“Keeping the ball rolling”: Addressing the enablers of, and barriers to, sustainable lifestyles

The impetus for addressing climate change is real and present, but its translation into action lacks immediacy and severity, and involves reorientating our lifestyles and economies towards sustainability. Drawing on focus groups conducted in seven UK communities, specific interventions were identified as encouraging change in the short-term, maintaining momentum in the medium-term and sustaining sustainability in the long-term to address various enablers of, and barriers to, sustainable lifestyles. The findings illustrate that there are multiple entry points and influencing periods for sustainable living. Given the importance of the temporal dimension in encouraging and sustaining practices for sustainable lifestyles, the paper advances a “what works” approach to sustainable lifestyles that can be embedded with practical solutions. This approach creates a synergy between what individuals want to do to live sustainably and how they want to do this with interventions that are known to create meaningful lifestyles changes and maintain sustainable living.