Olivia Johnson can’t help but bring her research into the classroom. After all, the University of Houston assistant professor of retailing and consumer science studies the economy of garments, and she often invites her students to discuss how the choices they make getting dressed each morning can affect the planet.
Along with food and housing, clothing is a universal human touchpoint, making it one of the major ways students’ decisions impact the wider economy. When Johnson teaches classes in the Cullen College of Engineering Technology Division, she likes to ask how many of her students believe in the importance of sustainability and social responsibility.
Who can say no to that, right? Nearly all raise their hands. Later she’ll follow up with another question: How many of them are ready to change their buying and consumption habits to make the economy more sustainable? The responses become less committed.
“They’re like, ‘No, but we will send them a really mean tweet. We’ll say something bad on Facebook,’” Johnson says. “I recognized there’s a disconnect. Everybody wants to be sustainable, and that’s a great thing to say. But the question is, are consumers really willing to do that?”
Johnson wants consumers not to think of the planet in the abstract, but to consider the environmental and economic effects their garment purchases have on their own lives.
Rather than scolding people about their buying habits or trusting that consumers will make purchases with the planet in mind, Johnson has focused her research on understanding people’s true buying behaviors in hopes she can prompt them to make a change. She wants consumers not to think of the planet in the abstract, but to consider the environmental and economic effects their garment purchases have on their own lives.
“How do we have the sustainability conversation in different cultural groups and different age groups at different socioeconomic levels?” Johnson asks. “We have to have a conversation with everyone, because if we don’t, we're not going to make an impact.”
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