Giving Compass' Take:

• The author details why National Geographic's approach to encouraging consumers not to use plastic is outdated and provides suggestions for better practices to enhance the campaign. 

• How do the author's suggestions make more sense on a consumer-behavioral level? 

• Read about what donors can do about ocean plastic. 

I was very happy to hear about the June issue of National Geographic on plastics, which “looks in depth at how single-use plastic impacts our planet.” What made me even more excited about it was that this issue is part of National Geographic’s Planet or Plastic?, “a multiyear initiative aimed at raising awareness of this challenge and reducing the amount of single-use plastic that enters in the world’s oceans.”

These efforts include a Planet or Plastic? Pledge: “Nat Geo is asking audiences around the world to take the Planet or Plastic? Pledge – a commitment to reduce their use of single-use plastic,” and a three-day social media campaign to spread the word about the pledge and the issue.

So what made me sad here? The efforts it shared to change our love affair with single-use plastic reflect a dated approach that probably has a very little chance to make any difference.

In 2018 we should know better. We HAVE to know better.

We are at the age where urgent action is required. We need to be already in an “exponential journey towards a transformation to sustainability,” and therefore we have to aim high, far higher than what we did so far.

I’d like to propose four questions we should ask when considering interventions aiming to change consumer behavior:

  1. Are you thinking like a startup (aka what’s your 11 star experience)?
  2. Are you considering the A.C.E model? The principles are: Actionable (“the idea is designed to make you do something”), Connected (“the idea promotes a peer connection with people you care about or share values with”), and Extensible (“the idea can be easily customized, remixed and shaped by the participant”).
  3. Are you using behavioral science?
  4. Upstream, downstream, or both?

Read the full article about plastics campaign by Raz Godelnik at TriplePundit