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Young, Vol. 12, No. 2, 137-153 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/1103308804042104

To Consume or Not to Consume?

Young people’s environmentalism in the affluent Finnish society

Minna Autio

University of Helsinki

Visa Heinonen

University of Helsinki

This article looks at Finnish young people’s conceptions of green consumerism. We examine first the discussion of the greening of youth in contemporary society on the basis of earlier studies.Then we present the results of qualitative analysis of the different data concerning environmental consumerism. The data were collected at upper secondary schools in five different locations in Finland. The analysis of the essays and group discussions revealed that young consumers consider green consumerism as recycling, waste management and buying environmentally sound products. However, the analysis of the stories revealed a variety of conceptions about what green consumerism means. In addition, the youngsters were not totally consistent in their thinking about the relationship between consumer behaviour and its consequences to nature.The most aware young people understand that something must be done if our aim is global sustainable development.

Key Words: ethical and green consumerism • humanistic economics • qualitative analysis • sustainable lifestyle • young consumers • youth


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