Growing the will for sustainable change

A lack of political will is one of the biggest obstacles to tackling the environmental crisis, we need to understand how to cultivate it, writes Chris Johnstone

Sign up to Guardian Masterclass workshop on 11 July with eco-philosopher and Buddhist scholar Joanna Macy
Under the spotlight: if we want to influence political will, a good place to start is by looking at what strengthens or obstructs our own will. Photograph: Adam Taylor/Getty Images

The biggest obstacle to tackling environmental crisis, according to sustainability experts polled last year, is lack of political will. If that's true, then why don't we give more attention to understanding political will and ways to cultivate it?

The Enron scandal offers a teaching tale of what happens in business when political will is lacking. Before its bankruptcy in 2001, Enron's website described the organisation as a "global corporate citizen" aiming to live by its motto of "respect, integrity, communication and excellence". After its fall, Lynn Brewer, a former Enron executive, said, "there are two equally destructive forces in every corporation: those who will commit fraud and those who will be complacent towards it." She estimates that while 20 to 40 people at Enron actually committed fraud, another two thirds sat back and watched it.

While Enron might seem an extreme example, it is not uncommon for organisations to have great sounding value statements but lack the political will to live by them. If we want the values of sustainability to be taken seriously, how do we grow in our culture the desire and determination to change the way we do things?

A key factor influencing human behaviour is what we see others do. If other people see us being complacent, they are more likely to become so too. So if we want to influence political will, a good place to start is with ourselves, looking at what strengthens or obstructs our own will to make a difference.

Having worked as an addictions specialist for nearly two decades, I've learned that motivation is not a static feature found in some people and absent in others. Rather we can learn ways to grow this precious renewable resource. A useful first step is to pay attention to our own experience, noticing the triggers to feeling pushed or pulled. By spotting the rises and falls in our inclination to act, we can both learn ways to feed it and understand how it gets blocked.

In health psychology, the term teachable moment is used to describe a time when someone is troubled by symptoms related to their behaviour. For example, a smoker's motivation to stop is likely to be higher if they've been up in the night coughing. Symptoms can serve as wake up calls that inspire the desire for change. A stronger form of this is the hitting rock bottom of an addicts recovery, where crisis becomes a crucial turning point. The principle here is that our own distress can provide inspirational dissatisfaction that mobilises our determination to act.

Does this principle of inspirational dissatisfaction mean we have to wait for a catastrophe before there's enough political will to change things? Unfortunately rock bottoms aren't always a hit. They can also be masked, and understanding how this happens reveals some of the barriers to growing political will.

If the smoker doesn't connect their disturbed sleep with their cigarettes, then being up all night coughing has no motivational impact. In a similar way, if we don't see the rise in extreme weather events as anything to do with climate change, we miss potential opportunities to strengthen our will. In July 2004, the UK government's chief scientist Sir David King warned that, "on current trends, cities like London, New York and New Orleans will be among the first to go". Since then, two of these cities have been flooded by storm surge from unusually powerful hurricanes; masking rock bottom involves hiding away any reference here to climate change. When predictions criticised as alarmist begin coming true, a healthy hitting bottom includes feelings of alarm.

I know I'm touching on disturbing themes here, yet might one of the main blocks to political will simply be the idea that this stuff is too depressing to look at? To tackle a challenge, we need to give it our attention. Fortunately there are insights and strategies that help.

One of the most successful treatments in the addictions field is an approach called motivational interviewing. Its core idea is that you don't motivate people by telling them they should change; rather, through using an encouraging listening style, you support them to voice their own concerns. When people listen to themselves making their own argument for change, they're more moved to act.

Over thirty years ago, US author and activist Joanna Macy discovered this same principle when developing workshops to help strengthen people's capacity address their concerns about the world. When describing what helps us grow our will, she said: "The person people most need to hear from is themselves".

Her workshops take participants on a transformative journey through four areas that fuel our commitment to act. The first is gratitude: research shows this emotion not only improves our wellbeing and resilience, it also increases our willingness to act for others.

The second stage is to witness our own and each other's concerns for our world, making room for the range of feelings that accompany them. By expressing grief for what has already been lost, we unmask and hit the rock bottoms already reached. By naming our concerns for the future we're heading into, we raise the rock bottom, further activating our motivation.

While expressing our concerns can strengthen our will, the experience of powerlessness can sap it. So the third stage involves seeing with new eyes, drawing on perspectives that help open up our power to make a difference. The last stage of going forth applies action-planning tools to move from concerns to visions to practical steps we can see ourselves taking.

We don't have to wait till London goes the way of New Orleans or New York before political will is activated. We can learn ways to build on the motivation we already have, strengthening and enhancing our determination and resolve. Who knows what might become possible when we do this.

Chris Johnstone is co-author, with Joanna Macy, of Active Hope – how to face the mess we're in without going crazy. They are offering a Guardian Masterclass on Business Sustainability on 11 July.
