Global Citizen Center - The Challenges

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3D Visualization of the Global Citizen Center

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Interview with Kevin Danaher

The Challenges

General public awareness of sustainability and its related issues has risen considerably in recent years. Despite this trend, real changes have been slow to come. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, over 60% of the American electorate believe that the environment should be an important legislative issue. Unfortunately, this broad-based verbal support does not always translate into action. Despite more than a quarter-century of Earth Days, the rise of Green activism, and the growth of environmental school curricula, the general public is lazy when it comes to pursuing the alternatives needed to secure our planet’s future. The Global Citizen Center believes that four primary factors impede our progress toward a more sustainable and just future.

First, while there exists a greater general understanding of environmental and social justice issues, many of us possess limited information about their causes and possible solutions. The degree of public misperception was explored in a 2005 market research study conducted by SmartPower for the Pew and Rockefeller Foundations and a number of New England-based clean energy funds. Although the study addressed only one aspect of sustainability – renewable energy – the findings were revealing. While research participants were knowledgeable about clean energy, many believed that greater reliance on renewables would require too many sacrifices. Clean energy sources were perceived as impractical and insufficient for meeting the country’s large-scale energy needs, when in fact, the U.S. currently produces enough clean energy to power all of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Dallas and San Antonio combined.

Second, research suggests that any meaningful exploration of the intricate and abstract issues associated with sustainability and socioeconomic justice is more likely to overwhelm than to inspire. In a recent series of national focus groups, the Toronto-based market research agency Conscientious Innovation determined that the public has experienced significant message fatigue resulting from a near endless stream of “gloom and doom” appeals. To re-engage the broad public audience necessary to accelerate large-scale change, another approach must be developed.

Third, the economy and biosphere are complex systems and efforts to change a single aspect often produce limited or wholly unexpected results. This problem is compounded by rigid segmentation within academic and philanthropic institutions. Organizations and interests that should be natural allies are forced to compete for resources and recognition, rather than collaborate. In so doing, they neglect the very interconnections necessary to mount comprehensive responses to our great challenges. From eliminating or mitigating the impacts of global warming to revitalizing our urban centers, the necessary work is beyond the scope of a single study or the reach of a single actor. What’s called for is sustained, cross-sector collaboration.

And fourth, greater public awareness and good intentions do not automatically translate into individual action. This may be due, in part, to the previously defined conditions coupled with a lack of access to the alternative goods and services of the Green Economy. As long as these offerings remain physically and financially out-of-reach of the majority of the public, the will to make change will fail to manifest change.