Is Scaring People Into Sustainability Sustainable?

In this day and age of constant streams of information flooding peoples lives whether they like it or not, it's no surprise that the good, bad and the ugly of sustainability also found its way to navigate the waters of the 21st century right into your life.

But for reasons rooted in human society, bad news tends to permeate a lot of faster and seems more prominent as compared to good news. I feel the same is true when it comes to the narrative around sustainability as well. Almost all forms of information pertaining to sustainability is always prefaced by some sort of impending doom. Hopeful news does find its way out there, but it feel like a few drops in the ocean as compared to the 'The Planet is burning', 'The Planet is dying', 'We're doomed', so on and so forth.

My intention with this piece is not come and refute claims on the planetary boundaries and things of that nature, that is a separate argument which I might delve into at some point in the future. No, I want to explore the narrative that scaring people into sustainability seems to be the only way to get people to act.

Bare Necessities

"Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities, forget about your worries and your strife" (Baloo, Jungle Book). Whether people like to agree or not and no matter how hard the media tries to paint a picture, sustainability is not the prime focus of a majority of the people, leave prime focus, its not even in their top 5 or top 10 priorities. And now are you going to go and fault someone for not having it as a priority? I don't think you can, because every one is on their own journey and have their own reasons for why they do what they do. Someone might say I won't buy an EV car, because it might be expensive and I can use that money to buy a cost-effective petrol car and use the rest for my child's education. Another might not be able to go vegan because they are just not willing to make that sacrifice, and can you blame them and shame them saying how dare you? Can you fault someone if they take flights, because when they were kids they could not afford to fly, but now that they have the means they are able to fulfill a childhood desire of theirs? Are you gonna cast aspersions on their character since they are not seeking out less carbon intensive alternatives? Another scenario could be where someone grew up with parents who were only able to afford bicycles to move the family around, and now that the children are able to afford a higher standard of life, can you blame them if they start buying cars and give their parents the life they never had? Obviously rationally speaking the argument can be made that it would be better for them to use public transport, but when it comes to things of the heart, sometimes rational tends to go out the window and for good reason too. I am just giving some examples of psycho-social implications that could be tied to sustainable behavior or the lack thereof. So just as Baloo the Bear aptly said, people will tend to ignore the worries and strife that they are constantly bombarded by and focus on their own bare necessities, the simple bare necessities of life.

How far can fear drive people?

Fear is undoubtedly a very strong emotion, some might even go as far to say the strongest emotion. Which is why it seems to make sense why people would target that emotion center when it comes to sustainability. But I feel this cannot be very sustainable because of the inherent limitations fear creates in us humans. From what I have witnessed, once you have tapped into people's fear centers, their thought processes are already compromised, which means that whatever creative ideation you could expect from that person has already been impacted negatively. They might be able to come up with solutions and take decisions, but it won't be their best or most well thought out action, as compared to when the person is allowed to ideate organically. Now you might be thinking, but Gideon how could you say that, do you really not know what's happening to the planet, do you not believe what the science says, how can you decide to be this ignorant. And to these people I say - we can have a conversation as I can engage on those conversations with you on an intellectual level since I have spent time studying this and understand the different scenarios and their subsequent ramifications. But what about the general population? Are they going to be able to understand where you are coming from. So are you just going to drive things down their throats with fear when they themselves are working with incomplete information. Where do we draw the line between educating the public versus judging the public for their inaction?

In Closing

See for those who want to continue feeding the fear of the planet ending apocalypse via global warming and other things, you do you is what I say. I am just asking you all to consider the fact that others might not be as passionate about sustainability and for very good reasons that cannot just be discounted. Sustainability is extremely nuanced and we as sustainability enthusiasts cannot cast aspersions on others for not sharing the same passion. See I am passionate about sustainability, but I found myself here through the years and it was more of an organic process. I wasn't driven by fear or forced into the field, I found aspects of it that really piqued my interest and drew me in. Ask yourself, what were the roots of your passion for sustainability? Was it organic or fear derived? Mine was organic, which is what shaped my outlook. Would love to hear whether you agree or disagree, at the end of the day we are all here to grow a perspective.