Vancouver, Canada (GLOBE-Net) - This is Part 1 of a 2 Part review, New Environmentalism, This segment deals with how the changing face of environmentalism is affecting customer behaviour.Part 2 will examine its impact on the world of business.

Private innovation is the wellspring of progress on environmental matters. Where once environmental policy inherently mistrusted markets and punishment was pursued more vigorously than progress, today wealth creation, appropriately harnessed, is the main engine of environmental progress. This is the new environmentalism.

At first glance one might attribute comments such as these to a marketing giant such as Wal-Mart or an innovative technology company such as GE. In fact, these are the views of NewEnvironmentalism.org, a project of the California-based Reason Foundation, a non-profit organization that identifies and promotes innovative approaches to addressing serious environmental challenges.

According to the Foundation, the new environmentalism focuses on decision-making processes and strives to create incentives for both consumers and business to obtain the information to become good environmental stewards.  

Whereas traditional environmentalism perceived the free market as an adversary, the new environmentalism recognizes the marketplace as an important mechanism for problem solving through incentives. Recognizing that a healthy environment also leads to a healthy economy, consumers and some business leaders are responding accordingly.

The argument is straight forward. Environmental progress over the long term requires self-propelled environmental protection by government, businesses, and individual private citizens. Environmental entrepreneurship is not likely to occur unless people have the incentives and ability to act as private stewards of the environment. While punishment is needed for those who callously flout environmental law, new environmentalism strikes a balance between punishment and incentives that encourage environmental innovation. 

It’s not a new argument - the National Center for Policy Analysis in the US published an insightful paper stressing this theme over a decade ago - but it is an important one. The Centre argued Traditional environmentalism had failed to appreciate the importance of incentives in guiding human action, whereas the New environmentalism focused on individual decision-making processes that created incentives for people to become good environmental stewards.

"Because of its respect for incentives, new environmentalism views the marketplace as an important mechanism for problem solving. It recognizes that wealth creation, appropriately harnessed, is an engine of environmental progress, "stated the Centre in its 1997 Study New Environmentalism.

Chief among the many Principles put forward by the Centre as the cornerstones of the new environmentalism, was an emphasis on Individualism "Other things being equal, when individuals make their own decisions about what values to pursue, conflict is reduced and the well-being of society is enhanced."

John Javna, author of the best selling book - 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth, makes the same point about the importance of personal values as the core determinants of action - but action that is oriented toward issues.

Such action goes further than simple individual effort.  It harnesses the power of cooperation and community that not only works to change individual personal habits, but also to change society – laws, business practices, and even values.  This action inspires a sustained, committed effort to solve specific problems, rather than simply encouraging random environmental behaviour.

The simplest, most practical way to accomplish this argues Javna, is for each of us to find a single environmental issue that’s right for our lives–one that we really care about–and make that issue the focus of our efforts.

"It doesn’t matter which issue you pick–big or small–because they’re all connected. If you work to cut carbon emissions from power plants, for example, you’re also helping to clean up waterways. If you clean waterways, you’re improving wildlife habitat. By improving wildlife habitat, you protect trees. And when we have more trees, we clean the air…which means less climate change." He writes in a recent article published in the Huffington Post - The New Environmentalism Is Issues, Not Eco-Tips.

In other words, local governments, businesses and consumers should be held accountable for achieving environmental results, not simply the extent to which they follow rules and regulations.  The new environmentalism requires   environmental specialists and individuals to work together to identify practical measures to address key environmental problems. 

When governments, business, community groups and individuals work together to tackle environmental issues not only are different perspectives and skills brought to the table, greater power can be marshaled to carry out the actions needed to address environmental issues.

The New Environmental Movement

While this may sound Utopian, in fact here is growing evidence that this new environmental paradigm is being widely endorsed.  According to a recent whitepaper commissioned by Canada Post, there are several trends at play that not only explain the new environmentalism, but which also suggest the movement has staying power.

A survey conducted for Canada Post by Harris/Decima, a leading research firm, suggests the most notable trend is demographic - that the preoccupation with the environment cuts across generations and gender, region, partisan lines and income groups.

Un­like the past, where environmental movements were largely driven by idealistic young people, the survey found that people of all ages (chief among them women in their 30s and 40s and baby boomers) today are very focused on environmental issues.

Baby boomers have established a level of economic stability that allows them to focus on issues such as the environment, says the report. In addition, because this group possesses the economic wherewithal, their willingness to pay for more environmentally sound products and services is greater than that of younger people who historically were the lead catalysts on environmental matters.

High energy prices have also helped defined the ‘new environmentalism’ according to the study.  Consumer interest in reducing energy related expenditures and increased attention to energy costs in general serve as an important catalyst for changing public opinion.

According to the report, when individual Canadians talk about environmental engagement, their foremost frame of reference is about personal empowerment. How people manage their own lives and maintain their own households is the one part of the environmental equation they can control.

"Making environmentally responsible decisions is increasingly important from a social, economic, and ethical perspective," said Laurene Cihosky, SVP for Canada Post’s Direct Marketing division.

The environment has been rated as the most press­ing public policy concern in Harris/Decima’s national public opinion tracking research for five quarters in a row, and more than three quarters of the population say it is becoming more important to them in their day-to-day lives. It is fair to say that environmental engagement has now become mainstream public opinion.

More than 80% of participants in the survey said that they, industry, and government were equally responsible to address environmental concerns.  In fact, consumers want businesses to be equal partners in the effort to reduce waste and be more environmentally conscious. They want businesses to take action on environmental matters and wanted products with better environmental credentials, ideally independently verified.

More information on the Harris/Decima research program on the New Environmentalism is available here.

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Part 2 of the GLOBE-Net review of the New Environmentalism will focus on how the business community is responding to the changing world.