San Francisco is one of three California cities selected to participate in a new five-month pilot program aiming to mitigate climate change, to prepare households for disasters and to improve the livability of neighborhoods.
SF Environment is rolling out a pilot program for grassroots activism with the idea of getting people to work on saving the environment because it makes them feel good.
By Bill Picture
Published: July, 2016
San Francisco is one of three California cities selected to participate in a new five-month pilot program aiming to mitigate climate change, to prepare households for disasters and to improve the livability of neighborhoods. The program hopes to do these things by appealing to human beings’ inherent need to connect with others, and their desire for greater purpose and meaning in life.
“Cool Block” is the brainchild of Empowerment Institute CEO David Gershon, who spent the last 25 years carefully shaping a step-by-step plan proven to inspire the kinds of major behavioral changes necessary to turn the corner on climate change.
Gershon commends eco-concerned government agencies and watchdog organizations for their efforts to save the environment, but argues they’ve been going about it all wrong. “All of the traditional methods we use to tackle climate issues—at best, they’re designed for incremental change,” he said. “Getting people to change the way they live, to change their behavior—that’s the coin of the realm.”
According to Gerson, Cool Block’s predecessors fell into one of four ineffectual categories: laws, incentives, information and demonstration. “We’ve passed laws and tried to force people to change. When that didn’t work, we created financial incentives and tried paying people to change. Then we tried raising awareness in the hopes that people would change once they had all the facts. That was Al Gore’s approach and it didn’t work either. The last resort has been protest, like the Occupy movement—trying to guilt or shame people into changing, which also hasn’t worked. Instead, the goal has to be making people want to change, forming a compelling vision that people are naturally drawn to.”
Challenging the social norm
Cool Block builds upon the idea of intrinsic motivation, that is, doing something simply because it makes you feel good. In each participating city, individuals with a passion for the environment were recruited to serve as “block leaders.”
After being trained, each block leader will go out into the community, knocking on doors and inviting neighbors to attend a series of in-home meetings, where participants will collaborate to devise a strategy for tackling the 112 action items on the Cool Block to-do list. By following the step-by-step path that Gershon has prescribed, neighbors will work together to achieve carbon neutrality, disaster resiliency and “vibrant livability.”
“It’s grassroots activism meets Tupperware party meets block party meets neighborhood watch,” said Donald Oliveira, outreach and communications manager for SF Environment, which is rolling out the San Francisco pilot program. Oliveira said a block leader only has a few seconds to enlist a neighbor’s active support after making the first contact, so the block leader training focuses heavily on what he calls the “engagement piece.”
“We work a lot on how to do it—the entry pitch and talking points,” he said. “It’s a very intimate moment; and let’s face it, face-to-face is not the social norm these days.”
What Oliveira is referring to, of course, is modern day society’s bona fide obsession with computers, smart phones, the internet and social media. Further, people are now realizing they’ve never felt more alone or unfulfilled, despite the many devices and apps they rely on to feel connected.
“There’s no question that people have unmet social needs,” said Gershon. “The key is identifying those needs, and then designing strategies for social change—in this case, a climate change strategy—to meet them.”
That’s what Gershon has been doing at the Empowerment Institute for 25 years, employing community-building strategies to tackle complicated issues ranging from women’s rights to dealing with social systems crippled by the growing demands being put upon them.
“And we’ve learned how to do it—how to engage people, how to get a neighbor to invite a neighbor into their home and show them that by joining forces with others they can have greater meaning and purpose, make their block a healthier, safer and more livable place, and create a better quality of life.”
Gershon believes community-based collaborations like Cool Block are society’s best chance at achieving social change. “We’ve done everything we can do on our own,” he said. “Social cohesiveness is no longer a ‘nice to have’; it’s a ‘need to have.’”
Starting on sure footing
It’s no coincidence that California cities were chosen to host Cool Block’s first pilot programs. After all, California is known for being an early adopter of innovations, with San Francisco arguably leading the green charge. Palo Alto and Los Angeles have also launched Cool Block pilot programs.
“There’s a huge amount of low-hanging fruit to be picked here,” Gershon said. Still, he believes each city presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities, and he expects a healthy competition to brew between the participating cities, and possibly even between blocks. “All three are very proud cities,” he said. “And each city sees itself as the place where cool ideas come from.”
But Oliveria believes the responsibility for making Cool Block a success rests squarely in the laps of the block leaders and their neighbors. “That’s the beauty of the program, that it’s in the hands of the community,” he said. “And that’s what I’m going to be looking at—how do you activate the passion of the early adopters to carry the message forward and advance local action in their neighborhood?”
Oliveira reported that more people responded to the first call for block leaders than the program could accommodate, so some people had to be put on a waiting list for a second round of the program, which kicks off in November. “The interest is genuine, and there’s lots of love being put into this project,” he said. “So I’m eager to see what we can accomplish between now and the end of October.”
For more information, visit www.coolblock.org.
People with a passion for the environment are recruited as “block leaders.” These individuals then go out into the community encouraging their neighbors to work together to achieve carbon neutrality, disaster resiliency and “vibrant livability.”
