By Joe Kearns
I became interested in Intercultural matters after being involved in a number of large scale corporate mergers. I learned that the behaviours and decisions of employees at all levels are driven by the culture of the organisations
As I studied the cultures of other groups, nationalities, regions, ethnic groups and more I found that there was no difference – people’s behaviour is driven by cultural values
Climate change and environmental destruction are happening in spite of the obvious warning signs for many many years. And largely people’s behaviours haven’t changed. Yes we do a bit of recycling here and there, we try to do things in a more sustainable way and we think we are making a difference. To me it is a shock to find that most people will express their concerns about climate change but still carry on the same level of travel by plane they have always done – including many young people of my acquaintance.
So why are we so dumb? Why are we unable to change? I believe it is cultural
What are the dominant cultural values that are leading to this self-destruction? The following values will kill most of us and devastate our environment:
- Greed
- Selfishness
- Individuality
We are greedy for more and more, there is never enough to satisfy us so we consume endlessly.
We are selfish. We go on long distance flights just because we “always wanted to visit Japan” and don’t care that that choice will kill a nomad in Somalia
Me, me, me. The world revolves around me and my happiness is all that matters. “Be your best self” “Achieve personal happiness” “Win at all costs to show you are the best”. To hell with society – I am all that matters.
What are the cultural values that we need to save us and the environment? The opposite of the above
- Do with less – minimalist consumption
- Sacrifice for others – the rich need to….. give, give, give
- Community – we are all in this together. We “hang together” or hang individually
We need to stop consuming in the fruitless hope that more will make us happy in the end. Do you really need all those clothes in your wardrobe? Do you really need to upgrade to the latest tech just because the adverts tell you you need to? Do you really need to do all that flying?
The world has never been more unequal. Here is a recent headline from Jan 2024
“World’s five richest men double their money as poorest get poorer – Oxfam predicts first trillionaire within a decade, with gap between rich and poor likely to increase”
And our culture celebrates success and wealth. It is something to be admired and sought after.
So, what to do?
We need one of the following: The rich to voluntarily give up their wealth to help the poor OR create mechanisms and laws, across the world, to take from the rich and give to the poor. Are either of these likely?
We need to create a sense of community across the world to counteract individualism. And I would suggest that individualism is not the norm for humanity. The vast majority of human history and in most of the world’s societies, community and family are the foundations of survival. To quote my SIETAR colleague George Simons “I grew up in a Polish community in the USA where the rule was ‘if everyone looks after everyone else, everyone will get looked after’”. This is also what I grew up with in Ireland.
Sadly, as George has pointed out the top value in most of US culture is “look after number one (yourself) and everyone else can look after themselves”
With the power and wealth of the US and the pervasiveness of its media in all countries this latter value is becoming accepted everywhere.
This, I believe, is what has led us to the disaster that is Climate Change
And the ultimate irony is that the countries who are suffering most from Climate Change and Environmental Destruction and the ones most likely to hold to the cultural values we all need to adopt.
Can our culture be changed so we avoid disaster? It can, but it wont be easy. And as interculturalists it is up to us to lead the way, using our expertise, to changing our cultural values
P.S. There are many new developments in how we should look at and understand culture. George Simons has lookes at the role of neuroscience and personal and group identity stories. He would argue that that is where to start and that values as described above come later, if at all. We are hoping George might have time to right an article on the topic for us also.
We’re eager to hear from you!
Your thoughts and ideas are invaluable to us. Feel free to share them in the comments or drop us an email at sustainability.congress24@sietareu.org
Remember, even small changes can have a significant impact when adopted collectively. By leading by example and encouraging others to follow suit: Act today, impact tomorrow!
Warm regards,
Your SIETAR Congress ´24 Sustainability Team
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