What does food mean to people? Is it fuel for the engine, a fashion item, an export commodity, a sensual temptation, a vehicle for culture and celebration, a badge of religious and political identity, or a vital connection with the natural world? It can be all of these things and more, and the stories people tell about food will affect...
Addressing climate change at the European level requires that the majority of society accept the need to act. European level climate actions have been largely supported by a cross-political consensus, but this unity of purpose is weakening with the growing reluctance of the centre-right in some countries to take action. The political centre-right occupies the moderate centre of politics, though...
Take a look at our new Common Cause Communication Toolkit, which comprises a book and a series of other downloadable resources. The Toolkit presents a set of practical principles for crafting Common Cause Communications, each built on a solid research foundation. These principles are then applied to a range of different examples of charity communications – in crafting communications, campaigns...
Public concern is crucial to the success of action on social and environmental causes. Neither government nor business can respond adequately to today’s profound social and environmental challenges without experiencing far wider public acceptance of the need for ambitious change, and far more vocal public demand for such change. It is crucial, therefore, that organisations working to help advance these...
This guide offers recommendations for the conservation sector and others on how to ensure their work strengthens the values that motivate people to protect and enjoy nature. Part of a longer report produced in collaboration with 13 UK conservation organisations, it is based on original analysis of these groups’ communications, workshop discussions, survey responses and in-depth interviews…. Psychologists, advertisers and...
This report offers recommendations for the conservation sector and others on how to ensure their work strengthens the values that motivate people to protect and enjoy nature. Produced in collaboration with thirteen UK conservation organisations, it is based on original analysis of these groups’ communications, workshop discussions, survey responses and in-depth interviews…. Although unflinching about the scale of the conservation...
This report argues that modern advertising’s impact on British culture is likely to be detrimental to our wellbeing, and may well exacerbate the social and environmental problems that we collectively confront. The balance of evidence points clearly in this direction. The standard defences of the advertising industry can be summarised in three assertions, which, taken together, reflect the main industry...
A clear, concise and easily-digestible summary of the relevant research on values and frames and its implications, emphasizing the importance of civil organizations working together to foster more ‘intrinsic’ values in society…. In both action and thought, people are affected by a wide range of influences. Past experience, cultural and social norms, and the money at our disposal are some...
This report is intended to catalyse debate on current approaches to tackling a wide range of challenges – including global poverty, climate change and biodiversity loss. Whatever the success of civil society organisations in beginning to address such challenges, these often seem to be intractable or worsening. Throughout this report such challenges are referred to, collectively, as ‘bigger-than-self’ problems [Section...
The comfortable perception that global environmental challenges can be met through marginal lifestyle changes no longer bears scrutiny. The cumulative impact of large numbers of individuals making marginal improvements in their environmental impact will be a marginal collective improvement in environmental impact. Yet we live at a time when we need urgent and ambitious changes. If those in government, business...
