This blog is based on a presentation from George Marshall to the Funders for Sustainable Living Network in 2024.
Earlier this year, the Funders for Sustainable Living Network conducted a survey of the philanthropy sector in which 90% of respondents agree that: “A sustainable future requires a fundamental shift away from the levels of resource consumption that characterize rich world economies and lifestyles.”
Yet, only a fraction of philanthropic funding is spent addressing consumption. The survey, led by the Hot or Cool Institute, identified several barriers that prevent action on overconsumption. One key finding was the need for a communication strategy that can hold the inherent complexity of the topic, engage the public and mobilise behaviour change. Another finding that emerged from the survey analysis was a collective anxiety within the philanthropic community; a fear that the wrong messaging about overconsumption might lead to political polarisation, social fragmentation, and retaliation.
The challenge of evolutionary biases
Humans are wired to avoid the uncomfortable, unpleasant, and inconvenient. Our evolutionary biases and schemas make it difficult to think about – let alone engage with – sustainable lifestyles if it threatens our creature comforts and social norms. As a result, the philanthropy sector (and, probably, all of us) find it difficult to speak frankly about the global inequities in resource consumption and to move towards equitable action.
We can easily fall prey to subtle subconscious patterns like moral licensing, whereby our good behaviour in one domain can lead to feeling that we’re allowed lenience in other, less climate-friendly domains: “I’ve been cutting back on my meat consumption all year, so maybe it’s okay that I take an extra flight”. This might be one of the underlying reasons for the feeling of hypocrisy that was noted by many funder survey respondents: “Philanthropic money often comes from very wealthy individuals who live high consumption lifestyles. Funding work around overconsumption can run counter to how some founders, board members, and even staff live their lives. It is difficult to not appear hypocritical.”
The philanthropy sector needs to be aware of these biases and tensions to give this work the best chance of success, and to communicate skillfully within boardrooms and with the public.
Nobody said this was going to be easy.
Shaping a new narrative
How do we make movement in the right direction? Research shows that effective communication requires a strong narrative appealing to values, identity, and belonging.
Images and campaigns that show people together, enjoying themselves and each other, can be very effective in mobilising collective action. George Marshall ties this again to the importance of positivity and identity. “What makes people feel proud, what do they care about, who do they trust, and how would they like the world to be?” he asks. “That has to be the basis of communication.”
“The philanthropic sector and the environmental movement need to strategize around messaging to address the issue of overconsumption so it isn’t seen as taking something “away” from us all collectively, but somehow a healthier, more balanced, regenerative approach that includes global economic equity and a just transition” said one survey respondent.
Change is possible, but how can we get there?
Creating a motivating new narrative about consumption is challenging but can be done. Using COVID as a case study, we can see that mass adoption of new cultural standards and extraordinary lifestyle changes are possible. Many governments were able to develop behaviour change campaigns that were widely adopted “for the collective good”, where rule-breakers were criticised for not upholding their part of the social contract.
Consumption work has the potential to be polarising, but wider social engagement is critical. Historically, the environmental movement has alienated conservatives, but consumption reduction cannot be limited to “environmentalist” or “progressive” spaces. From this perspective, it becomes necessary to understand conservative and traditional values. How can we build a communication strategy that appeals across the political spectrum, and which mobilizes both funders and the public?
It is important to get our narrative clear, to reframe and depolarise conversations about consumption, to understand the complexities of identity and value systems, and to build meaningful bridges to communicate the importance of tackling overconsumption in this critical period.
There is no simple and concrete solution to the narrative and framing question raised by many funders but it is clear that a collective narrative is needed to effectively address overconsumption. An answer will require deep thinking, empathy, collaboration, and taking a “30,000 foot view.” Developing a unifying communications strategy is complex and challenging work – and it will be incredibly valuable if we can do so.
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This blog is based on a presentation from George Marshall to the Funders for Sustainable Living Network in 2024. George Marshall is a leading expert on climate communications with two decades of experience researching public engagement, behaviour change and the climate crisis.
Watch part one here: 1. George Marshall Intro, Challenges, Evolutionary Bias
Watch part two here: 2. George Marshall Opportunities
Watch part three here: 3. George Marshall Future Thinking
If you’re interested in strategic communications for sustainable lifestyles within planetary boundaries, please email f4sl@hotorcool.org as we work towards tackling these barriers with our Innovation Fund for Sustainable Living. We are actively looking for funding to produce a communication strategy for sustainable lifestyles engagement, as well as unbranded communications assets for the philanthropy sector. We’ll also be publishing a more in-depth report based on the funder survey, which will outline the other barriers to engaging with overconsumption that were identified by 134 respondents from the philanthropy sector.
For more information about George Marshall, please visit https://www.climateconviction.org/about.html
