Studies show that achieving sustainable development requires “the widespread support and involvement of an informed public”.
It is worth considering the potential consequences of an informed public becoming a helpless warrior by accentuating the negativity of the information conveyed.
Stewart J. Hudson says that «Although environmental education certainly requires learning about the resilience of nature, it is the catalogue of harm that will seem most evident to educators and students over the next several decades. The danger is that this catalogue of harm will contribute to a psychology of despair – a loss of hope for the future and a sense that we as individuals cannot make a difference. »
There are strategies that can be employed to challenge Hudson’s perspective on the psychology of despair.
It is still important to keep people informed, but at the same time, we must provide them with the tools they need to overcome the resistance to change that can immobilise societies. We can do this by conveying messages that ultimately offer hope, focusing on the recognition of the benefits that will come, and suggesting approachable solutions that can be put into place in a progressive way, avoiding the imposition of a single no-escape alternative.
Claudia R. Schneider suggests that «in this domain, positive anticipated emotions may exert a stronger ‘pull’ than the ‘push’ provided by anticipating negative emotions.», while Weber and Fredrickson add that « Targeting negative emotions may also lead to a single action bias, whereas positive emotions are more likely to produce a virtuous cycle of prosocial behaviour. »
It is important to avoid becoming discouraged by the perception that communication takes time to yield results and that we operate in isolation.
As Sylvia Alice Earle, oceanographer, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and 2009 TED Prize winner, observed, “No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.”
It would be wise to avoid taking action when oceans are in a state of depletion. Similarly, it is important to avoid adopting a passive or indifferent attitude. Time is as crucial as hope, and where there is hope, there is life.
Ultimately, as Ouma perceptively observed in 1986, as referenced in the Brundtland Report, “The environment is everyone’s business, development is everyone’s business, life and living is everyone’s business.” This remains a crucial consideration in our collective endeavours.