Thursday, October 01, 2009

Personal journeys

I was running a sustainability workshop for the executive board of a major client yesterday. Despite there only being 7 (sometimes 8) people in the room, the reactions were honest and varied. Initially one attendee said "this is nothing to do with me" and another "we're all going to hell on a handcart and there's nothing we can do about it" - the two extremes of denial. By the end of the session, both these people (and their colleagues) were fired up to act, but there wasn't a neat progression - the buy-in ebbed and flowed like waves on a rising tide. While one person made a step forward, another would be retracting slightly, but overall the motion was in the right direction.

It struck me on the train on the way home that we're all on a personal journey when it comes to sustainability, climate change and all the rest. There is a tendency for those who 'get it' to berate those who don't. This will achieve nothing, or worse, push people into a more defensive position. We need to help people find the way forward, make them feel comfortable with what they are doing and confident to make the next steps.

So as well as working on our own footprint, it is essential to bring someone with us.

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2 Comments:

At 4:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Footprint shmootprint. As long as you work on your own footprint is right; don't shove that eco crap down my throat. Keep it to yourself.

This is where the touble with Cap&Trade comes in. It reminds me of 1861 when the government introduced income tax for the first time to pay for the civil war. The war was paid for but income tax is still here. Cap&Trade will be jammed down out throats by people like you, then in 20 years, after the planet has been "saved", Cap&Trade will remain and continue to suck us dry for centuries. The government pulled the wool over our eyes in 1861 and, with your help,they are going to do it again. Cap&Trade is called historic legislation for the same reason, this is why we object to Cap&trade. If the government wants to introduce legislation which encourages investment in reneable energy, no problem. But cap&trade is not the way. Drop Cap&Trade from the Waxman bill and we can have an agreement!

 
At 5:31 PM, Blogger Gareth Kane said...

I can't help point out the hypocrisy of someone coming onto a blog to tell me to "keep it to yourself"!

And who mentioned Cap & Trade?

We haven't had many anti-tax rants on this blog so far, so it is great to get a prime example of "it's all a socialist plot" type thinking.

When I said we all have a personal journey to make, some have further to travel than others!

 

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