I have just left the first of this year’s Marketing Society green events. And what an inspiring event it was.

The productivity and volume of ideas was really impressive. Although I was rather dubious about the title of the breakfast workshop: “How to Make Sustainability Sexy” the content was both practical and inspiring. Sexy? – not sure, but it did signal a really positive way forward, like the proposed urban farm in Sao Paulo shown in the picture above.

We were primed by Malcolm Evans of Space Doctors with a whistle stop tour of the emerging semiotics of sustainability. Some wonderful soundbites that I will definitely plagiarise including “cultural conservation” in emerging markets that sits alongside established ecological conservation; and that modernisation is no longer westernisation by default.

The overriding impression was that sustainability, like many global themes, will be framed and defined by the BRIC (Brazil,Russia, India, China) economies. It is fascinating that China are positioning Nuclear power alongside Wind farms in the imagery of sustainability. Also that the trajectory for sustainability is from residual greenwash; to the now dominant transparency; towards the emergent actions-speak-louder-than-words (I’m sure there is a more elegant way to put that).

The workshop that followed got us to isolate possible codes that could motivate seven key segments of attitudes towards sustainable behaviour, as defined by DEFRA. Each table taking one particular segment from “Honestly Disengaged” to “Concerned Consumers”. Some fabulous ideas emerged and interestingly the analysis excluded the traditional target of green marketing the “Positive Greens”; is this enviro-discrimination? Jo Kendrick, from Homebase, promised the results on The Society’s website soon. So watch this space

I was left with a really uplifting feeling that sustainability is slowly turning the corner. We are leaving behind the dull moralising of traditional environmentalists and recognising and celebrating the innovation, ingenuity and aesthetics of sustainability. In this we will be led by practical necessities, not intellectual theory. It will be the emerging economies that are relatively free of baggage and are growing nor stagnating that will take the lead. We in the West, as we desperately try to redefine our definition of capitalism, will have to wake up and smell the yummy fair-trade coffee.

Apologies for the deliberately “Carry On” title. I have been re-acquainting myself with the excellent Schott’s Original Miscellany on my visits to the smallest room in the house. It is a great concept of brilliant and random information – a bit like Twitter. I came across the entry for Freud and the Mind today which got me thinking.

I have not studied Freud but understand his basic ideas of how neuroses can emerge and the importance of sex in the direction of our behaviours. The entry in Schott’s Miscellany briefly describes the ID, the EGO and the SUPER EGO. The ID controlling the elemental, unconscious and uncivilised mind; the EGO the conscious and pre-conscious mind that civilises the ID and recognises the wider world; finally the SUPER EGO  - is our conscience, the highest evolved state of mind. These are amazing concepts and have helped to analyse the complexities of the human mind.

It may also help us as we grapple with establishing sustainable behaviours in the mainstream of our societies. The most significant issue that I have discovered is the so called Green Gap. The value action gap between what people say they are concerned about and what they will actually do. This is one of the defining characteristics of the light greens. The 70% of the population who want to do the right thing but only if it fits in to the daily struggle to earn, bring up kids and have some fun.

The majority of their actions are defined and directed by the ID. However the majority of our approaches to them are through the SUPER EGO. I’m not sure how Freud would resolve this one but to me we must be more basic and elemental with how we communicate sustainability. Campaigns and messages must be more visceral than intellectual; making the options appealing in unconscious ways. In short we have to make them sexy. Think about it next time you read or produce a worthy piece on the necessities of change and look at it again through Freud’s eyes. Could be rather revealing.