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This paper investigates how consumers can be guided towards healthy diets from sustainable and more animal-friendly food systems, in times when no single food system can be considered the best. In order to provide an alternative, the paper focuses on how farm animal welfare concerns can be translated into potential consumer goals, inspired by the “Three Rs” principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement, originally developed to systematically improve the welfare of laboratory animals. After some adaptations, the three goals established are 1) to eat less meat, and/or 2) “less and better” meat, and/or 3) “less worrisome” animal protein, respectively, which imply choices described in the literature on consumer behavior. This literature shows that the goal of eating less meat is relatively straightforward, but needs to be made more prominent, and that the goals of eating “less and better” meat or eating “less worrisome” animal protein need more nuances regarding the specific trade-offs that should be made in terms of species, production types and geographic locations. This may help to better integrate the repercussions of food choices for human health, animal welfare, climate change and biodiversity, the relative importance of which varies between countries and consumer segments. In conclusion, it should be emphasized that Reduction, Replacement and Refinement are not just different parts of the same process to meet human health and animal welfare challenges, but also powerful options to combat the climate, biodiversity and—last but not least—food security challenges of the next few decades.

A shift to a more healthy and sustainable diet (as recommended by the EAT Lancet Commission report) is currently hampered by persistent choices for meat, which are based on stable preferences and positive feedback mechanisms at the individual, social, and economic/organizational level. This paper puts forward the view that proposals for a diet shift will fall short without broad social legitimation, aimed at a change in social norms. That what previously belonged to the domain of morally acceptable practices (eating animal protein sources) has to be strongly limited, whereas what was previously not considered particularly noteworthy (eating plant protein sources) should become an accepted and, subsequently, a preferable alternative. This process of reordering has been set into motion by a typically expert-based legitimation, but the pace of its progress will depend on many other forces operating throughout society. Building on van Leeuwen’s framework of persuasive strategies, this conceptual review paper aims to improve understanding of the various categories of legitimation, related to authority, moral evaluation, rationality, and story logic. Each category is examined with a view to how it may support (or oppose) the reordering of protein sources necessary for a diet shift. Key strategies are a further revision of the existing authority-based dietary guidelines, using the diversity of rationality-based legitimations to support them, avoiding polarization of moral-based ideologies and being cautious of myths, micro-myths and stories.

This paper develops a new perspective on the relevance of different food orientations for healthier and more sustainable diets. Consumers’ food orientations vary in the relative importance of sensory- and reward-related factors (hereafter called Reward) or beliefs and values that are causes for reflection on broader themes (hereafter called Reflection). To examine competing and complementary relationships of Reward and Reflection, an existing data set from the Netherlands was used. The graphical and statistical analyses of different consumer segments indicated that giving a relatively low importance to both Reward and Reflection (“routine taste”) is not favorable for healthier and more sustainable diets, that giving importance to Reward but not Reflection (“hedonic taste”) is not any better, but that giving a relatively high importance to both Reward and Reflection (“reflective taste”) can be a favorable, complementary combination. The relative importance of Reward and Reflection was also related to reported sources of meal inspiration, which showed the prominence of habits and point-of-sale information, on the one hand, and recipe-based inspiration, requiring product knowledge, meal planning and cooking skills, on the other hand. These findings are highly relevant for the development of diet change strategies.

This article examines the extent and manner to which evaluations of flood-related precautions are affected by an individual's motivation and perception of context. It argues that the relationship between risk perception and flood risk preparedness can be fruitfully specified in terms of vulnerability and efficacy if these concepts are put into the perspective of prevention-focused motivation. This relationship was empirically examined in a risk communication experiment in a delta area of the Netherlands (n = 1,887). Prevention-focused motivation was induced by contextualized risk information. The results showed that prevention-focused individuals were more sensitive to the relevance of potential precautions for satisfying their needs in the context they found themselves in. The needs included, but were not limited to, fear reduction. Due to the heterogeneity of the residents, the evaluations reflected individual differences in the intensity and the selectivity of precautionary processes. Four types of persons could be distinguished according to their evaluation of precautionary measures: a high-scoring minority, two more selective types, and a low-scoring minority. For policymakers and risk communicators it is vital to consider the nature of prevention motivation and the context in which it is likely to be high.

This study provides insight into differences and similarities in the mindset and motivation of four dietary groups (young self-declared vegetarians, low, medium and high meat-eaters) to support the development of strategies for a general transition to a less meat-based diet. The paper highlights the value of the identity concept for our understanding of both vegetarians and meat eaters. The analysis involves a comparison of the four dietary groups focusing on the strength and the profile of their food-related motivation and their reasons for and against frequent meat eating. To check for the generalizability of the results, the analyses were performed in two samples of adults (aged 18–35) in the Netherlands (native Dutch, n = 357, and second generation Chinese Dutch, n = 350). In both samples, the vegetarians had the same level of food-related motivation as the other groups, but a different motivational profile and distinctive, taste- and animal-welfare related reasons to justify their abstinence from eating meat. The low and medium meat-eaters often considered health a reason to eat meat as well as to moderate meat eating, plus they liked to vary their meals. In these aspects they were different from both the vegetarians and the high meat-eaters. The findings are relevant for (non) governmental organizations that aim to influence dietary choices, as well as for businesses that operate in the market of meat substitutes.

This article proposes an approach to flood risk communication that gives particular emphasis to the distinction between prevention and promotion motivation. According to E. Tory Higgins, the promotion system and the prevention system are assumed to coexist in every person, but one or the other may be temporarily or chronically more accessible. These insights have far-reaching implications for our understanding of people's reasoning about risks. Flood risk communication framed in terms of prevention involves the notions of chance and harm, woven into a story about particular events that necessitate decisions to be more careful about safety issues and protect one's family and oneself from danger. The article describes how the insights worked out in practice, using a flood risk communication experiment among a sample from the general population in a highly populated river delta of the Netherlands. It had a posttest-only control group design (n = 2,302). The results showed that risk communication had a large effect on the participants' responses and that this effect was higher among chronic prevention-focused people than among others. Any information that increased the fit between a prevention-framed message and a person's chronic prevention motivation produced stronger situationally induced, prevention-focused responses. This may significantly improve communication about risks. In contrast, the notion of water city projects, featuring waterside living, had more appeal to promotion-focused people. Language: en

New applications of genomics techniques in soil ecology may provide people with fresh insights into the richness of microbial life forms and natural methods to build on the "self-cleaning capacity" of soils. Because genetic modification might also be involved, this paper examines people's judgments about some applications, using a theory on the promotion- or prevention-orientations that they may associate with interventions in the natural world. A prevention-oriented way of thinking was hypothesized to correspond with a preference for more restrictions on a GM application, unless the person appreciates the application's benefits for nature restoration. Survey data agreed with the hypotheses and clarified the way in which people may talk about "nature knows best" or "nature needs a little help." © The Author(s), 2010.

This study uses the consumer affinity concept to examine the multiple motives that may shape consumers' relationships with food. The concept was applied in a study on four broad product types in the Netherlands, which cover a wide range of the market and may each appeal to consumers with different affinities towards foods. These product types may be denoted as 'conventional', 'efficient', 'gourmet' and 'pure'. A comparative analysis, based on Higgins' Regulatory Focus Theory, was performed to examine whether food-related value motivations could explain different consumer affinities for these product types. The affinities of consumers were measured by means of a non-verbal, visual presentation of four samples of food products in a nationwide survey (n = 742) among consumers who were all involved in food purchasing and/or cooking. The affinities found could be predicted fairly well from a number of self-descriptions relating to food and eating, which expressed different combinations of type of value motivation and involvement with food. The analysis demonstrated the contrasting role of high and low involvement as well as the potential complementarity of promotion- and prevention-focused value motivation. It is suggested that knowledge of the relationships between product types, consumer affinities and value motivation can help improve the effectiveness of interventions that seek to promote healthy and sustainable diets in developed countries.

In search of viable ways to create more sustainable diets, it is extremely valuable to analyse how people in various countries are supplied with dietary proteins from plant-based and animal-based sources. As a cross-national comparison of food ingredients may easily lead to misleading interpretations, it is crucial to opt for a multidisciplinary approach and to focus on countries that are spread across a bounded geographical area. In the present paper, an overview of diet proteins in the EU-15 member states is presented. As it turns out, the diets are rather diverse but everywhere the same major sources can be distinguished, i.e., meat, cereals and milk. The analysis showed a strong influence of location on protein diets. There are significant differences between, on the one hand, countries with high supplies of protein provided by vegetables and cereals, and, on the other hand, countries with high supplies of protein derived from milk. In this respect, Portugal, Italy and Greece can be contrasted with The Netherlands, Sweden and Finland as the two poles of an axis, with intermediate positions for the other countries. A number of interrelated differences between these countries clearly demonstrated the impacts of ecological, economic and cultural factors on current dietary protein supply. Although it does not make sense to plea simply in favour of turning the clock back, we draw the conclusion that there is room for a diet that is less dependent on meat proteins without going beyond the limits set by nutrition and health. Our results suggest that the East Mediterranean diet of the early 1960s has interesting qualities for the development of options to create more sustainable, healthful diets. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This paper addresses the relationship between meat eating and climate change focusing on motivational explanations of environmentally-relevant consumer behavior. Based on a sample of 1083 Dutch consumers, it examines their responses to the idea that they can make a big difference to nature and climate protection by choosing one or more meals without meat every week. This idea can be seen as a new opportunity to help mitigation, but also as a counterproductive message that might trigger negative responses among consumers who are skeptical about climate change. As hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more positively by consumers who valued care for nature and more negatively by those who did not value it. Also as hypothesized, the meat-free meal idea was received more negatively by consumers who were skeptical about the seriousness of climate change. The idea was not received more positively by those who did take it seriously. The results support the notion that the meat-free meal idea may serve as a counterproductive message. From the perspective of motivation, it is preferable not to isolate the meat-climate issue but to develop an approach that combines multiple values regarding food choices, including health and nature-related values. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.

This is the second of two chapters on the question whether a diet shift is socially desirable. Whereas the preceding one took a behavioural perspective, the present chapter is oriented towards processes at the level of markets and institutions. In terms of Chapter 1, it should be repeated that there is a difference between factors that contribute to the opening of a “window of opportunity” and factors that increase the chances that the open window will be used in a particular way. The latter refers especially to the competition between old and new technologies. From the field of evolutionary economics it is known that the successful introduction of alternatives to an old technology will depend on the characteristics of the “selection environment” (Glynn, 2002) – a concept that does not just include market forces, but also institutional arrangements, such as procedures to get authorisation for novel foods. Therefore, the main theme of this chapter is how a diet shift may “fit” into the food-related political and economic developments of the next decades. The actors who are making selection decisions can be divided into two main categories. The first category refers to the “proximate decision makers” (Lindblom, 2001) in industry and government who take the economic and political decisions that play a major role in the marketplace. The second category refers to all the members of society who participate in the market

In this paper the author examines the role of labelling and certification schemes in the pursuit of policies to make production and consumption processes more sustainable. From a logical point of view, labels are conceived as claims put forward by sellers to inform buyers about certain characteristics of their products. In the case of sustainability, labels might identify relevant ‘ideals’ to approach and/or significant ‘ills’ to escape. Toulmin's argumentation theory is used to show how claims can be substantiated and challenged. Based on literature on the behaviour of the main stakeholders, the author discusses what labelling means for producers, consumers, policymakers and other groups in society. In the conclusions, attention is drawn to the way in which societal pressure might interact with market forces to shape the information environment for products and services. As a result, the role of sustainability labels might become more differentiated, varying from direct shopping aids to background quality assurances. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Recent years have provided examples of a new sort of human problem emerging from development in industrial societies — hazardous waste disposal. Love Canal is an example of residents being confronted with possible health risks due to chemicals leaking from the disposal site (Fowlkes & Miller 1982, Levine 1982, Levine & Stone 1986). In cases like Love Canal, an existing environmental condition is officially declared to be hazardous by authorities responsible for the health and welfare of the public.

A field study investigated the perception of environmental hazards in residential areas polluted by chemical wastes. Soil pollution is an important problem in The Netherlands. The government expects that in the period from 1982 to 1997 some 1000 sites will need remedial action. Of these sites about 50 concern pollution in residential areas. In four cases of soil pollution experiences of the inhabitants, the information process, social and medical assistance and participation by the inhabitants are studied. The data were collected in comprehensive interviews with involved professionals, the relevant authorities and 756 inhabitants. The cases were in different stages of technical investigation and remedial action. Differences in managing approach, nature of the pollutants and age of the houses were related to the perceptions and expectations of the inhabitants. It will be argued that increased understanding of individual reactions to cases of soil pollution could have important consequences for pol...

This paper argues that psychologists are only beginning to understand how global environmental issues may be related to the ways people create a 'fit' between themselves and their environment in order to survive. The notion of a person-environment fit is an analogue at the personal level of the concept of sustainable development at the level of society. Using knowledge from a wide range of behavioural disciplines (i.e. psychology, sociology, anthropology, history) the author presents a cascade-like framework that sorts influences on a person's behaviour into a logical order. The framework combines perceptual and rational processes internal to the person with social, organisational, and distal processes (i.e. long-term causes). Two psychological processes are discussed in greater detail to highlight the role of personal values and the process of becoming mindful of changes in the environment.