In an article mainly about something else, Richard Black of the BBC describes the often frustrated attempts by environmentalists to change public opinion.
Campaigners – and sometimes politicians – spend hour after anguished hour debating how to reach people who are not currently interested in, or aware of, environmental issues…
Environmental groups paint murals, film-makers recount the demise of life in the oceans.
Rock bands develop “lower-carbon” tour plans, wildlife groups encourage us to take the kids out for a day’s nature observing in the countryside (you know, that other place, the one where we don’t live, that has more cows than cars…)
But still – in the campaigners’ world view – the balance weighing public opinion stubbornly refuses to shift.
“Raising awareness” often seems like the last refuge of someone who doesn’t know how to achieve their goals. You are saying that someone (usually government) should do something about this, whatever “this” is. Why don’t you do something about it yourself?
If climate change is your enemy, don’t go around moaning about oil companies or buying the Guardian and feeling smug; become an engineer and design a new technology or process that helps. Too difficult? Well don’t blame others for not yet succeeding then. Maybe you are not an engineer, but you have an eye for a good idea, or marketing or something. New ventures need these skills too, so find an engineer and get on with it. Or is it just safer and more fun to moan from the sidelines?
Perhaps you are appalled by poverty in the developing world? Surely a wristband and a Live8 concert will do the trick? Or maybe you will have to find out about microfinance and economics instead, and then work out what action you should take, and take it. Don’t go on about how other people (government) should be spending other people’s (taxpayers) money, and get on and spend your own damn time and money and effort making a difference. Oh, and treat people in developing countries as grown-ups, not supplicants for your soul-salving hand-outs of other people’s money.
I know, I know, easier said than done. And some things, such as injustices caused by bad laws, do need changes in public opinion (or at least the opinion of law-makers) in order to occur. But always, always, think first: What can I do? Don’t default to thinking about what other should do.
Posted by Pete Collins 
