The Sustainable Consumption Research and Action Initiative (SCORAI) is organizing an international conference "The Future of Consumerism and Well-Being in a World of Ecological Constraints" to be held on June 12-14, 2013, at Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. 
The conference seeks:

• To improve understanding of the complex driving forces underlying prevalent consumerist lifestyles in the wealthy parts of the globe.
• To generate insights about fostering a necessary transition toward alternative ways of pursuing individual and societal well-being in a technological society cognizant of ecological limits.
• To build on recent developments to establish a vibrant global research community focused on sustainable consumption.

Deadline for abstract submissions is October 1, 2012.

An inception meeting of a Task Force on Green Development and Sustainable Consumption in China  of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development was held on 21-22 of September in Beijing. The goal of the Task Force is to study relationships between green development and sustainable consumption and to devise policy recommendations for China's strategy for sustainable development.

Final conference of the SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 project in Brussels

Save the date - 26 and 27th November 2012 - for the final Sustainable Lifestyles conference where final results of the SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 project will be presented.

The two-day conference will present the outcomes of the SPREAD project and support actions towards reaching sustainable lifestyles in 2050. The first half of day one, the SPREAD consortium will demonstrate four different scenarios for sustainable living in 2050, detail roles and recommendations for policy makers, businesses, civil society and researchers from 2012 to 2050 and present an agenda for future research needs.

The second half of day 1 and day 2 have the aim to support common actions. Practitioners will present their promising approaches for new business models, products and services, social innovation on a market place. Break-out sessions will allow for detailed knowledge exchange and action-planning on topics such as choice influencing, local actions, sufficiency, value creation models, health, happiness and many more. 

The conference will take place at the Flemish Parliament & the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in Brussels.