Energy, transport, food, consumption… Welcome to the era of voluntary sobriety. The constraints of a more sober life have a simple objective: to keep our lives on earth as bearable as possible. But we are not just talking about energy sobriety here, we are talking about sobriety, that is to say, consuming fewer products, services and even food…
We knew the happy Sobriety of Pierre Rhabi, we are sold today the concept of the Voluntary sobriety. The constraints of a more sober life have a simple objective: to keep our lives on Earth as bearable as possible.
Sobriety, what is it?
It is indeed better that we make this choice of sobriety ourselves, collectively and in social justice, because a sobriety which would not be voluntary, would be suffered, forced, imposed. It would then look a lot likeausterityeven to poverty.
But what sobriety are we talking about exactly?
The phrase “sobriety” for most people means “drinking less alcohol”. Voluntary sobriety thus refers to the idea of moderation. In a broader sense, it means be reasonable and adopt a humble and discreet behavior. Sobriety thus corresponds to a moral virtue. It translates the will to go against one’s natural desires, which are fatally excessive and harmful.
Energy sobriety
We often confuse the energy sobriety With l’energetic efficiency. The difference, however, is simple. If an individual replaces his polluting diesel 4×4 with a Renault Zoé or a Peugeot e-208, it is energy efficiency. If he chooses to replace it with a bicycle, a good pair of walking shoes or public transport, it’s sobriety!
In other words, efficiency means consuming less to obtain the same result, like replacing your car to make the same journey. Sobriety means obtaining the result by consuming as little as possible, that is to say by changing behaviorlike switching from car to train or bike.
Energy efficiency involves the use of technologies that reduce energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gas on the scale of a given object or system. Energy sobriety pursues the same objective but through a change in behavior, lifestyle or organization.
Energy sobriety therefore aims to cover essential needs, without superfluity. It is an adjustment of consumption to real needs of the individual or household, which results in carbon footprint reduction and, at the same time, a conservation of resources.
Food sobriety
As we know, the overconsumption of meat has a considerable impact on the environment: carbon emissions, competition for agricultural land, environmental pollution, etc. Food sobriety therefore necessarily begins with a drastic reduction in meat consumption, especially beef and lamb.
But meat and poultry, the price of which has increased by 25%, are not the only products concerned. Almost all food suffered from the inflation of the cost of raw materials and posted price in 10% increase on average. 18% for pasta! Purchasing power has taken a massive hit.
We can think that food moderation is less a voluntary sobriety than a constraint. We reduce our consumption of food in quality and/or volume simply because it got too expensive…
The proof with the barometer NielsenIQ which, even before the summer, noted the 10% drop in sales of chocolate bars, aromatic herbs and spices, pasta but also fresh products (-6%). Low-income households now avoid fish (-16%), alcohol (-15%), fruit juices (-10%). Should we still talk about sobriety or already in poverty ? The border is thin…
The sobriety of consumption
The modes of consumption of goods and services are changing in depth: here again, greater sobriety is in order, even if one wonders if it is not more constrained than chosen.
The most visible example: clothing store sales have fallen between 15 and 25% compared to 2019 (pre-covid base year) and even the sector’s e-commerce activity has contracted. We even speak of “deconsumption”…
So the model of mass consumption is it being reduced? We can think that there is a desire to move away from consumption based on accumulation and more aspiration to consume differently: less but better.
Between ecological imperatives and decline in purchasing power, consumers are increasingly turning to the second-hand market. While recovery remains a necessity for many people, it is now experiencing a peak in popularity among the middle classes.
These new trends of sobriety in consumption can be interpreted in two ways. This is both good news because there are more recycling and bad news because it confirms a marked decline in the purchasing power of the French.
Voluntary sobriety, do you like it?
If, at the collective level, society commits to chosen sobriety, we will gradually modify social norms, our individual needs and our collective imaginations in favor of a voluntary reduction and organized consumption of energy, goods and services and food (eat less but eat better!).
This approach, if accepted by all, will make it possible to limit the negative externalities of consumption and production methods (pollution, environmental damage, noise, health problems, etc.) and could contribute, in this sense, to a improving our quality of life.
And you, are you ready to believe it?
