By R. Esi ASANTE(Dr)
The demand for products and services is a key component of any economy, and as consumers, we all contribute in some way.
Customers have rights and obligations, but they also have the potential to influence businesses through their purchasing decisions. Businesses rely on understanding consumer behavior to succeed.
World Consumer Rights Day!
All around the world, people celebrate World Consumer Rights Day On March 15th to bring attention to the rights that safeguard consumers in every sector. These rights are the bedrock of honest and fair dealings, from consumer decisions to faith in companies.
“A Just Transition to Sustainable Lifestyles” is the theme for 2025, and it underscores the critical requirement of ensuring that sustainable and healthy lifestyle options are inexpensive, widely available, and accessible to all consumers without compromising people’s fundamental rights and needs (The World Health Organization, 2025).
Unprecedented ecological crises have recently befallen the planet, leading to extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and a steady decline in biodiversity.
Today, pollution is one of the leading causes of preventable mortality, accounting for millions of lives lost each year. Sustainable lifestyles are essential to stop these actions and move forward with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in tackling ecological destruction.
Responsibilities for consumers include being informed, acting ethically, and utilizing things responsibly, in addition to essential rights such as safety, choice, information, and recourse.
Ethical consumption, product selection, and non-pollutant behavior are all consumer responsibilities (Brandon, 2023). Responsibilities accompany rights, and this article delves into responsible consumption and examines the social obligation of consumers.
Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development—Goal 12
A worldwide rallying cry to eradicate poverty, safeguard the earth, and guarantee that every person experiences prosperity and peace by the year 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are also referred to as the Global Goals.
To guarantee sustainable consumption and production patterns, Goal 12 focuses on Responsible Consumption and Production. A better quality of life, more access to essential services, environmentally friendly and good-paying employment, and efficient use of energy and resources are all part of this (UNCG, 2017).
Because of illicit mining (galamsey) and other unsustainable farming practices, water contamination has become an urgent problem in Ghana and requires a long-term solution. Because of pollution, most bodies of water are no longer useful, and we must alter our consumption and manufacturing habits to prevent further environmental catastrophe.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling are the three tenets of responsible consumption. We can do our part as responsible consumers by cutting back on plastic use, which is a major contributor to ocean pollution; lowering the amount of water bodies affected by illicit mining; recycling paper, plastic, glass, and aluminum into new products; and reusing and repurposing other materials.
Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR)
A concept that highlights a consumer’s moral values and standards is consumer social responsibility (CnSR). Responsibility toward society in relation to acquiring, utilizing, and discarding products and services is also known as consumer ethics. It goes on to say that people should act in a way that doesn’t hurt other people or society as a whole.
Individuals have societal duties that extend to their purchasing habits (Davis et al., 2020). Individual responsibility, which focuses on people and the environment, requires consistency between one’s expectations and behaviors in the social environment.
Consumption is an integral part of the production and distribution processes, so it’s important for consumers to act ethically and responsibly. This includes avoiding harm to themselves and others and ensuring that our actions do not negatively impact future generations and the quality of life on Earth as a whole.
According to Golob (2008) and Hans Jonas (1984), research shows that CnSR is critical to the effectiveness of CSR because the customer is the primary element impacting corporate behaviors.
Based on these findings, CnSR appears to be a mindset that manifests itself in a collection of ethical purchasing practices. Companies are under heat from customers who want them to show they care about society, according to Tian (2022).
When looking at consumer responsibility from a business perspective, it becomes clear that firms strive to fulfill specific responsibilities to support and promote customers, while also consistently working to safeguard their rights (Ha and Krishnan, 2011).
Consumption with Conscience:
Just as consumers have rights, they also have duties. Every individual must take personal responsibility for their water and energy usage in their homes and workplaces to maintain sustainability.
Reducing water waste in the house and the office
To put it simply, water is life. According to Yeleliere et al. (2018), water is the most valuable renewable resource because it is essential for all life forms, helps with food production and other necessities, and has a positive impact on society and the economy. Sources of water and life have been severely depleted due to greed for material possessions and, maybe, a lack of knowledge.
Researchers in Ghana have identified several factors that contribute to water contamination, including unlicensed small-scale and artisanal mining, excessive urbanization, and poor farming techniques.
According to ISSER (2020), small-scale unlawful mining is the most harmful human activity that changes the physical, chemical, and biological makeup of Ghana’s freshwater resources.
Here we go back to some of the suggestions that ISSER made in their policy brief about water contamination in Ghana. In their fight against “galamsey,” they emphasized the need for stakeholders to work together more closely. To guarantee the sustainable management of Ghana’s water resources, they emphasized the need for a strong political will to enhance and execute current water-related regulations.
Measures like removing specific grades of plastic from sale should be sufficiently incentivized to lessen the amount of plastic trash that ends up in water bodies and causes pollution.
Among other things, they pushed for strict enforcement of regulations on the use of unauthorized fishing nets to prevent the harvesting of fingerlings, reinstatement of the country’s annual one-month fishing ban that began in August 2018, and more education and awareness-creation campaigns about water resource pollution and its effects. Along with the necessity of robust and ongoing cooperation between media outlets and state authorities, these measures are being restated.
Insist on waste-to-energy technology, recycling, and reusing materials (particularly plastic): Having a mechanism in place to sort garbage both during and after collection is crucial for recycling facility investment.
An important step towards sustainable waste management in Ghana is to educate households, using electronic and social media platforms, on how to separate domestic garbage into different components, such as plastics, glass, metals, and organics.
Habits that save water, such as taking shorter showers, repairing leaks, using appliances efficiently, and choosing water-wise landscaping, are essential for achieving sustainable water usage at home and at the workplace.
It is advisable to install water-efficient fixtures in the workplace, educate employees, and monitor water usage closely. We also highly recommend water-wise gardening, rainwater harvesting, and water-saving toilets. You can save water in many different ways around your house. Choosing fixtures like water-efficient toilets, faucets, and appliances is the simplest.
Using energy in a sustainable way at home and at the office
Inadequate power generation, which causes regular blackouts and increases dependency on fossil fuels, is just one of the problems plaguing Ghana’s energy sector. Outdated infrastructure and poor financial management are other concerns. Energy in Ghana comes from both renewable and non-renewable sources; however, the most prevalent ones are biomass and oil, followed by natural gas, hydroelectricity and finally solar power (Takase et al., 2022).
If energy can be provided to current generations without jeopardizing their capacity to provide the same for future generations, then we may say that energy is sustainable, according to Wikipedia.
Considerations of ecological, monetary, and social impacts are common in discussions on sustainable energy. Among these effects are the release of greenhouse gases, contamination of the air, lack of access to energy, and hazardous waste.
Although they aren’t always the most sustainable, renewable energy sources like wind, hydro, solar, and geothermal energy are usually better for the environment than fossil fuels.
According to Takase et al. (2022), Ghana’s energy consumption has skyrocketed, highlighting the necessity to incorporate more sustainable energy sources into the country’s energy operations to mitigate the effects of potential energy crises. Worldwide energy experts have been predicting changes in the wholesale energy market.
Businesses were the primary targets of the trends they outlined, such as the drive for reduced carbon emissions and improved energy efficiency. They have expanded their influence to include individual consumers, which is an intriguing development in the retail energy markets. Small changes in daily routines can have a big impact on environmental protection and improvement.
Final thoughts
It is imperative that we, as consumers, remember our role in society. On this World Consumer Rights Day, let us remember that we are all responsible for the actions we do and the impact our consumption has on the environment and the generations to come. At work and in the organization, people and companies can come up with creative strategies to move toward more sustainable lives.
For the sake of both the environment and human health, businesses should utilize their creative capacities to develop products and services that encourage people to live more sustainably.
Sustainable production practices are advocated in all areas of production that do not harm the environment, including packaging, processing, planting, fishing, and more. We strongly recommend implementing green practices to ensure environmental sustainability.
Policymakers should move quickly to ban or significantly restrict plastic use, following the lead of other countries, and encourage the use of paper and reusable shopping bags. The political resolve to criminalize or regulate illicit mining (galamsey), the main culprit responsible for the contamination of freshwater bodies in Ghana, is essential, as is the rapid implementation of the e-waste bill to control electronic waste management in the country.
