Introduction to this week

Welcome to week 4! We have reached the final week of the course. This week, we are exploring responsible consumption and will address what role we as consumers can play. You will be asked to consider such aspects as buying a new pair of jeans and shopping for groceries without packaging.

First, we will learn more about consumer behaviour and what characterises a responsible consumer. Then, we will explore what responsible marketing might look like in practice. We will investigate UK food retailer Waitrose and their initiative called ‘Waitrose Unpacked’, whereby their customers bring containers from home that they fill with loose food products, such as pasta and lentils. Our attention then turns to IKEA and their initiatives around encouraging consumers to live more sustainably. We will also pay a visit to the world’s first recycling mall. Finally, we will learn more about the Sharing Economy, ‘where borrowing is the new buying’.

As in previous weeks, there is a quiz and an end-of-week test to challenge you.

We have really enjoyed having you onboard and will be sad to see you leave. At the end of the week, we will provide you with some suggestions of where you may wish to go next in terms of continuing to engage with sustainability, both intellectually and practically.

Wishing you a great week!