Of cakes and elephants - communicating environmental issues

Since I've been a little slack in my attempts to write posts for this blog, I thought I'd start adding some of the posts I've done for the Centre for Public Engagement. So here's my first ever blog post, which is a reflection from the Communicate conference held on 2nd and 3rd November 2011:

“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”  Thus speaks Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, my favourite of all Shakespeare’s plays.  But it was interesting to hear these words quoted by Professor Aubrey Manning, the eminent zoologist, at the Communicate conference held in Bristol the other day.  Rather than facing a prim and slightly self-righteous Malvolio, he was facing the equally unappealing prospect of how to communicate difficult environmental issues – the so-called elephant in the room.  A suggestion came from an audience member that the Queen should not be allowed to ship in 500 (or so) horses from around the world for the Olympics because of the environmental impact this will cause, especially considering that horses aren’t exactly thin on the ground in the UK.  

But this is just an extreme example of the issues that all of us face when thinking about our choices in the future.  Will we have to give up our treasured possessions such as the classic cars that Professor Manning admits to being his vice?  Or will it be a lifestyle change – relinquishing the idea that we have a right and the means to have a cheap holiday in the sun?  The idea that life in the future is going to be very different in terms of aspirations, not to mention action, was a major facet of the Elephant in the Room discussion.  But it also ran through the conversations during the rest of the day, in particular the Living with Environmental Change session on communicating across sectors.   Our table struggled to describe examples of effective communication across sectors, especially when communicating scenarios for future behaviour as individuals.  

It seems that many of us, especially those of us who have worked in or alongside those in this research area, are aware of what must be done to minimise our environmental impact.  But that doesn’t mean that we are necessarily able to face up to action ourselves.   Can we really come to terms with the fact that, some day, there may be no more cakes and ale?