206. A change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power. This is what consumer movements accomplish by boycotting certain products. They prove successful in changing the way businesses operate, forcing them to consider their environmental footprint and their patterns of production. When social pressure affects their earnings, businesses clearly have to find ways to produce differently. This shows us the great need for a sense of social responsibility on the part of consumers. “Purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act”.[146] Today, in a word, “the issue of environmental degradation challenges us to examine our lifestyle”.[147]
[146] BENEDICT XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009), 66: AAS 101 (2009), 699.
[147] ID., Message for the 2010 World Day of Peace, 11: AAS 102 (2010), 48.
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