It's all about the people, right? - By Nathan Schock
Nathan is the director of public relations for POET, the largest producer of biofuels in the world. He is also a digital advocate of sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
It's all about the people, right?
The latest report from ecoAmerica is titled "up start with people." The report states that the environmental community has not been successful at wining the hearts and minds because they have focusedmostly on government regulation and intervention. The non-profit sees more success being had by those in the movement who are focused on social solutions that are built around people.
ecoAmerica wants to encourage this shift by bringing together NGOs and others for large-scale public engagement programs targeting mainstream Americans with unquestionable benefits. So far, that has been carried out through higher education initiatives like the President's Climate Commitment and green college ratings with the Princeton Review, public outreach like Nature Rocks, along with several others listed in the report and soon will include the Center for Social Solutions on Climate.
Seems like a no-brainer. If you want PEOPLE to care about the environment, you should probably also focus on people, right?
Well, it might take a little more convincing to get the environmental community on board. The Spring issue of Nature Magazine had a cover story about Nature Conservancy chief scientist Peter Kareiva suggested that it was time to move past the man vs. nature debate and get people to understand that nature benefits them.
