Would telling people to "stop being dicks" be more effective in tackling climate change than trying to give them a better business case for action?

I ask this question after hearing two very different approaches to encouraging businesses and governments to wake up and act on the grave dangers our civilisation faces.

In New York I attended the launch of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, created by a collection of the great and the good and supported by seven national governments, that aims to provide a convincing case for "how stronger economic performance can be supported by good climate policy."

Then I listened to the US contemporary graphic designer and street artist Frank Shepard Fairey offer a different solution; shocking people out of their complacency.

Fairey, whose work became widely known after creating the Barack Obama "Hope" poster for the 2008 US presidential election, told the SXSW Eco conference in Austin, Texas, that facts and figures alone will not provide the answer to the sustainability challenges we face.

"No matter how accurate facts are, or how disciplined your message, if you don't connect with people emotionally, they won't bother to pay attention," he said. "Sometimes the most powerful weapon against propaganda is absurdity, creating images that are funny." Stopping for a moment, Fairey came out with the unforgettable line that what will save the planet is if people "just stop being dicks."

Hard facts versus emotional engagement

How refreshing it would have been if the political, business and institutional elite who attended the launch of the Global Commission on the Economy and Climate had used similar blunt language. No such luck. Former Mexican president Felipe Calderón, who is chairing the commission, spoke of the false assumption that many policy makers have that fighting climate change means sacrificing growth, business revenues and jobs.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos talked of the importance of fully understanding "the economic risks and opportunities that arise from climate change" and the Norwegian prime minster Erna Solberg highlighted the need to combine reducing emissions by up to 90% by 2050 while at the same time lifting millions out of poverty. "We have to reconcile the need for growth with reduced emissions of greenhouse gases," he said.

Greg Barker, the UK's minister of state for Energy and Climate Change pointed out how the Stern report had made a big impact by showing that the "costs of acting were significantly less than the costs of burying your head in the sand." But he admitted that "since 2006, there have been huge stresses and strains – the financial and banking crises and economic recession, so we now have to make the case for why action is desirable all over again in a narrative that is right for our time.

"The best way to counter the sceptics, the doubters, the people in the media finding a way not to act, is with hard facts and robust analysis that has been peer reviewed." Barker, through his comments, exposed the myth that having more information and analysis at our fingerprints will be enough to turn us away from disaster.

Gloom and doom inertia

The fact is that the Stern report, with its prophecy of doom if we fail to act, did not lead to a fundamental change of direction, as shown by the failure of global climate change negotiations. Also, if a financial crisis and recession mean we have to make the argument all over again, then clearly the message that we are heading for the proverbial cliff never really got through in the first place.

I fully understand the importance of developing a robust case for action and why it's necessary to show the different solutions that are necessary for countries at different points of the development cycle. I get why it's useful to have leaders from across politics, economics, business and civil society join forces, ranging from Lord Stern and Bank of America chairman Chad Holliday to Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation and Takehiko Nakao, President of the Asian Development Bank.

It's also helpful that the independent initiative has the support of seven countries, has partnered up with research institutes from five continents and will have its conclusions independently reviewed by an advisory panel of world-leading economists, including Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.

But will it make any difference? I am not so sure. Firstly, it has only six months to do its research, and will therefore mostly be bringing together information that is already held by various institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. On a more fundamental level, it's simply naïve to believe the final report will be a silver bullet that will lead to politicians and business leaders having an epiphany and waking up to their stupidity.

Psychology of denial

Just go talk to David Blood, co-founder of London-based fund manager Generation Investment Management, who has failed to make much headway in waking up the financial markets, despite creating what he considers to be an extremely robust business case for pump priming the green economy.

What would perhaps have been more useful is if the members of the commission were to set up a global study on the psychological reasons we are failing to confront the truth of the mess we are in, and what novel ways we can use to shake people out of their denial.

In Austin, Fairey talked of the importance of using images, rather than just good arguments, of appropriating iconic symbols and subverting them, of using art to be evocative and provocative. He concluded by telling the audience: "I do not want to wow you with facts, but deliver you to the doorstep of the people with the facts."

Perhaps those taking part in the global commission would do well to reach out beyond their own elite to form partnerships with diverse experts like Fairey and take the concept of cross-sector collaboration to a whole new level.

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