Childhood, Consumption, Sustainability Mission Impossible?

1. Childhood, Consumption, Sustainability Mission Impossible? Hawke Intersections Seminar University of South Australia Sue Nichols Oct 23 2009

2. Zero Waste SA Research Centre The partnership between Zero Waste SA and the University of South Australia has been established to research: • Behavioural change • Measuring consumption and ecological footprint • Resource efficiency and life cycle measurement • Decision making Zero Waste SA is a state government organisation which: • promotes waste management practices that eliminate waste or its consignment to landfill; • advances the development of resource recovery and recycling; • provides grants to local councils, the waste industry and business • raises community awareness about waste management; • supports research into waste management practices and issues.

3. Multidisciplinary Research Team • Sue Nichols (Education) • Sharon Russo (Education) • Tom Stehlik (Education) • Christy Ward (Education) • Anne Sharp (Centre for Sustainable Marketing) • Collette Snowden (Communications) • Kathleen Connelan (Art & Design) • Janet Whitton (PhD student) • Katie Maher (Research Assistant)

4. Sustainable childhood consumption Forms of progress that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. (World Commission on Environment and Development) The knowing of and desiring of goods as well as their purchase; the viewing and touching of things as much as their ownership. Consumption gains meaning out of the social relationships through which it occurs. (Cook, 2008) The early years of life spent growing and learning to participate in social contexts, usually under the care of family and older community members.

5. Sustainable consumption sustainability • satisfying basic human needs (not the desire for “wants” and luxuries); • privileging quality of life concerns over material standards of living; • minimising resource use, waste and pollution; • taking a life-cycle perspective in consumer decision-making; and • acting with concern for future generations. (Sustainable Consumption, DEST 2004) consumption

6. A gap in scholarship sustainability Journals: Early Years, Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood and Australian Journal of Early Childhood Key words: environment(al), sustainab(le/ility), garden, waste, recycling Findings: Only five relevant articles, all of them discussing children’s learning and play in the outdoor environment. Journals: Environmental Education Research, Australian Journal of Environmental Education, Organization and Environment Key words: preschool, kindergarten, early, children, childhood Findings: Only three relevant articles. Davis (2005) describes a kindergarten’s integration of sustainability objectives across all its programs; Strife and Downey (2009) advocate for children’s access to the natural environment and Senier et al (2007) reports on the elimination of toxic chemicals from school environments. childhood

7. Hot Topic By promoting consumerism to children, marketers and advertisers are seeking to breed a new generation of hyper-consumers. (Beder 2009 p. 49) childhood consumption

8. Images of the child as consumer Victim Robbed of childhood Powerless against marketers Consuming toxic products Duped Passive & sedentary Unable to play Agent A new generation child More powerful than parents Consuming enjoyable experiences Knowledgeable An active participant Skilled in new forms of play

9. Claims to treat with caution ‘The child’ is the consumer unit For a child, becoming a consumer is easy & smooth Marketers are the pre-eminent experts on (shaping) children’s desires Children crave novelty

10. Consumption & family identity Toys and artefacts related to favourite narratives were bought for children and used to create mediascaped worlds which permeated family life. These globalized narratives were, through this process, adapted into localized family practices, (Marsh 2006: 25) Family identity is 'mutually constructed' and 'contingent upon shared interactions' including those involved in 'complementary and competing consumption practices' (p.52). Families' 'communication forms draw on shared consumption symbols as resources for constructing and managing relational identities.' (Epp & Price 2008, p.53).

11. A child born in North America or England will consume, waste and pollute more in a lifetime than as many as 50 children in a developing country. (Commission on Development of the World Conference on Religion and Peace cited in McGregor 2002:2). Children’s consumption & sustainability Young people represent a large proportion of total consumption expenditure in affluent societies such as Australia. In 2003 combined youth spending power in eleven major economies including Australia exceeded 750 billion dollars (US). Young Australians spend a large proportion of their money on leisure goods and activities. (Sustainable Consumption Report, DEST 2004)

12. Children as citizens For children it’s about ‘how they see their ‘place’ in the world and how they produce the world to come’. (Katz, 1994) If citizenship is about sustaining public life … then schools have to be seen as places of public life themselves. … Yet schools are expected to treat their members as only ‘in preparation’ for later public life. (Brennan 1996 p. 29)

13. Children as producers and consumers of goods The global division of labor which sees a schism between design, manufacturing, marketing and consumption exacerbates the problem of uncoupling the production of commodities from the social relations and responsibilities that link producers and consumers (Langer, 2004). [ … ] Thus, children fail to learn about the ways in which the products and commodities they consume are produced and their possible social responsibilities to the people and places to whom they are linked. (Khan, 2006, p.46)

14. Perspectives from qualitative research with children & families • Children are given what they do not ask for; • Children value the old as well as the new; • Children value what they have produced; • Children see & participate in family practices of sustainable consumption eg recycling, mending, swapping, handing down;

15. Children value the old as well as the new Young children’s favourite books retain their value even when worn & damaged from repeated readings & handlings. “Its flaps are dog eared and many no longer work. The wheels have been pulled off and the elephant’s head is long gone, but Paige loves the words and she sings to herself while she examines each page.” (Wilkinson 2003 p. 283) Marsh (2004) asked children to take photographs of their favourite things. In many cases children selected not new fads but objects such as dolls, teddies and scooters that have been enjoyed by children for many generations.

16. Children get things they do not ask for You get books either given to you or your little counting books, like you’ll get from birthdays, like when they’re one or two. You’ll get books with numbers and you’ll get inundated. You’ll get a lot. Counting book, alphabet books. Learning to count. Learning – yeah. Learning the alphabet, whatever. Picture alphabets. Animal bloody alphabets. (Debbie)

17. Children value what they have produced. Martha’s drawing of herself as a princess. She told us how old she was when she drew each drawing.

18. Children participate in family practices of sustainable consumption Martha saw her mum putting new straps on an old dress to give it a new look.

19. The Good Green Child? • A focus on nature can divert attention from families’ material cultures • Risks of excluding some children & families • Green consumerism is still consumerism • Moral storylines can simplify the issues

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22. Twinky & Robbie: Green ideal and problem child

25. Engaging with children & families to explore sustainable consumption • Respectful & inclusive • Acknowledging needs for identity & belonging • Stimulating & creative • Looking to the past & the future • Hopeful

26. An entry point: The life of an object • Explore children’s values and meanings related to material possessions; • Extend children’s knowledge about how material goods are made and what happens to them; • Engage families in sharing their practices of extending the lives of material possessions eg by conserving, mending, reconfiguring.

27. “We love old things” • Introducing children to Ollie and Mollie, two characters who love old things; • Inclusive and child-centred approach open to different kinds of value and different meanings of ‘old’; • Encouraging children and families to share stories of treasured possessions; • Thinking about how we can extend the lives and share the joy of the things we love.

28. Want to be involved? sue.nichols@unisa.edu.au