Leading a Sustainable Lifestyle in a ‘Non-Sustainable World’

Despite increasing awareness and acceptance of sustainability, relatively little is known about the motivations, viewpoints and experiences of people who choose to lead extremely sustainable lives. Through in-depth interviews with seven sustainability leaders, residing in an ecovillage or traditional suburban community in south-east Queensland in Australia, this qualitative research explores their sustainability motivations, experiences and whether residing in a sustainable ecovillage makes leading a sustainable life easier. All shared a strong commitment to sustainability from early childhood and enjoyed being early adopters and leaders in sustainability, explaining that they felt this leadership role was ‘their calling’. Ecovillage residents felt living there made it easier to stay motivated and maintain a sustainable lifestyle due to the support and shared knowledge from ‘like-minded’ neighbours, whilst participants residing in a traditional suburban community valued not being bound by a community code and the challenge of leading a sustainable lifestyle in a ‘non-sustainable world’.