Day 2: Square Peg, Round Hole
Remember how yesterday I was feeling motivated by the complexity of the challenge? Today, not so much.
We spent most of the day today talking through levers of behavior change - the different ways we can influence our target actors to behave differently depending on their motivations and barriers. In doing this work, deep contradictions have been revealed. For example, it seems to be true that manufacturing a market-based solution is extremely difficult, maybe even impossible, AND also that a market-based solution is the only type that actually moves the needle. Both those statements are true at once, even if they seem like they shouldn’t be. A success story shared today was açaí - a global commodity grown in South America in a way that keeps valuable ecosystems intact. But because global demand for açaí as a “superfood” was generated organically, nobody really knows how this happened and it’s difficult to replicate its success. Such is the temperamental and mysterious nature of the market, indifferent as it is to good or bad environmental impacts.
I can’t shake the feeling that we are trying to put a square peg in a round hole. The global food and commodity trading system is not designed for what we are trying to do. Land conversion and deforestation is a feature, not a bug. While the levers of the market can be very powerful, they are not designed to reduce environmental impacts. Rather, the system is predicated on mid- and down-stream companies making as much money as quickly as possible. It is especially difficult that not all market actors are willing to act together, which exposes those who are willing to act to the risk of losing market share while the others squeeze out a few more years of profit from their non-compliant behavior before they will have to get in line as well. The long-term consequences of conversion simply are not as material to these companies as the short-term profit motive is. Governmental regulation is better designed to fill this need, but failure of all parties to act limits the power of that solution as well. For example, with the passage of the EU deforestation regulation, many producers and traders plan to reconfigure their supply chains so that they are selling soy and beef produced from converted land to China, which has no such regulations in place. There are various levers we can deploy in China to bring them around as well, of course, but again the profit motive encourages market actors to exploit this gap in regulation for short term gain. It’s frustrating!
I gave my communications presentation today, which I feel so-so about. I got very nervous out of nowhere even though I felt well prepared, which is really unusual for me. I don’t usually struggle with performance anxiety. But for whatever reason, I was really feeling my age and lack of experience compared to some of the people in the room who have been doing this work as long as I’ve been alive. Who am I to tell them what to do? I also feel I was not as articulate as I could have been about the communications goals and strategies I am putting in place, as well as very aware that I don’t have all the answers to the complex communications problems presented by this work. I’m worried I created more confusion and questions than answers and solutions. I’m glad I still have a few more days to talk with my colleagues one-on-one about their communications goals and challenges, so I can really get into the nuance and think creatively with them about solutions.
On a lighter note, today was my first day actually out and about in the city of Cuiabá! By the time we actually left the hotel for dinner, the weather was tolerable but still quite warm. The city is beautiful! I get a very cosmopolitan feel from it - there is a beautiful park around a lake just down the block from the hotel, complete with a bike lane filled with jogging citygoers and children playing in light-up water features. Very nice. I also feel I’m getting a better sense of Brazilian cuisine: meat, cheese, and potatoes, all fried. Plus as I mentioned yesterday, the ever-present cake. I’ve only been here a few days and I’m already missing vegetables. But I was able to get a Heineken Zero at the bar tonight, which was a nice surprise! If you’re wondering how my Portuguese is progressing — it’s not.
I’m quite tired and a bit overwhelmed, but don’t let my negativity fool you — I’m still really happy to be here. Tomorrow we are leaving for our first field trip to Rondonópolis, to visit farms and ranches in the Cerrado biome that we are in. I am really looking forward to seeing more of the country outside of the city and checking out the most biodiverse savannah biome in the world! More soon.
