What’s the big idea?

Are you going to vote? Have you given up thinking things can change? More and more people are opting out, you feel that you can’t make a difference and that big change is too hard – maybe even impossible. The climate is up the spout, politicians can’t be trusted and your road has been in a state for months. There are plenty of big changes you’d like to see, but everyone tells you to make “small easy changes” instead. Change your lightbulb! Never mind your whole house, your job and your life.

I think that’s wrong. I’ve been taken on an inspirational journey by social entrepreneurs, environmentalists, psychologists and big thinkers who have persuaded me that a big change to a fairer, low carbon economy is possible.

What do I want out of life?

I’ve been thinking – what do I want out of life? I want a job I enjoy and employers who respect me, to keep learning new things and to have leaders I respect; I want to be able to have an affordable, warm and comfortable house that I can adapt to make it feel like home, have affordable energy and access to tasty fresh food; I would like to retire happily, still be able to pay my bills and spend lots of time with my family and friends who I love; I’ve always loved any time I have to be creative, to dance and sing and laugh.

Do most people want the same things as me? I think they do.

Yet, if we carry on as we are, everything I value will be gone.

Sorry to be a downer but we simply don’t have a choice about changing, resources are running out, greenhouse gases are increasing, population is rising, technology cannot meet our current consumption patterns without damaging people and planet.  If we carry on as we are, the population will rise to 9 billion people by 2050, food and energy supplies will run out and the most optimistic prediction spells the death of 6 billion people, that’s everyone that’s alive today gone.

(Permission granted to have your moment of stunned silence – but keep reading)

We live well off the backs of others who can’t afford a decent life, and by running down the earth’s assets. Essentially we are exploiting people and planet to maintain our consumption. I know that the really big changes we need are in our culture, the way our economy works, the way our politicians ignore these big changes we need. So how can we make these change?  I want to find out what works.

Trying to tread lightly – the social entrepreneurs

I decided to see if we could do things differently. So for the past ten years I’ve been working in sustainability, working with a load of really clever people who feel the same as me, coming up with technologies, products and services that use their fair share of the earth’s resources and treat people fairly. These “social entrepreneurs” are inspiring people, they want to create jobs that are amazing for people and planet, you should hunt some out and have a chat to them.

So I thought phew, we’re not doomed! We’ve got eco-villages, we’ve got car clubs, wind turbines, we’ve got bicycles, we’ve got reuse websites, we’ve got kerbside recycling collections, we’ve got veg box deliveries everyone will want them and we’re we’re saved.

But then something weird happened: not much did change!

People thought eco-living was for weirdos, sandal wearing hippies, middle class allotment keepers and was deeply uncool. And who could blame them? It was all a bit ugly and brown. I’ve got an image of a winter seasonal veg box that comprises of turnips and swedes. No thanks!

For a while I got discouraged.

Selling the positive vision – social marketeers

Then this brilliant approach came to sustainability called social marketing. Social marketing is using the knowledge from traditional corporate communications, advertising and marketing and applying it for social good; it has traditionally been applied to health outcomes. Social marketeers told us that you can’t just give people the facts and expect them to buy a different kind of product, one that might be more expensive. People are emotional beings, they need to be inspired, they need to identify themselves with the product, they need to know they are buying a product that is normal and hopefully a bit cool.

I thought, yes! This is ace, that’s right, it’s about understanding people, what makes them excited and talking about sustainability in a vivid, creative, inspiring way. So some people did start buying better. They bought from the Body Shop, from Innocent drinks and Able and Cole and Green and Blacks, a green revoution some might say.  There were all these shiny green products just waiting to be the next new thing, but it didn’t slow down our carbon emissions, in fact the speed of the release of green house gases emissions accelerated. Why?

Once I step out of my environmentalist bubble, everyone around me is still acting like increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is not a problem. Are they crazy and irresponsible? I don’t think so.  I’ve been looking around at my friends and family. They go on exciting foreign holidays, they eat meat all the time, they have gorgeous new clothes every season, they are buying iPods, they are living the 21st dream, who can blame them? Consumerism rocks! (for the lucky ones.) It’s not because my friends are selfish or bad people, they are just human beings living in a culture that says we should consume and consume more to be happy. Damn you Sex in the City and Apple for showing us how delicious consumerism can be!

This is the tricky bit. Social marketing can be as clever as it likes but it’s still competing with anti-social marketing and anti-social enterprise, Coke, Microsoft, Disney – damn.  As the green cool companies grew, they did what any anti-social entrepreneur does, they sold.  L’Oreal bought Body Shop, Cadburys – now Kraft – bought Green and Blacks, Coke are major share holders in Innocent Drinks (and they started appearing in happy meals) and Able and Cole sold to private equity investors Phoenix Equity Partners.  Large companies that have traditionally prioritised growth and profits over protecting the environment and their workers.  Short term wins for shareholders instead of long-term ethical business goals.

That made me think, well it’s over, that’s it – climate hell, we’ll never defeat McDonalds et al – they’ve got too much marketing power, they’ve got too much financial power.

The uncomfortable truth for the social this & thats

What environmentalists don’t want to let on and what we all maybe can’t admit or perhaps just don’t know, is we can’t actually keep living the way that we have been. We can’t get through 1 billion phones a year, we can’t have unlimited cheap energy, we can’t keep buying a new wardrobe every season, there’s simple not enough stuff to make new stuff for everyone every year.

It’s not just about buying a different products, it’s about buying less stuff and changing the way we live and work. Every single one of the 6 billion people in this world needs to live within environmental limits. That is on less than one tonne of carbon per person per year. In the UK we’re on 8.6  tonnes. In America it’s 19 per person. Carbon footprint is inextricably linked to our wealth – if you have money you’re going to spend it, and chances are that will result in carbon emissions In fact the only people that are living a carbon neutral lifestyle live in a subsistence economy.

The choice we have is not if we change our economy, but when we change and how we change.  If we change now, we can save ourselves from a bleak future. So reducing our footprint by 90%.  Shit. It’s going to be hard, we’re late, we better start straight away.

So now what? Inspiration outside the eco-bubble

Technology and products, even if marketed in the right way, don’t seem to be solving our problems.  So last year it seemed environmentalists went back to basics, we started waving our hands, doom and gloom, shouting, telling off, making people feel guilty – come on people, hurry up, surely it’s obvious, stop consuming, stop, STOP!

Then came Copenhagen, which could have been amazing, but was only mediocre.  In the past 12 months the backlash came, James Lovelock gave up, the climate deniers became even more sneaky and climate scientists started in-fighting.

Tsk tsk.  I feel we environmentalists need to regroup, have a time-out, grab a herbal tea and make a new plan.

Instead of scaring the be-jesus out of people, by asking them to run away from climate change, we need a new vision of what a sustainable future looks like, a vision that people can come to together and run towards.

To look for this vision, I’ve started to look around me and be inspired by all the creative people I know and creative events that are happening in the world. Flash mobs, YouTube, free culture, photography sharing, dance classes, karaoke, knitting clubs, blogging, community allotments, big bike rides, fun runs, youth groups, all around me people are organising themselves and having loads of fun in the process.

What I noticed about these time-out activities is that don’t need many physical resources and everyone can do them. All it needs is a bit of wit, wisdom and the resources to make the change.

So now I’m thinking phew, so if I’m enjoying myself without resources, maybe I can buy less stuff, be carbon neutral and still have a good time? Wowza. If I’m not buying stuff, maybe I don’t need to earn so much or work so hard. Maybe if the organisation I work for doesn’t have to pay me so much, they can take some inspiration from others and slice the pie in a different way to make sure that everyone that works with me has at least a living wage. I can use the money I do earn to buy from and invest in organisations that provide low carbon services and give their employees a decent job, everyone from the shop floor to the CEO whether they work in my country or another.

I’ll have more time with my friends who make me laugh so hard and maybe I’ll have time to be creative and get the spark back? Maybe I could even go for that swim once a week?

That’s a future I want to run towards.

A low carbon, enjoyable future could be possible.

We need to change, but it’s hard

What we environmentalists haven’t been good at understanding is that changing is hard. Just as the earth has limits, people have psychological and physiological limits on our ability to change. We all know this; anyone who has been on a diet, decided to take up the piano later in life or tried to quit smoking or moved from Microsoft to Apple (or maybe even Linux?) will tell you it’s bloody difficult to change habits of a life time and give up the things we love.

Difficult.

But not impossible.

I have one big personified metaphor for change, her name is Whoopi Goldberg.

In 1862 there were still black slaves in America, in 1994 Whoopi, a black, female comedian hosted the Oscars.

Goldberg has a Grammy, seven Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Tony, and an Oscar, during a period in the 1990s, Whoopi was the highest-paid actress of all time and she’s named after a whoopee cushion.

I like her so much, I’ve made a film about her: I call it the Whoopi effect.

If you had told Martin Luther King about Whoopi, he would have said I don’t have that dream. It would seem impossible to a slave in 1862, but it happened.

For gay rights, the change has been even quicker, in 1966 gay sex was illegal in the UK, in 1997 the age of consent for gay men was brought in line with heterosexual partners.  Not just legal change, but cultural change, EastEnders was the first UK soap to screen a gay kiss in 1987, in 1996 Friends screened the first lesbian wedding on TV, today Graham Norton, an openly gay man is on prime time TV introducing a family show.  Friends of Dorothy are being celebrated every Saturday night (excuse the pun).

These changes didn’t come about by accident, but by activists, organised people with wit and wisdom who believed that they could change things for the better.  As the speed of communications technology increases, so too does the speed of change. 12 years ago I had yet to open an email account and had no mobile phone, today that’s unimaginable to me.

I met some people recently that inspired me all over again, psychologists, philosophers, economists, politics theorists, historians, who all believe that change is possible. We forgot that the most important factor in this carbon equation is people. What people believe, the way that people think and the way that people act. Academics all over the world have been thinking and testing and changing and building up a massive weight of evidence and have made tools, tricks and ideas that can make change possible. YES!

I believe that we can change to a low carbon more fair society. People have been using these behaviour change ideas for a long time, in health promotion, in politics, in religion, they all use the tools of persuasion and change, very successfully. The environmental movement should look to the success of the black, women’s and gay rights movements and learn the tactics from the activists that made this happen.

No one said changing would be easy (well some people did), but everyone forgot to tell you how rewarding it can be. Have you ever set yourself what seemed like an impossible goal, but with support, creativity and hard work of others got there? It’s the best feeling and so rewarding.  But the best reward surely must be a world that we feel proud of passing on to future generations.

The big change I’m going to share

I know you’re probably busy, so I’m going to do the reading and research on behaviour change for you and give you the key points, like Letts notes for change. I’ll also share with you all the amazing people I’m meeting on a weekly basis and the amazing changes that people I work with are making.

We need inspiration, real people, real lives, I’m going to show you who the new pioneers are and how they’ve changed their lives and the lives of others.

The point is there isn’t one answer, anyone who tells you there is one big idea is either trying to sell you their book or a little bit evil.  There will be lots of ideas, lots of perspectives, all disciplines are needed to build up the evidence, to find the little pieces of the puzzle of change.  I feel convinced we have the answers already, we just need to discover them for ourselves.

We haven’t got much time, so let’s start…My blog will be focusing on what psychology can tell us about change, I’ll leave the rest to the rest of you!