Communicating sustainability: lessons from public health

Some lessons from public health for sustainability and climate campaigners.  Our choices are largely not our own — context and norms are far more powerful forces for behavioral change than abstract attitudes.  Most people just stick with the default settings.  We need to change the default settings.

Climate of Denial

Understanding American climate change politics by analogy with the World Wrestling Federation.  The Carbon Lobby is the “evil” wrestler, scientists the “good” one, and the media plays referee.  The kind of referee that’s always preoccupied with something outside the ring when the bad guy starts beating the good guy up with a chair.  From Rolling Stone of course.

Reckless Driving in the Netherlands

In the US we wouldn’t think twice about a young testosterone laden driver endangering the lives of four cyclists with his “monster truck”.  If anything, we’d probably blame the cyclists — especially if they weren’t wearing helmets.  But how is it different from someone carelessly brandishing a gun in your face?  That’s how seriously they seem to take it in the Netherlands:

From David Hembrow via Streetfilms.

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