The Environment IS the motivation

The environment is the invisible hand that guides behaviour.

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Firstly, let me introduce myself: I'm Mike, the other half of this compelling organisation. This is my first posting to The Climate Change - how exciting. And what a privilege it is to work with Dave on something so important – our FUTURE.

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Let me ask you a question. What motivates people to action?

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Well, a couple of things. Sometimes, motivation comes because of anger. Most revolutions were born because somebody got angry at the status quo. Anger creates urgency for action.

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Sometimes, motivation is the fruit of purpose. Dan Pink says, ‘the most motivated people, not to mention those who are motivated and satisfied, hitch their desires to a cause larger than themselves.’ The purpose drives the belief that the individual "I" can impact something greater than me.

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And sometimes, motivation is an outcome of goal setting, which hopefully has a purpose, and clarifies the desire for a future that is not the same as the present.

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But here is one we might miss: sometimes action is not motivated. The environment is the motivation. Say I want to get people to drink more water, for example. How would I do that? Well, I could try to motivate by using one of the above-mentioned.

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Or, I could change the nature of the type of environment they occupy. Research overwhelmingly shows, that having a good habit like drinking more water, is linked to whether my environment primes me to drink more water. Behaviour is a function of a person within their environment, which means a water cooler in the right place, for example.

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James Clear in his great book Atomic Habits shares this example. During the 1970's energy crisis, Dutch research paid close attention to energy consumption. The research revealed how 2 houses identical in structure and similar in family make-up, could differ vastly in energy used. What made the difference? Environment. In some houses, the electric meter was in the basement, which meant to switch off a geyser took effort. In other identical houses, the meter was in the hallway. Here, the switch was easily accessible.

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Sometimes it’s not about motivating people to do the right thing. Sometimes it's about making it easy to do the right thing. When it comes to sustainability, we can have lofty goals, or we can create "compelling why's" and these might work. And yet sometimes, it’s a simple question like, ‘where’s the switch?’

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This is what The Climate Change is all about. A holistic approach that seeks to impact behaviour using a variety of ways that include the environment we create for ourselves and our teams.

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So that’s the adventure we are on.