Connections to "Climate skeptics embrace clean energy"

This article got the gears in my brain started this morning... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/earth/19fossil.html?_r=1&hp It is a very interesting read on motivating people to adopt clean energy: instead of bombarding them with information about climate change, the science isn't even mentioned... and instead all of the factors that actually motivate the target audience (religion, economy, etc.) are used to create action. This is something that I've been wondering for a long time - and I keep seeing more and more written on it: people don't act on facts, and they often don't act in their own best interest; rather, they act on their values and emotions.

And I connect that thought with this one, from George Monbiot -- one of the most fact-based guys in the world when it comes to talking about climate change -- who says (citing Common Cause: The Case for Working with our Cultural Values at http://www.stwr.org/economic-sharing-alternatives/common-cause-the-case-for-working-with-our-cultural-values.html):

Progressives, he shows, have been suckers for a myth of human cognition he labels the Enlightenment model. This holds that people make rational decisions by assessing facts. All that has to be done to persuade people is to lay out the data: they will then use it to decide which options best support their interests and desires.

A host of psychological experiments demonstrates that it doesn’t work like this. Instead of performing a rational cost-benefit analysis, we accept information which confirms our identity and values, and reject information that conflicts with them. We mould our thinking around our social identity, protecting it from serious challenge. Confronting people with inconvenient facts is likely only to harden their resistance to change.

....

So we must lead this shift ourselves. People with strong intrinsic values must cease to be embarrassed by them. We should argue for the policies we want not on the grounds of expediency but on the grounds that they are empathetic and kind; and against others on the grounds that they are selfish and cruel. In asserting our values we become the change we want to see.

Read the rest of Monbiot's post here: http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2010/10/11/the-values-of-everything/

And while this might be more relevant to discussions on social sustainability and Merlina's Advanced Societal Leadership course... it's also relevant to our research, e.g. with regard to how we design decision support tools for SPD.

Bright Green in Copenhagen

I attended the Bright Green exhibition in Copenhagen on Saturday - along with the Swedish Sustainability Mafia and thought I might share some highlights here.

First - the main kiosk in the show. Ok, it wasn't really a highlight, but it was a good place to start.

Then something a bit more interesting: a map of the district heating network in Copenhagen... on the floor in one of the booths. Cool idea!

And then... remember that this is a "Bright Green" show... lots of things about renewable energy, minimizing carbon footprints, and... environmentally-friendly pumpjacks (note that it's especially good for heavy oil and deep drilling!!)

These cards were part of a really cool game about energy scenarios - see more at http://www.our-opportunity.com/participants.html

There were definitely lots of other great things there, both speakers and companies. Also quite a bit of greenwash... mostly in the form of good business ideas but not good business ideas from a global socio-ecological sustainability standpoint. Mostly I just remember thinking there are a lot of potentially really great student projects for both our MSLS (Strategic Leadership toward Sustainability) and MSPI (Sustainable Product-Service System Innovation) programs.

Getting Started with SustainaT

I've been blogging for a while under an old handle, but I think it's time to update. The old handle - loosedial - came out of a mis-over-heard phrase in college. It didn't really make much sense, it just sounded cool.

Now it's time to grow up a bit... and go with a name that actually (almost) means something: SustainaT.

What is it, you ask? Well... it's many things. First, it's a combination of sustainability and Tony. That'd be me.

It also sounds a bit like insanity... which is certainly something that sometimes describes my state of mind. So many cool things to be doing and looking at... thinking and learning about... doing and experimenting.