Equity and sustainable lifestyles

Equity is an essential psychological dimension of sustainability. This human behavioral characteristic is defined as a tendency to distribute -in a fair way- resources, power and benefits among people, avoiding bias or favoritism. Equitable actions, consequently, imply dealing with and treating fairly and equally all concerned, regardless of social, economic and demographic differences. The opposite tendency, inequity, is recognized as one of the fundamental causes of the current environmental crisis. The unequal distribution of power and resources among people induces social and ecological conflicts and problems, including violence, famine, social discrimination, consumerism, waste of resources, war, and degradation of natural resources. Social and economic inequities permeate interpersonal relations but also interactions between communities and nations. However, these inequities are not alone in inducing environmental and social problems: gender, age, sexual orientation, racial, and ethnic inequities are also partially responsible for the environmental dilemma the world currently faces. Therefore, sustainable development promoters argue that equity actions should be encouraged in order to conserve the socio-physical environment. Although most societies display inequity as a prevalent lifestyle, there are reasons to suppose that equity is intrinsic to human nature. In most of our evolutionary history as species, homo-sapiens have been equitable, as anthropological evidence shows. Inequity seems to be a recent acquisition of our mental and behavioral repertory. Previous research had indicated that pro-ecological actions, austere consumption, and altruistic behaviors are manifestations of sustainable lifestyles (SLS). In this chapter we tested the assumption that equity is also a component of SLS. Two-hundred-and-fifty Mexican participants responded to an instrument containing scales that assessed the self-report of equitable, austere, pro-ecological, and altruistic behaviors; additionally, they provided information regarding their demographic characteristics. Results were processed within two structural models. The first model revealed that socio-economic status (indicated by schooling level and economic income) negatively affected the display of equitable actions. The second model produced high and significant relations between the four behavioral factors, which were subsumed by a higher-order factor that we identified as SLS. Such a result seems to confirm that equity is a sustainable lifestyle. These findings and the literature are considered for suggesting future research and interventional strategies aimed at developing equitable tendencies and sustainable lifestyles in people.