Are you Johnny Rotten or James Joyce?

We love Gandhi's maxim, dear to the heart of so many environmental activists, but note that he DIDN'T say

"Be the change you wish to see ………whilst alienating those you seek to change”.

It seems that many environmental activists like to shout, to protest, chain themselves to railings, get arrested.

They achieve hero status within their tribe.

Whilst the business community shrugs its shoulders and says “We don’t care”. We have budgets to hit and reports to file.”

Isn’t it about time the Green Activist Tribe realized that shouting from the sidelines, even if you are chained to them and getting arrested, doesn't always lead to engagement with the people on the playing field.

The Green tribe seems to attract a fair few people who model themselves on either James Joyce or Johnny Rotten.

Either using an environmental platform to spout a stream of consciousness, that leads disciples to share knowing nods and grins and business people wondering "what are they going on about now?

Or adopting a persona that seems to think that being angry and constantly YELLING AT PEOPLE does the trick.

In reality, neither persona is helpful in raising awareness about sustainability issues and positively changing behaviour in the business community.

It is likely that both personas create barriers to the adoption of more sustainable business practices.

Recently an environmental activist challenged us and claimed that not to be true. 

However we couldn’t spot a single recognizable, big business on their website customer list. 

So in their world, their view might be true, but is their world representative of the whole. 

I wonder how many FT500 companies they have had calm and rational discussions with?

Our customers regularly tell us that ranting environmental activists turn them off.

It also seems to us that some environmental activists, fail to engage with a wider audience because they make up a cool sounding story and act as if it were true, egged on by their clique of admirers? 

It’s not a million miles away from Trump’s modus operandi, is it?

They don’t seem to understand that we can't impose our views on a business audience, nor more than a stand-up can demand people laugh at their jokes!

If a business audience says "You are turning us off with your constant angry rants", we'd be wise to listen harder and work to build relationships rather than retreating into the bosom of the tribe and shouting louder.

I find that the argument for adopting more sustainable business practices is so strong and compelling, we are often pushing at an open door.

That is probably because our starting point is always to listen, understand and build relationships first and then engender change through intelligent discourse.

If we charged up to a business covered in war paint and wailing like a banshee, we would probably bounce off the hastily bolted door.

Of course, it's far less exciting to stand in front of a group of managers and talk about the danger to aquatic life caused by high ph or silt run off and to advocate the use of Kelly Tanks and Silt fences, than it is to protest and be arrested.

Hey, but guess what?

It works.

Rational and objective discussion works in changing behaviour in businesses.

If those businesses are big enough and we create a viral effect within them, then we can make large scale, positive changes quite quickly.

It's much easier to talk to those who already get it or to hurl abuse at those who don't, than to stand calmly in front of a group of people and convert them with a well-constructed, compellingly delivered argument.

Often environmentalists pull people up for relatively minor transgressions rather than considering the net effect of people’s actions.

They seem to forget that to Act Sustainably, is to achieve,

• Economic viability and
• Social equity whilst incurring a
• Bearable environmental cost.

Sustainability is a trade-off between acceptable environmental impact and social/economic benefit.

Everything we do has an environmental impact.

Even delivering environmental training, causes environmental impact, in the short-term and when looked at through a narrow focus. 

Of course, the goal is that the positive behaviour change stimulated by the training provides a substantial, net “Return on Investment” to the environment, to the business and it’s stakeholders.

That is what Act Sustainably means.

Maybe making friends with those we wish to change rather than antagonising them is a better way forward?