Environmental sustainability researchers in the United Kingdom have developed a new framework for thinking about large-scale societal transformation in the face of the climate crisis. The concept is designed to help policymakers design a holistic approach to driving progress that will engage communities, restore nature, and accelerate the transition to net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
In their paper, the authors propose the concept of Regenerative Good Growth (RGG), a concept of growth that goes beyond profit, and emphasize the importance of public engagement and agency in creating change.
For about a century, economists and politicians have held the concept of growth as the goal of policy, according to the researchers. The paper calls this dominant narrative “bad [GDP] growth,” as it often hinges solely on countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and ignores other measurements like quality of life, environmental health, and culture.
The authors assert that “bad growth” often has hidden costs associated with economic activity that, when factored in, often eliminate the benefits of economic growth. “Agriculture can look really good, but when you put in the costs of water, pollution, climate gasses, pesticide impacts on health, a whole range of other things, we find that the system ends up being in the negative space rather than positive,” Jules Pretty, first author of the study, tells Food Tank.
RGG, in contrast, is intended to serve as a more holistic model that goes beyond financial interests, focusing on five renewable capitals. These include natural, human, social, cultural, and sustainable physical capital. Food security, togetherness, biodiversity, arts and language, housing, and collective action are just some of the authors’ proposed factors of good growth. Pretty believes that this framing can help policymakers advance growth in a way that is focused on human-centered and climate-friendly policies.
The paper proposes that to act quickly to combat the climate crisis, policymakers must give people choices. The authors use a 20-60-20 model of change. This suggests that while 20 percent of people are uninterested in the climate crisis and 20 percent are actively working against it, the 60 percent in majority are concerned but do not know how to act. The key to change is motivating the concerned-but-inactive 60 percent to engage.
Instead of taking a top-down approach, Pretty and his co-authors argue that options are key to this engagement. This allows them to feel, and be, a part of solutions, according to Pretty. In his talks with communities, he often presents a list of personal actions that can reduce carbon. “I say to people, ‘I bet there’s one thing on here you could do. I bet there’s one.’”
When communities “get their teeth into something,” Pretty tells Food Tank, they can get “very creative.” He points to farmers who are moving to regenerative agriculture, or villages that are adopting solar power. “I’m quite optimistic. It’s not limited to people with a preset set of political views.”
Storytelling is also key to getting people on board, according to the paper. “Story provides a kind of rehearsal for transformations,” Pretty tells Food Tank. “Story doesn’t say ‘you must do something.’ It steps back and says, ‘here’s a story. What do you think at the end of it?’” Stories provide a map on which people may chart their own decisions, he explains.
Stories are also crucial in creating a sense of honesty and vulnerability among policymakers and experts. “We might be experts in things, sure, but can we also stand up in front of people and admit we don’t know stuff, admit that we feel vulnerable,” Pretty explains. “The desire to look perfect often turns off public engagement.”
Pretty believes that it is the stories, sharing of accomplishments, and vulnerability that will allow for the engagement of the concerned but inactive 60 percent, according to the paper.
“We’re trying to create a kind of connected web,” Pretty tells Food Tank. “This is the way we think the world works, in short, and I think that story tells us something about how we can do those things.”
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Photo courtesy of Zoe Richardson, Unsplash
