Motivations for Lighter Living in BC

Understand the mix of motivations for Lighter Living actions in British Columbia - including and beyond the planet.
Explore the 7 Motivations in this report - and use them in your lives and work.

Find out the WHYs behind buying second-hand, eating more plant-based, reducing our home energy use... and what this new research means for mainstreaming sustainable living. We'd love to hear how you apply the 7 Motivations:

Waste Not, Want Not (22%)
Shop, Style & Social (20%)
Eco-Trends (20%)
Healthy Life & Planet (14%)
Rugged Independence (10%
Practical Traditions (7%)
Work Hard, Live Large (7%)

This insights study by OneEarth and the Share Reuse Repair Initiative (SRRI) builds on an approach taken by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, which yielded 7 dominant motivations amongst the Finnish population which they called 'Smart Consumption Profiles’ (Finnish report). Sitra's 7 Finnish Motivations have been used extensively as a tool by sustainable brands and social impact entrepreneurs / incubators for business planning, marketing and sustainable / circular innovation aiming to mainstream lighter living actions. In this guide, you'll find:

Summaries of all 7 Motivations for British Columbia
A Do-It-Yourself (DIY) toolkit to put the 7 Motivations to use for your organization or business, including action area briefs for the 7 BC Motivations on five topics - eating, stuff, moving around, home, and general lighter living (civic engagement, taking a break, money)
Background on Lighter Living, the project and its methodology: OneEarth conducted 20 in-depth qualitative interviews and a quantitative study of 1,500 British Columbia residents (Angus Reid Panel) to hone in on the 7 BC Motivations.

Download the Guide (PDF)

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Webinars (June 2021; November 2020)

June 2021 Webinar - What Sparks Lighter Living in British Columbia: Launching 7 Motivations

Launches and describes all 7 Motivations for Lighter Living in BC, with remarks on approach, methodology and activation opportunities; lead sponsors Sitra and Vancity share their reflections. This is a must-see for those interested in the Motivations for BC.

November 2020 Webinar - Sustainable Lifestyles & the Circular Economy: Canadian Insights on Motivations

This is the project webinar which shares the Finnish Motivations and how they are used to advance the circular economy; with early hypotheses for British Columbia (final 7 motivations presented in the June 2021 webinar)

7 Motivations for Lighter Living Action in BC

Waste not, want not
See page 18 in the report

Shop, style & social
See page 23 in the report

Eco-trends
See page 28 in the report

Healthy life & planet
See page 33 in the report

Rugged independence
See page 38 in the report

Work hard, live large
See page 43 in the report

Practical traditions
See page 48 in the report

The Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Toolkit

The Do-it-Yourself (DIY) Activation Toolkit guides you through three stages - Ideate, Design & Test, Launch - to identify which motivations to target and how to align your program, product, campaign or service with their distinct characteristics.

Summary Table of 7 Motivations (PDF)
Figure out your target audience's top Motivations (handout, see page 55 in the report)

Coming Soon: Slide deck, handouts, video / audio clips, and a workshop agenda

This is not a study of people's attitudes to sustainability. While our end game is to help British Columbians live lighter in their own way, Sitra's approach (and ours in BC) is to understand every decision people make. People in the study were asked about a range of choices and why they make them (or not) from where they choose to live, what they choose to eat, how they get around, how they use energy, what they buy and how they invest their money. It is in this way that we will move past the reality that not everyone is motivated by the environment (though many are concerned by climate change). We will be able to understand each other better - so we can encourage more sustainable choices amongst people with diverse motivations. People make different choices depending on the situations they’re in. In order to fully understand this complexity, you can’t simply look at fixed factors of Identity — such as demographics and general attitudes. The 7 segments (and % of the BC population) represent motivations, not groups of people.

Understand the mix of motivations for Lighter Living actions in British Columbia - including and beyond the planet.Explore the 7 Motivations in this report - and use them in your lives and work.