Friday, 20 November 2009
Group based approaches
For me group based approaches to SC are a lot more powerful than focus on the individual simply by the way that they create social norms in particular communities. People compare themselves to others and have a "desire" to consume sustainably. One problem that struck me with the Ecoteams approach is that these schemes are less likely to engage the "honestly disengaged" (!) i.e. participants are more likely to be greens from the outset just striving to be "greener". Does anyone know of any particular Ecoteams that have targeted/managed to capture some of the "honestly disengaged"?
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Sam,
ReplyDeleteAgree with your point that a group based approach should be more powerful as there are norms/competitive dimensions. I think the issue of how to engage the actively disengaged is a thorny one whatever issue you look at (I've looked at it in relation to finacial services in the past). No easy solution - only thought is to try and understand what they are interested in (football, beer, money, themselves, their children??) and try and use that as the means to get the message over.
The irony is that the honestly disengaged tend to produce fewer emissions whereas the the positive greens produce the most!
ReplyDeleteI think you need to target people at work. They are more likely to comply through peer pressure and then they are more likely to take the practice at home. Yes, I know, I've gone all business again!