Growth and prosperity when “less” is more
Seth Godin: “I’m more and more convinced that the best hope for the eco movement is to tell a story of efficiency and growth and ingenuity. More is easy to sell. Less almost never is.”
I, too, am becoming more convinced. I think that communicators working in the environment movement are going to cop an aweful backlash in the coming 12 months unless the story changes. The story needs to be about advancement, a better, healthier life, not “have less”. That’s not going to get traction in the broader market – never has, never will. It won’t get traction in developing countries either.
While there are clearly circumstances where less must be less (i.e. eating seafood and cattle for meat), and I am very aware of the “scientific view” of the world where “technology alone can save the day”, there are many other opportunities where “more” = less – more efficient, more innovation etc. that resonate with both the business community and community at large, if the story is told well.
This seems to me to be very much at the core of the Cradle to cradle philosophy too – let’s be smarter, and have less impact as a result. Not “let’s go without” (I could be wrong there, but that certainly was one of my takeouts.)
