In recent years, psychologists, economists and neuroscientists have shed light on these questions. Their ideas have attracted popular interest, but haven’t changed the way most conservation organizations work. Only a tiny percentage of the money spent on conservation is focused on changing behavior. And we know that public education is not enough.
Since forcing people to change is usually politically problematic, it makes sense to think more about this challenge. That’s why I’m focusing today on a modest size organization called Rare, which may have one of the most critical, and underappreciated, social technologies to protect ecosystems and biodiversity. They call it the “Pride Campaign”: it is a methodical, well-honed approach to social marketing that has been replicated by diverse groups more than 200 times around the world — with some remarkable success stories. Rare has developed an accredited two-year Masters Degree in Communication for conservationists, which is taught in the United States, Mexico, Indonesia and China.