It is no longer a dorky grandma’s practice to use reusable grocery bags. Shoppers of all ages and varied backgrounds are ditching the plastic and embracing the reusable bag trend. What causes a sustainability initiative to reach its tipping point–the point at which average people take notice and begin to act? The tipping point occurs when three strategies converge: the bottom-up, top-down, and legal approaches. The bottom-up approach is a grassroots method where citizens campaign to influence corporations’ actions or change laws. The top-down approach is where companies unilaterally decide to implement sustainability practices, in turn affecting large portions of society in their far-reaching markets. Finally, the legal approach may be reactionary or actionary, and implements laws to induce sustainable practices. Real change may require all three approaches. Depending on the circumstances and nature of the issue, one of the three will be in the best position to act as a catalyst. Once the most suitable approach establishes the necessary foundation, advocates may integrate the other two approaches with the first to achieve the tipping point.
Surfrider’s “Ban the Bag” campaign is it an example of the bottom-up approach serving as a catalyst for the reduction of single-use plastics. The non-profit organization hit the streets collecting thousands of voter signatures, and instigated a grassroots campaign to persuade the Oregon legislature to ban single use plastics in grocery stores.[1] They advocated at countless conservation awareness events, action sports movie showings, and music concerts to spread the word and obtain signatures of support. The organization maintained an active website (http://oregon.surfrider.org/portland/), distributed monthly newsletters to members, and held monthly meetings with respect to the cause. This grassroots, bottom-up approach worked as a catalyst to build a platform base.
With a solid foundation, Surfrider then was able to incorporate the top-down and legal approaches into its overall strategy. With respect to the top-down approach, it worked with Oregon’s leading multi-purpose food store, Fred Meyer, to implement a trial run of plastic bag elimination throughout Portland stores. Once consumers and business leaders were able to recognize not only the environmental but also the economic benefits of reducing the use of plastic bags, support from all levels of the community grew. The grassroots group of average citizens which makes up Surfrider then implemented the legal approach. It worked with local businesses to write a bill to “Ban the Bag” permanently. Through incorporating all three approaches, Surfrider was able to obtain support from both right-wing businesses as well as left-wing environmentalists. The bill to “Ban the Bag” is now on the agenda for this legislative session. If the bill is successful, Oregon will be the first state to ban single use plastic bags in grocery stores. Even if the bill does not pass, Surfrider’s multi-faceted support campaign has driven the city of Portland to agree to a city-wide ban.
Why did the bottom-up approach work better as a catalyst to the Ban the Bag initiative, as compared to the other approaches? Perhaps because it is a simple concept combined with a simple, low cost substitution. The concept is easy to grasp—change to using a reusable bag, and help remedy a major problem plaguing our oceans. It is something that an individual can implement right now, and relatively painlessly. The burden on the consumer to remember to bring a reusable to the store is a fairly inconsequential task in comparison to the alleviated impact on the environment. Additionally, individual economic impact is minimal, as reusable bags cost between $2-$10 up-front, and are free for every subsequent use. Implementing a top-down approach without the support of a bottom-up induced foundation would probably have been less likely to succeed. Absent customer support, there is no economic incentive for a grocery store to stop providing plastic bags (and risk unhappy customers), nor to provide more expensive reusable bags at no extra cost to the consumer. Additionally, starting with a legal approach probably would not go over well with the business leaders and politicians without making the economic argument. The way that Surfrider spread the word through the general public, then showed politicians and businesses the effectiveness and benefit to the economy through the Fred Meyer trial period, likely had a significant impact on getting the bill all the way to the legislature.
The renewable energy initiative is an example of where the legal approach, instead of the bottom-up approach, may serve as a catalyst to the tipping point. The choice to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is not as simple or economically feasible as the choice to use reusable grocery bags. First of all, the overall concept is more complex—one must at least have an idea of how fossil fuel consumption translates to carbon emissions, and then to global warming—to see the benefit of their decision. Thus switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy requires the consumer to expend a great deal more time in researching and implementing the best alternative as compared to what is required to switch from a plastic to reusuable bag. Additionally, consumers willing to change face two choices—either install their own energy sources, such as solar panels or wind farms, or purchase renewable energy at a higher charge from their utility companies. Both of these options require the consumer to expend a considerable sum of money as compared to continuing to use fossil fuels.
A top-down approach also does not seem feasible in this case because most consumers purchase their energy from utility companies. The problem with this is that most utilities are hightly regulated and consequently cannot unilaterally constrain consumer choices without some sort of legal change or regulatory oversight. Where as, a corporation such as Walmart could unilaterally start selling incandescent light bulbs and affect a swath of consumer behavior, utilites could not similarly decide to shut down all coal-fired power plants, produce renewable energy, and pass costs on to consumers.
Therefore, the legal approach seems like the best catalyst for encouraging widespread use of renewable energy. Indeed, 29 states have passed Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS’s) requiring certain percentages of utility energy to come from renewable sources. Additionally there are numerous federal and state tax incentives to encourage renewable energy development. Now, many corporations are getting on board to take advantage of the government sponsored economic incentives. For example, currently, a corporation built wind farm in Oregon is slated to be the largest in the world—the tax credit reportedly being $20 million. The tipping point will occur when the decision to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy becomes both easier to grasp, and easier on the pockets of regular consumers. This will require corporations to continue to develop the technology to reach a lower cost to the consumer as well as widespread education on the ground level. Thus, the tipping point will be achieved once the three strategies converge.
Due to the interdisciplinary nature of sustainability, our thinking should not be confined to only one way of achieving sustainability on a nationwide level. Rather, a pragmatic approach to determining which practices require which strategies is needed. Indeed, a mix of the bottom-up, top-down, and legal approaches must be taken for this to succeed. The key is in identifying which of the three will be most effective as a catalyst. Then, armed with the right ingredients and process, advocates will be able to push their sustainability initiative to the tipping point.
[1] Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Statewide Momentum for Ban the Bag, http://www.banthebagspdx.com/ (last updated Dec. 21, 2010).
