About

This blog was originally created to host a research project questioning what sustainability could look like, learning from examples from ‘everyday activists’ challenging western mainstream lifestyle ideals. As a result of the research, a series of toolkits were developed to support them and others in their endeavour of living their lives in line with their values.

Subsequently, this blog has become a place to store my ongoing reflections and questioning of ‘this civilisation in which we find ourselves’.

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If the current widespread model of a desirable/appropriate/normal lifestyle often leads to dissatisfaction, inequalities and social and environmental injustice, why should we continue following the same path without questioning whether there might be alternatives?1 2 3

This project seeks to open up discussions about the normalisation of lifestyles, looking at examples from people currently engaging in changes, aiming to develop means to give support, convey and promote questioning initiatives, recognizing the importance of taking agency over personal choices to meet our values.

Explore the blog section to learn more about the research process.

Mission Statement:
The present project constitutes a research about Alternatives Practices* in an urban context, arguing that their study could contribute in dialogues for the definition of sustainability by questioning and re-visioning what the “needs of the present”4 and the “needs of future generations”5 could and/or should be.

*In this context, alternative practices are described as those which are currently followed by a minority, in opposition or as a response against the westernised widespread conventions generally identified as the norm.

1. Latouche, Serge. Farewell to Growth. Cambridge, Uk: Polity Press, 2009. 31. Print.
2. Soper, Kate, and Lyn Thomas. “Alternative Hedonism: a theory and politics of consumption.” Cultures of Consumption 1. Web. 4 Jul 2011.
3. Spratt, Stephen, Andrew Simms, Eva Neitsert, and Josh Ryan-Collins. The Great Transition. London, Uk: New Economics Foundation, 2010. 3-8. eBook.
4. Gro, Brundtland. Our common future / World Commission on Environment and
Development. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1987. 24. eBook.
5. ibid.