Unified Sustainability Consciousness Through DISEMBARC Framework—Reverberations of India’s Mission LiFE

Unified sustainability consciousness (USCon) refers to a shared cognition and awareness among individuals and society about the importance of sustainability and the need to protect the environment and preserve natural resources for future generations. This consciousness encompasses a holistic view of sustainability that considers the interconnections between psychological, philosophical, economic, social, and environmental factors and recognizes the impact of human actions on the planet. USCon is closely aligned with LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), a mission adopted by India to achieve SDG and Net Zero targets, which is possible through sustainable practices and behaviours at the individual and collective levels for the creation of a sustainable future. For USCon across diverse cross-cultural populations, the DISEMBARC framework has been proposed which includes components like Diversity acceptance (D), Inclusivity (I), Sustainability Behaviour (S), Ethics and Values (E), Mindfulness (M), Benevolence and wellbeing (B), Adaptability (A), Resilience (R) and Creativity (C). A conceptual framework of DISEMBARC through analysis of transdisciplinary sustainability literature can form a basis for the development of a universal assessment tool to obtain comparable component-vice and composite LiFE Quotient (LQ). An extensive multi-country study is proposed in partnership with various sustainability centres, to obtain LQ and use it in fostering differential sustainability practices as per the respective socio-cultural milieu of different countries.