What we’ve valued this year

We hope that our email finds you well and warm, or that it doesn’t find you at all, as you are far away from your device resting and restoring. As we come to the end of the Gregorian year we’d like to share with you our favourite cultural experiences of the year which embody the values […]

Will the RSPB stand with striking workers?

The RSPB’s charitable purpose, as enshrined in its Royal Charter, is to conserve wild birds and other wildlife. This objective can be interpreted very unambitiously. It could be taken as a mandate to help by marginally slowing the collapse of UK biodiversity. Nature conservation, when construed narrowly, untainted by association with other fraught political issues, […]

Parenting from a place of values

They say to write about what you know, but instead I’m writing about what I’m spending much of my time thinking about these days; parenting, and specifically, values-led parenting. Last week I heard someone say, for the hundredth time: “good boy” and clap one of my children for eating vegetables/climbing the stairs/not throwing their food […]

Instead of relying on old narratives, it’s time to build power for new ones

Organisations that want to tackle the climate crisis have a duty to ensure that the deeper narratives that their work reinforces, and the values that underpin them, are in service to the world they want to see. Nudge theory – the beloved strategy of neo-liberal governments, businesses and many NGOs alike – argues that many […]

Research shows that research isn’t good at changing people’s minds.

To paraphrase George Lakoff, if the facts do not fit your values, the values stay and the facts bounce off. (Okay, so Lakoff was writing about what he calls “deep frames”, rather than values, but the relationship between values and deep frames seems close). When confronted with inconvenient information, it’s much easier – it requires […]

Common Cause June newsletter: We’re looking for a new team member

Common Cause newsletter, sent 30/06/22 Common Cause June Newsletter Dear friends, We hope that you are all well and thriving, despite all that’s going on in the world. Apologies for the delay in getting this over to you this month — two thirds of the team were struck with Covid and so things have been […]

Common Cause May newsletter: What do we really value?

Common Cause newsletter, sent 30/05/22 Dear friends, Honestly, putting together a newsletter this month has felt challenging — I am navigating life with almost one-year old twin babies and very little sleep, which has left little room for lateral thinking. I have been reflecting on how entirely exhausted and burnt out many of us are; […]

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