Message House conducted three focus groups with members of the UK general public from London, Manchester and Glasgow on Monday 11th October, exploring awareness of COP26, levels of concern around the environment and testing example messages. This letter to world leaders from the UK public is inspired by the findings.
Dear World Leaders,
Thank you for agreeing to come together to discuss climate change. This is a unique time in history. What happens next is make or break for our planet.
“We have been, for many years now, using up all the natural resources without thinking about any of the consequences and as a result all of a sudden, now that it’s hit us in the face we are starting to wake up.”
You might get the impression that we, the general public, don’t care. The tiny vocal minority who have been willing to cause disruption to demand action have been vilified for their methods.
The truth is, we are scared. We are frightened for our children and their children. We are scared because we are small and have no control. Our individual impact makes no difference.
“Let's compare my household and what I've produced to a factory that's producing billions and billions of products.”
As individuals we feel powerless. So we bury our head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t matter:
“I like to switch off the news and things like that and not overindulge in it with too much information that's going on, because I think I could really get myself upset about it all or worked up about it.”
We want to make environmentally-friendly choices, and we try when we can but life is tough. We are on a tight budget, constantly weighing up decisions based on price, convenience, quality, customer service - and now add the environment into the mix. We want to do more but too often price and convenience wins.
“I won't necessarily go and pay more somewhere else if I know that they are more sustainable.”
We assuage our guilt by reminding ourselves that we are small and our impact is tiny. And yet the changes that we must make collectively are huge and they will (and should) impact each and every one of us.
We look to companies and corporations to lead the way. It is easy to blame the corporations for a history of prioritising profit over sustainability and to pass on to them the responsibility of putting it right.
“Let's face it, money makes the world go round, and hence that's why we are in this state.”
But now every organisation seems to have green credentials. The jargon is so confusing and with targets, goals and percentages it’s really difficult to compare and to know which claims are genuine. Our trust in companies and corporations is waning.
We are spoiled - we still want same day delivery, 24-hour access, excellent customer service but we want the green choice to be the most attractive option.
“It's helping towards a greener future, which is what we all want to do.”
“I would prefer to just pay the normal rate and for the government to be doing more on the sides or in terms of regulations, fees and things like that to be incentivising companies to do it rather than that being passed on to the consumer.”
What are we, the public, looking for?
1. Don’t use environmental messages as marketing. We want you to walk the talk and to create conditions that support organisations that are genuinely making a difference.
“A lot of what we consume is from what they've created, so if they [companies and corporations] took over and took control and then made everything that we consume more accessibly, environmentally friendly, I think that could make the biggest difference.”
2. Make it understandable. Quoting targets and commitments expressed in billions of tonnes or trillions of dollars is meaningless to us. We want to hear tangible news about what has already been done and the concrete steps that are going to be taken to reach these goals.
“I’ve heard government... you always hear people say ‘We will do this’. ‘We will do that’ and then they break their promises. So I'd like to see a bit more action.”
“Use real world examples rather than offsetting by a certain percentage. It's going part of the way by saying 1/4 of UK homes, that's giving you an idea of what's happening.”
3. Make it easier for us to get involved. We want to do our bit but we need help seeing where we fit in, and the actions we can take to make an impact.
“There should be more onus on the government and for companies to be doing more to help provide easier decisions for people to make.”
“Because at the end of the day, we are one race and we're all in it together. Basically, as cheesy and corny as it sounds and we are all living on this planet and everyone needs to make a change because it’s not gonna be around forever the way that we’re going.”
Thank you for listening.
From Joanna and Joe Bloggs
