Last Friday I gave a talk at the New World Festival in Santa Monica on why I didn’t think we’d succeeded in movements like organic agriculture, climate change, and clean energy, and have instead created “global boring” and, worse, eco-fatigue. I also noted that after two years of thinking about this and testing different tools with Greenopolis, my conclusion is that trying to promote good environmental behavior through contrition just doesn’t work, and that we need to make sustainability fun while giving recognition to people for practicing it — in other words, replace guilt and shame as motivators with “fun and fame.”
But I know – this is territory I’ve already covered in my previous blog (in addition to which I’ll be posting a video of the talk later on this week). But what I would like to share here is the “proof point” – the fact that for one hour, during my scheduled speech, we asked viewers of the Greenopolis Facebook page to answer the question, “what makes sustainability fun for you?” In that brief time, we got a total of 63 replies– an incredible response that clearly demonstrates the desire of people to have fun while doing their part in helping make the planet more livable, rather than doing it as an act of penitence. So thanks to all who responded, and here are a few of the comments they made on Facebook :
I like watching “volunteers” grow in my compost pile, then transplanting the volunteers so they can thrive – this year we got a tomato plant, pumpkin, zucchini, casaba & green onions!
Because one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, we can make something out of nothing, and help the planet while we are at it
The thought of my grandchildren having an Earth to dance on is fun enough to ME!
I like to think of it as a game…what can I do to have as little impact as possible…challenge myself.
Teaching my children and grandchildren how to make a difference by recycling, composting, growing a garden and sharing with the community.
Anything that that can irritate the climate change skeptics (otherwise know as those blind to science and fact) is always fun
Getting to make it a family thing–going garage sale-ing with mom instead of going to a store, finding new ways to recycle things into crafts.
