Who am I? A brief overview of the Fife Diet What has worked in our project

1. THE FIFE DIET - A LOCAL FOOD EXPERIMENTBig Tent Summer School - July 2010Limits to Behaviour Change - Effective Use of Social Media • Who am I? • A brief overview of the Fife Diet • What has worked in our project • Using Social Media(why not how) • Some Obstacles to Change • Asking a different question

2. Who Am I? Mike Small BA, MA, FRSA Green City Wholefoods 1986-1988 (forklift) Institute for Social Ecology 1994-1996 (philosophy)Programming the Big Tent Festival 2006-2010Lecture UNESCO Chair of Sustainable Development,Turin University 2007 -Director, Fife Diet, Scottish Government Climate Challenge Fund 2007 - ? Dad to Sorley (6) and Alex (3)

3. A brief overview of the Fife Diet • Started from a sense that there was something fundamentally wrong with the food system • Developed from an informal network to a movement for change around food (2007-2010) • Publishing carbon foodprint reports on 100 research volunteers and now all members (1000+) • Aims to deliver stronger communities through enhanced local economy, healthier unprocessed fresh food and food with lower carbon impact

4. Our 5 Pledges for Low Carbon Sustainable Food • Eat local (defined bio-regionally) • Eat less meat • Eat more organic • Reduce food waste • Compost More

5. What has worked in our project • Eating together • Being honest about the realities of change requiredMotivating through pledges • Strategic Use of Social Media • Not engaging in ‘general awareness rising’ • Looking after children • Not being patronising • Combining global picture with local realities and practicalities

6. Use of Social Media

7. Network Enabled Collaboration Many to many Challenges notions of expertise Challenges notions of proprietary ownership Champions the venacularRef: ‘We-Think’ Charles Leadbeater

8. Our members have a carbon foodprint between 10-40% below the UK average on food, rising to 80%. Source: Fife Diet Carbon Report, June 2010

9. 10 Rules for Communicating on Climate Change • Big Picture • Technically correct • Be cool • Only stories work • Optimism • Glory button • Change is for all • We need more heroes • Personal circleSource: futerra

10. Obstacles to Change that is Sustained, Credible and Immediate: Surround sound, Hegemony of Increment and Techno-Babble The Daily Mail bag campaign- “a British family on their weekly shop - but their bags could be killing our wildlife”

11. Surround Sound

13. Hegemony of Increment • Adopt little steps • Adopt marketing strategies • Focus on green consumerism • Create offers which are easy, painless • Use non-environmental motivations (-£) • Use celebrity endorsements (‘Nicole Ritchie loves the planet’)Source: Meeting Environmental Challenges: The Role of Human Identity, Tom Crompton WWF

14. Techno-babble – ‘Top-kill’ & the Twin Narratives of BP

15. Asking a different question... • Is ‘our’ behaviour the problem? Depends who we are. • To what extent do we truly believe that consumer behaviour will change society? Vote! • When are we going to legislate? There is no point in asking people to change their behaviour if their whole social environment makes this extremely difficult. • Tim Jackson perspective

16. It’s the ecology stupid mike@fifediet.co.ukhttp://fifediet.co.uk/