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Shift Happens

Matilda Lee | 17.05.11

Part of what makes Ricky Gervais’s opening speech at the Golden Globe awards this year  so hilarious is that, for the most part, his jokes poking fun at Hollywood stars contain kernels of truth. It is the unmentionable subjects as much as it is the context – in this case a very public glittery awards ceremony – which makes the jokes go so far.

In the environmental world, communicating the taboo is a regular preoccupation: we point fingers, shout from rooftops and draw attention to truths people would rather not have to face: climate change threatening our civilisation, deforestation making the world uninhabitable to humans, waste mountains, toxic overload...

But the outcome is not as we expected. As environmentalists push to get the message across and wait for the serious action – the cultural shifts, the tipping points – that will ultimately tackle these issues, it’s worth doing a bit of navel gazing. How was our delivery? Green campaigners and communicators now have an opportunity to rethink the idea of the medium as the message. As environmentalist and poet Wendell Berry said ‘Be joyful although you know the facts’. It’s a hard one, I agree, but the idea of changing the context to change behaviour has been gaining traction. Here are some examples of how it has worked:

Global Cool campaigns to get people to live greener lives. Its Do-it-in-public campaign is an attempt to promote public transport...without mentioning the environmental benefits of public transport. Instead it promotes the ‘me time’ you get when travelling by bus or train – time to read, listen to music, talk to friends, meet new people. Its ‘Turn up the style, turn down the heat’ campaign works along the same concept – promoting the fashion (fab knitwear), health (better for skin) and financial benefits of lowering your home heating – not the environmental benefits!

Friends of the Earth’s new campaign aims to change the context of the usually deadly boring topic of conserving home energy in its sexy new video. As FOE campaigner Dave Timms says: 'If everyone was this turned on by insulation and energy-efficient boilers British homes would be a lot warmer, greener and cheaper to heat'. Nuff said.

The Fun Theory works in the belief that fun can change human behaviour . Can we get people to use the stairs more/obey the speed limit/throw rubbish in the bin – if we make it fun? The answer, they found, is yes you can.

Laughter as medicine

And there really is green humour. Pointing out just how absurd some aspects of normal society are can be riotously funny. Reverend Billy & the church of life after shopping is a prime example. When Rev. Billy shows up at your local Starbucks to exorcise the cash register with a gospel choir in tow you know there is a heaven above. This and other antics have gotten him on prime time news TV.

In campaign speak, he aims to get people to buy less and buy local. But he gets the message across with the anti-shopocolypse crusade. ‘I don’t believe that spiritual people need to be super serious and boring’ he has said. His film ‘What would Jesus buy ?’ makes you see beyond the creed of unconscious consumerism .

Finally, the Yes Men – the duo who perform ‘identity correction’ by infiltrating events and delivering sober but shocking speaking engagements at meetings. While making CEOs sweat, the Yes Men create an alternative reality where corporations do the right thing. The classic example is Dow accepting full responsibility for the Bhopal disaster with a $12 billion plan to compensate victims. You can watch their short films on BabelGum (check out the BBC interview with a certain Jude Finisterre ‘spokesman’ for Dow Chemicals).

Watching a couple of Rev Billy sermons or Yes Men impersonations will make you feel differently. The world is an absurd place, but shift happens. Help bring it on with some serious fun. 

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Yeo! Dairy’s Rapping Farmers Are Da Bomb on X-Factor, Fo’shizzle

Kenneth Hill | 11.10.10

Yeo Valley busted out its £5 million advertising campaign this weekend, slotting in an ad on X-Factor that features rapping farmers putting the cool in sustainability, things organic and Yeo Valley, the UK's largest organic brand.

The new rap ad knocks one out of the park: a smart, funny, catchy, unexpected spot, placed on the top-rated TV show in the UK, posted online and poised for viral sharing. The song and the rapping farmers are irresistibly fun (you can download the ringtone), and will go a long way in giving a whole new rap to sustainably produced, organic food. 

The four young farmers - plus extras including Yeo Valley staff, their cows and an awesome owl known as Ted -- serve as the hippest ambassadors ever for the West Country and Yeo's suite of organic products.

"Our farmers aren’t rapping about their bling, girls and fast cars but instead about our cows, tractors and wax jackets — matters a little bit closer to home," blogs Ben Cull, head of brand marketing at Yeo Valley, on the company's new interactive web site.

Yeo's new site sports links to their presence across social media platforms (profiles at twitter.com/yeovalley, Facebook, and "YeoTube"), plus personable and accessible video clips featuring founder Mary Mead, and son Tim who runs the Blagdon-based, family-owned dairy farm that prides itself on being a "real place" working in harmony with nature.

Admirably, Yeo Valley has a strong commitment to maintaining a low-carbon footprint, too. For example, their new pots are 100% recyclable and made from 80% recycled material, they use green energy to run the dairies and they employ double-decker trailers to move more product which results in fewer lorries and less fuel.

Bottom line: this ad is a true winner.

PS: It won't hurt the image of the Young Farmers' Clubs either. Peace out. 

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rap music, yeo valley, tim mead, facebook, youtube, advertising, mary mead, sustainable farming, green social media, x-factor

My favorite friend on Twitter: A talking tree

Kenneth Hill | 08.10.10

In a charming example of using social media to make science and environmental awareness accessible, the folks at EOS magazine have given voice to a 100-year-old tree which tweets, facebooks, youtubes, and flickrs its feelings out to its friends.

Outfitted with a range of instrumentation, the Talking Tree monitors readings from the edge of Brussels using an ozone meter, light meter, dust meter and other gadgets, then translates the data into a social media stream of clever thoughts and observations:

"Turning nasty CO2 into some delicious O2. You can thank me later - http://bit.ly/9mkTf0"

"The air is getting a bit dirty. Do me a favor, take your bike"

"The days keep getting shorter. Need to prepare for winter"

A webcam captures the sights around it, which become status updates complete with video-log:

"My leaves are dancing in the wind:"



The loveliest form of sharing might just be the sounds the tree hears, which it captures via a microphone and uploads to its stream on Soundcloud.

Happiness Brussels did the creative, delivering a knock-out web site from which you can access the menu of social media outlets.

Impressive. Fun. Smart. The campaign supports EOS's “Low Impact Month” in November 2010 to encourage people to further participate in reducing their individual environmental footprints. Follow the Talking Tree on:

Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Flickr | Soundcloud | TalkingTree Home Page

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social media, eos, talking tree

Goodbye Spring … Hello Greenhouse!

Anna Guyer | 25.02.10

We have moved into the Greenhouse after six years working as The Spring Consultancy. Spring was a great name but unfortunately lots of other people thought so too. As we were getting a bit lost on Google, we thought we’d better rename the company at the same time as redesigning our website.

We like Greenhouse because it reflects our mission to help interesting and innovative organisations grow, and our passion for green and sustainable living. Almost as important and certainly an inspiration, I like to enjoy a nice cup of tea and a chat in our own greenhouse in the garden when I can.

We’ve tried to make the new Greenhouse website as interesting and useful as possible, whether you’re a journalist, campaigner, client, or just interested in green and ethical issues.

Through our blog, Notes from the Greenhouse, we are celebrating and recognising the contribution of some of our green heroes and inspiring green communities, as well as highlighting interesting news and campaigns coming up.
And because it’s all about social media (just ask Kenneth) you can follow us and our campaigns, from Better Nursery Food Now, to One Pot Pledge, to Food Inc.

If you have news or views to share, we would love to hear from you. Here is how to get in touch.

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