How to Talk (about the Food System) so People Will Listen Everyone filters information through a lens, like the lens on a pair of colored glasses. Only certain images get through these cognitive “frames” to the brain. This research builds on earlier research in the Sustainable Food Lab which found that when people think about sustainability and food, the most common frame they use is that of modernization. People assume the march of progress is inevitable and with it come soil, water and landscapes deterioration. There’s nothing to be done about it. In order to support more effective messaging, the Framing Initiative of the Sustainable Food Lab has supported research in both the United States and Europe. This work looks into how to craft messages so that information about the impact of food production and consumption on vital resources reaches the public. The central finding of the French research is that variants of the same propositions that were effective in the U.S. context do help the French public reason more deeply and productively about food systems. They are:
Systems Sustainability
The notion of a Physical Structure, most familiarly understood in metaphorical terms as a building, provides conceptual substance to the otherwise empty notion of “Sustainability.” Words that helped convey this notion included, for example, fondations, bases and murs porteurs. (see example below)
Radical Intensification
Similarly, the idea of Escalation (of technology, and particularly weapons) allowed people to grasp the notion of “Radical Intensification” of our methods of food production. Words that helped convey this notion included escalade and intensification (see example below). Example: The physical structure of the food system is formed by the water, soil, biodiversity, producer communities, and businesses. If attempts to intensify production of large quantities at low cost threaten the foundations of the system, we’re in trouble. So we need to make sure that the structure is sound. Read More… | SFL Calendar Sustainable Food Lab Meeting, February 13-16, 2007 London, UK Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), March 27-30, 2007 Atlanta, GA. Sustainable Food Lab Meeting, October, 2007 Antigua, Guatemala Learning Journey - China, early 2008 Newsletter Archive:November Feature (html)
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