The Problem with Big Green
Green is getting mainstream… Big Green! Here is an article on worldchanging with an interview with Dr. Tom Crompton, author of the WWF recent report Weathercocks and Signposts: the environment movement at a crossroads The problem with the small green steps is that it doesn´t seem to lead to bigger steps and a deeper care for the environment and nature, there is even the danger that the small green steps are environmentally unfriendly because it can lead to the idea that we don´t need the BIG environmental steps we REALLY need. Here is one interesting bit of the interview: “To get beyond the small steps and change the fabric of the debate, Crompton says, we need to engage the values that underpin public discussion. For example, appeal to people’s sense of connection to the natural world. And he insists that this isn’t the same as heartstrings-tugging approaches we’ve seen before. Asking the public to save the panda out of moral obligation, because we feel guilty, is not the answer. What previous campaigns have missed is that the world we hope to build as we progress towards sustainability is not just a world that offers a better quality of life, it’s a world that’s more in alignment with the sort of fundamental values (from concern for our children to connection to nature to a sense of duty) that most define us as human beings. When we are at our best, we are capable of extraordinary things.”
January 2, 2009 Posted in: DESIGN, PONDERINGS