Can Habits be Changed to Foster Sustainability?

Although the concept of causation has been much disputed in the history of philosophy, habits formed through repeated experiences allow individuals to develop reliable expectations about future events. Apart from being an indispensable mechanism of human behavior that facilitates routine activities and conserves cognitive energy, habits are robust enough to enable us to anticipate the most probable course of action in given circumstances. In the context of sustainability, however, this very predictability makes them susceptible to external influence, such as greenwashing. But what if we could harness the characteristics of habits—namely their predictability and persistence—to promote the mitigation of environmental issues? The aim of this paper is to initiate an analysis of strategies and/or requirements for habit change, based on the hypothesis that habits can play a powerful role in fostering sustainability rather than merely being exploited by misleading campaigns. Through an interdisciplinary approach, we will explore the dual nature of habits: their resistance to change and their ability to drive transformation when their inherent plasticity is activated. With the help of practical examples linked to sustainable development, we will illustrate major philosophical conceptions of habit change in the theoretical and moral spheres, at the intersection of psychology, sociology, and history.