ABOUT THE Project
Science communications experts note that this urgency and required changes to achieve a sustainable society can be overwhelming. The ‘reality check’ of 1.5 Degree Lifestyles is often articulated in doomsday messaging or communicated with a one-way delivery of scientific information. However, technical and catastrophic framings have proven to be limited in their effectiveness. On the other hand, attempts to simplify the message can lead to oversimplification – for example ‘top 10 lists’ – which leads into the ‘small action trap’. This explains the proliferation of recommendations for marginal changes with feel-good factors that cumulatively do not add up to the required changes in ways of living, or the implications that high-consumption lifestyles can continue, fueled by a green technology transition. These approaches are inadequate – we need to root our actions in the scientific foundation of 1.5 Degree Lifestyles.Efforts are needed to raise capacity toward understanding and communicating the challenge, and enabling the acceptance and practice of transformative solutions. These changes require new economic systems that redefine prosperity, and a cultural shift away from the consumer society towards equity and well-being within ecological limits.
The Beacon is a joint initiative of Hot or Cool and One Earth.