This is a follow up on my previous article: Micro- Vs Macro- the climate change conundrum.
In the last issue, we proposed a hypothesis that a million that rule, actually serve the likes and preferences of the billions. While we proposed a few examples of the theory with respect to corporations, it was never applied to Governments. In this article, we will examine this theory for Governments, as we build to the climax of this series on- micro-level change.
Throughout his election campaign, Boris Johnson gave a singular message- “Get Brexit Done”. A variety of reasons led the conservatives to win that election, but their conclusive stand on Brexit did help their case. Boris Johnson identified with the public opinion, and in his campaign promised to deliver it (DW News & Documentaries, 2019). In India, a similar tide led to the failure of the allied-Congress in 2019. With the former’s lack-lustre leadership and over-emphasis on minorities in their past rule, the BJP banked on specifically promising a great leader in Modi and a strong sentiment of nationalism (Pandey V., 2019). Though an oversimplified version of what actually happened in both elections, these examples point towards the phenomenon of ‘public opinion driven politics’.
In fact a study into the phenomenon by Encyclopedia Britannica concluded that “public officials will usually seek to satisfy a widespread demand—or at least take it into account in their deliberations—and they will usually try to avoid decisions that they believe will be widely unpopular” (W. Phillips Davison, 1998). While the former examples only focus on elections, the latter study captures a more general working of policy-making. Although no sweeping generalisations can be made from this hypothesis, there is evidence that corporations and politicians do serve demand in some way or another.
Amidst growing concerns about the climate crisis, what really swayed public opinion were the California forest fires and more recently the Australian bush fires. In line with our theory, one of the democrats’ most critical issues for the upcoming USA-2020 elections is addressing the climate crisis (Milman O, 2019 & Cagle S., 2020). Though there is promise now of electing a climate responsible party in one part of the world, there is an underlying issue with this form of public opinion. Rooting for events like the fires to turn opinions towards climate responsible preferences (and not behaviour), is neither sustainable nor moral. Unsustainable because preferences change and immoral because the whole point is to prevent such catastrophes not wait for them.
While catastrophes, or even man-made drivers such as trends or protests do drive change, this article focuses on a sustainable and lasting approach to change; Education. Reaching out to the next generation and educating it about environmental sciences, is our safest bet at making sure that climate responsible behaviour (and not just opinion) develops and stays. A not so well-known study in 2012 about climate responsible behaviours in students with environmental education in contrast to the ones without, adeptly captures this. The research concluded that education strongly influences a young student’s willingness to act assuming equal conditions (Boyes E. & Stanisstreet M., 2012).
While today we debate about micro vs macro change; for tomorrow’s public debate to be about electric vs hydrogen; we must educate, rather than influence, the billions.
About the author
Anurag Deherkar
Sustainable Energy Technology student
"As a strong believer of Individual action, he likes to write about never-thought-before ideas to propagate large scale behavioral change. He often likes to use social psychology and economics as lenses to think of strategies to combat climate change."
References
Note: This article is an opinion based on either facts, previously studied theories or past researches.
(W. Phillips Davison, 1998) Public Opinion and Government. Encyclopedia Britannica. Link:https://www.britannica.com/topic/public-opinion/Public-opinion-and-government
(DW News & Documentaries, 2019) Why did Boris Johnson's Conservatives win big?
Link:https://www.dw.com/en/uk-election-boris-johnsons-conservatives-secure-landslide-victory/a-51652534
(Pandey V, 2019) Five Reasons why Narendar Modi won. BBC News Link:https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-india-48399531/india-election-2019-five-reasons-why-narendra-modi-won
(Milman O, 2019) 'Americans are waking up': two thirds say climate crisis must be addressed. The Guardian. Link:https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/sep/15/americans-climate-change-crisis-cbs-poll
(Cagle S., 2020) Where do the 2020 Democratic candidates stand on the climate crisis? The Guardian. Link:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/29/democratic-candidates-environment-climate-change
(Boyes E. & Stanisstreet M., 2012) Environmental Education for Behaviour Change: Which actions should be targeted? International Journal of Science Education. Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233007945_Environmental_Education_for_Behaviour_Change_Which_actions_should_be_targeted