Recipes for Debate

Preamble

It may not be possible to expand the economy forever.

No doubt today's policy makers believe that if economic activity expands enough we can buy our way out of present social and environmental difficulties. However, with the winners of the Global Monopoly Game amassing wealth far faster than it is being created, the economic growth model may have outlived its effectiveness.

The alternative perspective is to base policy on the goals encompassed by sustainability: i.e. ecosystem health, community cohesion and the celebration of our unique human characteristics of learning, love and laughter, among others.

Which of these views accurately reflects reality? Much depends on the correct choice.

Public discussion about these options is the purpose of Inviting Debate. A Strategy for Sustainability outlines some of the effects of such discussions.

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Two recipes follow for inviting debate:

Discussion on Campuses and Discussion in Communities.

The discussion format Life, Money & Illusion may also be useful.

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Discussion in Communities

The key task in this procedure is to get the basic question into people's hands. Sustainability cards are an effective medium for accomplishing this. The introductory side can be adapted to say anything that will catch the interest of the intended audience.

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Initiating Thought and Discussion in Your Community.

The first step: is to identify or form a group to sponsor the program within a geographic community or community of interest. The process of introducing an unfamiliar worldview and having it sink in takes time. It is best when promoting discussion around the Question of Direction to offer relatively permanent contact information. We often have people get in touch a year or two after receiving a card. When the issue has finally sunk in, these people can be very helpful in the work ahead.

The second step is to have cards made with your local contact information on them. It is possible to use cards with our contact information, but people respond better to a location near them or an organization they are familiar with. People who do get in touch can also become instrumental in making further contact and in developing further stages of the process. We provide sustainability cards for the cost of printing and paper or free of charge under some circumstances. We can also provide camera ready copy for your printer of choice if you want to produce them yourself.

Step Three:
Given these cards, the task is to get them into people's hands. Passing them directly to people, including them in mailings or offering them from distribution boxes which we supply, have all proven effective.

At any gathering where the cards have been distributed, the question of where we are heading as a society can be easily initiated. The cards refer to the variety of considerations that outline sustainability. When they are in people's hands, one can refer to them and use the single word 'this' to ask:

Is 'this' what we want to accomplish?

Step four:
When people have been introduced to the issue, more detailed information is often requested. We produce a variety of materials to help do this. You are welcome to download anything on this web site and reproduce or adapt it for work in your community. Depending on the balance between our fund raising and the requests we get for materials, we may be able to provide printed materials.

Step five:
As the core of people who understand the Question of Direction grows, it may be possible to stage a public discussion about the choice. Public events are news worthy. In addition to the interesting discussions that inevitably arise when differing views are exchanged, such an event can serve as a spring board to introduce the options to a wider audience.

To stage a discussion the following elements need to be identified and drawn into the process:
- One or more people who feel economic expansion is the path to a secure future
- One or more people who feel sustainability is the appropriate path.
A panel with two or more speakers for each perspective will provide a variety of interesting views.
- A moderator.
Anyone willing to chair the discussion would do. However, if you can get a representative from a local media to fill this role, the chances of getting coverage increases.
- A place and time.

Step six:
Once the event is planned it has to be advertised through whatever means possible. Posters, notices in community papers (these are often free if there is no charge for the event), announcements at gatherings and whatever other means are available.

Send out press releases and invite members of the local press, TV and Radio to cover the event.

We can provide some materials to these ends, but they are best when tailored to your specific event.

Step seven:
Make sure everyone coming to the event has a card. The issue is easily confused if coordinates of sustainability are not specified.

Enjoy the exchange of views. After the presenters have had opportunities to express their views and to rebut those of the others on the panel, if they are willing, open the session to questions from the audience.

Remember:

"It is from the clash of differing opinions that the light of truth shines." Listen closely to all the views expressed. We are moving into a new period of history. None of us can be sure what solutions will be effective. We each have a different perspective and as The Parable of the Elephant suggests, we need each others views to see the bigger picture.

Please let us know how far you get with this process. The effects are cumulative. Even if people in your community only receive the cards, the cause is advanced. Their experience with the cards will help lay a foundation for when the topic is raised in other situations. If you do stage an event it will resonate with similar events in communities elsewhere. The more often the topic comes up, the easier it is to raise the issue in other communities. When the issue has been discussed in enough communities, it will become clear that, as a civilization, we have a choice to make.

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Discussion on Campuses

One of the greatest difficulties surrounding the sustainability or growth debate is identifying the subject matter. Discussions about sustainable development have obscured the term sustainability to the point that some people feel the 'S' word is useless. Some have suggested that 'survivable development' would be clearer. But that's another story.

Here is one recipe for stimulating debate about whether sustainability or economic expansion should be the value underlying public policy decisions.

On campuses as in communities, sustainability cards are a key tool for raising the issue. They are printed on recycled stock in the traditional business card format. They are inexpensive to produce, conveniently stored and easily retrieved. Furthermore, the limited amount of text which they carry assures people that it will not take long to read.

The cards, as shown in the previous link, or customized to your specific circumstances, are best made up with the contact information for a campus organization. You can use cards with our contact information on them, but they are more effective when recipients can make contact locally and possibly get involved in the debate program or other activities.

It is our policy, whenever possible, to provide these cards to campus groups for free or for donations. Please don't hesitate to ask.

With these cards in mind:

1) Find or form a group to sponsor the discussion on campus.

2) Find teachers who work in related areas. This could be practically any subject, in particular: economics, ecology, business, biology, sociology, women's studies, development studies, politics, geography, history, planning, etc. Look through the school catalogue and check off everything related in any way.

3) Contact as many of the teachers as you can and ask if they will distribute cards to the students in their class(es). The topic doesn't even have to come up during class time. The teacher may choose to explore some issues around the topic raised by the cards, but it isn't necessary since the issue will be considered by every student who takes a minute to read their card. Notice is served in this manner;

Society's goals are open for discussion!

In the event that a teacher from a key class won't take the time to pass out cards, you can pass them directly to students as they go into or out of class. It is hard to avoid an issue when all your students know about it.

Cards can also be offered in common areas through the card distribution boxes supplied with the cards. These boxes hold about 60 cards. They can be taped to walls, pinned to bulletin boards or set on counters, further establishing the reference for sustainability. The more people who see the reference and consider the issue presented with it, the easier it is to raise the issue for discussion and the harder it will be to sidetrack the discussion with semantic arguments.

Even if you only go so far as distributing cards around campus, you will have made a significant contribution to raising the issue.

4) At the time cards are distributed in a class, or after the notion has sunk in for a while, ask the teachers if they would be willing to participate in the debate. One or more participants for each side of the question need to be selected.

5) Find a facilitator. Anyone capable would be fine. Someone from the student or local media would be ideal since their participation would increase the possibility of the event getting coverage.

6) Arrange a time and a place where the debate can be held.

7) Promote the event.
- Make sure the campus media is aware of the event. Ask them to list the event and to cover it when the time comes.
- Contact media in the surrounding community and see if they will cover the event.
- Posters, word of mouth, announcement in classes and at events all help raise interest.
- If the campus paper will print Outline for a Great Debate. Any of the materials available here may be reproduced in whole or in part to familiarize other students with the topic to be discussed. If anyone in your group produces notification materials, please send copies to us so we can share them with others.

8) Make sure everyone at the event has a card.

Discussions about society's goals are often derailed by semantic arguments about what the alternative to maximizing economic expansion is. By providing the cards as a reference, sidetracking can be limited to discussion of the component issues rather than to the vast range of distractions that the word sustainability can generate.

The more discussions of this nature that take place, the easier it will be to hook news stories to them and thereby spread word that: The values upon which public policy is based are open for review.

Please let us know if you are interested in staging such an event. We will be happy to work with you.