Yesterday I attended a meeting about how to approach individuals to convince them to buy fairtrade and organic products. The speaker said that individual choices create a norm in society, similar to the norm in Sweden about not hitting children.
She discussed psychological tendencies amongst three stereotypes in our society. One was our target group- the slacker activist. The third group was hopeless – the overworked mothers with two part-time jobs.
However there was lingering discomfort looking round at the other ecological foot soldiers on a mission to convert consumers. We prey on the individual conscience aided by photos of deserts and weeds : our future. Moralising Food Soldiers.
In this role we are putting the individual in a pressure cooker, encouraging individualistic and egoistic mindsets, and also creating a pressure to conformity.
Much better to focus on the local government and its provision of facilities to enable individuals to make effortless green decisions : making recycling easier, more buses, cheaper public transport.
Much better then to act collectively rather than individually.
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