The Distance Project

Puppies and Orphans - Leo and Big Al need a little adjustment

Posted on March 22nd, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Sustainability, Pop-Culture.

Big Al was back on Capitol Hill yesterday testifying on the environmental changes we need to start thinking about - or that we should have started planning for 20 years ago. And true to form, Senator Inhofe stuck his head in the sand and pretended that everyone else around him was lying. Love that guy - denial is a wonderful thing.

I’d really be interested to hear Malcolm Gladwell’s take on “An Inconvenient Truth”, from where I sit that movie has fundamentally shifted the debate on the environment. Obviously this doesn’t lead directly to changes for the better, but it is huge push. What made it so effective, was that the concepts were broken down into clear concise pieces. Seems like all of us who work in renewable energy, environmental issues, and sustainability should take a lesson from this thing:

Make. It. Personal.
Make it matter to the everyday lives that we all live.

In 2004 I helped advise a couple of different groups on making the environment an issue for voters. In the places we were successful (and we had mixed results), I think it came down to one thing - The Environment was not an issue itself, it is a component of everything else we do in life. When taken as a whole, the issues seem huge, scary, and disheartening. But when added to the issue of National Security, or combined into a Jobs Creation Bill, Riverside cleanup, School Health, etc. The evironment gets its due.

In everything we do with Reluminati, we say that it doesn’t matter why people came to the table, just that they came. Environmentalism belongs to all of us across the political spectrum. It exists in every facet of of our lives.

Grist recently ran an interview with Frank Luntz who, in my opinion, has done more for the Inhofes of this world than is healthy. That is what hired guns do, they go where the money is. Say what you want, Luntz is good at messaging and his style of encapsulating messages certainly got this Bush elected - And let me say right now that if you can get this crew elected, you are very good at your job. Enviro’s may not want to hear from Luntz, but he is on point in the piece. In a nutshell - Enviro’s usually come off as holier than thou, and everybody loves Polar Bears.

A very wise friend of mine who used to craft legislation on the Hill once told me that when trying to get bipartisan support for something - “Nobody votes against Puppies and Orphans”. What he meant I think is that every change has to pull the heart strings of its audience. It has to affect them on a personal level. He also meant that when trying to make governmental change, voting against the bill has to look like a bad P.R. hit, but I suppose that’s a personal effect as well.

Point is that Luntz’s Drowning Polar Bears are a messaging tool, a tangible example of the melting of the icecaps. They are a small, personal mechanism for getting a larger agenda out into the world. Also importantly they are not steeped in an “I am better than you” dialog.

I consider myself an Enviro, and even I hate much of the messaging out there on this stuff - one of my personal peeves are holier than thou people and it never really matters after that what they are holier than me about. I just hate it, I find it snobby and self important, and I find it happens a lot in the Enviro world.

Gore’s movie is effective because it both avoids “the holier than thou” approach, and it makes the issue seem very personal. It works as a messaging tool, and works well.

A personal side note - We did a trade show recently where a guy came up to the booth and angrily demanded to know whether we donated all of our profits to solar research. We gave him the nice speech about how we did not do that, but how we try and support different efforts in the field. He looked at us in disgust and said he didn’t have any use for our products and stomped away. Now I probably have some views about what should be done with energy production in this country that are similar to that guy, but I tell you in my younger more impetuous days I would have beaten that guy senseless with his own woven sandal.

I am older now though and recognize this as facet of the issues that truly matter to me. This is one of the dark sides of environmentalism. It is an important road block to make things better in this country. It is a stereotype that is an effective tool for people who want to dismiss Environmental concerns. The Holier-than-thou Jackass that barely lived through our encounter impacts my world.

After the Green Oscars this year, and after “An Inconvenient Truth” won, the anti-messaging became very cohesive. It was constructed around the image of that Jackass at the trade show. The image of Leonardo DiCaprio and Gore as big Hollywood and DC claiming to be better than everyone else. It works fairly well as a message I think, partly because much of the world thinks that about Hollywood and DC types in general.

It also works because of a phenomenon that I have never quite understood: The idea that if you try and be green, but are not perfect at it, or do not have all the solutions in place, you will absolutely get killed in the media - a fascinating concept and one that probably deserves its own post.

But Leo and Al have to adjust to this stuff, as do we all. Those two doing are good things - things that matter to the health of of our society, and their messages have been effective in changing perception. I think the adjustment is somewhere in this concept:

We all have impact on the environment - Hollywood Stars, DC Politicians, Investment Bankers, Farmers, Soccer Mom’s, Schoolkids - all of our actions are part of the problem, but also part of the solution. No one has all the answers, or is perfect, and so we all have to work together to solve this crisis. Al Gore’s house might be too big, Leonardo might have taken a private plane once. I have a set of friends who own SUV’s that get terrible gas mileage. My friend Josh Dorfman over at The Lazy Environmentalist once confided to the world that he absolutely hates recycling.

Me? I like to ski, I travel by plane a ton, I sometimes take excessively long showers that use way too much water, among probably a million other things. None of us are perfect and we are not exempt from the problem, but that doesn’t prohibit us from caring what happens to our communities, to our country, and to our planet.

Some of the things that need changing are within our grasp, but we need direction for those changes:
How do I make my kitchen less impactful and healthy for my kids?

See what I did there?

I wrapped environmentalism into children’s health.

God am I clever.

Some of the issues are larger than us, more systemic:
How can I, as one person, affect carbon emissions? It is so much bigger than me. I don’t want my morning commute to be effecting the Polar Bears, but I have to drive to work.

See what I did there?

I really am quite a genius.

So these might be weak examples, but you get the point -

Make it simple.
Make it about the community.
Make it about problem AND solution
Make it personal.

Puppies and Orphans.

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Tags: Al Gore, Leo, Oscars, Messaging, Frank Luntz, Puppies and Orphans