Translating awe into purpose: the power of nature

A podcast made me cry yesterday. I listen to a lot of wonky, talking-head style podcasts about energy and economics and whatnot. This was emphatically not that. 

It was audio storytelling at its finest. Two people, sharing a connection over love of place, with a rich soundscape that transports you. 

Raquel Pichardo often says that every kid wanted to be a marine biologist at some point (herself included) (same, girl). We’re the Lisa Frank generation. I remember the first time I snorkeled in the Gulf of Mexico, the colorful reef and tropical fishes seemed to have jumped straight from her iconic technicolor seascapes. 

That was in 2002. I returned to the very same spot 22 years later, and what I saw devastated me. Or rather, what I didn’t see. I hardly saw any fish. Bleached coral was rocky and still, barren as the moon, chill as a graveyard. The waving, rhythmic dance of sponges and fronds had vanished. 

The power of place

The emotional connection that most of us have with specific places, ecosystems, the living world around us, is incredibly powerful. It inspires a sense of awe, holy wonder. There’s a physical sensation when you are touched by place in this way and your body remembers it. 

It’s a sensation powerful enough to break through the noise and existential dread. A jolt for the dopamine receptors even stronger than righteous outrage. This is the space where we can begin building a shared vision of a more sustainable future together. No talking points, no statistics, no spin.

"Keep public lands in public hands" is a rallying cry for a group of conservative interests who spoke out against a provision in the recent Congressional budget bill that would have sold huge portions of public lands. Environmentalists on the left might disagree with some of the motivations and ethos of the fishing and hunting community leading the charge, but on an emotional level, there is so much common ground.

I grew up in one of these fiercely independent communities of hunters, fishers, and outdoor adventurers. Their connection to the land is deeply felt, and their respect and appreciation for healthy ecosystems are genuine. While the image of a conservative big-game trophy hunter is a common trope, these individuals are very much the exception and not the rule. The hunters I know view a wasteful, disrespectful trophy hunter as the lowest form of scum.

The power of emotion

Today’s information environment is driven by emotion, and yet I know there’s more than a few left-brain energy leaders reading this newsletter who don’t give emotion a second thought when considering their communications strategy. I lose a slew of subscribers whenever I skew too far in this direction, but. Can’t stop. Won’t stop. 

With all the fear, the angst, the day-to-day struggle in this world, sales tactics are starting to feel glaring and repulsive. Nothing like an ad for achieving stronger, healthier hair sandwiched between images of starving children and the latest natural disaster. As though your life would be better if only you had the hair of your dreams. 

This is why so many brands are leaning more toward organic storytelling. It’s the subconscious response that drives the entire influencer economy, an empathetic connection that cannot be made with a brand or an institution. Sponsored content has evolved beyond canned messages and now often features a person simply being, in the space of that brand. This is a day in my life working for “______”. Brands with the discipline and finesse to refrain from overt pitches build cult followings. Show, don’t tell.  This recent piece from The NY Times offers a glimpse behind the curtain, focusing on the world of professional content creators. 

What it takes to win

What if we started acting together as a true coalition that wants to be part of a genuine and lasting solution, instead of focusing on persuading a powerful few to deliver some dictate or other? That means bringing people along, and acknowledging that the world has changed and so have the terms. The tactics must evolve. How do we show people that the Venn diagram of their daily interests and the health of the environment are basically a circle? That this feeling isn’t a luxury - it’s a sign from their own intuition that the answers lie in that direction. 

Imagine a public campaign focused on celebrating Earth's fragile beauty and the deep satisfaction so many of us gain from being responsible stewards of the environment. A campaign that centers people sharing a piece of their lived experience and what it means to them to be part of a bigger solution, where a failure to act represents a threat to their fundamental identify. A united popular front demanding a future environment that is every bit as beautiful as the one that makes them feel that wonderful feeling. It would be an unstoppable force. 

This idea can feel too indirect and intangible for the narrowly-defined interests of our fractured advocacy environment. Talk about an unforced error. Building a durable coalition isn't about some magic formula of creating enough of the right kinds of jobs in exactly the right swing districts, or carefully crafted incentives to appeal to the broadest possible constituency. The world doesn't work that way anymore (if it ever really did). Today, it's about winning the information environment, which is more fragmented and democratized than ever. The only way to bridge those divides is with a strong emotional appeal that transcends identity politics - nature-first stories can do exactly that.