My team and I will be working with Ashley Zanolli, an Environmental Engineer, at

the EPA Region 10 office located in Seattle, WA. We will work individually and
cooperativelyas a team on the following project: Independent Research Project to
Develop a Consumption Clearinghouse for the U.S. EPA and Local Government
Partnerships. This project will address climate change issues directly and
indirectly related to consumption. We will be consulting with the Consumption
Subcommittee of the West Coast Climate and Materials Management Forum to
discuss the scope of our research and determine our final deliverable. Our
research will focus largely on global literature searches and an assessment of
existing information which we will then compile to synthesize an annotated
bibliography that will be accessible online to stakeholders. This information is
useful in developing programs that address climate change through sustainable
consumption behaviors and patterns. Global consumption is one of the largest
and most omnipresent factors affecting natural resource availability, distribution,
and other environmental, social, and economic issues. With a better
understanding of current consumption research, sustainable consumption can be
incorporated in new approaches to prevent the threats of global climate change
as well as additional environmental problems. Our work will supplement the
EPA’s domestic knowledge of what information already exists and what can be
added by researching international resources that focus on sustainable
consumption. This can help them better streamline and direct their future
research and build off of previous accomplishments and findings.

Possible Researchable Questions:

- What kind of resources/information are/is available on consumption?

- How is consumption used as a tool for policymakers? How can sustainability
benefit from knowledge about consumption?
- How and why is consumption an environmental issue? How can information on
this subject shape environmental decisions?
- How can consumer behavior/habits be examined or studied?
- How can consumer behavior/habits be changed? What sort of
mechanisms/factors (social, economic, environmental, etc.) drive consumer
behavior?
- What are the most important factors contributing to consumer behavior?