of a society to the deteriorating environment without implying consumption reduction. Transformative practices involve reducing substance and energy consumption due to changes in collective and individual actions. Next, we collected 1987 textual posts of six communities of Tyumen region, Russia, published in social media platform VK, and found all mentions of the nine practices using content and hermeneutic analyses. Finally, we identified transformative practices, such as the practices of exchanging, refusing from purchases, sharing, repairing, and promoting sustainable consumption. The obtained results might help some decision-makers create conditions to disseminate the described practices and to introduce new social practices targeting reducing consumption. We show the possibilities of grassroots initiatives in the greening of society.

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“…In addition, the elderly generation care significantly more for stray animals. New to Russia are zero waste practices and responsible consumption; residents of Tyumen do not often participate in them because the meanings, skills and infrastructure associated with these practices are 163 not yet formed in society (Zakharova et al 2022). Infrastructure constraints also play a role with regard to separate waste collection (Zakharova et al 2022).…”

“…New to Russia are zero waste practices and responsible consumption; residents of Tyumen do not often participate in them because the meanings, skills and infrastructure associated with these practices are 163 not yet formed in society (Zakharova et al 2022). Infrastructure constraints also play a role with regard to separate waste collection (Zakharova et al 2022). Volunteer organizations can provide skills and demonstrate the value of separate waste collection, but find it difficult to develop widespread infrastructure i.e.…”

“…To answer the first research question -What kind of green practices are residents engaged in? -we asked the respondents this question and gave them eight answer options, based on the analysis of research articles and previous investigations (Zakharova et al 2022;2023a). Then an open-ended question was asked to enable respondents to indicate ecological practices that were not on our list and to understand what kind of practice residents consider as green practice.…”

“…The interaction between the government and practitioners of green practices is possible on In Russia, data on the prevalence of green practices is presented in surveys conducted by various organizations, such as Russian Public Opinion Research Center (RPORC), 1 Public Opinion Foundation, 2 and Levada Analytical Center (Levada-Center). 3 In addition, there are scientific studies of individual practices, for example, separated waste collection (Ermolaeva, Rybakova 2019); reduction of consumption (Zakharova et al 2022), and factors and conditions for the involvement of Russian population in green practices (Shabanova 2019;. Other scientists are interested in the age characteristics of green practitioners (Antonova 2021; Antonova, Abramova, Polyakova 2020; Bushkova-Shiklina, Musikhina 2020) and gender features of participates (Zakharova et al 2021b).…”

“…There are many places for recreation near the city such as beaches and hot springs in summer, and sledging hills in winter. There are several environmental communities in the city as discussed in previous studies (Zakharova et al 2022;2023a). Communities that care for stray animals, promote eco-products (e.g.…”