It is clear that governments cannot be relied upon to
provide leadership in these issues. Their
focus is too short term and they are too reactive.
It would be nice to reformulate the Senate as a house of review for the
long term rather than (or perhaps as well as) for the states, but this could not
happen in a useful timescale.
Governments can be forced into action by voters and there
are some promising signs in regard to environmental issues in recent state
general elections and by-elections. However,
most consumers are either unaware or uncaring of the consequences of their own
actions and those of companies. For
example, only 10% of consumers are worried about global warming, according to
surveys by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. People do not directly observe the consequences of their
actions. They do not see the
balance of payments blow out when they buy an imported car rather than one
locally made; they do not notice an increase in temperature or see air pollution
worsen if they drive to work rather than use public transport; they do not
notice a direct relationship between their health and smoking or a sedentary
lifestyle – at least in the short term.
I believe that the leadership will come from enlightened
individuals and organizations and that a significant proportion of the remainder
of the population will be persuaded to follow by marketing.
What I envisage is a contagion process.
The stages in that process, using personal saving as an example, could
be:
The innovators in this process are the initially small
group of concerned consumers, followed by visionary marketers.
The laggards are, of course, politicians.
The barrier to this otherwise virtuous contagion process is
the huge marketing efforts of retailers, producers, and financiers, who want
consumers to consume. Marketers of
savings products have got be better than marketers of consumption products –
at least in terms of growing their category, but not necessarily in terms of
growing market share.
A similar contagion process is envisaged for healthy
lifestyle products and services.
The process could be similar too, for environmental
problems. This is already evident
in the rush of some global companies to attempt to establish green credentials.
Recent examples include:
Whatever the credibility of these campaigns, the companies involved believe that by attempting to establish environmental credentials they will be more appealing to the consumers who take these credentials into account when purchasing. They are also trying to establish first mover advantage for the more environmentally friendly products that they are developing.
Australia urgently needs more companies to adopt a similar profile.
Such companies, perhaps inadvertently, raise the consumer consciousness and encourage other companies to jump on the bandwagon.
The commitment of Southcorp to Australia’s salinity problems could likewise raise community awareness about the issue and, if market share advantages are perceived, encourage other companies to adopt a similar commitment.
Recently, with petrol prices having risen so much, public transport operators have missed a golden opportunity to win back custom. This is especially the case in Victoria, where the operation of public transport has been privatized but marketing has been abysmal. They will have to do much better in the future if they are to participate in the virtuous contagion that I hope for.
I am not talking about wowserism or of converting the majority of the population to a cause. Just boosting concerns to a threshold where politicians take notice.