There are many different theories, ideas and approaches that deal with how to "change the world". Awareness-raising, direct action and lobbying are some of the main ways practiced in society today. However, they are usually not so effective.
Awareness-raising usually increases the level of knowledge (and maybe even understanding) of the issues, but there is often a huge gap between this level of awareness about issues and the extent to which people act on that awareness, leaving a lot of contradictions between people's knowledge and their behavior. With direct action, the issue is that only a few people are participating. With lobbying, the issue is that there's always massive compromise because usually universal causes (such as saving the environment) are not in the interest of the people in power (because of the way the system is structured).
So, what's the most effective way? What can help us change a world in such great need of sustainable solutions? In the end, I think it's going to be a paradigmatic shift in values. From all of my studying and learning, I've found that the often unseen link between awareness and behavior is the set of values that guide behavior. These values are inherited, learned, adopted, molded, and adapted throughout our early years. When we are adults, it's much more difficult to change our values; especially based on awareness alone. As we've seen through the years, the majority of the population will not change their habits solely based on having an understanding of environmental issues. Otherwise, my whole family would have stopped using plastic shopping bags a decade ago. They still have not.
Therefore, the essential question seems to be, "What can cause a shift in values and how?". Well, there's the tipping point theory. It has mostly to do with trends and how when something becomes trendy, everyone jumps onboard. In his book, "The Tipping Point", Max Gladwell describes how 80% of the population follows the other 20%. In essence, 20% of the population is responsible for initiating changes in society.
Then, there's the idea that value systems change due to experiences, both collective and personal. I can see this happening around me right now. People's values are shifting, mostly due to the economic crisis.
For as long as I can remember, people have been rushing around trying to make more money. The more the capitalist system evolved, the more money was valued and prioritized. As I describe in my other posts, I do not see the capitalist system as something that was installed to oppress people. No, I see it as a direct reflection of the people who are a part of it. So, people, in a sense, wanted money to take top priority. They had faith in capitalism and they trusted that having money as the number one indicator of prosperity could not fail them.
However, in the end, it has failed us. Environmental devestation, extreme economic inequality and social injustice have come as results of a globalized capitalist system. It was functional in the short-term, but in the long-term, it has proven to be unsustainable. So, right now, we are witnessing and taking part in the failure of this system. If you don't believe this, just watch as the economies of every "developed" nation in the world spiral down. The system was self-destructive from the beginning, but how could we have known that?
So, now, it's time to learn and move on. And I believe that's precisely what is happening. We learned the hard way that having money as a top priority does not work. That was a value system that failed us. People are now looking to new values. They lost their money, their cars, their homes, their status symbols. Such a large amount of people have been put in a position where they have to look at what they have left and reassess what's really important to them. They've been forced to slow down, look at the quality of their lives and ask the really fundamental questions. What motivates me? What are my goals? Why do I have those goals? How much can money really do for me? What makes me happy?
This questioning is leading to a very different value system. Hoards of people are realizing that they prefer a simpler life, with less money and more free time. After working their asses off to earn lots of money and buy a big house (with a big loan) and then lose it all, they've had to start really questioning why they spent all of that time to earn money and a house that can so quickly and so easily be taken away.
As pseudo-prophetic as it may seem, I believe we are witnessing the dawn of a new era....
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