Here’s a great example of both the behavior and the message that we should be focusing our efforts on encouraging. My friend Ari sent a personal recommendation to his buddy email list this week: Watch The 11th Hour, a movie about global warming.
Ari’s a serious environmentalist, he’s developing one Philadelphia’s most environmentally conscious buildings, creating a positive example for the city — but he’s not a policy or science geek like most Water Words readers. I have bolded the phrases in his message that jumped out at me:
fyi…. saw the movie The 11th Hour this evening…. you should see it if you haven’t already. similar to Gore’s Inconvenient Truth but more broad based, bigger picture, somewhat analogous to Quinn’s message. the movie ( http://wip.warnerbros.com/11thhour/) packs in a lot without striking too much fear. the style is similar to What the Bleep (individual interview clips from variety of people), from folks like stephen hawking, lester brown, paul hawken. 90% of the movie spent on how badly we’ve screwed up our world (and our place in it), the last 10% on the necessity to act now and that we perhaps have a chance to save our species from doom. (….the Earth has all the time in the world [to repair and rebound from imbalance], the human species does not)
American citizens are losing faith in the news media and dialing back on much of it they consume. As these trends continue, digital-word-of-mouth efforts like this will become increasingly important for all of us. That’s why I spend so much time trying to deconstruct this behavior, hoping to uncover tips for how nature protection and pollution control experts can encourage more of it.
We are entering an era where public opinion will be shaped by Ari and others like him who send messages to their friends and family, who pass them on to their friends and family via email, instant messenger, YouTube videos, blogs, and other personal digital channels. And in this new era, the influence of TV talking heads and newspaper pundits will be seriously diminished.
Also note that when communicating this way, Ari felt obliged to point out that there’s a lot more empowering content in this film than in Inconvenient Truth: Content that hits on themes like make difference, what you can do, and working together. Ari has not lost sight of the fact that everyday citizens need this encouragement to get involved.
Thanks for the note, Ari. And as for the rest of you, go see 11th Hour. I know I will.
When I first saw this video produced by WWF Canada, I thought “that’s so clever.” But when I watched it again, I thought “that’s so disappointing.” Bottom line here: You have to know a lot about global warming already to get anything from this little stunt. It’s preaching to the choir, and it won’t win over many converts to our point of view on the problem.
It states a true fact — and illustrates it in a snazzy way. But the billboard completely fails to address two crucial questions that everyday citizens ask themselves when confronted with an environmental problem:
How does it affect me?
If you are totally clueless that sea level rise threatens inhabited areas before you see the billboard, you will still be totally clueless after you see the billboard. And many citizens are clueless about this.
What can I do about it?
If you don’t already know that you can do something about this before you see the billboard, you still won’t know that you could do something after you see the billboard. The statement on the billboard now is so matter-of-fact that it somehow implies inevitability.
If it was my billboard, I’d slap a picture of a home or a school on there, that would slowly succumb to the rising waters, to illustrate that this problem will affect you. And then I’d replace the factual-but-meaningless statement that “Ocean levels are rising faster than ever” with something more empowering or action oriented, like:
“You can stop this. Learn how: http://saveourclimate.cn”
Almost there, WWF Canada. Please try again.
Chalk one up for digital organizing, Florida activist Joy Towles Ezell and her allies have beaten back, at least for now, a proposal to build a coal-fired power plant in Taylor County, Florida. The company announced it was suspending work on the plant pending the outcome of Governor Crist’s energy policy deliberations.
I interviewed Joy about how she used a suite of listservs to rally her neighbors and hound the corporation just a few weeks ago.
I’ve got to wonder about the Florida governor, though. He could have issued statement praising the company and used words that work that appeal to all Florida voters, like this:
“The company has made a responsible choice. Suspending this plant allows us to plan ahead, and to invest in clean and safe energy.”
But instead, he said this:
“We’re obviously moving in a different direction and I think we need to continue to explore solar, wind, nuclear.”
Nuclear? Really? Nuclear? I expect Joy and a few of her friends just might set up another listserv….
There’s only a modest amount of information available on Americans’ priorities for water during a shortage, but the findings are reasonably consistent, so watch today’s video to see how nature stacks up against humans. The results might surprise you but the reasons for them won’t: it’s that familiar mix of altruism and ignorance at play once again.
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Do you have information on this point that I don’t? Leave a comment here or send me an email at eric dot eckl at water words that work dot com. Thanks.
