What Makes for A Good Movement
We are in the midst of turmoil friends. Many of us wake up every morning, with our head in our hands, and look at the day before us with abject indifference. The days may not stand apart for us anymore. 2020 is coming to a close and will undoubtedly go down in history as mankind’s most hated calendar year. I would hate to be 2021. Talk about high expectations. But we aren’t sure how much better 2021 will be than 2020, are we?
I was thinking the other day about the environmental movement, and how I’m trying to participate. It’s really not the kind of movement that has rallies in the streets and activists are not generally known to be very dangerous. But we suffer, especially in this country, with a comfort that someone is already fixing the problem. We insist we are not sheep, but we do sort of wait around for someone to move us in the right direction, tell us what we need to do or just start selling us our favorite product in better packaging. It’s almost as if they have to trick us. Sneak up on us, without telling us we’re behaving like an environmental activist, and make it so mindlessly easy that even a “Murican” can do it. Silly. As Verda and I have gone through a number of episodes in our podcast, and had the good fortune to meet so many wonderful people, we’ve made a lot of interesting discoveries. Here’s mine:
The “Holy Trinity of Activism”. Aw, you say…that. “The Holy Trinity of Activism”. Yup. Looking for a good movement? Here is what you need…
Community. Yes, we all know this. You need community. These are the people that want to do something. They are hot and bothered, and they will go out there and volunteer. They will clean beaches, donate money and join associations to create a movement that they can see and feel. My friend Chad Nelson, CEO of Surfrider Foundation, likes a quote by Margaret Meade, it goes like this; “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Indeed. It has to start here. These are the folks who will make the noise, who will create the voice and demand to be heard. These are the people who aren’t worried if their own, individual act will make a difference. They don’t think like that. They just know that something needs to be fixed. So fix it. But they need help. Grassroots is cool but it only goes so far.
And so we need to add some Federal regulation to the mix. Good ideas are good ideas, and sometimes folks can see that they will save money or even make more money. But many will focus only on what they are legally required to do. They are just code meeters. You see, they do enough to stay legal and meet code, but nothing more. And so we need laws to be laid down to make it illegal to close public access to a beach, or put lead in paint. Without laws and building code, behavior remains too unpredictable. And so while the idea might have originally started out with an outlier and an idea that still had the wrapper (not a plastic one of course) on it, eventually we need to make sure that everyone takes on the new behavior, whether it’s building code or municipal compliance. You see what I did there? Are we sheep? Do we just wait to be herded? Yes, pretty much. Sorry. Baaaaaat I rigress.
And so this takes us to the third part of my trinity. Corporate commitments. You need the big guys to decide that they want to be “Hero Brands”. My friend Dune Ives first told me this. Dune is the CEO of The Lonely Whale Foundation. They are an amazing group cleaning up our world’s oceans. When we talked with Dune on our podcast, she talked with us about putting pressure on Starbucks too, not only stop using their green plastic straws, but to also stop advertising with it. And I think about Jamba Juice. They actually act proud about their big orange straws! Dune said don’t hate on corporate America, get them to join you. Brilliant. We also had my 26 year old nephew on our podcast. He’s pursuing is Doctorate at Oxford University. A real dummy. We teased him about being a chemical engineer and taking on the oil companies. Like a wise old man, he explained that if an activist chemical engineer can go to work for one of these great big nasty old oil companies, they can create massive change. Imagine the resources at your disposal? Yowza. That’s a lot.
So, folks, please remember this “Holy Trinity of Activism”. We need to be inclusive not judgmental and exclusive. We can’t accuse people with a voice of being hypocritical. Everyone can help us check a box or two. We can not vilify or demonize people, groups and organizations who can help us. And people like us, who are not scientists or “experts” can still talk about these issues. We can still look around and ask people why. Why are you using PVC? Why don’t you manufacture with full transparency? Why are you not fixing the way you package your product? We can still do this, not because we’re being mean, but because we want everyone to be a part of the solution. Don’t doubt your impact. Pick up a bamboo toothbrush and get started. December 8, 2020
