Prospecting the Disappearance of “Forced Extrinsic Motivators”

Have “forced extrinsic motivators” led to corporations developing a sense of intrinsic motivation and commitment to pro-environmental behavior? I ask this question as we face a new era driven by the pursuit of economic advancement at any and all cost to the environment.  This juxtaposes a recent history of an economy based on promoting and encouraging pro-environmental behaviors for a sustainable, environmentally responsible economic future for the U.S. 

Since 1970, the EPA has regulated corporations and has set industry standards in order to protect the environment.  These regulations, in essence, are extrinsic motivations.  Not rewards, but consequences.  If a corporation or industry fails to comply, they are “punished” through fines.  For example, coal mining waste regulations or the Clean Water Act.

It seems as though these regulatory extrinsic motivations have developed a sense of corporate intrinsic motivation and commitment to environmentally responsible behavior.  For example, over a thousand corporations have independently signed a commitment to align with the Paris Agreement to “combat climate change”.  I’m not entirely sure what actions companies like Apple, Kellogg, Levi Strauss, and many others will engage in to fulfill this commitment but at least there’s public accountability (low-carbonusa.com).  

I find it interesting over a thousand companies signed a declaration, since November 2016, for a low-carbon future: 

"We want the US economy to be energy efficient and powered by low-carbon energy...Failure to build a low-carbon economy puts American prosperity at risk. But the right action now will create jobs and boost US competitiveness.  We pledge to do our part, in our own operations and beyond, to realize the Paris Agreement's commitment of a global economy that limits global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius."

Not only does this exemplify the power of pledging and commitment, it is a great example of re-framing objectives and tailoring the message for its intended target audience.   The target audience:  “President Trump, Members of the US Congress, and Global Leaders” (low-carbonusa.com).   Re-framing the message from an environmental to an economic angle is language the current economically-obsessed administration can relate to. 

The decades since the inception of the EPA fostered a time for research to be conducted and evidence compiled about anthropogenic effects on the environment and public health.  This declarative knowledge paved the way for a deeper understanding of procedural knowledge for corporations to make a choice about engaging in pro-environmental behaviors or not. 

As regulations face extirpation, the durability of corporate commitment will certainly be tested. If a company has a true intrinsic motivation to be environmentally proactive, it will continue to engage in pro-environmental behavior.  At the same time, consumers (like us in SNRE) can continue the influence of extrinsic motivators (consequences) on companies and industries choosing otherwise.  As the current administration deregulates environmental policies, we may not have an agency like the EPA to report “illegal environmental activities”.

But we, the consumer, can “hit them in the pocket” by not supporting (purchasing from) companies engaging in environmentally irresponsible behaviors.  Commitment to the environment develops new social norms when we begin to embrace only those intrinsically motivated, environmentally responsible companies. 

“The only real, practical, hope-giving way to remedy the fragmentation that is the disease of the modern spirit is a small and humble way -- a way that a government or agency or organization or institution will never think of, though a person may think of it: one must begin in one's own life the private solutions that can only in turn become public solutions.” 

~Wendell Berry~

Berry, Wendell. 1977. "The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture." San Francisco: Sierra       Club.

Gross, Daniel.  03 March 2017.  "A Cruel False Promise On Coal".  Slate Magazine.  Retrieved       from http://www.slate.com/articles/business/the_juice/2017/03/trump_s_executive_order_won_t_bring_back_coal_jobs_regulations_aren_t_what.html 

lowcarbonusa.org. 2017.  "Business Backs Low-Carbon USA."  Retrieved from     http://lowcarbonusa.org.