Taking a softer approach: using photo elicitation to explore the home as a system for happiness and sustainability

Background Quality of life has improved dramatically over the last 200 years but this has also brought many consequences. Temperatures, sea levels and natural disasters have risen due to the increased intensity of human endeavours such as burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (IPCC, 2014). Current GDP based economies, being reliant on high levels of material consumption, continue to exasperate these issues with the excessive production of commercial products and waste. For example, 15 million tons of food and drink are wasted every year in the UK (Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, 2013). However, it is not just the habitability of our planet that is in demise. Approximately 450 million people worldwide also have mental health issues (World Health Organisation, 2001) and one in four British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one year (The Office for National Statistics, 2009). It is clear that we need to change our current practices to those that are both environmentally and emotionally sustainable.