“I opened my eyes. Glimmers of early morning sun peeking through the curtains. I looked around the cabin. This was the big day, 21st of June 2030. So wonderful that the team had organized for me to stay right here, just next to the festival area. I opened the door and looked across the trees onto the beautiful fjord. Celebrating ten years since the great transition, ten years since humanity managed to create this new sustainable society. New energy no longer new, ecological farming the norm, animals plenty as they are protected by human rights. Gross Happiness Index rather than GDP. I thought about Greta, that determined Swedish girl on a mission. Oh, I have to get going, the conference organisers are waiting for me!”
This story that I have imagined here, is the way I started my talk last Wednesday at ‘The Art of Framing Sustainability’, taking place at the Oslo Business School. Many different speakers had been lined up to explore this theme from different angles. Key takeaways:
words matter; what words will mobilise more people into action?
should we stop using the word sustainability and ‘invent’ a different one?
the need for a new narrative for our common future
I had been invited to share my thoughts on the power of storytelling, with a focus on climate storytelling. I spoke in the country where, so many years before, the national media had framed me on the cover page as the ‘Statoil leader going to the arch enemy (Greenpeace)’. Most people in Statoil did not understand that I would join ‘the enemy’. Even at the conference when Peggy Brønn, Professor, Doctor at BI Centre for Corporate Communications, introduced me, she wondered about the compatibility of these two roles. Yet, to me there was no such thing. I really sensed, already then, that we are all together in the story, playing different roles. I felt the need to take a different role, feeling accountable to Mother Earth and future generations, and took the plunge to join Greenpeace.
Regarding the power of stories I referenced Joseph Campbell and Jonah Sachs, who continued in Campbell’s tradition. They believe that the stories we remember, from centuries ago, from oral history, are based on a particular story architecture. Most stories have a hero, or heroes. This hero often goes through a rough time, trying to deal with issues, his dark journey. After meeting a mentor, who provides the hero with a gift, the hero ends up in a good place and often a changed person. Working at Statoil was quite tough for me, at many different levels. Looking back I wonder, was my time at Statoil my dark journey, to frame it in story architecture terms?
When I joined Greenpeace, the organization was campaigning towards COP15. It campaigned for the energy revolution, its storytelling underlining the urgency. Statoil was working on new energy, it invited Al Gore to Oslo to share his ‘Inconvenient Truth’ and within the company there were many discussions regarding climate change. Statoil and Greenpeace were both addressing climate change, each in their own way. Each in their roles, not necessarily with a view to strike a relationship with one another, let alone a constructive one. Greenpeace was convinced that their strength was in ‘calling out’ rather than engaging. It wanted to remain true to their core of ‘bearing witness’ to crimes that are larger than the law.
Within the climate movement, Greenpeace was one of the players. I think the climate movement can claim victory in terms of ensuring awareness through its climate storytelling. At the same time, the movement might have stimulated climate sceptics by its way of campaigning, choice of images and by the language it used. After all, when pushed into the role of a villain, you become defensive, you close down, unable to hear the other.
from Bjørn Haugland’s presentation
Looking through the lenses of the story architecture, we are living in the dark journey. There are plenty of examples: draughts, floods, heat, hurricanes, loss of wildlife, food issues, etc. Let us acknowledge the gift, the gifts that many are actually trying to show us: green jobs, new energy, more time, less consumption, more connection, basic income, just to name a few. Ultimately we can get through!
Hence, I believe that communication professionals have an amazing opportunity to contribute to shaping our common future, but they need to be mindful when choosing their words; because, as Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher said, they will come true:
“Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”
In all the jobs I have had, I had the role of a change agent. I believe that change for good can come from many different places and many different players, which is why I work across sectors. I believe in the power of stories. They can help us get to a new society, a new model. We need to get better at story sharing and our ability to listen to one another. I also believe that writers will contribute significantly and that fiction will be crucial. Fiction allows us to imagine. Hence, I hope that my story will come true:
“It’s 2030, celebrating ten years since the great transition, ten years since humanity managed to create this new sustainable society. The tipping point had been Greta, a determined Swedish girl on a mission, who had turned out not to be another poster child.”
