Politicians love green technology – they can portray a bright new future, with millions of jobs created in high tech industries producing clean energy, efficient devices and low emission vehicles. Many green activists, however, are unconvinced, suspicious of “technofixes”, and keen to point out the limitations of, say, first generation biofuels. Consumer culture is to blame for our predicament, they believe, and we can’t buy our way out of our environmental problems.
Few politicians will enthusiastically play the green austerity card. Asking people to turn down the thermostat and put on another jumper is not a vote winner. Green taxation, the big behavioural change weapon in the political armoury, is widely seen as form of stealth tax, and other interventions as unwarranted meddling in our affairs. “£300 on the cost of a family holiday!” and “A slop bucket in every house!” are two recent lurid headlines from the UK press in response to perfectly sensible Government proposals.
So, what is the answer?
As is so often the case, the ‘OR’ argument – “technology OR behaviour” – is a false one. ‘OR’ arguments are usually framed in a very narrow way which obscures the really effective solutions. We require technology AND behavioural change. What’s more, the two are synergistic – technology can facilitate and encourage green behaviour, but technology won’t be a success unless consumers are prepared to embrace it.
For example, we could frame commuting options as “driving OR public transport”. Our technophiles will say “buy a low emissions car” and the technophobes will say “take the bus”. But the best solution is not to take the journey at all – telecommuting. Telecommuting, aka working from home, has become possible because of information and communications technology AND it is a massive change in normal work patterns and habits. Likewise it is a rapid uptake of technology that is driving the dematerialisation of media consumption as we increasingly get our music, books, films, games and newspapers electronically. In the era of Spotify, the ‘OR’ argument, “buy a CD OR listen to the radio”, has become redundant.
So, the big challenge is to find the ‘AND’ solutions – where we readily change our behaviour because the greener technologies are not seen so much as “green”, but as vibrant, sexy, cool ways to lead our lives.