Zero Waste Lifestyle Movement in Urban China 

Growing consumption and resource-intensive lifestyle in China have significant environmental impact, yet sociological studies of sustainable consumption in China are few. This study examines the motivations and challenges of a group of environmentally conscious citizens who are reducing household waste generation in China's largest social media-based sustainable lifestyle community GoZero Waste. I collected data through 41 in-depth interview, 500 survey, and 7-month participant observation. 

The demographic of this group resembles sustainable consumers' profiles in literature, who are highly educated, relatively well-off, young, and female-dominant. Environmental responsibility, simplicity, and frugality are main motivations that drive zero waste lifestyle, and authentic identity and well-being are emphasized to promote the lifestyle. Nevertheless, lack of convenient infrastructure and supportive social norms hinders widespread adoption of sustainable lifestyle. 

Publications

My peer-reviewed article in Social Movement Studies uses the frames of lifestyle movement and sustainable materialism to analyze the growth and limits of this emergent environmental movement in China. I argue that the movement goes beyond individual lifestyle change as networks of secondhand material flow and collective, non-contentious environmental actions. Difficulties to promote widespread, thorough sustainable lifestyle change and constrained political engagement are important factors that limit the movement’s effects.

My second peer-reviewed article in Chinese Journal of Sociology, special issue on China and the Environment dives into the social and material challenges that individuals face in practicing sustainable consumption. Environmentalism, frugality, and simplicity are three overarching themes where Chinese urbanites navigate the cultural politics of middle-class consumption in China's recent rise of economic wealth. 

Thanks to Yale University's Hixon Center for Urban Ecology, Center for East Asia Studies, and School of the Environment for funding this project. Appreciations to Dr. Amity Doolittle, Amity lab's colleagues, Dr. Michael Dove and friends in GoZero Waste for their guidance and support in this research.

Figures from left to right: GoZero Waste introduction and mission; "9 questions before purchasing new" that circulates as consumption decision principle int he group; Beijing group in-person event, secondhand exchange