The importance of considering the target audience when communicating environmental issues

Transcription

1 The importance of considering the target audience when communicating environmental issues There are many pressing environmental issues facing humans such as global warming, resource shortages, and pollution. 1 Scientists are well aware of these problems and after collecting extensive data they have reached a consensus that human society cannot continue in its current direction. 2 There is an urgent need to communicate this information and also plausible solutions quickly so that the necessary changes can be made. In fact, many of these issues have already been communicated but the problems persist and are compounding at an alarming rate. 3 For future communication to have maximum impact it is important to consider who the target audience are and to question if the right groups are being engaged in communication. It is also vital to scrutinize what level of information is being communicated so that the necessary outcomes can be achieved. This essay will use the case study of plastic bags to assess the effectiveness of communicating the associated environmental problems to three groups: the public, producers and distributors, and the government. It will review what has been communicated and subsequently implemented in New Zealand, while also drawing on examples from other countries. It will then examine the potential advantages and disadvantages of each approach and consider the most effective path for the future. In New Zealand there have been various campaigns to communicate the environmental problems caused by plastic bags to the public. 4 These efforts have been fairly successful and the existence of the issues is widely known. 5 Communication with the public has resulted in various community-led campaigns encouraging shoppers to switch from using plastic bags to reusable bags. Collingwood became the first town in New Zealand to become plastic shopping bag free in A community group called The Golden Bay Bag Ladies initiated this action. Prior to this, it was estimated that the community consumed around 1 million plastic bags a year. 6 This was a worthwhile action, but the bags consumed in Collingwood are only a fraction of an estimated 1 billion bags used annually nationwide. 7 1 Environmental Issues and Solutions to Current Environment Problems, accessed 11 April 2013, 2 American Association for the Advancement of Science Board Statement on Climate Change, accessed 9 April 2013, 3 Global warming is getting worse but the message is getting through, accessed 11 April 2013, 4 Why Plastic Bags?, accessed 11 April 2013, 5 Should shops charge for plastic bags?, accessed 12 April 2013, 6 "Collingwood is NZ s 1 st town, accessed 9 April 2013, 7 Facts and figures, accessed 8 April 2013, 1

2 Despite effective communication with the public plastic bag use is still high. A major factor hindering the success of informing the public is the human tendency to take the easiest option. Many people are well aware of the environmental problems created by plastic bags but when it comes to the crucial moment buying groceries in the supermarket they readily accept free plastic bags. More environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags are available, but none are as convenient. Recycled boxes are harder to carry and stronger reusable bags have a cost associated and need to be remembered on each visit to the supermarket. Therefore, the majority of people instinctively choose the easiest and cheapest option available free plastic bags. Environmental consciousness is easily overridden by convenience. Taking the easiest option to the detriment of the environment can be easily understood. Humans are programmed to deal with more immediate challenges, not ones predicted by scientists with regard to the distant future. 8 This means that while communicating the issues with the public can be achieved, actually influencing the way that people act at crucial times is much harder. This is particularly the case when people are unable to see the direct impact of the environmental problems. In New Zealand the streets are not littered with plastic bags and the problems that they create are out of sight and therefore out of mind for most people. Another problem is that communicating the problems to such a wide audience necessitates making the information very general. People know that plastic bags are bad, and some people have been exposed to striking statistics but few deeply understand the ecological effects of plastic bags on the environment. It would be difficult to communicate such a level of detail to people whose lives are already occupied with everyday survival, and who are already constantly subjected to a massive barrage of information from all directions. Communicating the environmental issues surrounding plastic bags to the public has had an impact. Some people have taken action and refuse to use plastic bags and the public perception is slowly changing. 9 However, more pressing issues combined with the human tendency to take the easiest option have made the impact minimal and insufficient. Without further incentives the majority of people lack the motivation to make the necessary changes to their lifestyles, as indicated by continuing high plastic bag usage in New Zealand. Targeting communication of the issue at another group the producers and distributors of plastic bags has had a different set of effects. In New Zealand the plastics industry agreed to recycle 23% of its plastic packaging by Major brand owners and retailers have also committed to reducing plastic shopping bag usage by 20%. 10 Reduction targets of this kind have the potential to make a significant impact. 8 Talkpoint: what will drive action on climate change?, accessed 10 April 2013, 9 Should shops charge for plastic bags?, accessed 9 April 2013, 10 New Zealand Reduction Targets, accessed 10 April 2013, 2

3 Supermarkets also have the option of charging for plastic bags which acts as a monetary deterrent against consumers using them. This is the case in Pak-n-Save supermarkets in New Zealand where there is a 10 cent charge for each plastic bag. A 2007 survey found that in Pak-n-Save supermarkets in New Zealand s North Island, one third of the number of bags were used per dollar spent, compared to other supermarkets that provided plastic bags free of charge. In 2009 a similar cost for all plastic bags was introduced in New World supermarkets. Complaints from disgruntled customers who threatened to switch to rival supermarkets forced New World to back down and free plastic bags were reinstated. 11 These examples show that distributors of plastic bags have the power to greatly influence plastic bag consumption, but that their power can be curtailed by consumer response if rival supermarkets continue to offer free plastic bags. Communicating with the producers and distributors of plastic bags has advantages. They are a smaller group so the message can be tailored more specifically than any message to the general public. The financial benefits of charging for plastic bags can also be more blatantly appealed to, since money is an inherent driving force in business. Distributors also have the scope to make sweeping and far-reaching changes to influence consumer behaviour as evidenced by the charge placed on bags at Pak-n-Save supermarkets. This is particularly the case with large modern companies such as Foodstuffs in New Zealand which owns a number of supermarket chains. There is also the potential for this level of change to be implemented faster than government legalisation. A third group who can be communicated with is the government. There have been successful cases of legislative control impacting plastic bag consumption around the world. In theory governments should be less emotional and more far-sighted than individual people. Governments exist to implement the wishes of the majority, where the people are unable to achieve this themselves without the assistance or prompting of the state. In 2002 a countrywide government tax was imposed in Ireland on the sale of all plastic bags. 12 This meant that consumers were unable to take their custom from one supermarket to another to avoid the charge on plastic bags. The results have been staggering, with plastic shopping bag use cut by more than 90%. 13 In this example, the fact that the government had the message as well as an effective solution communicated to them meant that a massive change was implemented. Other governments have followed the Irish example and introduced legalisation to bring about change. 14 Communicating directly with a government has benefits. Changes that are implemented can have a far-reaching and nationwide impact, as seen in Ireland. Also, nationwide change means that consumers cannot simply threaten to take their custom to another supermarket. 11 Plastic bag charge dropped, accessed 2 April 2013, 12 Irish bag tax hailed success, accessed 2 April 2013, 13 Caroline Williams, Battle of the bag. New Scientist 183, no (2004), What should be done about plastic bags?, accessed 12 April 2013,

4 There are also problems associated with communicating directly with government. The leading political party in New Zealand potentially changes every three years and with it the ideas, principals and priorities of the politicians. This potential for losing power can also make governments hesitant to impose unpopular laws that might turn the voters against them and jeopardise their hold on power. Additionally there is the potential for changes to be made without the public s consent or understanding, though it could also be argued that this might be necessary for important changes to be made. In theory any changes too drastic could be overridden in a democracy by the popular vote. The public might also perceive the changes as the government establishing a nanny state which there could be a knee-jerk reaction against. In this case study of plastic bags it seems clear that government intervention was the most effective way to bringing about change. This would indicate that targeting communication at the government should be the priority. While it may seem rather draconian to force people into making changes they wouldn t make otherwise by using legislation, there is a need for urgency in dealing with environmental issues and a stronger stance is required. Communication mainly with the public is currently seen as the priority in many countries, but clearly it is not having a great enough impact. It could be argued that communicating to the first group discussed in this essay, the public, would effectively be communicating to all three groups given that producers and manufactures are members of the public and that government represents the public. These two later groups are also pressured by community groups and lobbyists from within the public. However, the information communicated to the public has to be communicated in a very general way, when more audience-specific communication is required for complex environmental issues. This necessitates a multi-pronged approach. A solely government-targeted communication stream would be insufficient because the public would lack sufficient understanding of the motivations behind the legislation that was uncomfortably altering their lifestyle. This could potentially lead to unrest and frustration. With this in mind, communication of environmental problems to the public is required not so much to influence individual s action, which is often an unattainable aspiration, but to provide the basis for understanding new laws and regulations that might limit their freedoms but will ultimately ensure their survival and well being. There are examples of the effectiveness of communicating important issues to governments who are in a position to make legislative change. The benefits of cycle helmets are supported scientifically and well known publicly. 15 However, helmets are only commonly worn in countries where legislation enforces it. A further example is seat belts, which are worn far more commonly in countries where it is enforced by law. 16 Both of these examples, like the withdrawal of free plastic bags, are mildly uncomfortable for people. Given a choice the majority of humans choose the immediate comfort over the scientific consensus of increased risk. However in both cases there is sufficient public understanding of the science for most to abide by the laws in New Zealand that enforce the required actions. 15 Should I Wear a Bike Helmet?, accessed 10 April 2013, 16 Seat belt usage, accessed 12 April 2013, 4

5 Consideration of the environmental issues surrounding plastic bags and how to communicate them is also pertinent to the far greater challenges presented by climate change. Climate change issues have been exhaustively communicated to the public. The issue was very popularly communicated in the highly successful documentary An Incontinent Truth. Despite this, very few people have changed the way they live and humankind remains on a collision course with a planet it has rendered uninhabitable. 17 It would seem that now a platform of public understanding has been laid, it is time for governments to impose regulations that will force humans to change their lifestyles. Communicating to each of the three target audiences discussed here has advantages and disadvantages. Different approaches are needed for different issues and it is therefore important to consider the target audience for each issue that is being communicated. However it is also useful to keep in mind the success or failure of past communication attempts. The clock is ticking on urgent environmental problems and it would seem clear that legislative action initiated by the government is the most effective and rapid solution when combined with communication with the public to provide the understanding necessary for acceptance of new regulations. None of the target audiences of science communication should be ignored, but a greater focus should be placed on communicating with the government since it is able to make tough environmental decisions on behalf of the population it represents. The best way forward is to emphasise the problem with the public and emphasise the solutions with the government. If this is done correctly then, when the government makes the legislative changes required, there will be enough understanding among the public to accept changes that may inconvenience their lives in the short term but which will ultimately ensure their long-term survival. 17 Will this Al Gore slide show be more successful than the last?, accessed 9 April, 5