Tim Jackson Talk

Just seen an advert for a talk by Tim Jackson on 'prosperity without growth' in Cambridge. Here's the details for anyone who's interested:

Environment on the Edge 2009-10
Some of the world's leading environmental scientists are coming to Murray Edwards College to continue the series of lectures on how our relationship with the natural world is shaping our present and future priorities.
Lectures are held at 5.15 p.m. in Buckingham House Lecture Theatre, Murray Edwards College.
Admission is free; to reserve a place please email: directorate@unep-wcmc.org
Dates and speakers for the current series:
29 October 2009 - Prosperity without Growth, Professor Tim Jackson, University of Surrey
Environment on the Edge is sponsored by The Judge Business School's Centre for Energy Studies and the Hauser-Raspe Foundation, and presented by UNEP-WCMC, Murray Edwards College, St Edmund's College and the British Antarctic Survey.

my book review...

For my book review I will be looking at 'Spent: Sex, Evolution and the Secrets of Consumerism'. I chose this becuase I have always been interested in how complex ideas are addressed to mainstream audiences.

Ways to encourage people to consume more sustainably without the obvious poking with stick approach!

With such a broad question, I have quite a narrow answer. What interests me the most is the value-action-gap. Because closing that gap doesn't only increase the sustainabliltiy of a person's consumption but also the sustainablity of actions outside of the consumer sphere. Wouldn't it be nice if it were that simple! But we are constantly faced with the 'how' of that proposal. I have started to notice how dangerous ennvironmental guilt is. At christmas/easter etc when I see relatives, it seems the very fact that i study environmental science provokes outbursts of what 'what I do for the environment' talks. I can barely say hello before I am given a told in great detail about how much recycling they do! It seems to me they do this because they take a defensive stance, preparing to be shown as someone whose values and actions don't match up. So I say the value action gap is dangerous, because I think we all are very much aware of it in ourselves, and thus guilt ensues. But I think the answer to this is to face it head on. A couple of years ago I had a conversation with a vegan friend of mine, which left me feeling like a fool for being a vegetarian, when it obviously wasn't the enough, if I wanted to feel like I was protecting the environment. Given some time (and nice piece of cheese) to think it over, and I realised that actually everyone of us has limits. Only the high and mighty don't like to think this is true. In the end, we all live and breathe and emit carbon dioxide. And I think it is obvious to say, that guilt is not an effective motivator. To close the value action gap requires two things; to increase the education which helps us form our values, and also to come to terms with our own personal limits, whilst also realising the ones we haven't reached e.g. get more insulation but keep the holiday. I know that this is not the overall solution and it doesn't go far enough but as we discussed today, habits are hard to break, so a strong move in the right behavioural direction is a good start.

The Almighty power of CSR...

I don't think it's a matter of the blame game and pointing fingers, when it comes down to the responsibility it's not about the ownership of it, but what is done with it! I do agree with lou that businesses have responibilities to shareholders to put profit as one priority. But I think this course is showing me more and more that we must coonsider the invisible profits that will affect shareholders; clean air, food supply for the future, protection o0f their natural resources. But it is a money game, and without profit, money can't be pumped into sustainable policies/ investments, and the almighty CSR! This may seem rather dramatic but I have been looking at CSR campaigns recently, and there is a definite trend towards campaigns which focus on awareness raising of consumers. A main one, that most people will have heard of is Orange Rockcorps. For those that haven't, it is a scheme where in exchange for 5 hours volunteer work, individuals can earn a ticket to a concert with various famous muscicians that I've never heard of (modern music!). This campaign has been running several years now, and it is getting bigger and bigger. Another example is Innocent Smoothies who got the public to knit woollie hats for the lids of their drinks, each drink sold with a hat raised money for age concern, partuicularly related to fuel poverty. Rather than just donating money or products, this raises awareness of issues with consumers and leads them to make that first step towards taking a piece of the responsibility cake as well.

Sustainably Consumed

I agree with Angie that the term 'sustainability' is suffering from it's own popularity, to the point where it seems to be used more for green washing than for genuine constructive change. Part of my background, is as a a freelance environmental workshop designer/facilitator. I generally provide workshops for environmental charities, community organisations etc The content varies from carbon footprinting to climate science. Although the organisations are very specific with what they want, they are learning very quickly that if the word 'sustainability' isn't in the title or blurb, then there isn't going to be much uptake. Many a time I have been introduced to a group/class by a teacher by the infamous words 'Miss Amos has come here to talk about sustainability'. I have learnt to ignore this comment and proceed with the workshop as planned, because as the layout of this module reflects, sustainability is not a term you can explain as an aside. Even if you break down the word to it's root ' to sustain', to sustain what? It seems to me it is a word that is more about it's application than a definition. I forget how many, but Eskimos have at least 30 different words for 'snow', each to describe a different type of snow, maybe this is what sustainability needs!

So why am I on this course? Not to follow in the Eskimos footsteps necessarily! But I do feel the more I know about sustainability, the more of a task it is to communicate it to others,.As Environmental Communications is what I want to go into, I thought it was best I should learn how to understand this concept first!

If anyone is interested in my workshops, here is a link to one I designed for Cambridge Transition Town: http://www.transitioncambridge.org/thewiki/ttwiki/pmwiki.php?n=TTEducation.TSOYB

Never done blogging before, so wish me luck!
... So I suppose when I chose to study sustainable consumption I didn't expect to be doing this! I'm coming around to it though as it makes sense that something so social and human as sustainable consumption should be studied a social way!