What gets you fired up?

I haven't always worked in sustainability, and at first glance my path to this work looks rather random.  I originally moved to the U.S. to work in a specific lab, towards a PhD in biologically-based artificial intelligence.  In some ways it is far enough removed from what I do today that I joke about this being "a former life", but my interests haven't changed - only my priorities.

I grew up an environmentalist - first in the narrow "we must save beautiful places" sense, and as a teenager moving to a much broader understanding that we have to take care of the environment because threats like climate change have the potential to hurt so many people so badly.  I've also always felt that the world can only be understood with scientific tools, and unfortunately happened to start university (in the U.K.) just as Greenpeace was ramping up its campaign against genetically modified foods.  The problem wasn't the cause itself, so much as the horrifyingly anti-science rhetoric used.  Flyers that scaremongered about "alien viral DNA" had the opposite effect on me: they blinded me to the [more complicated, but nonetheless important] real issues around GM food.  Overall, the shriekingly science-phobic campaign gave me such a bad feeling about the environmental movement as a whole that I ignored it for years.

What brought me back was a combination of the complex systems work I was doing on the way to a PhD, and Jared Diamond's book "Collapse".  The more I learned about complex systems, the more frightening the IPCC's climate change predictions started to sound.  With a proper understanding of feedbacks and tipping points, climate change went from being a vague theoretical worry to a convincingly real threat to cities and agriculture.  Meanwhile, "Collapse" showed me how real the risk is that as a global society we won't manage to respond usefully to what's going on until it's far too late.  The last thing I wrote on my academic blog sums up the human side: Why I found "Collapse" so depressing.

All of this made me feel that the global environmental crisis was simply too important and too urgent to ignore.  I dropped out of the PhD and started looking for work in the sustainability sector.  In the four years since then, I've become convinced that the real action is on the social side.  The science is well enough developed that we know what needs to be done.  The technology is good enough that we have the tools to do it.  The problem is educating people, and changing behaviour at every level from individuals to governments.  I've been looking for tools to push back the materialism and atomisation that lead to collapse, and help bring about a world in which we all understand what we really need, and look out for each other, because we need that for humans to continue to thrive.

So now I find myself running a training program, and helping out wherever my skills are relevant with the Happiness Initiative, which is all about the change in values and the public conversation that needs to happen.  And now I'm experimenting with something new: working on a collaborative handbook for social change campaigns.

One of the things we need to understand to make social change campaigns effective—to make them recruit people to causes we believe in instead of driving them away—is what motivates people to care about an issue.  Joe Brewer and I have plenty of ideas, but we want some personal stories.  What kind of social change do you care passionately about, and what got you engaged?

Why (and how) to focus on behavior change

Last year, we hosted a workshop called How To Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change, taught by Joe Brewer.  It was our best-attended workshop of the year, and people loved it and seemed to leave it buzzing with ideas, so we're running it again, only this time we're going further.

The one complaint that many participants had last year was that in a one-day workshop (realistically 6½ hours after breaks are accounted for) with a lot of material to cover, there wasn't enough time for hands-on practice.  This time round, we're breaking it into 3 half-day sessions, with a couple of weeks between each so people can mull over the material, and the final one will be devoted to practice and feedback:

• On July 30, we'll start with Getting the Big Picture, covering the theoretical background from cognitive science, and examples of successful behavior change campaigns that we can learn from.
• On August 13, we'll have Tools for Social Change Campaigns, in which Joe will introduce a 'designers toolkit' for social change, applying the groundwork from part 1 to practical methods for understanding and driving the process of change.
• On September 10, we'll finish with a Design Lab for Your Campaign.  Each participant will create an action plan for a behavior change campaign, and we'll critique each others' so we can all learn from each other.

I'm really excited about this class, but we also recognise that a lot of people who are interested won't be able to make it to three separate sessions spread out in time like that.  If you're one of those people, we have an alternative for you: we're raising money to write a Designer's Manual for Large-Scale Change which will be free to download and stand alone as an introduction to the same ideas.  Here's  short video of Joe introducing the project:

We would of course very much appreciate your contribution; if you'd like to donate or read more, head over to:

http://rockethub.com/projects/1910

As with many of the classes we put on, I am sometimes asked why Sustainable Seattle is interested in promoting this particular topic.  The environmentalist angle on this is that I firmly believe that we already have all the technology we need to deal with the environmental crises looming over us, and what we really need to do is persuade people to make the right choices.  Lately we've been talking about happiness, and the links to that are are actually quite similar.  Whether we look at individuals' happiness, or the ways that each of our behavior affects everybody else's happiness, we find ourselves presented with a quite well developed body of knowledge about things we could be doing to make the world, and yet most people aren't doing them.  Many of these things are well-known and very easy, so clearly we need to get better at persuading people.

Whether your interest is in persuading people to give up smoking, drive less, get to know their neighbors or lobby politicians, you'll need to use the same insights about psychology and culture, and the same techniques based on those insights.  Why don't you join us this summer to learn how?

http://sustainableseattle.org/training/257

Why Six Solutions?

Our next workshop (next Thursday) will be Six Solutions for Sustainable Business, which we're presenting in partnership with APICS, the association for operations management.  APICS's acronym stands for "Advancing Productivity, Innovation and Competitive Success", and we occasionally get questions about how that fits with our work, and why this workshop is relevant to our main audience.  Ron Sullivan, the workshop instructor, has put together a short FAQ addressing this and other questions:

Why is Sustainable Seattle partnering with a group focused on inventory, production, and supply chain?
The problems of the environment cannot be solved without the active participation of business. The better we understand the opportunities for business to become more green the better we can perform our mission.

I work in an NGO. How will this seminar benefit me?
NGO's are helping businesses do the right thing. Classic examples include:
  Nature Conservancy and Starbucks
  World Wildlife Fund and Lafarge
  NBIS and Grays Harbor Paper
  Sierra Club and Walmart
The synergy of and an NGO helping a business is greater than either working alone.  The seminar will help you recognize the opportunities.

My diet is very disciplined and I don't want to go to an event that serves low quality food.
The venue for the seminar is just down the hall from the Bon Appetit cafeteria, a leader in sustainable and healthy food.  Each person attending is given complete freedom to select their choice of breakfast , breaks, and lunch as part of the seminar fee.

And here is a sort of FAQ for people from manufacturing businesses, which should give you a broader sense of what the workshop covers:

A recent note from IDC included the ten things the author hears most often from manufacturers in discussion about sustainability.  What kind of response to these comments would we expect from someone that had been to the Six Solutions for Sustainable Business seminar?  Here are the ten points with such a response. 

1.  We have to build a business case for sustainability.
Very little is done without a payback in dollars, for which a traditional business case will suffice.  To make valid decisions though many use the triple bottom line, considering.not just cost and payback, but also social and environmental impacts and benefits, which are seldom stated in dollars.  This is a change to the traditional way.   

2.  More and more customers are asking me about my sustainability programs and my footprint.
If you are business to business your customer may be using sustainability criteria as impetus to benefits, for example to reduce waste, which makes you a better supplier.  If you are business to consumer some of your customers will pay up for your efforts and most will at least use it as a tiebreaker, so it is becoming a competitive issue.

3.  I need a corporate view of my sustainability data.
Don’ let the need to roll up disparate sites get in the way of each site’s progress.  

4.  I have to find an easier (i.e., cheaper and faster) way to demonstrate my environmental footprint.

Companies start with scope 1, just the energy within their plant, and then evolve to scope 2, including suppliers.  At least one software supplier can provide a scope three life cycle assessment of your product from which the footprint information can be extracted for the whole supply chain.  

5 - The process of collecting sustainability data is not very automated or integrated.
This is a good thing – the questions we are asking today will probably be quite different from those of tomorrow. 

6 - I don't have a sustainability budget.
For each element of the plan, if you have a business case you have a budget. 

7 – I'm not sure that sustainability is helping me attract a better pool of new candidates, but my sustainability progress has a positive impact on my existing employees.
People that can bring their values to work with them do have better morale.  Once you have published the results of your efforts, for example through a CSR report you will be convinced of the effect on drawing job candidates.   

8 – I need to customize my approach to sustainability to my industry, to my products, and to my processes.

Yes you do!  There are common themes though and one idea of using the six solutions structure is to make comparisons between both similar and dissimilar companies more easily. 

9 – My sustainability initiatives are strengthening my relationships with my suppliers.

Efficiency improvements in transportation logistics reduce waste and environmental impacts for both.  Managing life cycle impacts reduces waste for both.

10 – Sustainability relates to my brand and reputation in the marketplace.
The LOHAS (lifestyles of health and sustainability) segment has continued to grow.  Retailers (and other businesses) are using criteria that benefit more sustainable suppliers more often.  Failure to meet green criteria adversely impacts public perceptions. 

Change Agentry for Sustainability

Why do some changes occur instantly, appear effortlessly, while other changes fail to occur at all?

Through a combination of hands-on and interactive activities Alan AtKisson’s class, Advanced Change Agentry for Sustainability, examined this thought providing insight on why change in Sustainability is different than change in other contexts and provided a “tool kit” on how to effectively produce this change.

The class began with an introduction to the ISIS pyramid. The ISIS pyramid identifies a clear process needed to induce change. The process begins with developing indicators, thinking about data and trends within the system. Once these are identified, begin building a map and identifying connections in the system you are attempting to change. After careful evaluation of the existing system you will integrate the innovation at systems key leverage points. The final step is developing a strategy to carefully and effectively communicate and incorporate the innovation into the existing system. ISIS- Indicator Identification, Systems Analysis, Innovation, and Strategy. The class reinforced change is powerful to all and it affects different people in different ways. We must know the players and stakeholders at all time.

Early in the class we examined the innovation adoption curve, discussing the importance of the “take off” phase and the different constituents involved in this process. This curve is key to understanding systems transformation. Alan uses an amoeba as a metaphor to describe the roles and relations in the process of this systems change. The innovation or intended change begins with an innovator. The innovator develops the idea, policy, initiative, and works to engage the change agent. The change agents absorb the idea from the innovator and then communicate it to the masses, beginning with the transformer. The transformers are open to ideas and are working to promote positive change, but act as the gatekeeper for the idea and are careful which idea they allow to pass through. The amoeba is reliant on the pieces in the center of the organism, in this case those are the “mainstreamers” and “laggards”. Once the mainstreamers and laggards (those following the critical mass) accept the change, it is difficult to reverse. Those who are unwilling to accept the change or don’t believe the change will occur at all were identified as the “reactionary(ies)” and “curmudgeons”. Do not spend too much time attempting to convince these parties. It is important to remember where to focus your energy throughout the change process.

The class provided five key aspects that may increase the likelihood of the idea/change to rapidly spread. These are;

Relative advantage- Is this idea better than the existing idea?
Complexity- complex ideas are difficult to spread;
Observability- Is the idea visible?
Trialability- Ideas with low trialability are difficult to spread;
Compatibility- Does it fit into the existing system?

These are several important pieces to think about as we change agents move forward with our projects aimed at producing change. To learn more about change agentry and the methods used I encourage you to look in to Alan AtKisson’s readings and publications available at http://EarthScan.co.uk.

Sustainability in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Following is a guest post by Ron Sullivan, the director of sustainability at APICS Puget Sound.  Ron will be teaching a workshop—Six Solutions for Sustainability—for us next month, and this is what he hopes the workshop will help participants to do:

Sustainability: the New Dimension of Operations and Supply Chain Management

We hear bad things about the environment, and one thing is certain:  the solutions must engage businesses of all kinds.  New ways of thinking will inform a company’s course.  The result is a vision of the future based on systems thinking and the concepts of the natural step, cradle to cradle design, the triple bottom line, and the continuing influence of the quality movement started by Deming. 

We can structure sustainability efforts into two types.  The first is incremental, expanding the intent of continuous improvement activities, for example reducing waste.  The second is transformative.  New products such as solar and wind power supplanting coal are an example.  We have to consider both types of change. 

Some of the changes we will see require a fundamental rethinking, a paradigm shift.  An example is our current economic theory with its almost religious obsession with profit.  A new theory is emerging that is compatible with the triple bottom line. 

The changes are part of an extension of current responsibilities in the field combined with more extensive work with other functions in the company, which in sum lead to a new strategy for the business.

About the presenter:  Ron Sullivan, CFPIM, combines a career of over two decades in manufacturing companies with studies for the past four years at the University of Washington focused on the environment and sustainability.  His professional experience includes procurement, materials management, and systems analysis.  He is the director of sustainability for the APICS Puget Sound Chapter, and developed and presents the “Six Solutions for Sustainable Business” seminar which will be presented for the fourth time on March 5 at Seattle University.

Designing the future

Our training program started the year with a bang: 3 diverse workshops and a brownbag in January. We covered recognition for sustainable businesses, how to keep resolutions and change our own behavior, working with nonprofit boards, and conflict management. The very first slide shown in the first workshop got straight to the point with this framework:

1. AWARENESS (current state of self and society)
2. FUTURE VISION (where you are going)
3. GOAL SETTING (how are you going to get there?)
4. ACTION (work towards vision one step at a time)

I participate in as many of the workshops as I can (it's a huge perk of being the organiser, really), and I was present for this one. The instructor, Gina Diamond, started the workshop with a reminder of a crucial first principle: we make the future ourselves, even if we do it accidentally and without thinking. The rest of the workshop was about using this framework to make the future deliberately so that our own lives and society at large can be something we look forward to.

I thought this was the perfect way to kick off my working year, because really that's what everything we do at Sustainable Seattle is about. Whether it's the indicators (current state of society), Dream A Sound Future (where are we going and where could we go?), training and business assessments (how to get there) or on-the-ground projects around Seattle (working towards that vision one step at a time), it's all about deliberately making our future a good one.

I found Gina an inspiring teacher, and I'm working on bringing her back in May to lead a workshop about raising eco kids. Meanwhile, she'll be teaching another workshop--From Awareness to Action--this Saturday, and it sounds like it will expand on this framework.

posted by Eldan Goldenberg

Training courses from Sustainable Seattle in January.

Building better relationships

One of the keys to happiness is building good relationships with the people we work with, live with and see every day. We started developing classes about this last year, even before adopting Gross National Happiness as our new indicator framework, and now it's become even more relevant. We're pleased to announce two classes at the end of this month about different aspects of improving interpersonal relationships:

On January 24th, we'll be holding a morning workshop for non-profit staff about Getting along with your Board of Directors. Laura Pierce, an organizational consultant with two decades' experience helping nonprofits grow, will teach you how to create a productive and mutually supportive working relationship between nonprofit staff and board members. You will learn:Typical roles and responsibilities of nonprofit boards

• How board/staff division of duties varies depending on the life stage of the nonprofit organization
• How to build a strong Board/Executive partnership
• Tools to ensure alignment and accountability
• Common pitfalls to avoid

You will walk away with an enhanced understanding of how boards add value and engagement strategies to try next week in your boardroom.

To read more and register online, visit
http://sustainableseattle.org/training/217

On January 31st, we'll have an afternoon workshop about Conflict management & resolution. John Abel and Paul Kramer, two consultants who were a fantastic resource for us during last year's growth spurt, will teach you how to understand conflict from the inside out and turn interpersonal conflicts from sources of frustration into a force for positive change.

Come prepared with a story of conflict from your own experience to share and learn from, and experience the satisfaction of expressing your views & feelings in ways that do not invite defensiveness.

To read more and register online, visit
http://sustainableseattle.org/training/218

Don't forget our other workshops

• The carbon landscape and Greenhouse Gas accounting on Jan 27th (building a better relationship with the atmosphere).

More to be announced soon for February and March, including Rain Garden design & construction, Advanced Change Agentry Skills and Urban Stream Restoration
see http://sustainableseattle.org/training for details.

Other events in the community

The Economics of Happiness film screening & discussion at Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave, tonight
Leaping Frog Films to be Shown at Feathered Friends, 119 Yale Ave N, Jan 21st

Solar 101 workshop at the Queen Anne branch library, 400 W Garfield St, Jan 29th

How to talk about climate change (or any other issue, for that matter)

One of the most important things that sustainability advocates can do is to persuade more people to care about the issues we find important, and to support solutions that will work.  Because—thank heavens—we don't live in a dictatorship, we must do this to make progress.  It's difficult, frustrating work, but we have some resources and ideas to help.  The things I'll be writing about in this post are specifically for talking about climate change, because it's one of the most difficult issues to do this with, but the advice translates to any contentious or sensitive issue you want to persuade people to listen to you about.

Joe Brewer, who is part of our Leadership Circle and taught last month's How To Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change workshop, recently published an excellent article: Responding to Climate Skeptics' "Change Argument".  You should read the whole thing, but the gist is that it's essential to build trust in order to be listened to at all, and to understand where the skeptic is coming from in order to respond well to their argument.  This is good general advice that we should all follow, and in the article Joe expands on this and adds some specific advice about climate change and some common reasons why people who are neither malicious nor stupid continue to deny that there's a problem.

I can read as many articles about this as I like, but when it comes to using the theory there's no substitute for practicing.  To give you a chance to practice how to talk about climate change, we are putting on an evening workshop on October 7th called Stop Global Warming With Words.  It will start with a short lecture by Louise Stonington, but most of the time will be devoted to practicing your message, and giving each other feedback on this.  We hope it will serve as a good warm-up for the 10:10 campaign and worldwide work party.

We're also planning another intensive workshop with Joe early next year - watch this space for details.

Guest Post: How To Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change review

Liza Behrendt, the founding director of Beauty of Water, attended one of our STARs workshops last week and has kindly agreed to share her thoughts about it:

I share in the belief that a critical mass of people can envision an equitable and sustainable existence in harmony with living systems on the planet, and once we have done so, our hardest work is finished. Then we only have to build that world in the physical dimension.

Joe Brewer’s class, “How to Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change,” represented to me an important step in the process of making that happen.

The class, sponsored by Sustainable Seattle and held on Wednesday, August 25^th 2010 at the lovely Southside Commons, was multi-layered. Participants may have come away with an entirely different assessment of its value and substance, and I honor that. The content was rich and participation was fruitful. A variety of meaningful knowledge was shared and created throughout the day.

For me the most satisfying areas were esoteric, though, and yet Joe made them accessible. These include explicit recognition of the significance of metaphor and epic narrative, and the phenomenon of gut reactions to ideas versus the false concept that reactions are based in rational reasoning.

Human collective consciousness is full of shared imagery, icons, archetypes, and other forces that influence our individual and group beliefs and behaviors. We can intentionally seed this fertile territory with material that we most wish to build our world around. At least I believe this, and it seemed to me that Joe integrated this wisdom in his ideas and models.

If we are mindful and carefully deliberate, the images, words, stories, and other tools we employ to generate change, we can penetrate to the core of human consciousness. This is a powerful way to work.

Changes made in collective consciousness are subtle yet profound. Try this: close your eyes and imagine this planet we cherish. Recall aspects of life on Earth that you love. What do you see in your mind’s eye? What would you like to see more of? How do you feel when you do this? What if we could realize our best scenarios? Shall we aim for that? What is the role of imagination as we create our world?

Artists and psychologists operate in the zone of collective consciousness, as do many who work in other fields such as cultural anthropology and education. It was refreshing and inspiring to see Joe introduce and highlight this wisdom, and exemplify it with compelling slides and activities.

I hope Joe will continue to develop these areas of his work, for I believe that metaphor, epic narrative, and gut reactions may be a vital part of the most powerful activism available to us at this time. As a movement we need to explore the role of these elements more fully. This class stimulated inquiry.

As many readers know, Joe is the founder of Cognitive Policy Works and Seattle Innovators. He has studied behavioral and cognitive psychology, political science, physics and atmospheric science. Check out Joe’s writings if you haven’t already done so.

[final note: Joe has also written about the workshop on his own blog]

Triple Bottom Line Reporting workshop debrief

It took me a while, but I have uploaded slides from the Triple Bottom Line Reporting workshop we held in July. The first of these is the main presentation by Laura Musikanski, our Executive Director:

The second is a guest presentation by Burr Stewart, who also taught the Vizualisation Tools for Sustainability class in May. He tied the themes of the two classes together, talking about performance metrics and ways to use graphics as tools to make them more tangible and persuade people to pay attention.

Tim Abbe also gave a talk about the impacts of climate change and the kinds of decision-making we're going to have to do as climate change renders previously workable plans impractical, anchored in the example of Mount Rainier National Park's management plan having to adapt to changes in the behaviour of its rivers.

This was a very conversational class, with a lot of discussion of the material, and topic coverage really being driven by what the group showed interest in. Of course, this means that reading the slides is no substitute for being there, but we're sharing the slides so that at least some of the information can be as widely accessible as possible.

We talked a lot about measurement and reporting, the importance of standards so TBL reports can be compared with each other meaningfully (which is a problem right now), and why a company would be interested in doing this kind of disclosure, which isn't yet legally mandated. We also compared and contrasted a selection of CSR reports from www.corporateregister.com.

Personally, I was struck by two things from the class which made me more optimistic than I have been. One was simply how engaged and knowledgeable the group was. I still worry that the wave of sustainability awareness we're seeing is too little, too late, but it's encouraging to see just how much more widespread a good understanding of these issues is than even a couple of years ago, when I first started working with Laura on these TBL workshops. The other was seeing Nike's CSR report, dedicated to Neil Kearney, the previous head of the International Textile Garnent & Leather Workers' Federation. Not that long ago, they would have been demonising him as an obstacle to their business and here they are publicly thanking him for pushing them to improve their labour standards. If in one generation we could go from the murder of Chico Mendes to multinationals praising the gadflies who shamed them into doing better, perhaps there is hope for us.

5 Things You’ll Need to Know to Change Human Behavior

This is a guest post from STARs instructor Joe Brewer - reposted from the excellent Cognitive Policy Works blog.

As I prepare for the workshop next week on How to Bring About Large-Scale Behavior Change, it occurs to me that people might want to know why I believe it is finally possible to intentionally design campaigns that result in significant behavioral change.

Here are five things I’ve discovered that lead me to the conclusion that change processes can be designed and implemented effectively:

#1: We now know we were wrong about human nature.

Throughout most of the 20th Century, research into the foundations of human nature was dominated by a series of what philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn called “scientific revolutions”. Every decade or so a new theory would arise that pulled the foundations out from under the one that came before it. In the early 20th Century, focus was on behaviorism with the assumption that it wasn’t possible to measure aspects of subjective experience. This was challenged by the work of Sigmund Freud when he demonstrated that influences from subconscious experience could be measured (and were quite significant). Later came the “cognitivist” period dominated by formal arguments about the “abstract logic” of human thought. This was challenged by studies into the emotional influences of intention and belief for altering behavior.

The dominant theory that persisted throughout this entire period has been the Theory of Rational Action that claims human beings are abstract symbol manipulators (much like a calculator or computing machine) that seek to maximize their self-interest. This theory laid the foundation for most of the major institutions of society today, from stock markets to government agencies.

And we know that this theory of human nature is wrong. The first step to bringing about large-scale behavior change is finding the errors in our ways from past efforts that didn’t work.

#2: We now know how REAL human nature works (mostly).

While many puzzle pieces are still missing, scientists have pieced together enough of the picture to know that human beings are embodied creatures. This means we work the way we do because of the kinds of brains we have, the kinds of bodies we have, and the typical experiences that pervade our evolutionary history.

The basic picture is that human nature is:

• Profoundly moral: Our behavior is shaped by value judgments, deeply held beliefs, and assertions about right and wrong;
• Profoundly social: We are influenced by the behavior of those around us through shared stories, common expectations, and the need for cooperation (and competition);
• Deeply emotional: Contrary to past assumptions, we reason with our emotions. Just imagine trying to ask someone out on a date without those important emotional cues about alertness, enthusiasm, and appeal;
• Rational in context: Decisions are made via context-based logic determined by how we understand the situations we find ourselves in;
• Informed by the interplay of body, brain, and environment: All of these factors arise at the junction of bodily experience in the world where we interpret, plan, and act.

#3: It all comes down to good design.

Attempts to change human behavior will depend on knowledge like this. We have to design new modes of interaction (such as social media platforms like facebook and MySpace), better structures in the built environment (to change the patterns of experience), and more human-oriented organizational forms (that take REAL human nature into account).

With positive knowledge both about where we went wrong in the past and what we now know that is right, we can engage in system design to promote socially desirable outcomes like reductions in environmental impacts and greater sensitivities to the needs of others.

#4: This includes how motivation works.

One of the most important areas to consider good design is in the incentive structures that drive much of human behavior. The assumption that humans are self-interest maximizers has lead to many pay-for-work models that reward selfishness and greed in order to rise up the ladder. This theory has been deeply critiqued and challenged by studies into human creativity, such as that of Daniel Pink.

The key to behavioral change is understanding how motivation works in different environments. Then one needs to observe how people are using the environments they find themselves in now. The combination of these two knowledge sources will provide insights into how new environments should be designed.

#5: It’s been done before (many times).

History is filled with examples of change-makers successfully driving large-scale behavioral change. Guided by contemporary insights we can dissect past success stories and cultivate systematic methods for designed change. A few case studies that might be particularly enlightening are:

• The first televised Presidential debate and its impact on voting behavior;
• Inspirational social movements like the Civil Rights Movement or events that led to the creation of the Endangered Species Act;
• Transformational events like the terrorist attacks of September 11th and the bombing of Pearl Harbor;
• The rise of public relations and modern advertising.

This small sampling, if properly analyzed, can be exceedingly insightful. I will share some preliminary results of my analysis for these and other related topics in the workshop next week.

So, in conclusion, I believe it is finally possible to design campaigns for changing large-scale human behavior because of the solid foundations we now have from the cognitive and behavioral sciences. I will share more of the practical implications of this knowledge on August 25th in Seattle — and continue developing the tools necessary to put it to work for NGOs, government agencies, and social businesses in the days ahead.

Will you join me?

A Happy economy? The GNH Metric

John de Graff, author and filmmaker of “Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic” and writer of “What’s the Economy For Anyway” and founder of Take Back Your Time gave a fantastic brownbag tonight for Sustainable Seattle. Here is a summary.

Gross National Happiness is the measure Bhutan uses instead of the Gross National Product (GNP). Bhutan uses GNH to form policies and law, allocate resources and take action, just as the US uses the GNP. So what is the GNH? It has nine parts: Mental Health, Physical Health, Time Balance, Education, Cultural Vitality, Social Connection, Environmental Quality, Governance and Material Wellbeing. In other words, the gross national product counts for 1/9th of how the country measures itself.

What is the point of working such long hours, messing up the environment, allowing our health, community and family to fall into dilapidation just so we can have more stuff? Gallup, a marketing research company, surveys states in the US (Washington ranks #7 or so) and countries on our planet, and issues reports rating countries (Denmark is all smiley faces, US falls between 11 and 20 in any given year).

How is GNH measured? Surveys are taken- the Wellbeing Survey (June 2010). The Well-being Survey asks people to rate how strongly they agree whether “in most ways my life is close to ideal.” “The conditions of my life are ideal,” “I would change almost nothing in my life,” and how often they feel pleasant, cheerful, love, sad, anger, worry and stress. Nine scores are compiled for each part- these are the nine parts of the GNH. In the survey they are called: “The Pace of Your life” “Employment,” “Your Community,” “Social Support” (i.e. friends and family), “Psychological Wellbeing,” “Your Financial Security” “Your Culture and Education,” “Your Attitudes Toward Government and Public Institutions,” “Your Natural Environment” and You and Your Household.”

The Seattle City Council is looking into adopting the approach Greater Victoria took. Their summary report “The Happiness Index” (April 2009 www.victoriafoundation.bc.ca/web/node/353) is being used to raise questions, and, perhaps, at some point, provide answers. For government- towards more participation, for our personal lives- giving rather than spending money, volunteering and building trust in relationships. In our corporate governance where laws are imposed so that employees must elect half a board of directors, limiting work weeks to 40 or fewer hours, vacations and maternal leave is the law.

Gross National Happiness: USA gnhusa.org

July Events from Sustainable Seattle and Updates

So what is next for Sustainable Seattle? We the month of July is filled with various events and trainings that are still barely available for attendance. We do have limited space so make sure to sign up today!

July 1,2010 Climate Solutions from Buddha



July 15, 16, 2010 Triple Bottom Line Reporting





July 28, 2010 Life Cycle Analysis











Whew, the last few months have been busy here at Sustainable Seattle. We've been working towards a holistic vision of sustainability with all engines firing with different events, trainings and collaborations that have widened the spectrum of sustainability and broadened our minds.

First, we had a fantastic event at Hidmo located in the Central District. It was a cultural exploration of East African people's through dance, song and food. Our partnership with Walking with Africans was to bring the vision of micro lending into the wider audience of the Central District. The event was a tremendous success and the performances were entertaining and educational.

Our Dream a Sound Future project is fired up and bringing in ideas and plans from numerous sources both professional and dreamers from all ages. Some of the ideas that have emerged include an energy source from the motion of falling rain to solar powered street lights.

We have also just completed the first step in our Rain Garden project.
The project was a joint collaboration with Alleycat Acres and Creatives 4 Community and it included an extensive training project that teaches homeowners and individuals about the importance of the Puget Sound Watershed and the steps they can take to lower their impact on this important resource.

The Rain Garden Project was funded in part from a grant from the Puget Sound Partnership via EcoNet.