Merz Institute

Joseph was recently interviewed by the Economist Impact about our paper, World Scientists' Warning: The Behavioural Crisis Driving Ecological Overshoot. For those unfamiliar, a big part of our work seeks to understand what the behaviours and social norms of a new civilisation will need to look like if we are to address ecological overshoot. We are currently looking for additional advisors across evolutionary science and complexity science. If you want to get involved in our work, please go to https://lnkd.in/g2NpfpMv "As things get more and more difficult for people in our current civilisation, there'll be a period of time where they will look for socially acceptable alternative ways of meeting their needs and signalling about themselves. And that's where a huge opportunity exists." You can read the Economist Impact article here: https://lnkd.in/gsQiWxbU

A pleasant surprise to stumble upon our Behavioural Crisis paper cited in this new UN report - "Eradicating poverty beyond growth" https://lnkd.in/gANZxHNE #ecologicalovershoot #behaviouralcrisis #economicgrowth

Education and awareness are often highlighted as the silver bullet for moving the needle on sustainability in fashion. The belief is that if we educate people about the negative impact their shopping decisions have on people and the planet, they will change their behavior. However, in the latest episode of the Green Behavior podcast, Joseph Merz shares his thoughts on why education and awareness *alone* aren’t enough to change consumer behavior, pointing to research by The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Joseph highlights: “The only way we physically interact with the ecosphere is through our behavior. Yet, there is such a small amount of focus on our behavior. And where there is a focus, it is through the lens of awareness. There’s this assumption that all we have to do is make people aware of the issues, and they will change their behavior. But awareness has been increasing for a long time around climate change, yet behaviors aren’t changing.“ Instead, Joseph emphasized the need to shift towards using tools and mechanisms specifically designed to change behavior, like making the consequences of unsustainable behavior more immediate and visible and using social pressure to positively influence behavior. Moreover, instead of focusing solely on symptoms like carbon emissions, Joseph advocates for a broader approach that addresses the root causes of ecological overshoot, such as population growth, excessive consumption, and waste production. However, while Joseph believes education alone isn’t enough, he underscores the importance of transforming how we educate younger generations—raising them with different social norms and less trauma. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts! 🎧 Spotify: https://lnkd.in/ee2zMTkt Apple Podcasts: https://lnkd.in/ecug_UAK

So much YES to all of this... A study from the Merz Institute last year explored the psychology behind what’s driving us to overconsume. It looked at basic human needs and tendencies including to seek pleasure and avoid pain, for example; to acquire and defend resources from competitors; and to display status or sex appeal through external displays of aggression, beauty or ‘ornamentation’. These tendencies served humans at one point in time, but are no longer necessary for our survival and instead of benefiting or protecting us, they are now working against our own best interests, according to the researchers. PLUS, and this is the key bit: "We’ve gotten here, they say, because those instincts have been manipulated for global economic gain that benefits some at the cost of many — and we’re hardwired not to see it." The report looks at how business growth can be infinitely expanded to any need one can create inside consumers’ heads (e.g. via marketing). This is the foundation of our work at the UN Environment Programme on overconsumption within fashion, and was the basis from which we wrote the Sustainable Fashion Communication Playbook (which can you believe, launched nearly a year ago now!) “It all comes back to stories, the stories we tell ourselves. We tell ourselves the wrong things, and it’s leading us to extinction,” says Joseph Merz. “But there’s potential to role model differently.” Rachel Cernansky 👏 👏 👏 https://lnkd.in/eAHJHbik #overconsumption #sustainablefashion #climatecrisis #behaviourchange

I was recently interviewed for the French publication L'ADN on the work of the institute. People love to use the word manipulation when it comes to the work we’re doing. Is it manipulation to simply be conscious of the influences of our behaviour and attempt to ensure they are compatible with biophysical limits? What do you think? https://lnkd.in/gHF8cpB5 #behaviour #ecologicalovershoot #behaviouralcrisis

Our behavioural change program "Kiwi Keepers" was piloted last year in a New Zealand primary school with 70 children participating. For the year long duration of the pilot, the children completed 3 hours of Kiwi Keepers per week. Each of those hour lessons began with a 10-15 minute story with relatable characters modelling pro-nature behaviours. Following the stories the children would go outside and complete the other two sections of the lesson: exploration and play - with both tying into the story. [Play was used to convey relatively complex ecological concepts that the children grasped incredibly well.] As I've shared before, the results of the pilot were fantastic, but what I love most are the stories. Each story is interspersed with questions to maintain the focus of the young listeners and help recall certain aspects of the stories. In the excerpt below, the characters in the stories (Louis, Elise and Manaia) have just been horse riding to the back of Manaia's family farm to an old growth forest where pekapeka (bats) live. The story for Week 5, Lesson 2 on Pekapeka ends like this: "The children are quiet. Manaia's Dad is quiet. They find themselves listening to their own breathing. Louis takes a deep breath, and lets it out slow. Manaia and Elise look at him and do the same. They breathe deep and slow, over and over. It is very peaceful in the forest. Question: Can you take a deep breath, and let it out slo-o-o-o-o-w? Let's do that again. Suddenly Elise points wide-eyed at a tree near their clearing. There is a pekapeka climbing back to its roost! Now it looks like it is getting all cosy back in its roost. It must be tired, the children think. The children are tired too. Manaia folds her arms like wings and starts crawling like a bat back to the hut. Louis laughs. "You'll take a long time walking like that Manaia!" Question: Can you fold your arms and carefully crawl around like a pekapeka? Back at the hut, the children settle into their sleeping bags and fall asleep. Elise dreams of a whole planet covered in forest. It is filled with amazing plants and creatures that she looks after, and they look after her too." #kiwikeepers #behaviourchange #identity

If you want to learn more about the behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot, register for the upcoming webinar here https://lnkd.in/gnEzh7k9 #behaviouralcrisis #webinar

Rambling about this: https://lnkd.in/gTG4sjax Hope to see you there! #behaviouralcrisis #addressingecologicalovershoot #webinar

With two of my incredibly talented co-authors and colleagues (Mat Maroni and Nandita Bajaj) I’m going to be doing a talk on our recent peer-reviewed world scientists’ warning paper that’s about the behavioural crisis driving ecological overshoot. If you’re unfamiliar with this critical concept then this talk is for you. (Actually even if you are familiar there will be a lot in this talk that isn’t in the paper - plus a Q&A with all three of us and I’ll be talking about the labs we’re developing in the institute to combat the behavioural crisis). The talk is on the 6th of March at 7pm Auckland time via Zoom and is supported by a wonderful group of New Zealand organisations: Degrowth Aotearoa, Our Climate Declaration, Wise Response and Engineers for Social Responsibility. You can register here https://lnkd.in/gTG4sjax I hope to see some friendly faces. #behaviouralcrisis #ecologicalovershoot #hope

Hi all, A few weeks ago I posted an apology on here because I couldn't keep up with my inbox! Of the emails I've read, they're so wonderfully supportive that I feel terrible I haven't responded. The recent media coverage of the paper hasn't helped this situation, and I'm all too aware some have been waiting (probably no longer waiting!) for a response since September. In an effort to make things easier, we've launched a new page on the site to capture interest in getting involved in our work. So! If you're interested in contributing to the institute in whatever capacity you feel you can, please take a few minutes to tell us here: https://lnkd.in/gqRmRqdk Thank you all once again. I will get to them. Warmest, Joseph #thankyou #contribute #behaviouralcrisis