Sustainability is the biggest challenge facing our world today. Environmental problems threaten not only biodiversity and ecosystem services, but the existence of human race.

The Agenda 21 of the ‘Earth Summit 1992’ indicates that unsustainable consumption and production patterns are the main causes for environmental degradation. Thus changing lifestyle and unsustainable consumption patterns is the most effective strategy and solution for many of our environmental issues.

Thus you, I, our friends and families are the real heroes who can bring about this change. Each one of us can really make a great and positive change by altering our lifestyle and consumption patterns into sustainable ones.

Changing your lifestyle to an environment-friendly one is an even stronger measure than laws and regulations because if companies do not comply with consumers’ sustainability requirements, they will be forced out of the market. That means that consumers should not let companies drive their lifestyle, but consumers themselves should oblige companies to produce the products that are environment friendly.

The smallest change or initiative by consumers can really make big savings. Think about how much can be saved in terms of electrical power if you switch to energy-efficient lighting. The same idea applies to rationalising and conserving water usage. Or for that matter, stop buying fur to save wildlife. The quickest way to dismantle the fur trade is to start with your own habits.

We have to change the way we consume. If we want to have a greener life, we first have to change our consumption prototype. Moreover, by changing our lifestyle, we are not only saving the planet, but also delivering substantial savings in our monthly expenditures.

We need to re-think many of our current consumption patterns from a sustainability point of view. In other words, our consumption has to be green and that means doing something that protects and supports the environment and doing things that take into consideration the carrying capacity and ecological principles. That in turn means that natural resources should be able to support current as well as future generations.

In this regard, it is very important to encourage companies to apply the eco-labels for products that are environment-friendly in all phases i.e., design, production and disposal. Disposal especially, is very crucial and producers should be responsible for the retrieval of the consumed product and its recycling or safe disposal.

The United Nations recognised Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) as an overarching theme to link environmental and development challenges in Rio+0 (1992) and Rio+20 (2012) through the Ten-year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (10YFP).

The definition proposed in the 1994 Oslo Symposium on Sustainable Consumption defines SCP as ‘the use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimising the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as emissions of waste and pollutants over the lifecycle of the service or product, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations’.

Changing lifestyle and consumption patterns is very important for the Arab World, especially since the Arab World consumes many global imported products. Many of these products are not environment-friendly and drive people towards more and more consumption, which is unsustainable, unhealthy and pollute the environment after final disposal of these goods. Many examples can be cited here. Take, for instance, the unlimited foreign fast food options that have invaded our communities, the extravagance in water and energy consumption and the thousands of electronic devices that are used without a proper disposal plan or recycling facilities.

I am a true believer of the saying that ‘the power is always with people’. Only people can make a real change if they all join together. The power of people is invincible. If people believe in a value or principle and are determined to achieve it, then it will definitely be achieved. So if people change their lifestyle to a sustainable one by buying green products, that will greatly help in saving the forests, fish and other natural resources and reversing global warming. That is simple because cooperations can help change production patterns to sustainable ones as well as meet people’s demands.

However, to be fair, changing consumption patterns is not a magic tool to solve all environmental problems of the planet. It is definitely a very vital step in the right direction, but we need to reduce what we buy, reuse products whenever possible and recycle all types of products. Raise awareness of these values and ethics of responsible consumption among various sectors of the society, especially younger people so that they can think as trustworthy citizens first before thinking as consumers.

Dr Mohammad Abdel Raouf is an independent environmental researcher.