Culture and Sustainability

Given that the values underlying different countries and cultures are different, it only makes sense that we also target behavioural changes in these communities differently. For example, in collectivist cultures environmental education programs should be framed in terms of protecting friends and family (or the appropriate in-group). In high power distance countries, it is wise to cater to the interests of the leaders and business people who have the most power to make change in their communities. In terms of masculine-feminine balance, in masculine dominant society we have to find a way to connect environmentalism to masculine values like economic prosperity. Finally, an example of environmentalism geared to high uncertainty avoidance societies may be campaigns framed around risks of environmental degradation if we don’t take action now. It seems pretty obvious to me that making sustainability culturally relevant is important to making a genuine difference in a societies behaviour.