Harnessing the power of positive win-win interaction so that the majority supports community and climate renewal
“No one ever does anything with sustained enthusiasm unless he benefits thereby – reward proportionally.” Chinese Philosophy
Shaping or creating climate narratives for green transition that speak to the majority requires few fundamental steps and understanding of mechanisms that motivate people into action. Goleman writes in Emotional Intelligence that “Studies of Olympic athletes, world-class musicians, and chess grand masters find their unifying trait is the ability to motivate themselves to pursue relentless training routines. Starting earlier offers a lifetime edge: the top violin students at the best music academy in Berlin, all in their early twenties, had put in ten thousand total hours’ lifetime practice…” These people were clearly motivated by what they hoped to achieve. Many altruistic actions instigated by many people can sustain interest with some form of reward system included.
Considering, we have all the tools to do the job, including highly effective organisation and business models, all we need is ever-increasing support and funding. So, in the same vain, a big question arises: why do we strip the leverage, take out rewards for the community and turn concepts back into slogans?! If the objective is an educational one, then aren’t we better off providing real practical strategies with leverage? And, excellent positioning in order to instigate solutions and win against so many obstacles in the way of really improving the community?
Green transition catalyst
So, how do we achieve this? By taking on board strategies, which benefit society and individuals synergistically. We start and then accelerate the process and the speed with which communities bring about enhancements locally and align themselves to the climate emergency action frameworks to comply with the Paris Climate Accord agreement.
Ecoplaza concept is part of a larger body of work, A Big Strategy model, that was presented in 2004. This model has already shifted the thinking paradigm in the right direction. The work was and still is today highly advanced of any other climate action proposals on the table. It is a strategic solution and a catalyst that provides a convergence point where all aspirations, concepts and goals, aimed at regeneration on all levels, meet for the maximum benefit.
Advantages of having such a socio-green infrastructure in place:
- Focus, processing and integration of everyone’s collective creativity to solve interrelated issues
- 80/20 paradigm shift enabling everyone to engage through volunteering time, skills and resources and getting rewarded at the same time
- New physical social spaces for green learning, action and enhanced cross-sector cooperation
- Premises where community hosts Cop-like events; no need to fly around the world!
- Effective peace building tool that truly addresses societal tensions
- Thinking and acting local and global is open to everyone, creating unmatched resources within communities
- Funding for natural disaster relief and socio-green regeneration projects in the worst impacted states and regions
- Carbon sinks including rainforests and oceans gain centre stage and funding, as everyone can contribute to their conservation and renewal
- Congruent alignment of needs and goals through greenwash elimination and enhanced sustainability benchmarking
- Small state – local governing bodies win community’s trust by sponsoring citizens’ activism
- Prescriptive town planning replaced with common sense malleable up-to-date regulation that fosters and fast-tracks social and green advancement on the ground
- Effective solution and antidote to apathy, inertia, unemployment or badly paid mindless jobs and gentrification
- Unprecedented levels of new income streams for orgs and people through meaningful green jobs fuelled by renewed enthusiasm backed with funding
- A directed laser beam like focus of the entire community engaged in the regenerative process of mending the planet
- New more enhanced, free and also more affordable leisure activities available to residents, not just tourists
- Unparalleled cooperation as clusters of such logistical centres link up to other action centres across regions and wider
- Synergy and compatibility with existing socio-green schemes and Universal Basic Income, UBI
- And many more benefits as these grow exponentially, once established
Optimism and hope is what can regenerate the community and help evolve many into sustainability in a post-resource-rich world. This is how we can begin to really grasp the value of win-win transactions, which involve people helping while rewarding innovative thinking and action, so we quickly progress. Incentives muster optimism, and optimism is a great motivator.
This article is the work of the Earthvoice editor, Kinga Monica. She is available for expert consulting on practical instigation of the concept, sustainability consulting as well as speaking engagements, internationally.
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Bibliography
A Big Strategy: In times of Crisis. A Model to Help Regenerate The Environment, Community And Sustainable Economy. Published in 2012.