How is climate change related to culture?
By: Vibeke Koehler
Tags: Culture Change, Climate Action, Community Engagement, Inspiration, Sustainability

We all face a complex and interwoven challenge that will lead to great changes in society as we know it, during the next ten to twenty years. And it is a long time since we realized that we have to rethink the way we live. My Norwegian culture is considered to be nature loving, rustic souled and even frugal. But is it really?

What is culture?

And what does culture even have to do with the question of climate and sustainability? Isn’t the fight against global warming about lowering consumption, turning off the lights, putting an end to airplane travel and basically quit everything that is fun and inspiring? And of course, being very concerned, because we can’t take the future of the planet lightly.

Does climate action cancel fun?

In our everyday speech, what we refer to as culture is a set of thought-, communication- and behavioral patterns in humans. What we consider to be Norwegian culture includes closeness to nature, the famous “dugnad” — making coordinated efforts toward a common goal — and sobriety in choices and lifestyle. We have fun in nature. We love hiking and skiing, we stay with family in our mountain cabins, and we go fishing or sailing. But is that actually a romanticized glossy picture of the past?

If we compare Norway to the world average of a 50% need for CO2-reduction to reach the Paris goals we get a hint. Norwegian citizens and industry need to reduce almost 90% of today’s carbon footprint to match the 1,5 degree goal in 2030. And we have a household consumption that is almost 30% higher than any of our European neighbors. Not to even mention the oil industry. So it is safe to say that the reality of consumerism isn’t matching the ideal of a nature loving frugal culture. And still, we are 10 tonnes per citizen below the climate gas emission rate of the United States.

The cultural industry has its business making life fun and inspiring. Along with most other industries in Norway, it has embraced a transition to sustainable operations. A green roadmap for the cultural sector was launched in January 2020, with a focus on supplier requirements, demanding climate neutral stages and exhibition venues and calculating carbon footprints. This is important. The climate gas emissions must be reduced, and as Inki Brown who actually calculates carbon footprint reports says: You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Some participants in the cultural scene have taken the opportunity to innovate — one example is a project designing microphone stands of recycled ocean plastic. Even in the middle of lockdown — or particularly in the middle of lockdown — many have found time and space to explore new ideas.

Nobody wants to be part of the problem

Everybody wants to live in a sustainable world. That is — a world with enough for everyone while using resources wisely so the next generation will be able to have good lives too. Nobody wants to destroy the world or society or nature. So how did we arrive at the tipping point we’re at today? There’s no doubt that the ideals of consumerism and abundance is a main cause. And major parts of that is represented in products designed for use and discard, and fast fashion that changes four times a year or more.

While enjoying our imported cava in the bubble bath on the tipping point of the living conditions of the next generations, one of the questions we ought to ask ourselves is: Can we reduce our carbon footprint and increase our quality of life at the same time? In my perspective the answer is a clear yes.

We can find happiness in community, relations, sharing, openness and cultural experiences (all the things that are mostly on hold today), in conscious enjoyment of nature, and actually also in frugality. Because a lot depends on the individual choices we make, as consumers, as friends, as business leaders, as tourists, as parents and investors, journalists and policy makers. The sum of all the choices we make, on scale, again and again is our culture.

What if we choose to cultivate the choices that will push us in the right direction?

The word culture, comes from the latin cultura, meaning to grow, cultivate or nurse. What if we choose to cultivate the choices that will push us in the right direction? While simultaneously nurturing the communities of friends and family, colleagues and networks that we miss so much in this worldwide “dugnad” against covid-19. We need to choose to set limits, demand openness from producers and suppliers and venues, but most importantly: vi need to start doing what we can, ourselves, within our own scope of action.

We can think strategically about changing our cultures. Nudge the sum of our choices to be the culture we want to live in. And the culture we want our children and grandchildren to live in. With all the creativity present in the billions of human beings on this planet, we have the very best prerequisites to create a world that is better, greener and more fun to be in, than our status quo. There’s plenty of good, green and fun already, but why not aim for even more? We know that somebody has to do something, but we need to realize that we are that somebody. And in sum, all our individual choices matter to the extreme. They create our culture.