Research On Sustainable Consumption Of College Students

The rapid economic development of our country has consumed large amounts of natural resources and has brought severe destruction to the environment in the same time. So it's high time to start two-oriented society construction. If we regard our society simply as one of two polars, namely production and consumption, two-oriented society construction will surely lead to the transfer and adaption of production means and structure, but one thing that should not neglected is that production is given incentive by consumption and thus sustainable consumption should be given a priority. College students are a group of consumers who are energetic and influential now and for all. So the research on how to foster them be able to be sustainable consumers and how to maintain them to grow healthily will surely have positive impacts on two-oriented society construction, in addition to this, it will satisfy the fairness of infra-generation and inter-generation consumption.Sustainable consumption means scientific and reasonable ways of consumption without the violation of satisfaction of basic daily needs and the improvement of living quality, it is a way that not only meets the increasing consumption need of contemporary individuals, but maintains the harmony between individual needs and economy, society, natural resources and environment as well. It requires that emphasis must be given to personal value and resources, enviromental and social values; consumption should be based on the harmony with resources and environment and should never violation the friendship between man and nature. Compared with other similar conceptions, like moderate consumption, thrifty consumption and green consumption, the core of sustainable consumption is quite the same but has broader connotation and is more abstract, more humane and fore-sighted. It is more conformed with two-oriented society construction and unified with the raise of internal consumption.With the rapid development of our times, the consumption of college students is more scientific and reasonable. But young and energetic as they are, there is undoubtedly much room for improvement of their consumption so far as sustainability is concerned. By applying the way of conducting questionaires, interviewing and survey, the thesis draws a conclusion on the characteristics of the consumption of contemporary college students. They are listed as follows:though largely dependable on family, the independence of college students has strengthened; though dramatically varied in ability, the consumption is usually end-met; though diversified in consumption structure, the mainstream of their consumption is reasonable; though sometimes blind in consuming, reason and planning in consumption has raised. On the other hand, there are still some factors that exert influence on the sustainability of consumption. That is to say, there are some imcompatibilities like the discord between material consumption and spiritual consumption; violation of harmony between individual and nature, social circles and one's inner spiritual world. The discord results in the destruction of sustainability and vise versa.The reasons for the above-mentioned imcompatibilities are partly under the influence of the society, university and families and are partly due to personal aspects of students. The consumption of college students is strongly imitative and can not be void of the influence of social consumption patterns. As there are some factors that damage the sustainability of social consumption, college students are no exceptions. Universities, believe it or not, should bear a large part of responsibilities on the existing problems concerning the consumption of college students. In modern China, due to the lack of college spirit and consumption education, the atmosphere of trade in universities is too condensed. Though far aparted from parents, students, supported wholely by the family, can not get rid of the influence of family education pattern and family consumption habits. On part of students themselves, though they have high conscience on personal independence, they are not so mature and reasonable in conducting their consumption in scientific and reasonable ways.By examining the causes of remaining problems on part of the consumption of college students, the fostering of sustainability of consumption of college students requires the co-efforts of society, university and family and the effectiveness can only be felt on individual students. This is a comprehensive treatment construction and no efficiency will be got without the combination of comprehensive initiatives. The society should strive for the construction of sustainable consumption and enforce the ways to stimulate insufficient consumption, to control improper consumption, to regulate the act of mass media and to strengthen the improvement of surrounding environment of the campus. Universities should take the role of main channel of the sustainable consumption of college students by sticking to college spirit, strengthening the education and management of students, providing positions of social service for students and building up healthy campus culture. While the family should continue leading students in proper direction and set good examples for students, provide their children reasonable financial aid and cooperate positively with universities concerning the education of consumption. College students, in the same time, should accept willingly the education of society, university and family, bring their initiative into full play, set up high expectations, foster the spirit of critical thinking, find out the defaults of their way of consumption, strengthen the concept of healthy consumption and form positively the habit of sustainable consumption.