EMOTIONAL WELLBEING
the ability to research and reflect on the roots of emotional wellbeing
Morgan Phillips, Becoming Green____________________

What do we want learners to become? Do we want them to be shallow, individualistic,
infantilised, anxiety ridden, status obsessed, selfish consumers? Or do we want them to havefulfilling and meaningful lives, characterised by generosity, intelligence, community spirit,
stable levels of self-esteem and maturity? If our educational, political, societal and cultural
systems continue to foster learners who will become the former, sustainability may wellremain, as John Foster (2008) describes it, a ‘mirage’. If sustainability is to become a reality,
we need learners to become the latter. Education has a very important role to play in realising
this.
This chapter will discuss the importance of understanding emotional wellbeing. It will argue
that learners need to critique their own understandings of the ‘good life’ and the foundationsof happiness. The chapter is built on a core argument (explored in depth by James 2008) that
our current ways of pursuing happiness (through the accumulation of material wealth) benefit
only an elite few, whilst failing to bring long-term emotional wellbeing to the majority.
Failings are not only evident in many individuals: society, the environment and the economy
are also chronically failing. Our misdirected pursuit of happiness therefore seems to be amajor barrier to sustainability. Unless we are more literate in our understandings of emotional
wellbeing, we will ultimately continue on a path of unsustainable development as a society
shaped by consumerist values.
A consumer economy built around the idea that material wealth equals happiness is, at thevery least, a hindrance to sustainable development and at worst a complete sustainability
show stopper. At present we are over-consuming the world’s resources, causing huge
ecological damage. We consume so much because we want, or feel that we need, the things
that natural resources are turned into. To put it bluntly we want too many things, or just lots ofvarieties and the latest versions of the same things. But why? The answer to this question is
not straightforward and even if we do find it and understand it, behaviour change may still
remain unappealing or insignificant. As many environmentally conscious people have found,behaviour change is far from simple, even when the prescribed change is entirely rationalfrom an environmental or sustainability perspective.
The problem for environmentalists is that the environment is just one factor that we consider
in our decision-making. While it is true that we can strengthen the influence of ourenvironmental conscience, our behaviour is often simultaneously driven by other, competing,factors. In our materialistic consumer society it is often the case that the things we want to do
are contradictory to our environmental beliefs. For the sake of the environment we know weshould not fly to a nice hot country, we know we should not have an energy intensive flat
screen TV, we know we should not leave our computers on all day and we know we should1not shop in supermarkets. The list is long and probably endless. The broad reason why we doall of those things and more is because in some way we believe that they will make us happy,
improve our emotional and physical wellbeing, or simply make our life easier. We act as if
we believe that material wealth equals happiness, even if, on deeper reflection, we do notreally believe it. We live in a consumerist society.
It is, however, possible that consumerism is built on sand. Work by Barber (2008), James(2008), McKibben (2008), Adam Curtis (2002) and the New Economics Foundation (NEF)
are examples of a growing body of research by concerned economists, environmentalists,
psychologists and sociologists who have recognised the shaky foundations of a consumer led
economy. Consumerism has caused the blurring of the needs/wants boundary; it is based onthe (usually hollow) promise of a better life. A better life if only you had this, if only you
lived here, if only you could afford this holiday, if only you could be this attractive. This
supposed better life is repeatedly flaunted in the media, most conspicuously by celebrities.
They have the cars, houses, lifestyles, clothes, parties and so on that we all (especially theyoung and/or immature) supposedly aspire to (see Optimisiation, this volume). At the very
least, we are actively encouraged to aspire to this better life when immersed in consumer
culture. Over the last six or seven decades consumerism has been the chief stimulator of
economic growth, but, as Layard (2005) argues, it appears to have struggled to improve
people’s subjective well-being, that is, how happy they feel that they are.
In the modern western world we are too easily persuaded that emotional (and often physical)
wellbeing will result from the purchase of gadgets, services, holidays, education, ‘green’
products and so on (see Advertising Awareness, this volume). People, within and beyond
environmentalism, are beginning to question consumer culture; they are beginning to opt outof it. They are realising that there are too many false promises and they have decided, or
learned, to seek emotional wellbeing in more authentic ways. Happiness for them is notdefined as a feeling. Happiness is a steady state of contentment; it is about having control
over your own wellbeing, not relying on the approval of others or on external stimuli assources of happiness.
It is not enough to chastise our current predicament, we need to move beyond it; we needsolutions. The New Economics Foundation persistently and progressively promote the idea ofa wellbeing led economy. Through regular publications and public events they explore andadvance ideas of how we could convert to an environmentally and emotionally lessdetrimental way of living. Theirs is an example worth following.
For most people, healthy emotional wellbeing comes second only to healthy physicalwellbeing. Indeed, for many, it may be true that if they feel free from immediate threats totheir physical wellbeing they will concentrate most avidly on their emotional wellbeing.
Questions of what brings emotional wellbeing are, however, not simple to answer and havetroubled many of history’s greatest thinkers. Its inherent complexity means that it is extremely
improbable that anyone will ever lay out a formula for emotional wellbeing that will beapplicable to every different person in every different circumstance. However, the subject canbe explored through a rich literature that stretches from contemporary examinations of
wellbeing by, for example, Mark Vernon (2008), back to the musings of esteemed thinkers
such as Aristotle and Plato. There is also empirical evidence of what brings about emotional
wellbeing that has been gathered by ecopsychologists and other wellbeing scientists (see2Pretty 2007). The New Economics Forum (NEF 2009) distil a wide range of research into fiveevidence-based actions which can lead to emotional wellbeing, none of which requires adependence on consumerism. They are:Connect: With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours.
At home, work, school or in your local community...
Be active: Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance...
Take notice: Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice thechanging seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are on a train, eating lunch or
talking to friends...
Keep learning: Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course.
Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or
how to cook your favourite food...
Give: Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer
your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in.
The conclusions that can be drawn from the science of wellbeing are necessarily
generalisations, but learners can gain more specific insight into what makes them personally
happy through intuitive reflection. They can reflect, for example, on the times in their lives
that they felt the strongest sense of well-being, and try to find out patterns and causes that led
to those times.
An excellent starting point for learners to begin exploring emotional wellbeing is to consider
the difference between happiness as feeling and happiness as authenticity. Arguably feeling
good, being happy - and being seen to be so – is the main game in our society. We constantly
aspire to have exotic holidays, celebrity lifestyles, fashionable clothes, food from trendy
restaurants, fast cars, and everything else that advertisements associate with smiling faces.
The ubiquitous use of sexual imagery in advertising and the heavy marketing of alcohol by
big corporations pushes people into a meaningless search for temporary pleasures throughbinge drinking and casual sex. Consumer culture imbues us with these hedonistic values,
makes us feel we are inadequate and/or missing out on things, then sells us what we areconditioned to crave. As a result we are tied to jobs we do not like, mortgages, wage-slavery
and huge credit card bills.
This is not to say that good feelings are a bad thing, there is no doubt that happiness or feelinggood is desirable. However if hedonistic values are the only ones we hold we get locked onto
a hedonic treadmill on which we are constantly searching for new sources of pleasure as the
rewards from our last holiday or purchase wear off. The key thing here is that our happiness isdetermined by external forces and societal rewards. When this is the case we become puppets
jerked around by social controls. The alternative is to, as far as possible, maintain control over
our sources of happiness. This is happiness as authenticity.

3

A person can be said to behaving authentically when their observable behaviour is consistent
with their internal values, innate talents and desires. Consistent authentic behaviour reinforcesand develops the values and talents that underpin it. Aristotle argued that happiness, or
wellbeing, is inseparable from well-doing (Hallam et. al., 2006). The endurance of this idea insubsequent works by many other authors, suggests that it holds a strong degree of truth. Whenethical values such as generosity, patience, tolerance, courage and kindness underpin
behaviour, that behaviour is more likely to be beneficial to other living organisms as well as
the non-organic world. As NEF (2009) show, most people experience a sense of wellbeing
when they engage in well-doing. This is a result of their behaviour being consistent with theirinnate possession of ethical values; it is happiness as authenticity. Selfless, ethical, values arein opposition to the selfish values associated with the accumulation of vast material wealthand hedonistic pleasure seeking. Kasser (2002) and James (2007, 2008) would argue thatpeople who behave materialistically are also behaving authentically in that they are being
consistent with their materialistic and hedonistic value systems. They would, however, also
argue that these people are likely to suffer violent mood swings as they sway between
hedonistic highs (happiness as a feeling) and hangover-like lows.
Happiness as authenticity, as opposed to happiness as unstable mood swings, derives from an
ability to transfer one’s selfless, ethical, values into one’s observable behaviour. For many
this involves a letting go, or resistance of, materialistic and hedonistic values. Given the socialand cultural reinforcement of these selfish values, in what James (2008) calls our selfishcapitalist society, a switch to authentic behaviour underpinned by selfless, ethical, values isunlikely to happen instantaneously. A long term approach is needed. Therefore questions ofwhat we want our learners to be need to be at the centre of pedagogic and curriculum designin schools and universities.
It takes time to understand and accept the emotional and physical benefits of letting go of
consumerist values. Fears of alienation from peer groups and the external influence ofembedded family, work, community and social values make it a hugely difficult process when
done in isolation. Social approval of new behaviours normalises and strengthens them and canbe built through representing materially simple lifestyles as not only socially acceptable but
even desirable. Gladwell (2000) explains how social epidemics take off when ‘early adopters’
are joined by increasing numbers of people until a ‘tipping point’ is reached. A social
epidemic can be anything from the mass consumption of a unique style of shoe to an
influenza outbreak. When an idea, a fashion trend, or a disease reaches a tipping point it
spreads exponentially and comprehensively through society. Kasser (2002) and James (2007)
would argue that we are in the midst of an Affluenza epidemic. Social epidemics, by theirvery nature, must be contagious. In the case of materially simpler, wellbeing-focused
lifestyles, this lifestyle needs to be attractive if it is to become contagious. It can become
attractive to those who develop a deep understanding of emotional wellbeing.
A solitary tutorial, lecture, seminar or workshop session is insufficient if learners are to
explore emotional wellbeing in the depth required for them to become early adopters of
wellbeing-focused, materially simple, lifestyles. Months, possibly years, of study, reflection
and inquiry are needed during which the value of strong bonds within a community oflearners are facilitated, capitalised on and nourished. Exceptional members of such a group
may well emerge as the designers and delivers of a wellbeing led economy. The rest may

4become inspiring examples to those in their wider communities: the spreaders of a new social
epidemic.
If avoiding social and ecological collapse is important, then all education should ultimately be
education for sustainability as opposed to education against it. When consumer culture and its
individualistic, infantalising, selfish-capitalist values are left largely unchallenged and indeed
championed by educational establishments, it should not come as a surprise that learners
become living examples of unsustainability. If consumer culture is left unquestioned, or is
accepted as a ‘fact of life’ by educators, then learners are unlikely to develop sustainability
literacy. They will be encouraged to be ‘green’ but not green to the extent that they mightundermine the consumer economy. Rather than asking only the superficial question ‘How can
we deal with the consequences of consumer culture?’, it is time to ask the more fundamental
question of ‘What lies beyond consumer culture?’ Understandings of the true sources of
emotional and physical wellbeing should be a central goal of education, and underpin andframe sustainability literacy. Sustainability literacy can then facilitate the materially simple
dimension of a life lived to the full.
____________________
Barber, B. (2008) Consumed. London:Norton
Curtis, A. (2002) Century of the self, episode 1: happiness machines. BBC documentary
Foster, J. (2008) The sustainability mirage, London: Earthscan
Gladwell, M. (2000) The tipping point: how little things can make a big difference. London:
Little, Brown and Company
Hallam, W., C. Olsson, G. Bowes, and J. Toumbourou (2006) Being true to oneself: the roleof authenticity in promoting youth mental health. Youth Studies Australia. 25:1:28-32
James, O. (2007) Affluenza. London: Vermilion
James, O. (2008) The selfish capitalist: origins of affluenza. London:Vermilion
Kasser, T. (2002) The high price of materialism. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Layard, R. (2005) Happiness: lessons from a new science. London: Penguin
McKibben, B. (2008) Deep economy. Oxford: One World Publications
NEF (2009) Five ways to wellbeing: a report presented to the Foresight Project oncommunicating the evidence base for improving people’s emotional wellbeing
www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=265
New Economics Foundation. www.neweconomics.org
Pretty, J. (2007) The Earth only endures: on Reconnecting with Nature and Our Place in It.
London: Earthscan
Vernon, Mark (2008) Wellbeing: the art of living. Stocksfield: Acumen5