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Notes from Paul Ray/Joseph Kruth Discussions Paul finished his book Cultural Creatives -- available in stores October 3, 2000. Completed study for EPA/PCSD last year. Surveyed 2,181 people nationally with nine focus groups. "Sustainability" - no one likes the word, it's a "loser," b/c 1) sounds like an environmental "teckie" word, and 2) it feels like it is keeping things as they are - standing pat. Opening question "what do you see coming up in the world in the next 20-30 years?" 90% said they were very concerned, and expected much worse environmental situation. They felt helplessness and despair. No lack of awareness of the problems, especially the continuing destruction of the environment. The survey itself was re-contacting people who agreed to be interviewed previously in the three groups he identified in 1995: Cultural Creatives 26%, approximately 50 million American adults Traditionalists 25% Modernists 49% The "key top line result" is 79% of Americans agree with the strongest possible statement regarding sustainability, that there is a dire situation regarding the environment, and that action to save it should be taken even if it means slower economic growth. Of these, 17% are opinion leaders who are ready to act now, and 63% of this group are CCs. The rest say they lack knowledge to act. The only thing that predicts strong support for sustainability is values, relationships and personal growth. The stronger the support for sustainability, the stronger the values. Of the remainder, 8% deny there is any sustainability problem and are against any action, and 12% don't know. People who recognize the problem have little or no idea what to do. They do not know what will be most effective (e.g. is it cost effective to insulate their homes?), what products to buy, and what effect cars, gas and driving all have in the "big picture." There is an awareness of the problem, and he believes it is "too late not to know." People also have a fully formed, but not very knowledgeable, concern that issues of the environment and sustainability are being disabled by the media. There appears to be a clear "class alignment" of the wealthy and big business as the media promotes an image that acting to become more sustainable now will be "bad for business." Even as industries line up against action, some companies are breaking ranks, as British Petroleum and Ford Motor Company have done. |
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The Market for an Emerging Constellation of Values--Discussions With Paul Ray |
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In Mr. Ray's view, many environmental organizations are focused in the wrong area. People want practical information, a rational plan of action to help them and their institutions change. Most people do not know what aspects of their own behavior to change, they lack sufficient product information and are subject to a continued flow of ads that suggest the products are all right, and everything else is also. People are angry at big government and the cynical approach of big business, and they refuse to pay a premium of 10-15% to buy products that are more sustainable, when they have a belief that if industry made the changes, the economies of scale from increased production would reduce prices as a better product is made. He believes we are entering a crucial, "watershed time in history," where we need to think in longer time frames. He also believes there is a 10-20 year window in which humanity will likely experience a new "Renaissance" or a new "Fall of Rome." Paul believes all problems require big changes in institutions, and that if they do not change, there will likely be a major collapse of global networks. If there is such a collapse, they won't easily recover, as the easily derived raw materials have largely been used up, the environment is being destroyed, and civilization could return to Medieval levels. All of this can be avoided in his opinion. The 50m CCs in the U.S. combined with the 75m CCs in Europe have values that can take civilization to new levels, along with the physical efficiency being developed. CCs are activists by nature, who lead the "moral public" of the population that includes 75% of the people for sustainability, 50% of the people supporting health care for all, and 35% supporting personal growth psychology. The rise of CCs parallels the rise of the movements of the 1960s, with the average CC involved in approximately a half dozen social movements over time, with 71% of CCs now in the moral publics of three or more social movements. In contrast, 67% of modernists are in the moral publics of zero, one or two social movements. The key thing about CCs is they are activists, and they are at the intersection of the movements transforming society. CCs want to take action at the local level. In contrast, Modernists tend to be more consumers. Traditionalists tend to act through their churches. As they tend to be poorer, they are concerned they can't act as consumers. The concept of the social movement is analogous to the circus tent, with a vertical pole indicating how often and how active they are, and the horizontal axis measuring what they believe or will contribute money for doing. All are degrees of being engaged, with those at the top of the pole engaged the most. The moral public is aware, they are paying attention, and they know there is a problem. They ask, "what should be done?" He sees important changes occurring in society. He sees the Fortune 500 needs to change. The quadrangle of 1) government/Congress being bought, producing the "revolving door," 2) administrative agencies being restrained, 3) industries being regulated having influence, and 4) financial institutions bigger than some national governments are now controlling the economic processes. He believes the often cited approach "we have no other choices" in the media is completely wrong, written by often cynical reporters who are not willing to take chances in what they ask. In the movements with the CCs, there is strong support for the poor, the environment, inner city renewal, environment justice, and other progressive approaches. CCs have a strong tendency to look at the "whole picture," and with survival at stake, they believe bold action is justified. He finds CCs will express their beliefs when in the company of others who talk the way they do, when it is safe. Most CCs believe they are alone in the world (as was the case with most doing transformational work in our network a few years ago). When he asks CCs what percentage of the people think like them, they answer, "less than five percent," and often "under one percent." When he tells them they are in the company of 50m other adults, there is a sense of relief to know they are not alone. Only 1/2 of the CCs care about sustainability and the environment, and 1/2 about spirituality as well. There is a core group that is most active, and the strongest leaders are the most spiritual. The CCs are really about women's values, as 60% of them are women. There is no gap between men and women who are CCs, but there is a huge gap between them and the rest of society. He believes a new word for sustainability needs to develop, and the "least bad term" identified so far is "livability." He believes a mobilizing phrase, such as Rachel Carson's "Death of Humanity," is needed. Issues need to be framed at the local action level to make a connection between social issues and "my way of life" There is a new industry group, producing the "LOHAS" journal, "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability" which is cataloguing total sales in the U.S. of $230 billion annually. http://www.lohasjournal.com/ CCs are the market for LOHAS, and five industry groups have been identified: 1. Business to business ecological sustainability - solar, recycled products, etc. $80b/yr. 2. Business to consumer ecological sustainability - $80b/yr. 3. Alternative healthcare - $31b/yr. 4. Personal development - $11b/yr. 5. Ecological lifestyles - $81b He believes this a very important development, as many business people want to move in this direction, but they just do not know how. He finds that 30% of managers at large corporations are CCs, and that each is convinced that they are nearly alone, as the subject of values is often disabled in the workplace. The approach is very successful on Wall Street, but that is not a sustainable approach because of the values of the financial sector starts from this premise to design new systems. "We are all children of Modernism, which says 'do not look at values.'" Excerpted from galley of Cultural Creatives, by Paul Ray, with permission: "Essentially, we found that Cultural Creatives are by far the strongest opinion leaders for ecology positions. However, they do not really differ from an already powerful Americans consensus. Rather, they are simply much stronger and more consistent on environmental issues than most people. "In the box, four themes summarize the key survey results. Each one combines large groups of survey questions that were very closely related. A fifth theme sums up the first four, to give an overall measure of support for ecological sustainability. Thematic Measures from the EPA/PCSD Survey:
"1) These data flatly reject the long held position by business conservatives. In a dozen statements that probed all aspects of the issue, Americans overwhelmingly said that growth and the economy should be compatible, if only we use technology well, do business differently and change our everyday lifestyles. When 89% of all Americans agree on anything, it's effectively unanimous. "2) These data sum up a surprisingly strong consensus, saying there's a serious environmental crisis that threatens all life, and harms the prospects for our own children. Obviously this perception of danger is the reason people are quite willing to change their way of life and want business and government to make changes on the first theme. We list some of the statements below. At 75% agreement, it's a national mandate for action. However, both the survey and focus group results suggest that most people are unclear on what to do next, and they want some leadership from both business and government. "3) These data signal a change from a world view that wants merely to exploit the planet for its natural resources to a view that says ours is a living planet, and must be protected. It's surprising, not because it is a majority opinion -- except among the Cultural Creatives -- but because it is a flip in world view that has dramatic long term implications. It is closely related to the common American view that nature is sacred. We will go into this further at the end of this chapter. "4) This was also a surprise. It turns out that the more people believe the above three themes, the more they favor actions by government that promote social justice, caring for the rights and the employment prospects of the poor, and supporting the needs of poor children. Contrary to decades of political assertions from all points of the political spectrum, a majority of Americans, and especially Cultural Creatives, see no incompatibility between ecology and social justice. This means that poor urban communities, concerned with both environmental justice and jobs, can make common cause with the larger, more middle class environmental movement. In fact, they share a common constituency and common goals. "5) Summing up the other data, we see a strong pro-sustainability position. At 77% agreement, American beliefs closely match the ecology movement's position. As usual, the Cultural Creatives are virtually in unanimous agreement on this at 92%." |