Last Friday, I went to see one of the very first screenings of Just Do It, a brilliant documentary about a joyous bunch of passionate climate change activists, ready to flirt with illegality to push governments and corporations to take responsibility for the environmental impacts of their economic actions. The film is beautifully shot by Emily James. The message is very inspiring. I strongly empathise with the values they defend, and I admire the creativity and fearlessness with which they do it.
But there is a but. Or in fact, there are questions. Loads.
I'm naive, I'm French, and I'm new to the UK. Through my MA, I have spent the last few months immersing myself into the wonderful world of social innovation and sustainability. I came across many beautiful projects, and got involved in some of them. I learned a lot, most of which I was looking forward to learn.
But one thing I didn't really expect, is how aware I became of class divisions in England. The issue is probably more complex than I can express it, but what particularly strikes me, is the tacit acceptance of these divisions. Before moving here, I lived in Dublin, where social classes are very obvious, and easily identifiable, even for my naive French self. Coming from a very multicultural and "hybridised" suburb of Paris, I felt as if Dubliners were walking stereotypes. But it didn't bother me. Maybe because it didn't seem to hinder communication between different groups.
In London, where people are much more diverse, social divisions are more diffuse. They are almost intangible, but seem to be deeply rooted in mental representations. And instances of mis-communication, or in fact, non-communication, are quite striking. Particularly when it comes to physical spaces. Streets, shops, cafés. Truly inclusive places seem really hard to find. It feels as though there is no neutral ground.
But what does this have to do with the environmental movement?
I started to formulate this thought while working with a couple of my classmates on a project with social change agency UsCreates for the Urban Physic Garden (100 Union Street, SE1). This temporary project has beautifully transformed a neglected site into a medicinal garden, and represents great potential to inspire and educate people about urban growing and sustainability. The problem is, very few local residents seem to make use of it.
So, we have been trying to figure out ways to engage local residents. We have been conducting micro interviews in the street and in some local estates, and realised that many people simply didn't relate to the space. We encountered a lot of enthusiasm, but also quite a bit of misundersanding, and sometimes even some resentment. Too museum-like, too closed-off, too sophisticated, too intimidating, too "middle-class."
The "it's not for us" feeling.
This lack of broad community ownership seems to be an issue for many "sustainability-minded" projects. In the words of Transition Towns hero, Rob Hopkins, inclusion and diversity are essential ingredients:
Transition tends to appeal to what academics call the ‘post-consumerists’ i.e. those who have reached a level of sufficient wealth and education to feel comfortable in letting go of some of it, who are often, but not always, white and middle-class. However, if Transition is serious about creating resilient communities but fails to create a process over which all sections of the community feel some sense of ownership, it will not truly be creating resilience.
Does the environmental movement only belong to an elite of, as a friend of mine once cheekily said, "middle-class hippies"? Does the social background of those who are driving positive change even matters? How much does it affect the credibility of such projects?
These are questions that need to be addressed if we want the spaces, where conversations around environmental and social change happen, to engage everyone. Again, as Rob Hopkins says:
There is a perception often in environmental groups that some sectors of society are ‘hard to reach’. What is less often considered though is the possibility that it is actually we who are ‘hard to reach’, that for many people, due to how we work, communicate and position ourselves, we can be seen as remote, distant and irrelevant.
Can the environmental movement become more inclusive? How can it avoid preaching only to the converted? How can it find the right language to speak to everyone? Finally, how can it go beyond this "us" and "them" paradigm?
For my final MA project, I will be researching positive examples. And, like I tend to do with everyting, I trust food is the answer...
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