My reflection on Dr. Krawchenko’s lecture is a bit delayed as I wrote my comprehensive exam this same week. I’m pleased to say that the lecture felt highly relevant to my exam, and I even cited it in one exam question (more on that later)
Dr. Krawchenko began with a discussion of governance levers at the international, national, provincial, and municipal levels. This was helpful for me since, aside from setting financial reporting regulations and some knowledge of having construction projects approved in Victoria, my knowledge of public policy is little to none.
Three main policy instruments can be mobilized to encourage positive action on climate change: Carrots, Sticks, and Sermons. This particularly interested me as I'd only previously heard of the carrot and stick. As a case in point, I share this video summarizing key findings on sustainability reporting policy:
I wondered if or how sermons might be effective in a management context. Relating to the previous point, is it the sermon strategy that allows autocratic leaders to overturn democratic governments? Perhaps we are discounting the power of this third instrument. This is what I wrote about in my exam. Regarding emissions regulation, we hear about the carrot (subsidies) and the stick (carbon prices), but the sermon seems discounted.
As I thought about this more, perhaps the idea of “green nudges” proxies for a sermon? But, green nudges may fall more in the incentive category. I wondered what power sermon-type campaigns might have when combatting climate change.
Dr. Krawchenko used the example of commercials she saw growing up, which had me reflect on the commercials I saw growing up, including the “reduce, reuse, recycle” campaigns and this string of Ontario Hydro commercials. I’m sure some around the use of aerosol cans vis-a-vis the ozone layer (or maybe I am just remembering a skit my cousin was practicing on repeat?).
I feel like the only sermon-type approach I see is rants on social media or the plethora of billboards and bus adverts used by BCLNGHelps.ca, which seem so clearly at odds with BC’s goals of a clean energy future. Nonetheless, I wondered if there might be an opportunity to leverage this medium in corporate and political reporting in a more positive way and what that would look like. Is the sermon a strategy that was more effective in the days when we all tuned into the same TV and radio stations? These days, it seems we are the only audience with views we agree with, so using media to change behavior may be much more challenging.
Moreover, I am concerned to hear that the prominence of democracy on the global stage is steadily declining (more than two-thirds of the global population now lives under a dictatorship), creating a democracy deficit, limiting freedom of expression, and putting many critical climate change decisions in the hands of autocratic governments. So, what can we do? I’d really love some more discussion of solutions as, at this point, I’m acutely aware of the magnitude of the climate change problem. These trends and patterns have taken years to assemble, and we don’t have years to dismantle them.