[1] In Western societies, green consumption emerged during the 1960s and the early 1970s, with the increased awareness of the necessity to protect the environment and people's health from the effects caused by industrial pollutants and by economic and population growth.
[2] After the oil crisis of 1973, people in western countries began to consider the use of green energy as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Now green consumption is considered a basic point of environmental reform and it is also guaranteed by supra-national organizations like the European Union.
[3] Research provides empirical support to the claim that green or pro-environmental consumer behavior is composed of:[4] Contextual factors like monetary incentives, costs, regulations, and public policy norms, as well as subjectively perceived factors such as perceived resources available[6] influence consumer pro-environmental behavior and thus green consumption through the mediating effect of attitudes.
The evidence is that green consumers are mainly female, aged between 30 and 44 years old, well educated, in a household with a high annual income.
Organic food is produced through agriculture that does not use artificial chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and animals reared in more natural conditions, without the routine use of drugs, antibiotics, and dewormers common in intensive livestock farming.
This behavior can create a new sense of connection with the land, through a concern for the authenticity and provenience of the food eaten, operating as a social as much as a technological innovation.
Consumers who are concerned about these (environmental) issues, are best motivated to change their behaviors via philanthropic or environmental-friendly actions that adapt with their financial and sustainability interests.