Mindfulness and sustainability: correlation or causation?

Mindfulness-based approaches have been suggested as a potential remedy for an increasingly unsustainable consumption level in early industrialized countries. This article reviews twelve current empiric papers (2005ø2013) on five different potential pathways in which mindfulness is thought to unfold its effects on sustainable behaviors. Unfortunately, robust empiric evidence on the instrumentality of mindfulness-based interventions to promote sustainable lifestyles is still rare.

Mindfully Green Healthy: An Indirect Path from Mindfulness to Ecological Behavior.

This paper examines the nature of the link between mindfulness and ecological behavior. Based on the notion that mindfulness incorporates heightened awareness of bodily sensations, we suggest an indirect path from mindfulness to ecological behavior that is mediated through individual health behavior, such as improved nutrition and increased exercise. This indirect path is corroborated with two online studies ( = 147/ = 239) where mindfulness, personal health behavior and ecological behavior were assessed.