I have written about Adam Werbach before. Now, Adam is making waves again with a new seminal speech on ‘The Birth of Blue‘. One can take issue with Adam’s grandiose objective of starting a one billion people movement, but there is no denying the inspirational value of his thinking. Highlights form his recent talk on NPR:
- His goal is to construct a consumer movement for sustainability
- Adam talked about the surprising success of his Personal Sustainability Promise initiative at WalMart. 500,000 out of 1.3 million employees voluntarily pledged to make small changes and were able to keep them for a year. The changes covered a wide range and were very personal in nature, e.g, parking car furthest away from the store so they would start walking more, or losing weight, or eating an organic family meal once a week.
- His feeling is the grassroots of consumer movement of sustainability is just starting.
- People consume for fulfillment. Adam bases his belief on research showing that happiness does not raise after $10,000 yearly income.
- He quoted one interesting statistic. There are twice as many people overweight in the world as people who do not have enough to eat.
- He wants to promote a new culture of consumerism, based on consumers’ actions, and the choices they make during their hour of daily shopping.
- Companies need to move beyond the traditional three P’s of marketing, into the three P’s of sustainability: Price, Purpose, and Process.
- ‘Blue is the New Green‘. I got this from an earlier JWT 2008 Trends Study. Adam claims it as his own. Meaning the need to move broader than green and climate change, to include other human problems such as obesity, health care, education, women’s rights, and energy availability.
- WalMart is not big enough. It needs to be bigger to accommodate more people in more sustainable ways. “God Bless WalMart” – Adam’s words, not mine.
What I like most about Adam Werbach‘s discourse? His insistence that there is hope, and his vision of some possible solutions. This is one man’s contribution. Can you think of other behavioral thinkers whose works also address the crucial issue of sustainability?
I didn’t know Adam W until hearing him in this interview. I enjoyed the interview but at times found him to came across a bit too marketeer-y.
I know what you mean, Roupen. The guy is very slick, and I wonder sometimes about his authenticity . . . Contrast with Al Gore in his latest presentation (yesterday’s post), and you get a totally different feeling.
This is why I used the word ‘claim’ in my title . . . I am not sure one can pretend to own such a movement. Actually, I would even venture to say that other people can lay such claims as well. One such person is Mary Hunt, from In Women We Trust.
I totally missed on Werbach before. He really seems to be a visionary. I will be watching him closely!
I never thought blue would become the new green, as some analysts guessed. I think that IF blue will catch on as a “value”, it will encompass green, just like Werbach says. People don’t need a new word for the same concept.
He is located in the Bay Area, so people here are quite aware of his work. If you go on the Act Now, now Saatchi & Saatchi S website, you will find quite a few very very interesting pdf docs on a variety of sustainability related subjects.
Sometimes I get the feeling that everything is happening in the Bay Area. I’ve even considered moving to SFO just to be in the right place.
Anyway, it’s really late here. I must get some sleep.
Thanks for the acknowledgement, La M. Yes, I’ve been on that topic for some time now, i.e. women consumers and business working together to change the world. I even submitted an outline to Act Now back in 2006, during a cattle call for ideas. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one pushing Purse String Theory.
Werbach seems pretty well aligned with Nordhaus and Shellenberger from The Breakthrough Institute. Do you know if they talk?
the man is the beacon, we are the vessels, some closer to the front line, some slower in the ranks. it doesn’t matter where we are situated, or who is leading, as long as we do not lose sight of the object.
to live close to the source and respect the space, buy only what is needed, and make it last.
by painting WalMart green, Adam Werbach affects a hard to reach stratum of society. the product will change the consumer and ultimately reduce demand of imports of overpackaged high carbon mediocrity.
one man may aspire to one pedestal, but one inspired customer will spin that wheel long after the name is forgotten.
Meryn, Mary, as you know, ideas are the product of the collective unconscious. We are just messengers, and sometimes the most vocal one gets the credit . . . And no, I don’t know if the guys are talking.
Nadine, your words have the power to move people’s hearts. They certainly moved mine. I am with you. The end here is all that matters.
It’s not terribly difficult to persuade people to make gestures, what’s difficult is real change.
For example, after Earth Hour, power consumption jumped back up to exactly where it was 61 minutes before.
On the other hand, after a couple of years of advertising and regulations in Melbourne, and advertising and progressive pricing in Brisbane, domestic water consumption dropped by 25 and 40% respectively. No Water Hour was needed or thought to be useful.
Real change comes about not from little gestures, but from a deliberate effort in the direction of change.
Let me know when you’ve done something of substance, Werbach.
From my practice as a psychotherapist working for many years with severely depressed patients, I can attest to the power of the small steps. We used to tell patients just plug in the vacuum cleaner. Pretty soon, they were vacuuming their whole house.
I am not sure this transfers to the field of ‘healthy people’ needing to be nudged into more sustainable behaviors. . . At a minimum though, I see these small gestures, from the WalMart employees, as conscious raising experiences. Maybe they will be more open to vote in favor of energy saving policies, next time? Maybe they will be more responsive to nudges in terms of tax and financial incentives? Maybe they won’t give you a blank look next time you shop at WalMart and talk about the need to cut down on plastics?
Gary Peters – Chico State University – asked me to post this comment for him:
According to the company itself, “Our environmental goals at Wal-Mart are simple and straightforward: To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment.” But “our” environment is Earth’s environment, and Wal-Mart falls far short of its own goal, in part because it imports $15 billion or so worth of goods from China.
Here is one clip from a Frontline broadcast on Wal-Mart: “Wal-Mart has a very close relationship with China,” says Duke University Professor Gary Gereffi. “China is the largest exporter to the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart is the leading retailer in the U.S. economy in virtually all consumer goods categories. Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture.” As for the Chinese side of this equation, John Saul put it this way: “The principal Chinese obsession is neither free trade nor free markets. It is dealing with internal poverty, which is a political time bomb.”
Those goods imported from China by Wal-Mart are in all likelihood not being produced in ways that “sustain our resources and the environment.” According to several sources, China is building the equivalent of about one new coal-fired power plant per week, and it is a good guess that coal is producing the energy that is producing all those Chinese goods for American consumers. It is also a good guess that container ships crossing from China to the U.S. are not using sail power, nor are the trains and trucks that supply Wal-Mart distribution centers running on hydrogen. China is scouring the planet for more fossil fuels to keep its own economy humming, and all that CO2 is going into “our” atmosphere.
If you can get half a million Wal-Mart employees to exercise more and lose some weight, that is certainly positive. However, up against what we’re going to have to do to feed an additional 80 million people each year, it is, I would argue, small potatoes.
Marguerite, certainly that’s true for depressives. But we’re looking at different kinds of things.
A depressive has trouble doing anything at all. They have essentially no behaviour. We’re talking here of something different, of changing behaviour. Correct me if I’m wrong, but a better analogy might be a gambling addict, or substance abuser.
Going from no action, to small steps, to genuine change, that’s quite reasonable. But going from action A, to small steps, to action B, that’s something different.
So for a depressive to take small steps helps them, of that I’ve no doubt. But would a gambler be helped by having one gambling free hour a year? Or an alcoholic one meal a week without booze?
Which is not to say that I consider our Western lifestyles pathological. But they are certainly habitual. So again we’re looking at changing actions, rather than creating actions.
I think there’s a bit too much timidity in the whole greenish movement. We seem a bit scared of suggesting anything bold. We recognise the need for a “wedge effect”, but we don’t whack the wedge in, we just tap along the wood hoping not to upset the wood too much.
Again I point to Melbourne and Brisbane’s water. To conserve water, they didn’t ask us to have a Water Hour using none. They just stepped right up and asked us to conserve; a combination of advertising for the need for it, regulations and progressive pricing.
I think there’s worth in just plain asking for what you want, and if you’re working for the public, using regulations and pricing to help get it. Step on up, put your money where you mouth is. For example,
– WalMart employs hundreds of people at each store, why not start its own bus service for them, funding that bus service by charging employees for parking at its store?
– Any new large box stores could have their roofs completely covered with solar PV, selling any excess to the grid; places with large land areas could have wind turbines
– in dry areas, their roofs could also collect water and put it in tanks for most store uses
Those are three measures that’d have net zero cost for the place, or turn a profit, and which would reduce WalMart or other stores’ impact on the environment. Step on up.
There are a thousand things like this companies and governments can do. It’s just that they don’t set their minds and hands to it, preferring instead little gestures.
I launched an initiative within the surf industry in late 2006 called project BLUE. Our vision in launching this concept involved using popular consumer products to rasie awareness and funds for the Surfrider Foundation.
I understand what Adam is proposing and we have already been practicing this concept within the action sports industry. We’ve engaged iconic acton sports brands to make desirable products, these products have been supported thru a 1000+ retail network just in the USA and it is starting to spill over into other countries where their is surf industry presence.
We’ve also engaged the consumer to consider purchasing a project BLUE product and sales have been a healty enough indicator to point to a conciuos awakening consumers is looking a little closer at their purchasing habits. This is a plan of action, not a charity.
If you’re interested in seeing our take on BLUE in action, visit our website at http://www.betruetoblue.com
Other interesting things about the concept of BLUE:
JWT shared their 10 Trends for 2008, one of them being “Blue is the New Green.”
https://016fd0d.netsolstores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=40
In December Pantone, the global color authority, announced that BLUE is the 2008 color of the year.
“I think there’s a bit too much timidity in the whole greenish movement. We seem a bit scared of suggesting anything bold. We recognize the need for a “wedge effect”, but we don’t whack the wedge in, we just tap along the wood hoping not to upset the wood too much.”
So well put, Kiashu. We need to be doing so much more, but organizers and organizations are so afraid of starting a backlash by pushing the public too far too fast – that instead they under-represent the threat we are facing. There has to be a way to not treat people like children, without scaring them into living like there is no tomorrow.
Rejin
Kyle, Rejin, you raise a very worthwhile question. Why are policymakers and other influencers so shy about being bold with what needs to be done.
There could be a chicken and egg effect here. Polls are saying people believe in the severity of climate change but are only willing to go so far. Powers in charge believe the polls, and use results to dictate their policies, only making small steps so as to not rock the boat. Media are the same way. There is this general assumption floating everywhere now, that people are willing to change only so much. With the exception of Al Gore, no other name is placing much faith in the human ability to make the changes that will be necessary. Part of the problem right now in the US, is Mr. Bush, of course, and presidential candidates who are not about to take any risks as they are all going for the prize.
hey? forgot about the little mouse which nibbled at the lion’s net and set the mighty animal loose?
belittle not the small gesture, nor the first step, i’m on a journey and my teeth are still sharp.
we are all depressed, angry and hungry, that is the human condition, so plug in the vacuum, nibble at the dysfunctional laws, we’ll set the mighty technologies free upon this addictive world.
price is a start kiashu, that’s why Europe has more economical cars and appliances. energy policies are a must, let’s write to the poor congressmen, one tiny message at a bite.
please appreciate the empowerment of the insignificant many.
“We seem a bit scared of suggesting anything bold.”
Kiashu, what would you consider a bold suggestion, in this context? Or is that we don’t know what would be truly bold?
Some time ago, I’ve did some research on current thinking about influencing behavior. If you’d like some reading, check out http://del.icio.us/meryn/behavior .
I thought this sounded familiar.
“Blue being the new Green.”
I knew I had read a few months ago about this trend (the JWT Study) so thank you for reminding me that I am not losing all my “Green Marbles.”
I also read this a few years ago:
“Blue Is True; What the Color of Environmentalism Should Be” By Michael Novak
Published by the National Review March 10, 2003.
http://www.michaelnovak.net/Module/Article/ArticleView.aspx?id=22
I also hear similar vibes as Paul Hawkens book -Spring 2007. “Blessed Unrest” How the largest movement the world came into being and why no one saw it coming.
Great Book.
Thanks LaMarguerite for the post.
Nadine, oui, Le Lion et la Souris, I forgot about that one . . . La Fontaine was so wise. We need him here, to give us hope and gain insight into human nature.
Meryn, thanks for the link to your del.icio.us collection. You are a gold mine of information. My only frustration: not having the time to read it all!
Coral, thanks for these additional resources. And thanks for giving these other important thinkers, all the credit they justifiably deserve.
One of the lessons that is coming through in this thread, at least for me, is this: it is not enough to have something of value to say. It is also important to know how to market the message. As Roupen wrote, Adam Werbach is quite a marketeer . . .
This is just another blatant attempt at greenwashing and self-promotion by self-marketing opportunist Adam Werbach. Notice the “BLUE” movement has no links, history or prescence other than the one eco-traitor. That’s a might fat wedge there buddy.
Anybody who thinks that WalMart shoppers or the corporation itself is going to somehow erase any significant portion of the environmental damage that is caused by WalMart’s daily operations is living in a dream world.
btw- Here in Chico we just managed to “discourage” WalMart from adding a second store on the North side of town. WalMart is still trying to expand it’s existing store in a location where additional traffic to said store would cause localized gridlock. That’s a fair example of their “green” behavior. We’ll shut THAT down too.
John, I understand your frustration. As outlined by Gary earlier, one of the biggest problems facing WalMart is its role as master enabler of the Chinese economy, and its connection with the frightening coal power plant frenzy.
Let us not forget however, that the ones most to blame here, are the American consumers with their insatiable appetite for unnecessary cheap goods. The real consumer movement should be one of restraint and redirection of purpose. Back to Kyle’s point for boldness.
Last night, my husband and I got into a discussion about air travel. I put forward that people should cut down on their air and car travel, and start looking for local alternatives, and ways to stay in touch remotely with far away connections. His point was that ‘You’re not going to change people’s habits. People are going to travel.’ I begged to differ.
“The real consumer movement should be one of restraint and redirection of purpose. ”
Now that’s pretty strong.
Marguerite, does your husband read your blog, and its comments? I think there are more people who disagree with him to be found here. 🙂
Everybody has some inconsistencies in the way they choose to lead their lives. I have mine. He has his!
As Kyle said not too long ago, this whole business of green living is not rational. It has a lot to do with our past, our culture, what it is we are attached to, etc . . . the complexity of our human emotions.
Meryn, what would be a bold action? Bold is relative! I gave some examples of what WalMart and other large stores could do – bold for them.
By “bold” in this context I mean something which is going to surprise people, and which will have definite benefit.
WalMart offering a free bus service for all its workers, and funding it by charging them for parking in employee spaces at work, this would, relative to the culture of the US and its corporations, be quite bold, a bold action. And it’s a good policy because it’s carrot and stick, reward and punishment.
Each company, each city or state, would have to look at their situation and decide what they could do. Begin with the things that won’t cost any extra money, then once people are accepting change, they’ll accept things that cost money.
I can certainly think of many things which would be good for Australia – for example, putting a tax on any fossil fuel the moment it comes into contact with the Australian economy, whether dug up here or imported from elsewhere, and applying the funds from that to renewable energy, mass transit and walkable cities – but these are specific to Australia’s needs.
Ultimately, the goal should be,
to achieve a world where both this and future generations can have a good quality of life
The guidelines to that goal would be,
not to deplete nonrenewable resources,
not to use renewable resources in a depleting way
Or, as our own Greens party puts it, we look at every policy with the question: will our children and grandchildren thank us for it?
Generally we won’t expect them to thank us for clearcutting forests and putting concrete everywhere… Still less for using up all resources, etc.
I think the media and our elected representatives underestimate the people, assuming that the slightest change asked of them will lead to armed rebellion or something. Most people just go with the flow and do whatever seems most convenient and comfortable. But we have public policy to help make this or that more or less convenient and comfortable, public policy being of course public, involving the citizens.
“Bold” actions can be humbler and more mundane than you might imagine. Our own Crunchy Chicken has started one such campaign, talked about here. It gets reusable menstrual pads to African girls.
Many African girls stop going to school when they start menstruating, they’ve no way of stopping the flow or inconvenience at school. Disposable ones create an environmental problem, since the areas they live in don’t have proper waste disposal measures. So the “goods4girls” campaign gets them washable ones.
This keeps the girls at school. And an educated girl is more likely to get a decent job, rather than having to marry young and work as a subsistence farmer. Their education promotes their participation in democracy and society, thus enriching it as citizens. And as the education and wealth of women improve in a country, they have less children. This lessens the pressure on the local environment, and makes deforestation much less likely, thus mitigating resource depletion and climate change.
And so a very simple and humble charity is part (though not all) of something which ultimately leads to better lives for the young women, increases their prosperity, and improves their environment and country.
And it’s bold. It’s bold because not many Western women would dare bring up the subject of menstruation in public. And it’s bold because it’s a simple thing which has an effect far greater than itself.
One thing that strikes me as I speak with people around the country is, not that there’s a lack of appreciation for the need to promote sustainability, but that there’s a lack of time. There is no shortage of ideas on how to promote sustainability. Somehow, we have to come up with a way to encourage people to take the time to be sustainable. Given how stressed life is today, and how little time is available to make the most of even the basics in life, it’s hard to imagine how we can really make substantial progress unless people slow down a bit! It’s not that we need to make more commitments as much as find a way to honor the ones we’ve already identified…
Agree, Kyle it’s the ‘little things’ of daily lives that add up to big changes. Practical initiatives, meant to make people lives easier and also more sustainable. This is why I keep emphasizing the need for such solutions. Rather than blaming people, we need to ask ourselves, how can we make it possible for them to make those changes that are necessary?
I have been a Big Sister for the last nine months. From that experience I am learning that the biggest obstacle to poor kids making it, is the absence of a viable infrastructure. I wanted to register my Little Sister into a summer enrichment program, but guess what? There are no buses to take her to and from the program.
Diane, you are absolutely right. This blog is a great case in point. Between all the posts and discussions that have taken place here during this past year, I am sure we have pretty much exhausted all the possible solutions to our problem. And we could keep on exploring forever.
This is what inspired me to write my recent post on ‘Lots of talk on sustainability, little action’. Excess of ideas can become of form of resistance to action. I am not planning to quit blogging any time soon, but I need to be careful to stay focused on solutions, and even better to start committing to some of those solutions.
I don’t know which solutions you are referring to at this moment, Marguerite, but let’s say you’re pointing towards different possible targets for influence projects, there would still be lots to talk about. For example, what would be the best behavior targeted first? Or could we better focus on a change in mindset, work on the roots of the problem?
Changing your personal behavior is something you can do in any case. You’re automatically an example for others, so that’s already some “free” influence.
Beyond Green: Adam Werbach and BLUE, Sustainability or Self Help?…
After four years of heads down work to find answers where it appeared that only questions existed, Adam Werbach followed……
[…] lifestyles. BLUE is a cultural awakening, if we can forgive the name. BLUE and Werbach are bringing hope. (Sound […]
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[…] lifestyles. BLUE is a cultural awakening, if we can forgive the name. BLUE and Werbach are bringing hope. (Sound familiar?) Sustainability is not a chicken or egg problem. To be honest, I left the […]