Comments on: “No Impact Man” Calls for a Cultural Shift

By: Harry Schwarzlander

Harry Schwarzlander — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:11:45 +0000

Sorry I have only now gotten back to this site. With due respect, Phyllis, I must point out that “politics” tends to follow the people, not lead. Once you have a strong transformational movement, you may get some politicians interested. However, “politics” itself needs to get transformed. Just as, in a sustainable future, we can no longer afford an economic system built on gambling casinos, so we can’t afford any longer a political system based on chit-chat and hullabaloo. We have inherited systems of government that were designed to work in a world that no longer exists. Unfortunately, we can’t expect governments to lead in addressing these profound issues, since governments exist to preserve the status quo.

By: Phyllis Liang

Phyllis Liang — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:27:59 +0000

Thanks Erik. The goal is to save the world, of course, and we will use all the help we can get. Personal virtues are important, but if we think we could solve these colossal problems without recourse to politics, we are deluding ourselves.

By: Erik Assadourian

Erik Assadourian — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:06:39 +0000

Thanks Phyllis. You’re assuming the goal is a political impact. Much more than political behaviors have to change if we’re going to live sustainably. The entire cultural system and its orientation around ever higher levels of consumption need to be reengineered so that sustainability not consumerism is at the core. That’ll take simultaneous efforts on all fronts. Political, yes, but media attention, social network-based efforts like the No Impact Project, religious groups and other sources of traditional authority urge action, etc. Politics alone won’t solve the crisis we face today. –Erik

By: Phyllis Liang

Phyllis Liang — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:20:56 +0000

Read Elizabeth Kolbert’s recent critical review of “No Impact Man”. The problem with this kind of well-intentioned stunts is that they really have no impact at all at the political level.

By: Erik Assadourian

Erik Assadourian — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:13:34 +0000

Thanks Harry. I agree that this is a complex effort. But it is a cultural transformation that is necessary. While this blog entry doesn't describe the framework needed, the broader Transforming Cultures project does, particularly through State of the World 2010, which will come out in January. This book describes the 6 key institutions that can be harnessed to change cultural patterns, namely: education, business, the media, government, tradition, and social movements. I just put up the Table of Contents to the report, which you can look at here.

By: Harry Schwarzlander

Harry Schwarzlander — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:52:05 +0000

The problem is not just “the consumer culture”, it is much bigger: It is the way everything interacts. We are no longer dealing with specific problems or issues, and we don’t even have a language for adequately addressing the matter. To come to grips with this difficulty, I coined the term “the psychophysical complex” back around 1970. This stands for what goes on in the minds of people (each individual human being), and how people relate to every aspect of their external (physical and social) environment — from their immediate surroundings to the world entire.
From this perspective it easier to see how we humans, especially in developed countries, are locked into vast feedback loops that pass in and out of people’s minds, of which we are mostly unaware. In the New Environment Association we call these “Rampant Phenomena”.
The term “culture change” doesn’t seem to convey any inkling of the truly profound changes that are needed: the creation of an altogether “new psychophysical complex” — what we call more simply “a New Environment” — where people are able to live in greater harmony with each other and with the natural world.
The idea of making even a small inroad toward such a mind-boggling undertaking would be total fantasy without at least a basic framework for an approach. Fortunately, we have that — we call it the “New Environment Process”. The “social connections” that Colin mentions are a crucial component of this. Only if people work together is there even a remote chance for headway, and anything that works against the tremendously strong trend toward ever more separation will be helpful.