The Path of Least Resistance

Being the economics undergrad and nerd that I am, I found the first three chapters of "A Finer Future Is Possible" incredibly engaging and thought-provoking. As terrifying as it is, I find it extremely interesting that the neo-liberal paradigm pushing us towards catastrophic economic events was essentially narrowed down to the initial work of a few men. What a world we live in where the decisions made by a few men could create such powerful feedback loops that they dominate and spoil our current situation.

So, how do we get out of it? I'm going to compare this to my capstone work: creating a campaign for the 2018 Winter Olympics, which will leverage famous athletes to promote an environmental discussion as well as climate change advocacy among individuals and communities. A huge section of this process has been deciding how to get people involved, engaged, and on their way to shifting paradigms. After much deliberation it was decided that no amount of statistics or pictures of polar bears among melting ice was going to change the minds of people who simply just do not care that much. Instead, this campaign must follow the path of least resistance. Instead of throwing around statistics and frightening data this project will instead focus on telling the stories of athletes and their favorite places that will be affected in the future by climate change. Instead of asking people to fill out long forms or follow complicated action steps we will create action steps that seamlessly fit into their life, such as posting a picture on Instagram.

The process that we are using is very similar to what chapter three discussed: we need to make personal connections in order to create personal change, and we need to make it easy. Really damn easy. A quote that stood out to me in the first section of this book was Buckminister Fuller's, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete." Instead of fighting and pushing people to change their purchasing and selling habits by offering alternatives completely out of their comfort zone, we need to offer solutions that are on the path of least resistance. This will require far more creativity and intelligence than that used to get us into this situation.

Question: What is a climate change action step (calling your senator, making a carbon reduction pledge, etc) would you like to see in an environmental campaign like the one discussed above? Would you actually do it yourself?

Comments

[Harsha Maragh]

I really enjoyed reading your post, especially your real-world application to your capstone. I think that the only way that we can enact change in regard to climate change (while appealing to the largest section of the population) is to appeal to emotion. I like idea that you have right now about showing athletes in their favorite places. This will not only appeal to those who admire those athletes, but to those who value those special places as well.
To somewhat answer your question---a social campaign that I ran as an intern with the Human Impacts Institute (a small environmental non-profit in Brooklyn, NY) was about personal climate action. I went around Williamsburg, where the office was located, to ask random people what their climate action is. (*Little side note, the people of Williamsburg are very similar to those in Boulder, although less outdoorsy). I asked each person to write down their climate action on a template, that I had created with my fellow intern, and then hold it up for a photo that would be displayed on our organization’s social media platforms to raise awareness of climate issues. I received a range of answers from reusing cups, to being a vegetarian, to shopping at thrift stores. I really enjoyed getting to engage with people in the community, as well as learning different definitions of the term “climate action.”

[Harsha Maragh]

I can send you some of the pictures if you would like to see them!

[Mallika]

I like how you tied our readings to your capstone project. Your project has chosen such an interesting forum for the climate change discussion. The Olympics seems like an opportunity to tap into peoples’ “team spirit” on a national scale, and make climate action a matter of national pride (perhaps borrowing some concepts from the Green Sports Alliance). It’s particularly interesting that you are working with skiing/snowboarding type, since this is a popular sport in the US and we really need dialogue around climate change in this country!

Something I’m curious about is the extent to which your campaign is going to try to create a vision for change. I think things like posting Instagram photos or personal stories can go a long way towards making climate change something that is real and palpable for people (which research shows is something we need*), but they don’t give people a clear path forward or end goal to work towards. It sounds like your figuring out action steps to give people, but I am wondering if you are also considering a vision to work towards, per Hunter Lovins’s call for a global sustainability vision? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!

*https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/21/climate/how-americans-think-about-climate-change-in-six-maps.html?smid=fb-share&_r=2)