More fun with less stuff: can we improve well-being through less environmentally intensive activities?

Amy Isham to present CUSP paper at 4th Annual BrEPS Conference, introducing her recent findings on ‘flow’ activities as an environmentally friendly route to enhanced well-being
UCL, 26-27 June 2017

CC.0 :: Ashley Bath / unsplash.com

Excessively desiring material goods is both unsustainable and detrimental to human well-being. Consequently, alternative ways of living well within ecological limits must be uncovered. Flow, an optimal experience of total immersion in a challenging activity, has been associated with enhanced well-being. However, the environmental costs of more or less flow-conducive activities remains largely unexamined.

This paper tests the proposal that in addition to enhancing well-being, activities that allow for the experience of flow also tend to have a low environmental impact. In order to do this, we analysed reports concerning the well-being and daily experiences of 500 US families. Results demonstrated that engaging in more intense and frequent flow experiences were related to greater well-being. Further, activities which proved to be more flow-conducive did tend to have a lower environmental impact. A group of activities that encouraged the experience of flow in the absence of great environmental costs were isolated and these centred around 5 themes. Namely, romantic relationships, spirituality, creative hobbies, physical exercise, and granting time to other people.

Accordingly, pursuing flow presents itself as a promising means of living well within environmental limits. The specification of five activity themes provides a starting point from which we can begin to understand the activities and structures that need to be promoted in order to achieve a ‘more fun with less stuff’ ideal.

ABOUT

This years conference of the British Environmental Psychology Society will focus on environmentally sustainable behaviour and healthy, resilient places, bringing together researchers from the UK and beyond who are exploring the interactions between people and the physical and natural environments in which they live and work.

FURTHER READING

Sustainable prosperity must encompass human flourishing within the ecological limits of a finite planet. But to what extent can sustainable wellbeing be achieved alongside personal values focused on money, image and consumer goods?—Amy Isham summarising her recent journal article with Birgitta Gatersleben and Tim Jackson.
Sustainable prosperity must encompass human flourishing within the ecological limits of a finite planet. But to what extent can sustainable wellbeing be achieved alongside personal values focused on money, image and consumer goods?—Amy Isham summarising her recent journal article with Birgitta Gatersleben and Tim Jackson.
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Capitalism is broken. The relentless pursuit of more has delivered climate catastrophe, social inequality and financial instability—and left us ill prepared for life in a global pandemic. Weaving together philosophical reflection, economic insight and social vision, Tim Jackson’s passionate and provocative book dares us to imagine a world beyond capitalism—a place where relationship and meaning take precedence over profits and power. Post Growth is both a manifesto for system change and an invitation to rekindle a deeper conversation about the nature of the human condition.
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Research suggests that the excessive focus on the acquisition of material goods promoted by our consumer society may be detrimental to well-being. Current Western lifestyles, which promote unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, therefore risk failing to bring citizens the happiness they seek.
Arts
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