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The main focus of this chapter is to explore whether ecological utopias are capable of providing a useful contribution to our quest for an ecologically responsible future and sustainable society, and in what specific ways. I shall develop a model of ecological utopias as a distant point of orientation, or as a ‘navigational compass’. In this model ecotopias may gradually influence the course of concrete decision making in the direction of a future sustainable society. In this context, a strategic issue to be confronted by the green movement is to look for an eco-friendly view on ‘the good life’ and the ‘art of living’. The basic dimensions of a sustainable lifestyle and an utopian inspired ecological ‘art of living’ are that society's focus should be shifted from ‘having’ to ‘being’, and to find a balanced configuration of the vita activa: action, work and labour. It is also vital to find forms of hedonism which are independent of mass consumerism, to relate our material consumption to our ecological footprints in systematic ways, and to cultivate ecological virtues and moral character.

Suggests a number of features which characterize the manifestation of fair trade consumerism. Posits, however, that there are several problems which have hindered the translation of fair trade principles into consumer purchase behaviour. Discusses the issue that ecological marketing incorporates the people aspect of sustainability and the fact that the human component of production, manufacture and use have to be addressed alongside the well documented environmental factors of ozone depletion, global warming, deforestation, acid rain and so forth before sustainable development can be achieved. Addresses the fundamental problem of translating fair trade principles on to consumer purchase behaviour and the barrier of consumer recognition of the human element of the ecological marketing agenda.

Reviews the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoints practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Wars and rumors of war, plagues, disasters, floods and famines, economic crises: is it any wonder that many people view the future with trepidation, if not downright fear? The argument that major climate change is not anthropogenic has largely been discounted, but whatever the causes, the effects are only too obvious. This is very bad news for human populations and also for the commercial organizations that sustain communities. Industries that are critically dependent on natural resources and operate within narrow climactic conditions such as agriculture, the fishing industry, forestry and tourism may be among the first to experience the adverse effects of climate change. However, power, transportation, housing and financial sectors will also be severely compromised by predicted global changes. Add to this the human psychological and social unrest leading to unstable governments, conflict and population displacement and the picture looks even grimmer. Interestingly, much has been written about how industry effects climate but a quick scan of business literature reveals little discussion about how climate change will affect industry.

Provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

Provides an easily accessible summary of relevant business concepts and presents them in a fresh way.

Purpose – Many cities have taken action in order to reduce their carbon footprints. Moreover, the European city has historically been the home of democratic institutions, which have proven to be crucial for successful policy. The leading question of this chapter is whether or not this traditional link between democracy and active citizen participation also holds with respect to local climate policy.

Design/methodology/approach – In our chapter, we take a comparative look at two cities – Muenster in Rhineland Westphalia and Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg next to Berlin. We have a look at the track records of both cities’ carbon footprint and analyze the role of civil society in local climate policy. We develop a set of qualitative indicators, measuring local climate policy outcomes on the one hand and local climate policy performance on the other. We base our analysis on documents and on stakeholder interviews in both cities.

Findings – The findings show that Muenster has performed better in urban climate protection than Potsdam. Also the level of civil society engagement is higher in Muenster. Thus, the hypothesis that cities with a higher level of civil society engagement also perform better in urban climate policy can be confirmed. However, Muenster performs just slightly better than Potsdam. Both cities have failed to meet their climate goals. A closer look to the local climate policy performance leads us to the final conclusion that cities should be more active in supporting and including citizens in their local climate policies in all areas of life – including lifestyle politics and political consumerism.

Higher education has a key role and responsibility in creating change and addressing issues of fundamental human concern such as inequality and social justice, globalisation and development, environmental protection and sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to describe how RCE‐Ireland, established in September 2007, aims to develop awareness and engagement with these realities and ensure they become integrated into education in Ireland.

Action research is based on a cyclical process of action, observation, reflection and adaptation, and has been adopted by RCE‐Ireland as key to reorienting the practice of education towards sustainability. Two case studies of action research projects are the focus of the paper: Critical Thinking in Large Scale Lectures, University of Limerick, and Reorienting Course Content towards Ethical and Ecological Consumerism, St Angela's College, Sligo. The methodologies employed include both qualitative and quantitative data collection, and address critiques of action research while remaining true to the aims of democratic teaching and engaged scholarship.

The case studies demonstrate action research as a valuable and valid research methodology in itself, as well as recognising its appropriateness in reorienting education towards sustainability. The University and University‐based educationalists have a unique role here by linking research and practice, blurring the boundaries of research as objective and value‐free, and in demonstrating innovation and leadership in addressing global challenges and human concerns.

The University can provide opportunities for reorientation towards sustainability, as well as presenting challenges to this work. There is much evidence that higher education settings find it more difficult to adjust their practices than to adjust their content. One approach to engender such change in practice is the promotion of action research in higher education settings, where the twin roles of the academic practitioner as teacher and as researcher are brought together to adapt educational practice.

The purpose of this paper is to apply a structured approach to understand the importance of personal ecological norms in purchasing organic food. The norm‐activation‐model by Schwartz is used to predict self‐reported and observed purchase behaviour of organic milk.

The paper reports the results of a field study with 63 customers of a German supermarket. A combination of covert observation and in‐store interviews was applied to obtain reliable data on actual shopping behaviour and its predictors.

The results show that the self‐reported and the observed purchase of organic milk is predicted by personal ecological norms, social norms, and perceived behavioural control. Personal norms are activated by awareness of need, awareness of consequences, perceived behavioural control, and social norms. People with strong personal norms use “organic production”, the “EU‐BIO‐Label” and “ingredients” as additional criteria during their decision process. For people with strong ecological norms the price difference between organic and conventional milk, the lack of knowledge about organic milk, and convenience are less important constraints. Finally, people with strong personal norms react more sensitively to proposed norm‐centred interventions.

The study offers insight into the processes of motivating behaviour and can therefore be used to design intervention strategies. Suggestions are developed in the closing part of the paper.

The study applies for the first time the norm‐activation‐model to the domain of purchasing organic milk and underlines the importance of normative influences for this decision.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the mediating effect of consumer attitude towards purchasing organic food and moderating effect of consumer innovativeness on the intention to purchase organic food. A consumer survey was conducted with a specific focus on buyers of organic food products in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Data were collected during December 2016 via an online survey, eventually obtaining 173 valid questionnaires for analysis. The indirect effect of organic food knowledge, subjective norm, personal norm, organic food availability, attitude towards organic food and organic food scepticism on intention to purchase organic food was tested using the PROCESS Macro in SPSS. The results revealed that organic food knowledge, subjective norm, personal norm, attitude towards organic food have indirect effects on consumer intention to purchase organic food. Moreover, findings suggest that attitude towards organic food purchase mediates the link between these four factors and consumer’s intention to purchase organic food. In addition, it was proven that consumer innovativeness positively moderates the attitude-purchase intention link in the context of organic food consumption. This chapter enhances the external validity of previous empirical findings beyond the Western European context. Further, it provides some important guidelines to the retailers to develop and implement marketing strategies for organic food products.