Conscious Consumption Proving Resilient During Downturn

The Hartman Group's latest report, "Sustainability: The Rise of Consumer Responsibility", gives further support that consumers aren't throwing out the (green) baby with the (economic decline) bathwater. The survey represents the latest report that shows environmental responsibility not going away during these difficult economic times.

In particular, the report found more than 75 percent consider environmental and social aspects in deciding what to buy and about a third are willing to pay more for those benefits.

Most impressive was their finding that more than 88 percent of consumers surveyed said they engage in what the researchers described as sustainable behavior. This includes becomming more conscious consumers of packaging, recycling, how a product was made, how workers were treated in the process and community issues.

The report found that consumer desires for "responsibility" and "doing the right thing" was still strong even though those being surveyed weren't always certain about how to define sustainability.

In fact, less than 25 percent of those surveyed in 2008 could name a sustainable product when asked, according to the study.

The Hartman Group conducted its online survey about consumer spending with 1,856 adults from September 19 through 24 last year within days of the collapse of Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

A general summary and access to the executive summary and a table of contents are available here.