Jun 17, 2008

Doing the Right Thing is Not Always Easy

by Laura Starita

What do activists and presidential campaign managers have in common? They both have to be wary of message fatigue, the point at which a message is repeated so often that the listener’s response is the exact opposite of what the message was trying to inspire in the first place. A New York Times article this past weekend addressed the issue of message fatigue within the ‘green’ movement. The evidence is surprising, and concerning: a study referenced in the article found that consumers in 2006 were 22 to 55 percent more likely to buy a ‘green’ product, such as environmentally friendly cleaning supplies or chlorine free diapers than in 2007.

Message fatigue can come about for any number of reasons. For one, constant bombardment with information about how bad things are can cause people to feel that their individual actions are meaningless. Equally concerning, however, is that the information itself over time often becomes contradictory as an issue gets more attention and, consequently, more information. Complex issues, such as environmentalism, are especially vulnerable to internal inconsistencies because human failure to live gently on the earth manifests itself in a number of different ways: in the take-over of natural habitats for human residence and use; in the use of toxic materials in industrial and agricultural practices, traces of which ultimately end up in the earth and in our water; in our reliance on fossil-fuel hungry mechanized methods for transportation and production; in the packaged and processed form in which we consume much of our food. The concomitant launch of separate efforts all geared toward different aspects of Problem Earth can leave a green-oriented consumer very confused. She can help keep toxins from the water by buying organic, help keep greenhouse gases to a minimum by buying local, and help keep packaging and processing down by buying fresh. But what happens if the fresh, local stuff is industrially raised? Or the organic stuff is shipped from across the country? And if she forgets to bring along her hemp bag, should she ask for paper or plastic?

A recent piece in Wired magazine took on these contradictions with an article that argues that global warming trumps all other environmental concerns and should be the dominant driver of environmental decisions in the coming years. According to Wired that means choosing industrial farming, since organic cows, as one example, produce less milk and need more time to grow to slaughter weight, thus using more resources and belching more methane; it means reinvesting in nuclear energy, especially since research on biofuels suggest they likely produce as much emissions as oil and require huge amounts of water for production; it means abandoning such anticipated tools as carbon trading whose benefits are impossible to monitor or verify; it means abandoning the bucolic dream of suburban, ex-urban and country living, and giving in to the efficiency of the city.

And none of this even begins to get at the broader issues of contradiction between disciplines, such as between environmentalism and food scarcity. Both global warming and food scarcity are affecting the poor in developing countries most. Given the current context of rising food prices, and the protests exploding in the developing world, it seems a bit precious to start talking about expanding organic farming, no matter how much evidence exists about its real benefits to health and to soils. Everyone focused on the food scarcity issue will tell you that access to fertilizer--chemical fertilizer--is the best way to increase crop yields in developing countries where people are at severe risk of malnutrition or famine. Yes, some studies--even ones we’ve written about joyously--have suggested that organic methods can eventually produce as much as industrial approaches but only after a period of decline.  Clearly, now is not the time for a decline in global food production.

For donors, all this contradiction means, simply, hard choices and a need for good information. But no one said doing the right thing was easy.