#71: Yer an influencer, Harry ⚡️
On harnessing social psychology for collective action
Mōrena, and happy Tuesday Climate Clubbers!
My second favourite work tradition is that on Tuesdays, we take a big bag of our own mugs to our local coffee shop to get coffee as a team. We used to get coffee in disposable cups, but a couple of us started bringing our own mugs and then it became a tradition. I’ve had so many strangers go “Wow, I didn’t even think about bringing my own mugs here!” I love the idea that they’ll then bring their own cup next time because now they know it’s possible.
When we’re rushing around in our daily lives it’s easy to feel like no one notices us. But research shows that people notice us way more than we think - it’s called the invisibility cloak illusion. It ties in nicely with another phenomenon: the social contagion effect - the tendency of behaviours to spread from person to person. Basically, if someone sees me bringing my own container, they actually notice it. That then changes their idea of what the social norm is in that situation, which leads them to alter their behaviour… then their friends to do the same, and so on. One sunny example is a study showing that solar panels are contagious. Especially in neighbourhoods where the solar panels were visible from the street, each new solar panel in a neighbourhood can lead to multiple new ones.
There’s just one more social effect I want to talk about to prove to you that you have more influence than you think (or: you really are an influencer 💅). The Saying is Believing effect (pdf link) found that when speaking to an audience, speakers will tend to say messages that they think their audience wants to hear. Once a speaker says something in public, they are less likely to change their mind. So without even saying anything, the people in the room are influencing the speaker’s views, which makes a compelling argument for XR Queenstown's tactic of showing up at council meetings.
Particularly in climate, it’s easy to feel like you don’t know enough to act, or that any action you take is too small to have an impact. But: we know that people notice us more than we think, that our behaviours can be contagious, and that just showing up can change the conversation.
P.S. My first favourite work tradition is that my office has gone to every climate strike for the past four years, including many people who told me they hadn’t heard of them before 💚 Finding your sphere of influence can have a much greater effect than you might think!
What can we do today?
The most-clicked link from last week’s issue was for your local Repair Cafes! By the way, feel free to send through any repairs of well-loved items from your local repair cafe :)
🐝 If you have 5 minutes: Raise the steaks for lower food prices
A coalition of farmers, growers, and food producers have joined forces to demand a national strategy for food security, as a response to both the cost of living and climate crises (which we all know are very related).
Action: Check out Fix Our Food System and sign their petitionWe know that we can’t afford to have more gas and oil drilling - and yet the government is offering exactly that. The government currently has a tender open for permission to explore for petroleum in Taranaki.
Action: Join Climate Justice Taranaki’s bid for a fossil-fuel free future with a quick signature!
💃🏽 If you have 30 minutes or more: No more budget smuggling
Tāmaki/Auckland, Thursday: The Auckland Council is voting on Mayor Wayne Brown’s final budget proposal this Thursday, which cuts funding to climate action, public transport, education and more. This is our last chance to show our councillors that cutting the wellbeing and resilience of the country’s largest city is not the way for the future (here’s a one-pager of alternatives by Better Budget Auckland).
Action: Join the final protest against budget cuts at Auckland Town Hall at 10am this ThursdayWhakatū/Nelson, Saturday: Professor James Renwick was one of the authors of the latest IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report and will be talking about food, water and climate in Nelson this weekend. This is an opportunity to learn the most recent science and policies on the climate challenges we face.
Pōneke/Wellington: Are you a parent/caregiver who's worried about climate change, but feel a bit overwhelmed or uneasy about having conversations about it? Parents for Climate Aotearoa are running free community workshops in neighbourhoods all over Pōneke on how to have constructive, connecting conversations about climate change.
Action: Book a free “Let’s Talk Climate” workshop by Parents for Climate Aotearoa
Save the date
Ōtautahi/Christchurch, 24-25 July: Nearly everyone can walk - and walking is the lowest-carbon form of transport, plus it's great for your health. Living Streets Aotearoa is holding a Walking Summit and they would love you to take part.
Action: Join in person or online - find more info here and register here
In case you missed it!
Let’s keep fair tax on politicians’ minds as they release pre-election policies. ActionStation are calling for higher corporate taxes to avoid spiralling prices, top up our collective pool of funds and to contribute more to the services and infrastructure that look after all of us.
Action: Sign ActionStation’s petition for higher corporate taxes
Wins!
India will not consider any new coal plants for the next five years, instead focusing its updated national electricity plan on renewables. If India can do it (a country that currently relies on coal for 75% of its energy), so can NZ (here’s a long-running campaign to ban new mines).
Hundreds of office workers at Amazon have walked out in protest of the company’s lack of progress on climate goals.
That’s all for today, folks 👋🏽 Thanks for taking action. Enjoy this picture of Kronk and Yzma from our lovely reader Pauli.
See you next week,
Dhanya & the Climate Club team
That social effect is so true! I started using a plate from work or reusable container at the sushi place downstairs a couple of years back and so many people have commented on it and many have started doing the same. Not just at the sushi place but at the cafe next door as well who do hot meals. It’s cool to know that the same thing can happen with bigger solutions that can have more impact as well.
She's very inspiring! When I talked with her recently rechargeMolly was talking about the gift economy of nature. I'm hoping that she touches on this tomorrow night.