Joyce, Heather, and Martha

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I heard two very helpful presentations at BE'08 whose common element was the dynamic Solitaire Townsend, a Brit who cofounded Futerra, a green PR agency in London, and has developed enough of a reputation that NESEA invited her to America so she could speak at its show.

solitaire_townsend.jpg

At NESEA's public forum Tuesday night, she described three archetypes in the populace, each of which has to be approached differently if it is to be persuaded. She was, of course, speaking about how to persuade people to change their habits to ease global warming, but I don't recall her limiting her ideas that way, and presumably, they apply to any attempt at broad consumer suasion.

What I found most useful is that she answered one of my big questions: What the hell is wrong with everyone? Efficiency is such a no-brainer, useful, valuable, and productive to practically all, and relatively easy to achieve, once a new habit is established. Throw in the threats of climate change and people should be clamoring to pitch in. And yet, though "no-brainer" is indeed the operative term, it is applied all wrong. I have to say, I'm not yet over my anger/incredulity over those who still climb proudly into their Hummers, but at least I have a better idea of how to succeed, if I expect to influence anyone to change.

Townsend personified her ideas in the women named in the headline. I would be a Joyce, as would most of the people who were in the auditorium at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston. Townsend describes them as ethical. "They like change, to look forward to the future. They're prepared to make sacrifices." Joyces are the smallest group, and the message that moves us will not just ignored by Heathers and Marthas, but will be rejected.

Marthas, meanwhile, are influenced by people they know: their minister, their school principal, etc. The world is too big, but Marthas are active in their communities. "They're settlers, very traditional, uncomfortable with change. But they will stay with it forever, once they do change," Townsend said. She said there is no point in trying to persuade Marthas; it is their community leaders who need to be persuaded.

Townsend said she named Heather after the movie "Heathers," in which high school girls commit unspeakably catty offenses against their classmates. "Heather is a grown-up high school girl. She cares what others think of her," and is thus focused on fashion, status, and success. She is unmoved by any cost savings that being green might bring; she isn't green 'cause — excepting the Prius and solar roof panels — green isn't cool.

It was surely apocryphal, but Townsend described a Heather who installed solar panels on a north-facing roof, which is, of course, where the sun don't shine. When it was pointed out, Heather explained that she didn't care, north was what faced the street, and her main goal wasn't to reduce carbon output but to be seen to be reducing carbon output.

The way to influence Heathers is to enlist celebrities to the cause, on the theory that if logic and rectitude can't get the job done, then maybe Leo or George or Julia can. (I got a manila-sized envelope from the NRDC the other day, although to judge by the front, it was from my good buddy Leonardo DiCaprio. Inside were a half dozen sheets of paper urging me to help save the polar bears. Now, certainly, NRDC is a force for good, but still, that was disappointing.)

Townsend added that each group will only be reached not only by different messages and different media, and counseled that green proponents need a message that is more, "'I Have a Dream,' not 'I Have a Nightmare.'"

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