The transformation of sustainable lifestyle practices in ecoclubs

Abstract

The lifestyle and consumption habits of individuals are crucial in the question of ecological sustainability. Current consumption patterns need to be changed, requiring societies to shift cultural norms and create new consumer habits which are within planetary boundaries. In the practices of teaching sustainable consumption in higher education participatory and action-oriented research and teaching methods can facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable lifestyle for students. In this paper, we present a method operating at the boundary of education and research, the so-called ecoclubs, based on the characteristics of cooperative inquiry and transformative learning. Ecoclubs enable systematic and democratic knowledge creation to achieve concrete social change. In this paper, we explore how the method can promote transformation in the knowledge, attitude and everyday practices of the participating students regarding a sustainable lifestyle. To analyse the transformative potential of ecoclubs we used qualitative content analysis on 38 semi-structured interviews and reflection diaries of co-researchers of ecoclubs. The results show that according to the members of the ecoclubs, the most important characteristics of this non-formal education are the community, autonomy of decision-making, knowledge sharing and experience-based format. From the students' point of view, these characteristics can contribute to their higher level of engagement with sustainability and additional changes in their lifestyle.