I appreciate the replies to this question, and am myself concious of the
maxim that 'information in doesn't equal action out (though I concur with
David Cromwell on the role of the mainstream media in maintenance of this
inertia).
Nonetheless, my own reading of the research on the willingness of people to
voluntarily switch to 'sustainable' lifestyles indicates that people might
be more willing to act if they could be certain that any such 'sacrifice'
wouldn't be in vain.
If, in very broad terms, there existed a simple guide saying action x = a
certain amount of emissions, and changing behaviour 'y' would reduce your
emissions by a particular amount, and if this behaviour change was
undertaken by everybody then that would mean the difference between climate
change scenario 1 and climate change scenario 2 transpiring in your
children's lifetime, then at least it is something to aim for, people can
say, well I did as much as I could.(I know such a statement is full of
holes, but it is intended only as a general outlining of a potential
communication
I would have thought some mechanism for connecting behaviour to climate
change scenarios in a meaningful way would have been essential if there is
to be any hope of people feeling motivated to act. At least, if only to help
create consent for government intervention on this issue.
It is in part because climate change communications are so fraught with
difficulty that I have chosen the parents of young children as my key
audience, and am attempting to awaken the protective instinct in respect of
the climate change issue, to ask the question - what does being a good
parent require of us in an age of climate change. And, naively, I thought
that posing the question in itself would be enough to elicit a reaction. I
now realise it is going to take a lot more than that, and I am looking at
finding ways of getting the parent facing services which are trusted by this
audience to act as mediums for the climate change message.
I like the idea of encouraging people to fly less often - the benefits of
less air traffic are numerous, and I myself took the decision to stop flying
earlier this year. But I am not able to convince my wife of the need to do
the same, so what hope the wider public?
Regards
Chris
----- Original Message -----
From: "A Taylor (NVC Findhorn Slovakia)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 10:02 PM
Subject: Re: DISCUSSION- EMISSIONS GOING BY SHIP IS 2.5 TIMES WORSE
> Hi Chris
>
> I'm working on this in relation to my project
> helping people enjoy choosing to fly less often.
>
> I agree with John that quantitative information
> is mostly ineffective, a point that all FoE and
> Green Party folk should take note of.
>
> Laurie Michaelis in Oxford has done some
> quantification on leaflets he used with Quaker
> groups but even with Quakers they didn't get used
> much.
>
> I've found that it's enough to establish that
> flying is harmful and then focus on people's OWN
> perceptions of the attractions and repulsions of
> flying, then move to finding strategies for
> flying less.
>
> I've found that people who go through this
> process can pass it on to others, if they've had
> some communication training like Courageous
> Communication (a.k.a. Nonviolent Communication)
>
> Andy Ray Taylor
>
> --- John Scull <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Chris wrote:
>> > Is anyone aware of any work being done on the
>> topic of relating specific
>> behaviours to climate change impacts which aims
>> to create information which
>> is of use and relevance to the general public?
>>
>> Good question. As a psychologist I can assure
>> everyone that quantitative
>> information is unlikely to have a large effect
>> on the behaviour of
>> individuals. The clearest guideline would be
>> to have the carbon emissions
>> reflected in the cost of different options.
>> This moves the problem of
>> persuasion from influencing the general public
>> to influencing our political
>> leaders to changing taxation policies or
>> regulating prices.
>>
>> John
>>
>
>
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> Andy Ray Taylor is currently in Findhorn checking emails most weekdays
>
>
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