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Chapter 23. Moving From Individual to Societal Change.
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The options have to change, and there has to be a transition to a more localized way of living, in which not so much transportation is needed (or in which non-fossil fuel transportation is a real option for large numbers of people).
By Annie Leonard (host and author of the Internet film and book The Story of Stuff; codirector of The Story of Stuff Project)
In this chapter the author makes a very important point, and one which a great many people (myself included) really need to internalize into our thinking about the environmental crisis and sustainability.
She starts with the history of the Keep America Beautiful group, which most everyone in America has heard of. What at least I never knew is that the group was set up in 1953 by a number of companies “involved in making and selling disposable beverage containers”, and is still being maintained to this day by various corporate interests.
The purpose of the group was to convince American consumers (with fairly subliminal messages) that many environmental problems are the simple result of individual people making bad choices. As they put it in a 1971 ad, “People start pollution. People can stop it.”
This idea is behind a great amount of messaging put forth in today’s world, much of it associated with big name environmental groups. It is the basis of lists such as “Ten best things you can do for the environment”, “Top Twenty things you can do to stop global warming”, etc.
Big corporations love these lists, and especially love the fact that environment groups themselves are constantly making and publicizing them. Because the inherent message to consumers is “These things aren’t really hard to do; yet if you just change your habits slightly, start doing whatever you can of these minor actions, you have done your part, and you can go about your own life knowing that whatever happens can’t be blamed on you.” And thus people “do their part”, and then go about their lives.
There is no argument that such lists do suggest useful behavior that can be adopted by individuals. But as Leonard says, “these small actions are a fine place to start. But they are a terrible place to stop.”
The Behavior-Impact Gap
One of the effects of these messages has been the creation of what Maria Csutora (Corvins University, Budapest) calls the “Behavior-Impact Gap”. This “gap” is the difference between what people expect to be the result of their pro-environmental behavior, and the actual measurable impact of that behavior. Unfortunately, the former is generally far greater than the latter.
As Csutora puts it,
(view spoiler)[Figure 23-1 is supposed to illustrate this gap, and is taken directly from the paper referenced in note 5. But I’m convinced that the illustration doesn’t make any sense. Looking at the labels on the two axes, and the labels at the two large dots on the figure, convey to me that the “Expected level of impacts” goes down as the observed level of environmental behavior (horizontal axis) goes up (the exact opposite to what I would expect), and that (referencing the vertical scale) the “Observed level of impacts” is higher> than the Expected levels of impacts (which would be a good thing, not a “problem”. (hide spoiler)]
Leonard mentions a couple lines of reasoning that purport to explain the phenomenon, but points out that the real reason is quite simple: “day-to-day individual actions do not contribute the bulk of today’s environmental harm.”
Example: garbage. In the U.S. (probably the top country in the world in terms of per-capita trash generation) 3% of the national trash total is solid municipal waste (generated by individuals); a little more is construction & demolition waste; 18% is “special” waste; and a whopping 76% is industrial waste. (Based on information given in http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/03/..., which is admittedly questionable, by admission of the author.)
So, being careful to recycle everything you can, or following the “reuse; repurpose; recycle” mantra – how much effect does that really have on the waste generated? Almost none, maybe.
Making Change – Past, Present, Future
Here Leonard considers some previous movements for major social change; the U.S. Civil Rights and United Farm Workers movements, the Indian Independence Movement (Gandhi), and the South African anti-apartheid movement. Although hundreds of thousands of individuals were eventually involved in these movements, she makes the point that “the organizers in each of these movements did not stop with pleas for individuals to make different shopping choices (or) … did not argue that individual people cause segregation or British colonialism and that different individual behaviors can stop these wrongs.”
“Too many of today’s “green living” advocates are missing the broader political strategies that would enable the small acts to be more than just symbolic feel-good activities.”
Making Broader Change
Leonard urges a three step process to make change in more than just “our kitchens”. First “an inspiring, morally compelling, powerful, and inviting vision” is needed (linking to chapters 21 and 22); second, a commitment to move beyond individual action must be made; and finally, that collective action must take place.
An example is 350.org, which in 2009 brought together over 5200 events in 181 countries, producing what CNN called “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history.” Of course one can argue that little policy change was brought about, but the first step is getting increasing numbers of people involved in collective action. This 350.org is continuing to do, first organizing the protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, which at least temporarily (at this point) brought that project to a dead standstill. Now 350.org is engaged in a campaign to convince pension funds, churches, colleges, and individuals to divest from fossil fuel companies. What this will accomplish is anyone’s guess, but it seems to be gaining traction.
American author and activist Alice Walker has said, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” Leonard then concludes