Green consumer culture as a factor of sustainable development of society

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Green consumer culture as a factor of sustainable development of society

Olha Y. Vysotska

Communal institution of higher education

“Dnipro Academy of Continuing Education”

of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, Dnipro, Ukraine

Oleksandr Y. Vysotskyi

Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, Dnipro, Ukraine

Abstract

Insufficient development of the environmental culture of society and the existing consumer culture leads to an aggravation of the ecological situation on the planet. Therefore, increasing the awareness and responsibility of the modern consumer society can be a worthy response to this global challenge. In this regard, the process of forming a green consumer culture and greening public consciousness becomes an important object of research. In turn, this requires a conceptual analysis of the terms of environmental culture and consumer one, the features of their formation and development in society in the context of a sustainable development strategy, as well as the study of their constructive synthesis in the concept of green consumer culture. The authors define green consumer culture as a culture of behavior of an individual and society as a whole, focused on optimizing industrial and household consumer activities, taking into account environmental safety, environmentally and economically balanced value orientations based on the principles of sustainable development. Green consumer culture includes cultural and activity forms of changing the nature of consumption of natural resources, energy, food, transport, industrial and agricultural goods by individuals and society in the direction of developing environmentally balanced value orientations and behavioral patterns. In particular, this leads to a reduction of wastes. The formation of the green consumer culture of an individual by means of education for sustainable development implies a holistic approach to a human, society and nature, an understanding of the unity of modern scientific knowledge, humanistic and environmental values. The transformation of the consumer culture of an individual and society as a whole involves changing material and spiritual values, knowledge, patterns and norms of consumer behavior in the direction of spreading sustainable and environmentally balanced practices. In the context of educational tasks, this implies creation of conditions for sustainable consumer socialization as a process of developing environmentally responsible skills in order to reduce wastes, taking into account environmental requirements and socio-cultural needs of a sustainable development society. The authors prove that green consumer culture is an important factor in the sustainable development of society, as well as a basis of the modern environmental education and education for sustainable development as a more complex integrated form of obtaining knowledge and mastering the skills of environmentally balanced behavior.

Keywords: ecology, environmental culture, ecological crisis, consumer culture, environmental safety, sustainable development, green consumption, education for sustainable development.

Зелена споживча культура як чинник сталого розвитку суспільства

О.Є. Висоцька, О.Ю. Висоцький

Комунальний заклад вищої освіти «Дніпровська академія неперервної освіти» Дніпропетровської обласної ради», м. Дніпро, Україна

Дніпровський національний університет імені Олеся Гончара, м. Дніпро, Україна

Анотація

Недостатній розвиток екологічної культури суспільства та наявна споживча культура призводить до загострення екологічної ситуації на планеті. Тому підвищення усвідомленості та відповідальності сучасного суспільства споживання може стати гідною відповіддю на цей глобальний виклик. У зв'язку з цим, процес формування екологічної, зеленої споживчої культури та екологізації суспільної свідомості стає важливим об'єктом дослідження. Своєю чергою, це вимагає концептуального аналізу понять екологічної та споживчої культури, особливостей їх формування та розвитку в суспільстві в контексті стратегії сталого розвитку, а також дослідження їх конструктивного синтезу в концепції зеленої споживчої культури. Автори визначають зелену споживчу культуру як культуру поведінки окремої людини та суспільства в цілому, що зорієнтована на оптимізацію виробничої та побутової споживчої діяльності з урахуванням екологічної безпеки, екологічно та економічно збалансованих ціннісних орієнтацій на основі принципів сталого розвитку. Зелена споживча культура включає культурологічні та діяльнісні форми зміни характеру споживання особистістю та суспільством природних ресурсів, енергії, їжі, транспорту, товарів промисловості та сільського господарства у бік розвитку екологічно збалансованих ціннісних орієнтацій та моделей поведінки. Це зокрема призводить до зменшення відходів. Формування зеленої споживчої культури особистості засобами освіти для сталого розвитку передбачає цілісний підхід до людини, суспільства та природи, розуміння єдності сучасного наукового знання, гуманістичних та екологічних цінностей. Трансформація споживчої культури особистості та суспільства в цілому передбачає зміну матеріальних і духовних цінностей, знань, зразків і норм споживчої поведінки у бік поширення стійких та екологічно збалансованих практик. В контексті освітніх завдань це передбачає створення умов для стійкої споживчої соціалізації як процесу формування екологічно відповідальних навичок з метою зменшення відходів з урахуванням вимог та соціокультурних потреб суспільства сталого розвитку. Автори доводять, що зелена споживча культура є важливим чинником сталого розвитку суспільства, а також основою сучасної екологічної освіти та освіти для сталого розвитку як більш складної інтегрованої форми отримання знань та опанування навичками екологічно врівноваженої поведінки.

Ключові слова: екологія, екологічна культура, екологічна криза, споживча культура, екологічна безпека, сталий розвиток, зелене споживання, освіта для сталого розвитку.

Introduction

The complexity of the relationship between society and nature has been gaining more and more turnovers since the beginning of the XXI century. Human activity has brought earth's civilization to the brink of an ecological catastrophe. Human understanding of the self-value of nature, responsibility to future generations in future can solve environmental problems together with the formation of a new socio-economic structure of society related to the implementation of the sustainable development strategy, the development of sustainable consumer standards. However, the formation of an environmental culture of an individual directly depends on the corresponding environmentally balanced consumer culture (or, green consumer culture). We can state that the main reasons for the aggravation of the ecological crisis today are the insufficient development of the environmental culture of society and the existing consumer culture, which leads to an aggravation of the ecological situation on the planet.

The process of forming a green consumer culture and greening consciousness is associated with increasing awareness and responsibility of the modern consumer society. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a conceptual analysis of the concepts of environmental and consumer culture, the features of their formation and development in society in the context of a sustainable development strategy, as well as the study of their constructive synthesis within the concept of green consumer culture.

The aim of the article is to study the essence, features of the formation and significance of green consumer culture as determinants of sustainable development of modern society.

Review of previous research

ecological culture society

The formation of such areas as the ethics of responsibility (Jonas, 2001), the ethics of the “common world” (Mayer-Abih, 2004), environmental ethics (Higgins, 1990; White, 1990), environmental axiology, intrarronmental ethics (Atfield, 1990), environmental psychology and pedagogy (Deryabo and Yasvin, 1996; 1998), deep ecology (Bender, 2003; Katz, Light, et al., 2000), ecofeminism, evolutionary ethics (Kropotkin, 1991; Levelock, 1990; Rolston, 1990; Ruse and Wilson, 1987; Ruse, 1989; Lorenz, 1998), ecological theology (Boreyko, 2001; Jacobus, 2004), wildlife conservation ethics (Leopold, 2013), permaculture philosophy (Fukuoka, 1978; Holzer, 2004), ecological aesthetics (Mankovskaya, 1992) is of great importance for the topic we study. They give a multidimensional nature to our research and allow us to reveal various aspects of understanding the interaction of society and nature.

In addition, we should note the studies devoted to various dimensions of consumer culture in the context of ecological issues. O. Vysotska investigated the essence of consumer culture, its connection with the formation of a sustainable development society (Vysotska, 2011a; 2011b; 2012a; 2012b; 2012c; 2013). She and her colleagues considered the potential of education for sustainable development as means of forming a green consumer culture (Vysotska et al., 2021), V. Danilov-Danil'yan, I. Reyf considered the issues of consumer culture against the background of modern civilizational crisis processes (Danilov- Danil'yan and Reyf, 2018). S. Rahman and H. Luomala undertook a cross-cultural comparative study of cultural differences in green consumption (Rahman and Luomala, 2021), P. Halder, E. Hansen, J. Kangas, T. Laukkanen determined the influence of national culture and ethics on the values of green consumption (Halder, Hansen, Kangas, Laukkanen, 2020), Y. Sun and S. Wang dedicated their works to understanding the intentions of consumers to purchase green products (Sun and Wang, 2020; Sun, Li, Wang, 2021), R. Akhtar, S. Sultana, M. Masud, N. Jafrin, A. Al-Mamun studied consumers' environmental ethics, willingness, and green consumerism between lower and higher income groups (Akhtar et al., 2021). The scientific recent literature also raises the following topics: the green consumer behavior (Naidoo and Verma, 2020), heterogeneity in a dual personal values green consumption commitment framework (Le, Tran, Nguyen, Cheng, 2019), motivations behind green consumption and the influence of environmental consciousness on consumer behaviour (Arruda, Cardoso, Barboza, 2017), green product as means of expressing green behaviour (Ogiemwonyi et al., 2020), the effect of ecological congruence on consumers' adoption intentions (Tran and Paparoidamis, 2020), the effect of national culture on pro-environmental behavioural intentions of tourists (He and Filimonau, 2020), antecedents of green consumerism (Caliskan, 2020), the emerging green prosumer culture and profiling green prosumers in the green commodity market (Perera, Hewege, Mai, 2020), the economy of green consumption, cultural transmission and sustainable technological change (Bezin, 2019), effects of environmental values on eco-socially conscious consumer behaviour (Saleem, Eagle, Yaseen, Low, 2018).

The analysis of literature proves the problem of the essence, role and ways of forming a green consumer culture as a determinant of the sustainable development of modern society has not received sufficient coverage. At the same time, this problem is becoming relevant in the context of the global spread of mass culture, the values of which are becoming hedonism and consumerist psychology.

Research methodology

The key methodological tool of this research is the cultural approach. It allows us to analyze and compare such concepts as ecological and consumer culture and on this basis to justify and legitimize in scientific discourse such an integrative concept as ecological consumer culture. Interpretation of environmental and other global problems according to the cultural approach point of view allows us to approach understanding their foundations according to the human-dimensional vision of aspects of the functioning of the “society-nature” system, as well as solve them on the basis of a person's value attitude to the environment and to themself. This makes possible not only to model the ways of building a green consumer culture, but also to determine the model of behavior of humanity as a whole and each individual in terms of managing their actions. In accordance with the principles of sustainability (equilibrium or imbalance), this approach allows us to determine the balance between human activity, the pressure of this activity on nature and the rational limits of this influence.

At the same time, the best practices of environmental pedagogy and environmental psychology are important. They allow you to form a holistic view of the relationships in the world. This view is determined by activity-based and emotional-value approaches to natural phenomena and creatures. These approaches allow to reveal the key elements of the formation of green consumer culture as a dimension of the general culture of an individual.

The activity-based approach plays a significant role in this study. It provides for the possibility of considering green consumer culture as a type of human activity, an activity-based way of assimilating reality. However, in contrast to the modern vision of the activity-based approach as a transformative way of human self-affirmation in nature, we proceed from the idea of a green consumer culture as a way to transform human behavior in the direction of a more balanced, socially and environmentally responsible way of practical activity.

In addition, the pillars of this study are the postulates of coevolution of a human and nature, the principle of environmentally balanced consumption, as well as the conceptual provisions of the ethics of “reverence for life”, “new humanism”, and the strategy of sustainable development as key strategies for the formation of a green consumer culture of an individual by means of education.

In methodological terms, the study of the problem of interaction of society with nature requires the following three levels of its understanding: 1) the general socio-cultural situation in modern society, which involves the analysis of both invariant for western culture value attitudes in their aspect study, and specific cultural and historical prerequisites for the formation of a moral and value attitude to nature; 2) morphology of strategies of moral and valuable attitude to nature with the study of their essence, content, relationships and mutual influence; 3) dynamics and features of the implementation of these strategies in society, conditions and means of their legitimization, concretization in the form of certain ideologies.

Material

In a broad sense, environmental culture (and, ultimately, green consumer culture) is a qualitative indicator of culture as an ideal to strive for, it is a new type of culture with a rethinking of values that are focused on finding a mechanism for environmentally sound activities in nature and society.

Culture is the process and result of separating a person from nature, creating a new reality and way of existence, the so-called “second nature”. The content of culture is the historical change in the natural and social conditions of human life, the development of human forces and abilities, that is, the formation and disclosure of the essence of a person both in themself and in all the richness and diversity of the reality created by them. Culture is a specific way of organizing and developing human life, represented in the products of material and spiritual work, in the system of social norms and attitudes, in spiritual values, in the totality of people's attitude to nature, to others and to themselves. Culture as a set of knowledge, skills, ideas, images and ideals, materialized and ideal values determines the attitude of people to the natural environment through a range of needs and interests.

Based on this understanding of culture, it is possible to formulate the concept of environmental culture as an integral component of universal culture, which contains social relations, moral values, norms and ways of human interaction with the environment. Therefore, the aggregate concept of environmental culture expresses the unity of culture and the ecological component of human existence.

In the works of M. Kogan, culture appears in a form of being, compatibility with its other subsystems - nature, human and society (Kagan, 1994, p. 195-197). According to V. Krysachenko, environmental culture is a goal-setting activity of a person (including the consequences of such activities) in accordance with their own needs and intentions (Krysachenko, 2020). Thus, it is clear that environmental culture is addressed to the natural environment and the inner world of human in their unity and interrelation. Most modern researchers come to the conclusion that environmental culture consists in the internal properties of the individual, which harmonize the relationship between human and nature and ensure human self-realization within the ecological framework.

According to M. Moiseev, the ecological component is a tool that forms the worldview of the ecological stage of development of universal culture. He claimed that “the ability to use and regulate the power of modern society correctly means “environmental culture” and “ecological thinking” (Moiseev, 1997, p. 5).

Harbingers of modern understanding of ecology can be considered in the works of naturalists and geographers of the XVIII-XIX centuries. As we know, German biologist E. Haeckel proposed the term “ecology” in 1866 in his book “General Morphology of Organisms”, according to which ecology is the science of the organism's relationship with the surrounding outside world, which includes in a broader sense all existential conditions (Ocherki, 1970, p. 15-16). Thanks to the creativity of E. Haeckel, scientists were increasingly focusing on the specifics of adaptive relations in the “organism-environment” system, including in the “society-nature” system, because of which environmental knowledge becomes interdisciplinary, expanding the research area of ecology as a science. Today, the concept of “ecology” has acquired a broader meaning than at the beginning of its existence, which is due to the actualization of environmental issues, the transfer of environmental problems to the global level.

Even before the publication of E. Haeckel's works, K. Rulier raised the question of the variability of adaptation and migration of living beings depending on the natural environment, emphasizing the importance of the influence of human activity on the nature of the Earth. V. Solovyov drew attention to the moral and valuable meaning of economic development, and M. Umov emphasized the problem of fundamental limitations of living space and resources on Earth (Zelenkov, et al., 2011, p.80).

Since the mid-twentieth century, ecology has been understood as the science of ecosystems and the biosphere. V. Vernadsky, V. Dokuchaev, Y. Odum and others considered the Earth's ecosystem and biosphere as the highest level of organization of life on the planet. According to scientists, the biosphere, like any living system, is capable of self-regulation, self-preservation, self-reproduction, and evolution. The sphere of existence of living organisms on Earth (biosphere) and the sphere of mind (noosphere) were described by V. Vernadsky in order to determine the nature of the influence of society as a powerful geological factor on the natural environment (Vernadsky, 1989; 1990). The natural environment has a diverse impact on the development of society, and society and nature are a single dynamic system. M. Reimers carried out research and systematization of patterns of interaction between society and nature, generalized them in four key areas (Reimers, 1992; 1994). B. commoner formulated the laws of ecology that explain the basic principles of the existence of biotics, as well as contain ideas about the need to maintain balance in the “nature-culture” system (Commoner, 1974).

The general opinion of researchers is that with the appearance of human on the planet Earth, with its development, reproduction, migration, adaptation and activation of activity in the biosphere, processes of a special, anthropogenic nature began to develop. From the very beginning, human behavior in the environment began to differ from the behavior of other higher beings by special aggressiveness; a person did not manifest themself as an equal cohabitant of the environment, but as a conqueror, rapist, and consumer, not capable of self-restraint (Belyavsky and Furduy, 1997).

At the same time, human and the natural environment are two integral components of life on Earth. Ignorance of the nature laws, the lack of harmonious relations between human and nature have created a threat to humanity (Seminozhenko, et al., 2003, p. 241). Human is a part of nature that belongs to his own social world. The very attitude of human to nature is not just a natural, but also a social phenomenon. That is why only social means can solve the problem of the relationship between society and nature (Seminozhenko, et al., 2003, p.302). Each person is a part of nature, which constantly feels the influence of both the natural environment and society, which affects nature as a whole. However, we must recognize that the main cause of the environmental crisis is the lack of people's perception of the reverse effect of the consequences of society's influence on nature.

Thus, the formation and development of society took place together with local and regional environmental crises of anthropogenic origin. The global environmental crisis of our time is a reflection of the essential qualities of the “human-nature-society” system. E. Fromm asks the question: `How did a person who received a complete victory over nature turn into a prisoner of them own creations, and even with the threat of destroying themself?' (Fromm, 1998, p.33). We can answer this question by looking at it from two global aspects: technological and moral. The technological aspect is a consequence of humanity's consumer attitude to nature throughout its history. The moral aspect is a consequence of the spiritual crisis that has engulfed the very essence of human, who, having lost faith in God, gradually lost faith in themself and in progress.

In the 1970s, the futurological models of the Club of Rome turned the attention of the world community with their pessimistic conclusions, which led to discussions about the ecological component of world development. In particular, J. Forrester made a critical analysis of the first model of world dynamics, proved the low predictive efficiency of global models of the future, which are based solely on resource parameters (Forrester, 2018). The following projects of forecasting the future, carried out under the leadership of D. Meadows, M. Mesarovic, E. Pestel (Zelenkov, et al., 2011, p. 81; Meadows, 1995; Pestel, 1988; Peccei, 1977), raised the problems of synthesis of expert assessments in the field of socio-economic development and system modeling of socio-political and value- ideological aspects of global dynamics.

Discussions of the 1970s and 1980s (the so-called “ecological decade”), which began during the 1972 UN Conference on the environment in Stockholm, provided material for understanding the dynamics of both local and regional-global features of the manifestation of the problem of human, social and biosphere relations.

According to the results of the “ecological twenty-year”, it was recognized that the effect of the system of measures carried out within the world economy to improve nature protection and rational use of natural resources was local in nature, in some countries the environmental situation not only stabilized, but also received a tendency to improve (Seminozhenko, et al., 2003). However, in the global dimension, the global socio-ecological situation has not stabilized, but, on the contrary, tends to worsen, processes that indicate an increase in degradation changes in the global ecosystem are intensifying, and this indicates that the preservation of modern trends and stereotypes of nature management leads to a violation of the balance of characteristics of socio-natural structures. Therefore, a clear position was put forward that fixes the need to develop a national strategy and concretizes global approaches (Seminozhenko, et al., 2003, p. 5).

Since the second half of the twentieth century, the ideological aspect of socio-economic development, taking into account the environmental factor, has become an actual topic of philosophical, socio-humanitarian, cultural studies, the general conclusion of which was the idea that changes in society's relations to the natural environment are impossible without changing “human qualities” (Zelenkov, et al., 2011, p. 81; Peccei, 1977). As a result, there were formed such new scientific directions as ethnic ecology, cultural ecology, and ecological anthropology.

In particular, A. Kardiner justified the need to take into account the influence of the natural environment, environmental conditions of existence on the psychological qualities of an individual. In his opinion, primary social institutions (type of economy, method of substantive activity, institution of socialization and life support system) are the result of adaptation of society to specific living conditions, and secondary (religion, mythology, folklore, ritual, technique of thinking, etc.) are the effect of their influence on human thinking (Kardiner, 1945).

Culture, on the one hand, is the result of the development of relations between human and nature, and on the other hand - the level of its development depends on the ways and forms of interaction of humanity with the environment. A. Makaryan identifies three subsystems in the structure of culture: 1) natural and ecological, 2) socio-ecological, and 3) socio-regulatory (Markaryan, 1981).

It is necessary to consider environmental culture from two sides. First, it is a set of certain actions, technologies of human development of nature, which ensure at least a stable balance in the “human - environment" system. Secondly, it is a theoretical branch of knowledge about the place of human in the biosphere as an active being, which organizes structural and functional blocks of the biosphere, and as an allgrowing factor in regulating its state.

Scientists identify three components of environmental culture that determine its content: 1) the level of environmental knowledge (intellectual component); 2) the level of environmental consciousness and behavior in nature (value component); 3) the stock of practical skills and abilities for nature protection (activity component). It is the combination of these three components (activity, value and intellectual) that determines the nature and content of the formation of environmental culture. Given them, it is possible to achieve sustainable development of the modern world.

V. Mezhzherin interprets environmental culture as a reality determined by the time when science, technology, religion, philosophy, astrology, literature, art - all these things together create a way of life for a person. A person ensures a state of normality when they interacts with the true world through ecological culture. Thus, environmental culture is the highest form of human adaptability. The development of environmental culture means the appearance on the planet Earth of a new type of person - ecological man (Mezhzherin, 2002).

According to a number of concepts, environmental culture is a complex dynamic development system. At the same time, some authors, reproducing the spatial model of environmental culture, distinguish such basic components as an ecocentric worldview, ecological consciousness, ecological thinking, environmental values and attitudes, environmentally sound activities, and so on. It means, the ecological imperative is generally primitive in relation to the moral one. Human intuitively laid it in the traditions of nature management, mythological and religious worldview, practical activities and creativity. Consequently, the entire system of values of environmental culture is guided by the fulfillment by a person of the requirements of the ecological imperative (Ignatova, et al. 2010).

Considering the concept of environmental culture, scientists distinguish two approaches to its definition:

environmental culture as a general philosophical category, which is characterized by the specifics of the interaction of human, society and nature in various historical times and is the subject of philosophical research. It can be expressed through a system of such philosophical concepts as public ecological worldview, public ecological consciousness, global ecological thinking, universal humanistic ideas, values and ideals, beliefs and principles, ways of cognition and activity, ethical norms and rules, morality, and so on.

environmental culture as an integrative personal quality of an individual, which characterizes its behavior and activity in the socio-natural environment, which is based on the worldview of an individual, is the result of a complex interaction of social and individual worldview.

According to the first approach, environmental culture is a manifestation of the interaction of human and nature, which ensures their interrelated sustainable (coevolutionary) development, when the activity and behavior of an individual and all mankind adapts to natural processes and is carried out within the permitted environmental and moral imperatives (Ignatova, et al. 2010).

We will identify the key provisions that allow to understand the phenomenon of environmental culture as a necessary condition for the transition of society to sustainable (coevolutionary) development:

Environmental culture is a systematic concept. It is considered as a corresponding socio-ecological system, and the process of its formation is considered as the formation of this system. This approach makes it possible to determine the role and significance of individual factors that form environmental culture, their interrelations and relationships.

Environmental culture is a variable concept. Its content and essential content can be quite variable depending on the category of students, type of professional activity, national traditions, and so on.

Environmental culture is an activity-based, behavioral concept. Environmental behavior of specific people, their actions that are directly related to the impact on the environment and the use of natural resources. This behavior is determined by the peculiarities of ecological consciousness.

Environmental culture is a social concept. It is the level of environmental culture of the population that determines the ecological status of the country. The social meaning of environmental culture is to create conditions for the transition to the information society. There are three components of ecological culture as a social system that affect the formation of individual environmental culture: a) environmental culture of the population, b) environmental culture of the social environment, c) environmental culture of the natural environment in the place of residence. The quality of environmental culture depends on the social environment and on the environmental culture of the population. The environmental culture of the social environment is reflected in the objects of material culture that represent the relationship of society with nature.

Environmental culture is an informational concept. Informatization of almost all spheres of life of an individual and humanity as a whole is one of the main manifestations of the globalization process. Three factors are determined by which the transition of humanity will acquire new qualities: ecological “limits of growth”, the trend of moral degradation or “cultural crisis”, and the social polarization of society. The quality of the information ecological space is reflected in the number and quality of publications of mass media covering environmental events. In particular, actions and protest demonstrations of the environmental direction have a great impact on the information ecological space. They are a reflection of the society's opinion.

Thus, we can state the evolutionary transformation of environmental culture into a culture of sustainable development. Culture of sustainable development is a new quality of environmental culture which is achieved by expanding all components of environmental culture: 1) the cognitive component (that is, the content, knowledge component) is responsible for integrating environmental, economic and social knowledge and understanding such a comprehensive phenomenon as the sustainable development of society; 2) the axiological or value-meaning component is responsible for shifting the scale of values towards environmental values, environmental education, environmental informational space and environmental citizenship; 3) the activity component (practice-oriented, behavioral component) provides for the integration of various types of environmental and educational activities, intensive introduction of information technologies for searching, storing, processing and summarizing information.

For a detailed analysis, it is necessary to pay attention to the structure of production and consumption, which are the main cause of environmental degradation in the world. This structure does not provide sustainability, dynamic stability of ecosystems and the biosphere as a whole. Wasteful material and consumer lifestyle is reflected in nature, and environmental culture, in its significance, offers such a way of life support, in which society with a system of spiritual values, ethical principles, economic mechanisms, legal norms and social institutions will form needs and ways to implement them, without causing a threat to life on the Earth.

In order to determine the essence of green consumer culture, it is necessary to consider the content components of the concept of consumer culture. Culture programs all types of human activity. Therefore, there is a culture of work, a culture of being, an economic culture, an artistic culture, a political culture, a sexual culture, a family culture, and a consumer culture. Consumer culture is very important for humans, because there is no person on the planet who would not be covered by this culture. Consumer culture is a set of material and spiritual values, knowledge, ideas and norms of consumer behavior that have social significance and are implemented in practical activities. Consumer culture is of great importance in the general culture of the individual and affects the development of all its components (knowledge, quality, value orientations, etc.). In a broad sense, consumer culture helps us to understand the totality of achievements of society in the field of organizing consumption of the population. In a narrow sense, consumer culture is the attitude of society and its individual members to consumption, the ability to rationalize it, economically and carefully treat consumer goods. So, consumer culture is the knowledge, skills, value priorities that provide for the formation of a person's established, environmentally balanced habits and models of everyday behavior, awareness of legal and social security of consumer rights, economically feasible activities (Vysotska, 2011a).

Within the framework of socialist ideology, the concept of consumer culture was considered from the point of view of social goals. Thus, rational consumption assumed a balance of orientation “on oneself' and “on society”. It was opposed by the philistine type of consumption, based on the dominant orientation “on oneself'. It was contrary to the public interest and the principles of socialist distribution. In turn, the development of a decent consumer culture provided for the education of a harmoniously developed individual, for whom philistinism and consumerism were a path to spiritual impoverishment and moral disintegration.

Obviously, this view of consumer culture is one-dimensional. Sources of consumer culture are the following: accumulation and transition of knowledge, patterns, norms, and values from one generation to another. Internal innovations (following fashion, changing lifestyle) and external borrowing (new trends in world and national culture) enrich consumer culture. Types of consumer culture include individual (personal) culture, socio-group culture, and public culture. Each of these types has its own essential characteristic.

Consumer culture is a super-individual reality that is directly created by people through social institutions such as the state, business, church, and education. Therefore, the consumer culture in different countries differs significantly. In addition, it is constantly changing depending on specific socio-economic conditions.

In contrast to consumer culture, the consumerist culture (culture of affluenza) is characterized by an extraordinary immersion in material consumer needs that are artificial and excessive in nature. In the conditions of market dictates, consumer society departs from the natural component of satisfaction of needs and creates conditions for symbolic consumption, when a person is immersed in the unreal world of signs that, as they believe, will bring them social prestige and happiness (Baudrillard, 2006). In these circumstances, the culture that should give meaning to human existence is suspended or even excluded. Its place is taken by another culture based on the dictates of things. Thus, people attach excessive importance to property and wealth, as if great abundance is equivalent to great happiness. The symbolism of things replaced in the collective unconscious the symbolism of archetypes as generally cultural sacred images, when the prestigious car, like the champagne-filled bath, themselves were reincarnated as archetypes. Non-stop consumption makes people blind in their desires.

Rejection of the consumerist culture is possible due to the assimilation of a new ecological consumer culture associated with the transition of modern society to sustainable development as a process of harmonization of the economic, social and environmental components of development. The 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio (also known as Rio+20) drew attention to the fact that the traditional model of economy development has lost its effectiveness. Therefore, humanity must significantly change the model of consumption and socio-economic development towards the principles of sustainable development and the “green economy” model. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), a “green economy” should improve people's well-being and ensure social justice, but at the same time significantly reduce risks to the environment (A new decade of action, 2021). In other words, a “green economy” is an economy with minimal waste, which makes efficient use of natural resources and meets the interests of all members of society. Within the framework of the “green economy” model, production should be based on the principles of the common good and focus on the culture of green consumption.

“Green consumption” or “environmentally friendly” consumption, environmental consumption, and related terms - ethical consumption, responsible consumption - reveal a relatively new type of consumer behavior or consumer activism. According to the concept of green consumption, reducing the anthropogenic burden on the environment is possible through the rational use of natural resources, that is, reducing the impact of toxic substances on the human body. Green consumption precedes the consumption of products and goods manufactured using technologies that do not pose a threat to the environment and human health. Green consumption is a certain way of life, which is built on the knowledge of the need to protect natural resources and contribute to the preservation of the environment (Vysotska, 2012a).

The main task of the green consumption is to prevent the negative impact of production, transportation and disposal of products and goods through the promotion of new environmentally friendly technologies and the formation of consumers' conscious attitude to the obtained goods, understanding the relationship between their daily actions and the impact on the environment (Vysotska, 2012a).

Ethical consumption as a social phenomenon is quite new for the world community and is practically absent in Ukraine. This type of consumption originated in consumer societies and consumer cooperatives, where people united in order to protect their consumer interests, namely: the quality of goods, informing manufacturers about the real characteristics of their goods and tightening labeling requirements.

There are following main principles of ethical consumption:

Ethical shopping experience. Every purchase is a moral choice. Choosing a particular brand, when choosing goods and services, each person also chooses the manufacturer's company, taking into account personal moral principles.

Ethical use of resources. It is aimed at using alternative energy sources (insulation of houses for heat saving purposes, purchase of energy-saving goods, installation of meters).

Ethical waste consumption. It involves reducing consumption, re-consuming, maximizing waste recycling or disposal, and reducing waste by eliminating unnecessary items.

In fact, the problem of consumption depends on the personal ethical principles of each buyer. For example, here is a dilemma question. Which purchase would be more ethical: organic vegetables that are grown abroad, or buying non-organic vegetables that are grown by a local farmer? In such a situation, there can be no single ethical principle that applies to all buyers. Thus, products that are positioned as ethical may not always be produced by ethical companies.

Based on the above, an important task of socialization in society of sustainable development is the formation of an appropriate green consumer culture both at the level of economic relations and organization of production, and at the domestic level of certain value orientations, lifestyle and behavior.

The current environmental crisis is the result of the dominance of the traditional model of economic development as endless progress, which did not take into account the environmental factor of human development. Harmonization of the economical and environmental components of development is impossible without taking into account the moral norms prevailing in society.

To greenen the modern economy, it is necessary not only to change the nature of production, but also to change the consumer culture. Consumer values should be based primarily on environmental needs and values and the culture of green consumption.

Consumer culture is a functioning program for the use of consumer goods by members of society. It includes various components of culture, including the idea of consumer values and norms regulating consumption, education as an essential mechanism of culture that forms an individual's level of social maturity sufficient to ensure the autonomy and independence of the individual.

Consumption has always served to meet vital needs for food, clothing, and housing. However, with the development of industrial relations, the standard of living Rose, which led to an increase in the demands of humanity.

The problem of developing consumer culture is multifaceted. To understand the problem of forming a cultural personality within consumer behavior, it is necessary to analyze the ratio of needs and opportunities of personal life activity of an individual, and then correlate the results of this analysis with the needs and opportunities of socially organized activities.

In ancient times, the problems of demonstrative consumption aroused interest. Even ancient Greek thinkers developed principles for understanding a person's attitude to desires and needs. Thus, Plato preached the need for the soul to seek good, Aristotle set the rule of the golden mean in determining piety, and Epicurus gave a characteristic-classification of the relationship between pleasure and moral values.

J. Baudrillard formulated the philosophical essence of the new mode of human existence and culture in the work “Consumer Society”. It consists in the fact that people in a society of affluence are surrounded not as much as it was at all times, by other people, but by objects of consumption. Their daily communication consists not in communicating with their own kind, but in receiving, in accordance with the growing statistical curve, goods and messages and manipulating them (Baudrillard, 2006). J. Baudrillard argues that consumption is not limited only by the satisfaction of needs, but expresses a person's attitude to things, ideas, other people, to the world as a whole, when the process of consumption is the idea of relationships between people, which is consumed.

Karl Marx was one of the first to analyze needs. He divided the needs into several groups: biological and social needs, individual and collective needs, primary and industrial needs. K. Marx and F. Engels formulated the “law of increasing needs”. According to it, new human needs appear in the course of the development of the material basis that allows them to be satisfied. After meeting actual needs, higher-level needs take their place, turning from latent to actual (Marx, 1974).

According to Karl Marx, the main human needs arise and manifest themselves in the relations of human with nature and in relations between people. Purposeful work activity meets all human needs. Labor becomes the main, fundamental need of the entire human race. Karl Marx addresses the criticism of capitalism with its profit values (Marx, 1974).

A. Maslow's Pyramid of needs is important for understanding the essence of consumption. According to the scientist, seven classes of needs appear in the process of becoming personality. At the same time, the lower the need is, the more significant it becomes if it is not implemented (Maslow, 1999). A. Maslow argued that after satisfying physiological needs, needs for security, love and respect, the need for selfactualization inevitably becomes more acute. Even if all these needs are satisfied, often (if not always) we can expect that soon there will be anxiety and discontent again if a person does not do what one was created for (Maslow, 1999).

The analysis of the material on the problem of consumption allowed to develop the following structure of the consumption culture:

1. Values are the result of the subject's assessment of the comparative qualities of several objects from the point of view of their own or those receiving as their own public interests. Valuation takes place on two scales: use value and exchange value. Through the lenses of values, a person structures the environment, decomposing objects and phenomena according to the criteria of their value and usefulness.

2. Norms are the rules and examples of behavior that are formed by culture. These are, in particular, ideals, examples, minimal acceptable models, and models of unacceptable behavior. Norms can manifest themselves in various cultural forms: a) law is the norms of behavior established by law; b) morality is the norms of human behavior; c) customs are the norms of everyday life that are passed down from generation to generation; the main feature of customs is continuity; d) religion is a set of norms that are prescribed by God or gods; e) fashion is formed patterns of certain behavior depending on a particular reference group; f) language is a means of communication through symbols; all people of the same culture understand it; g) sanctions are the reaction of certain culture representatives to the degree of compliance with cultural norms.

Ideas and components of consumer culture can only be conditionally called sustainable. In fact, they are in a constant process of change and reproduction. Consumer culture consists of objective and subjective factors. Objective factors are the characteristics features of goods, the conditions for their purchase and sale, that is, what exists regardless of consumption. Subjective factors are a reflection of an individual's attitude to the product and its properties.

We can distinguish three levels of consumer culture: 1. Optimal level - a person consumes material and spiritual goods in accordance with the level of their capabilities. 2. Excessive level - a person consumes significantly more of their capabilities at the expense of others (that is, they live in debt). 3. Reduced level - a person consumes less than historically concluded norms, limits their consumer opportunities due to economic or psychological reasons.

A certain type of consumer culture is basically formed either by the majority of society or by its elite, which has enough resources to impose its tastes as a manifestation of the “true” culture. The dynamics of consumer culture is manifested in the rapid change of tastes, fashion, set of consumed items and services, in the form of their presentation and interpretation (“beautiful” can turn into “ugly” and, conversely, “prestigious” - into “old-fashioned”) (Ilyin, 2008). One of the manifestations of consumer culture is the structure of goods consumed in the same market. There is a distinction between the culture of consumption housing, clothing, food, and other consumer goods. The spread of an excessive level of consumer culture is accompanied by a moral crisis of society, the transformation of values and behavioral models towards consumerism (Ilyin, 2008).

Consumer culture is closely linked to the general culture and mentality of people. It is reproduced and passed down from generation to generation. It is from the first days until the end of life that a person learns to consume. Therefore, the reasonableness of consumption does not consist in limiting needs, but in satisfying them in a rational way.