NeuroConservation: The Battle for the Brains

wallacejnichols.org

Were you paying attention during the presidential election?  Obama’s team combined brilliant, resonant language with an appealing patriotically-hued "O" logo and impeccable social networking tools for fundraising, messaging and get-out-the-vote. They topped it all with follow-up communications with a personal flair. Using the tools of modern marketing better than anyone imagined possible, they put a long-shot candidate in the White House.

The Obama campaign tapped into a phenomenon that marketers (and more than a few “instinctive” politicians) have long known: that decisions are driven not by rationality but by emotion.  And, sometimes, when the stars align, emotions produce elections of unlikely candidates.

However, did you know that “smaller” everyday acts can trigger the very same mirror neurons, like those that produce yawns when we see others yawn, and dopamine rushes, like those that follow pleasurable experiences, as voting for a charismatic candidate? Acts as simple as declining a plastic bag at the checkout counter, or spending an hour cleaning a beach, or buying local, or hopping on a commuter train.  Science shows that when we participate in activities we think are “cool,” we feel cool and a rush follows.  These acts carry an additional bonus in that there’s no credit card bill pending (nor years shackled to a blundering president).  In the end, the earth is healthier for it.

Brain science has taken some exciting leaps forward recently and, in the coming decade, we expect increasingly mind-blowing research and insights.  Like it or not, according to the new book “Buyology” by Martin Lindstrom, technologies like MRIs and brain scans are now a fixture of politics and consumerism in the U.S.  Lindstrom points to new research that describes all decisions as emotional, makes clear links between left/right brains and left/right politics, and shows that fear-based anti-smoking campaigns may actually increase desire to light up. Combine brainscoping with new social marketing tools, toss in a 100 million dollars or so and you've got millions craving Coke, iPods, SUVs, and all things Obama.

Here's the good news. When not wedded to science for science’s sake, leading neuroscientists believe in improving the human condition through better understanding of how the brain works. My advice to to a new graduate student would be to get a degree in Neuroscience, with one foot in Environmental Studies and the other in Communications/Marketing. If I could create my own program, I’d call it NeuroConservation.

These same insights about our emotional brains and social networking tools that major corporations and campaigns are using to drive our decision-making are available to the conservation community as we try to head off the looming environmental catastrophe.  First, we need to let go of some things we thought we knew, we need to use the new tools at our disposal wildly, and we must share what works with everyone who’ll listen. 

For those of us working in the environmental field there is promise. We can harness mirror neurons and dopamine rushes for the good of the planet. Neuroscience offers great hope: positive emotion trumps fear, inclusive beats exclusive, and short-and-emotional tops lengthy-and-rational. The eco-community, however, is not learning these lessons.

Case in point: many eco-orgs use nearly identical unimaginative, unemotional taglines, slogans and logos.  In a single month, I encountered no less than eight ocean protection organizations using some version of the phrase "sea change.”  Logos melt together in a swirl of blue, green, ocean animals, and wave motifs. It’s like showing up for the prom in the exact same dress as all the other girls.  Oops.

The similarity suggests unfamiliarity with the latest in brainwork and hints at the lack of collaboration between groups.  Don’t get me wrong; I'm an avid supporter of several of the groups. Perhaps it's just that originality in the sector is just too risky.  If true, that’s sad and we all lose in the end.

So, here's the plan.  If you are a role model to someone (anyone!) or possess an ounce of cool, it's time to flex it for the planet.  Be seen, be proud, and strut your LIVBLUE street-cred wherever you are.  Say things like, "Dude those reusable shopping bags and water bottles are so cool" or "Riding the metro rocks!" or "Eating local, organic food is awesome!"  And remember, when you say it, say it real loud so people can HEAR you. 

Let your passion show. Creatively share messages by email, Facebook, YouTube, company listservs and Twitter.  Share what works and what doesn't, widely and wildly. Let’s give preachitivity and eco-fact-itude a break and try some NeuroConservation and social-network-iness for a change.

Let’s not confuse NeuroConservation with the shallow trends of fashion or music.  Think of it more in terms of the un-evolution (the “re-volution”?) of our wasteful, disposable, plastic-ridden past through cutting-edge science and technology. By making living blue super cool, we can make living brown uncool.  One brain at a time.
 
“Our national obsession with buying and consuming is just going to escalate as marketers become better and better at targeting our subconscious wishes and desires.”
–Martin Lindstrom, Buyology
 
“The hallmark of revolution is that the goals of the revolutionaries cannot be contained by the institutional structure of the existing society.” 
-Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody

Ocean Revolution goes plastic/tree-free in 2009!

Read more HERE

Your Plastic Footprint

This may be a bad time to ask, being the holiday season and all, but what's your plastic footprint?

You know what I mean--the amount of disposable plastic stuff your lifestyle generates over the course of a day, a week, a year.

Plastic stuff that you may use for a few seconds or minutes. Then discard into the bin, sending it off into the world where it lasts essentially forever.

A small fraction gets recycled into low grade plastic things, but then lasts forever in that form.

Full disclosure: my plastic footprint is adult-sized. I bring my own bag, avoid drinks in plastic bottles, shun Styrofoam and generally work hard to shrink my plastic consumption.

But it's still amazes me what goes into the recycling bin. And the unrecyclable stuff bugs me even more.

Read more HERE

Dangerous Beauty

"I imagine the future of the hawksbills in El Salvador depends on our ability to nurture that sense of pride that this is a species that prefers the coast of El Salvador, and should be protected," says Nichols. It doesn't stop with just this one problem and this one solution, Nichols believes. "We are re-inventing the way we interact with the ocean and the environment," he says. "It's possible. In that regard the hawksbill is a powerful symbol."

Read More HERE

LIVBLUE.org Toast to the Ocean 2009

LIVBLUE.org and Ocean Revolution invite you to raise a glass to the Ocean at midnight on New Years 2009.

We have much to celebrate and work towards this year.

The ocean gives us life and health, our air and climate, beauty and inspiration.

Among our other toasts, vows, resolutions and celebrations, we’ll pledge to live like we love the ocean in the coming year.

Trestles, San Onofre State Beach saved: Toll road project rejected

The waves are small and the water's frigid, but it's a glorious day for surfers and environmentalists, and for state parks, and for all who opposed the effort to erect the Foothill South toll road through part of San Onofre State Beach near San Clemente.

The U.S. Commerce Department today decided against the Transportation Corridor Authority's proposed toll road extension, which would have spoiled the aesthetics of one of California's most popular state parks, jeopardized a pristine watershed and the waves at Lower Trestles, which is one of the world's premier surf venues.

"The [Commerce] secretary’s decision confirms just how bad this project really is: Even the Bush administration, under pressure from all the lobbyists money can buy, has refused to endorse the toll road through San Onofre," Joel Reynolds, an attorney representing the National Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.

"In my 30 years experience, I have never seen a project more deserving of rejection. The transportation agency lobbied 20 years for this toll road, spent billions of dollars on lobbyists, and were trying to shove the $1.1 billion for this road onto the shoulders of taxpayers already burdened by the economy.

"You simply couldn't design a transportation project that does more harm to taxpayers and the environment and less good for congestion relief."

Several groups opposed the project and will be issuing statements such as this throughout the day. Congratulations to all who fought against it. The project, which had already been rejected by the California Coastal Commission, never should have gotten so far along.

--Pete Thomas

Photos: A protester (top) expresses opposition to a proposed toll road extension through San Onofre State Beach, which contains one of Southern California's few remaining pristine watersheds (bottom). Credits: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times (top) and Christine Cotter / Los Angeles Times

Ocean Revolution Gear for Ocean Lovers

Ocean Revolution Gear for Ocean Lovers

Following this link to a message from my brother Joshua, who has created beautiful and unique Ocean Revolution belt buckles and pendants to help you support our work and look good.