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10 Things to Know About - Season 11 Episode 1 -
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00:00Why are we so resistant to change and what can we do to challenge the status quo?
00:06And how do invasive species threaten nature and our way of life?
00:10We'll be looking into all this and more on 10 Things to Know About.
00:22This week we're all about actions for change. From a simple chat in the local hair salon
00:27to taking steps to transform our farms and towns.
00:43Nobody really likes change. She's very set in her ways. He likes things to stay the way they are.
00:48We've all trotted out those phrases and maybe use them about ourselves. Even when change is a good
00:53thing we're reluctant to embrace it. So why do we want things to stay the same and how can we
01:00challenge the status quo? A few years ago Cork's Marina Promenade was pedestrianised as an experiment.
01:07It was a success and the council went on to transform the area making it a beautiful example
01:13of positive change. I'm here to meet behavioural scientist Shane Timmons to talk about what drives
01:18change and what holds us back. So Shane why do humans find it so hard to change?
01:26Well there's a few different aspects of change that we find quite difficult. So if we think about
01:31our day-to-day change once we've formed a habit that's the kind of thing that becomes automatic and
01:36breaking that habit then takes mental effort. We don't like to engage in mental effort if we can
01:41avoid it at all. There's also that aspect of uncertainty with change. We tend to prefer things to stay the way they
01:47are so that's a bias called status quo bias. Status quo bias occurs when we think about okay if the change
01:54is needed what might go wrong here. So we've run studies for the National Transport Authority where we
02:00got thousands of people in Ireland to read just short descriptions of towns. The town described a
02:07layout that made it easy for people to walk and cycle and people really liked it when it's described
02:12as that town existing. They liked it much less when there was a proposal to make the town easy for
02:17people to walk and cycle. So what this points out is that when we're presented with a plan or a change
02:23our wiring leads us to okay what might go wrong here. That's interesting and obviously that makes it very
02:29hard to instigate change at a kind of wider societal level because if everybody spends all their time
02:34going yeah but what about that and what about this then nothing changes. Exactly and we're not here to say
02:38that all change is going to be good but you do have examples like the promenade here where even on a
02:43kind of overcast slightly drizzly day you see people out walking cycling jogging enjoying the space.
02:49Sounds to me that like being told something top down isn't as effective as everybody kind of going
02:54this would be great wouldn't it is that a way of overcoming it? As people we like to think that maybe
02:58we're individuals we're not as easily swayed but actually that conforming to the group is really
03:02important from a psychology perspective makes sense evolutionary as well we want to stick with that group so
03:08that we have a better chance of survival historically. Sure we saw that on the traders everybody going
03:12to go yeah I'll vote for him I'm the clue really but I'll just go along with the group. Exactly so once
03:16someone kind of plants an idea you can see people then coalesce around that and everyone kind of groups
03:21together they want to be part of the group who's trying to get that trader out whether that's a
03:25trader or not. Yeah yeah and that's funny because it's a game but like when you look at kind of wider
03:30society and all the challenges we're facing whether it's climate change the housing crisis getting people to move
03:36and change like we're really bad at it. It's a challenge but actually there's lots of evidence
03:42to show that people are really good at cooperating but again the environment needs to be there for
03:47that cooperation to take part.
03:59What do you talk about when you're at the hairdressers? Work? Family? The traffic? The weather? Well there's a
04:04project here in Cork that's trying to transform salon chit chat into climate action. Maria Coran is
04:12exploring the concept of soft change through the Brush With Climate project.
04:20Our hairdressers really are people that we trust they're people that we often have very
04:25in-depth conversations with. Sometimes deep and meaningful sometimes not. Exactly yeah yeah I mean
04:31I've heard some hairdressers tell me that they're the first person to hear that one of their clients
04:34was pregnant you know so there really is a kind of trusting relationship there. Brush With Climate
04:39is supporting hairdressers to talk to their customers about climate action. We're holding workshops with
04:45them where we're trying to work together to first of all figure out what are the conversations that they're
04:51already having with their clients around climate and then how can we best support the hairdressers to
04:58continue those discussions and bring them more around into action. It's such a huge topic you're
05:02not going to get through it all in a haircut and a blow dry like how do people kind of come away with
05:06like satisfying information or the hairdresser feels like oh I kind of pointed them in the right
05:10direction. So a lot of the issues that are coming up are really complex ones around public transport
05:15around issues like flooding in the city so we're in constant communication with the hairdressers they can
05:20feed back to us at any point and say oh my god this came up and I had no idea how to address it.
05:25And what about like the criticism that you're just manipulating people into taking climate action and
05:30they can't even go to the bloody hairdressers without being told what to do?
05:34They're experts in communication. If they sense that a client doesn't want to talk about this they're not going to
05:39force it because that's not going to have the the outcome that anyone wants anyways.
05:45Andrew is a hairdresser who is bringing his own style to the conversation around climate action.
05:50A lot of it is just very positive. When it comes into us first of all they're open for change no
05:56matter what because you're coming in you're looking for advice you're looking for change you're looking
06:00to feel better. But do people not come in and go I just want the same thing that you did the last day?
06:03You do but then if you plant seeds majority of the time people would be open for down the line.
06:08Okay. Because what would happen is that they see everyone else. When it comes to trends like bobs,
06:12balayages, recycling, using electric cars, the more you see it the more you want to work with that herd and
06:19feel safe together. The project is all about making information simple and accessible and a QR code in
06:26Salon suggests ways that clients can reduce their carbon footprint and commit a pledge to adopt change.
06:31As Irish people and people like we're very willing to change and adapt so I think I think we're stuck
06:37in our ways. Really? I see I'm coming from a younger generation. Yeah well I'm an old fart so maybe
06:42that's why they're like I don't want to change. But if you think about like I remember growing up no one
06:46recycled whereas there was part and parcel of it. I'd say people are delighted not to just have to talk
06:50about their holidays and the weather. Oh every day. The first thing people talk and walking in is like
06:54shocking and sight isn't it? Yeah yeah and you go well actually. Well actually. It's just going to give me a lot more
07:00armor to talk about things and give me a bit more scope and a bit more knowledge so they can make
07:05it a better for everyone. And confidence instead of kind of I think I'm not sure but actually you do know.
07:09Or you need to come back on that because we can link in with the crew and be like you know what I'm
07:13not too sure about it let me get on because we can just text them and like point them in the right
07:16direction. And the next time you come in for your fringe I'll tell you all about it. Yeah it's article yeah.
07:20Brilliant.
07:32Why do you think this approach with hairdressers will work in terms of your project?
07:36So there's actually been decades of research done on this method in the US and in Australia around
07:42working for example with barbers in areas where there will be a lot of underrepresented groups
07:48and in communicating things like having your blood pressure checked and to encourage women
07:53to have their breasts checked. So it's really a tried and tested approach.
08:01When it comes to making changes some of us might say I don't even know where to start
08:15or if I do make a change what difference is it going to make? Well this dairy farm in County Wexford
08:20shows that one small change can lead to much bigger things. Alan and Cheryl Poole are 13th generation
08:27farmers. Running the farm is very much a family effort and their children often join in on the tough jobs.
08:34But beyond the day-to-day work the pools are deeply committed to fostering biodiversity on their land
08:39and conserving wildlife. You have 103 acres and you're giving 20% over to nature. What precipitated
08:47that change? What kind of clicked that mindset for you? I think we were lucky when we moved home in the
08:51you know all the hedgerows that were here when I was a kid were still here. You know they were manicured,
08:56they'd short back and sides but then when we moved home we just said to the hedge trimmer,
09:00you know let them grow up let the tops grow up and kind of suddenly you started to see the
09:04different plants growing up you know your your hawthorns coming in to blossom and you know dog
09:08grows and everything and there's just more variety and it kind of grew from there. Alan's background is
09:12in conservation and environmental science so it's like always just been part of who we are
09:17and I suppose like we're very lucky to have the the opportunity we have a piece of land we're
09:23custodians all for this part of time. Rural economy is so dependent on agriculture and
09:27daring is such a big part of that you can't just get rid of cows but you do have to realize that
09:32there's a climate crisis there's a biodiversity crisis so for us it was very important to be able to
09:38show that you can do both. In striving for that balance they've discovered that one small change
09:44can spark many more. Over 500 meters of new hedgerow now lines the fields nurturing biodiversity,
09:52offering shelter and helping to manage the grass that their cows feed on.
09:57Well the big thing about grass is it needs lots of management on a dairy farm so what you want is the
10:02cows to come in graze for a day and a half on that paddock and then it starts to regrow and they're on to
10:07their next paddock which is the most efficient way to use grass during the height of the growing season
10:12so instead of just having a strip wire like this one here we decided right we'll put in a permanent
10:17hedge and it'll divide up the field on a long-term basis and then just the wildlife benefits.
10:21It's a whole habitat in itself and it's a wildlife corridor so for the likes of bats and
10:26small mammals and insect life and it's a win-win with so many levels.
10:32The pool's latest project is the installation of sediment tanks to collect rainwater runoff from
10:39buildings and roads. Instead of flowing straight to the nearby river it is now diverted through the
10:45tanks where the sediment settles. The overflow then travels through a channel to a new pond
10:51where it gradually seeps into the groundwater. The results are twofold. The pond creates a new habitat
10:57to support insects and wildlife and the sediment is kept away from the river protecting its water
11:03quality. One of the things we we do we bring kids out here and we do kick samples with them and there's
11:07a certain insects that live in only in clean waters and we can see them in our kick samples and the
11:12kids can look at them and identify them so that's a it's a really nice very visual thing. We have a
11:17pristine river and we're determined to keep it that way. And I mean somewhere like this it's so magical
11:22keeping this the way it is is incentive enough to doing the measures that you're doing. Yeah we're
11:27very protective of it. Yeah I mean if this is what change looks like I like it. Exactly.
11:44Another key focus for Alan and Cheryl was enhancing bird life on their farm
11:48and they take me to this intriguing structure where sand martens can nest.
11:54Eighteen months ago we looked into building it and it was the really wet spring so it should have
11:58been a nice handy job where we put the blocks on the trailer and drove out had it built in a couple
12:02of days but it was so wet we couldn't get the trailer into the field so we had to get the
12:06blocks in in dribs and drabs and then bring the cement in in bucketfuls. It's a human chain yeah
12:11go up from our farm. And you regretted all your choices and you were like why am I doing this? And we
12:16finished it completely on the 3rd of April and the birds started going in and out. So I'm standing
12:20there like in the middle of a field looking at this wall grinning like a Cheshire cat going yeah
12:25you know because it could have been a white elephant you know if they hadn't came people
12:27going oh look what he built what was he thinking of. This is now a home to loads of swifts. Yeah
12:33swifts are really different because they never land from the minute they fledge as chicks they head
12:38south of the Sahara and they don't come back for maybe two years when they come back that's the first
12:42time they use their feet. It's amazing to think so an animal that only ever sees wide open sky
12:47suddenly has this mad urge to go into a tiny little crevice. They get the name a banger the first year
12:53they come back because they literally fly against the hole to try and work out how to catch on or how
12:58to get in and they sort of bang against it yeah and then the third year they come back then they
13:02actually lay eggs and breed. Okay so it's a three-year commitment to get them in and comfortable and
13:07breeding yeah. San Martins and Swifts are endangered in Ireland because of loss of their habitat and a
13:14decline in the insects that they feed on. These nesting sites provide safe homes for the birds
13:19to breed and boost biodiversity on the farm but ultimately this is still a business so it's all
13:25about finding a balance. Farming is hard hard work but we've put a lot of investment and work into the
13:33farm to modernize it and you know streamline things so that hopefully you have more time but at the
13:37same time because it's a passion you know it is those extra hours in the evening or you do go above
13:42and beyond like. Yeah yeah and you're doing it for the joy of standing in a field in the middle of April
13:47going yes that worked as opposed to for what's in the bank account at the end of the month yeah yeah.
13:51These things you can't put money and value on. Yeah it's priceless.
13:56We may not be able to do all the things that Alan and Cheryl have done here
14:00but this is a shining example of what change looks like. To overcome status quo bias we must start by
14:07questioning why we're stuck to the way things are and then make small incremental changes for the
14:12better. So even if it's just not mowing your lawn for a month to help the bees you never know where it
14:17might need.
14:47What links the humble bicycle to a volcanic explosion? To answer this we travel back in time to 1816
15:08and the year without a summer. Twelve months previously the world had witnessed the largest explosion in
15:15recorded human history that of Mount Tambora in Indonesia. A vast plume of ash and dust spread
15:23across the globe blocking out the sun and leading to a temperature reduction in Europe of up to three
15:29degrees. Harvest failed and food became unaffordable as Europe suffered an agricultural disaster.
15:36But as the old saying goes never waste a good crisis. In England Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein while in
15:46Germany Baron Carl von Dreis invented the bicycle. With the desperate lack of feed available for horses
15:53which were the main mode of transport at the time the Baron set about creating a two-wheeled alternative
15:59the self-propelled life machine literally a running machine which came to be known as the dandy horse.
16:07Sitting on a saddle he propelled it forward by running his feet along the ground and coasting in between
16:13strides just like a kid's balance bike today. And over the decades brakes and proper pedals were added
16:21as the design came to resemble our modern velo. From brimstone to bicycles turns out that the global climate
16:29climate crisis really is the mother of invention. See you next time.
16:49Change in an individual level can make a real difference but can new ideas and approaches change
16:54behaviour in our towns. A team of researchers has started a pilot project here in Enniscorthy to
17:00try and tackle that question and the key to this conundrum is that they're working hand in hand
17:05with the local community to try and change their transport habits for the better. Enniscorthy is a
17:12historic town rich in culture and heritage but like many Irish towns it wasn't designed with modern living
17:19and transport in mind. Researcher Neve Moore Cherry is working to help bridge that gap.
17:26Can you tell me about what the conundrum project does?
17:29So the conundrum project is looking at how we can co-create sustainable and shared mobility with
17:35communities in relatively small towns in Ireland. The climate action plan and other government policy
17:40is setting out to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030 and we're not seeing that translate very easily
17:48into local place-based action. Transport and transport governance needs to be more democratic.
17:55So the goal of our project is to see is there ways that we can work with communities from the bottom
18:01up to develop strategy and policy that has more meaning on the ground because it's addressing
18:06lived experience and it's improving quality of life and well-being for people.
18:10To find out what the key problems are the research team is reaching out to Enniscorthy locals like Jonathan and Seamus.
18:22What was the main motivator for you folks to get involved?
18:25Me personally I hate to see any kind of injustice. Fair.
18:29The area that I represent, Enniscorthy East, hasn't been served well.
18:34Yeah. So the profile of people there would be low income.
18:38There wouldn't be a high percentage of car ownership there anyway.
18:40Yeah okay.
18:41They need to you know access daily shopping, their medical appointments which all tend to be
18:46located on this side of town. You're probably looking at a 4k round trip each day just to get
18:53the basics. Wow. That's a lot. A lot. And then there's a lot of safety issues around that.
18:58Pinch points where access is very narrow. Very very poorly served with functioning level crossings.
19:05So you know just actually making that journey can be quite hazardous.
19:08One of the big things for us would be trying to take cars off the road and bringing people in.
19:13The less cars the more user-friendly the town becomes for tourists and peoples and obviously the
19:18environmental benefits of improving air quality too. The less cars on the road more buses it's
19:23good for our environment so. Researcher Dean Phelan is working directly with the local community.
19:30In your work you've identified about 130 issues or challenges. From your perspective what were you
19:37most interested or surprised by? You know if you take a walk around Enniscorthy you'd identify them
19:42pretty quickly. You know things like steep topography and I guess the real big impact that that had.
19:46But what was different about that for us was the hyper complexity involved in trying to find
19:53solutions. Because actually the same thing that works in many other towns and that if you look
19:58at it on paper might work here. The local knowledge that we got from speaking to people really have
20:02to identify that things for example like bike lanes and bike infrastructure might not fit towns like
20:08this because of the steep topography. To get a sense of the challenges facing the town we're taking a
20:14quick tour and it's not long before we come across our first problem area. So Dean we're at one of the
20:21bus stops in the town am i right in saying this is one of the main ones right? This is the main bus
20:26okay we've been here what two three minutes and we've seen four bus services arrive at once the entire
20:32space used for dedicated to buses to pull up to the curb so people can access has been blocked by cars the
20:38buses have had to park on the road which is then blocking traffic passengers have had to walk onto
20:42the road to get on it not to mention the fact that the main bus stop is on a narrow path yep there's a
20:48lack of light at night time here where where many people that participate in our work said they feel
20:53unsafe at this bus stop so many issues coming together here right yeah absolutely where we are now is
20:59called the semester after bridge just down here it's actually where the school buses drop off most
21:04of the school children that come in yep they have to make their way across here and then up the hill
21:09crossing several roads without any pedestrian crossing all the way up there yeah because actually most of
21:14the schools are up here on and of course the east side but you can already see so much traffic passing
21:20by now and this is the most quiet time of the day yeah so you can imagine this at rush hour but a couple of
21:25months ago wexford county council installed pedestrian crossing here there was nothing here there was
21:29nothing here and this was one of the key issues that emerged throughout our our community workshops
21:33was actually the problem that school children faced
21:48well i think one of the big benefits of this project has been the public and community involvement
21:53yeah and i think that really strengthens the actions and the outcomes of it when you have
21:58people directly involve themselves i think there's ownership there's much more buy-in and they feel like
22:04they're stakeholders then what are the next steps we have produced a strategy that we launched last
22:10november and and in that we have eight or nine actions some of those actions are already in place
22:17changing bus routes potential for a new transport hub within the town
22:22it's still early days but this new approach can benefit everyone and spark wider change
22:27we've received additional funding to expand the projects in two other towns tremor in county
22:32waterford and yawl in county cork if we do find that this really works and there is the capacity to
22:39deliver a similar process out to almost 40 other towns around ireland of similar scale
22:44that's really brilliant that's really fantastic
22:55that's our 10 things to know about change next time we're exploring how ireland is built
23:14about change next time we're preparing for Dr.
23:16and you think you're all a different person to know about change next time?
23:20so
23:21all the time and the leaders are listening to our dhysmars and we're going to discuss
23:23that's really amazing because we have to meet the students about change.
23:25so
23:27so
23:27We'll see you next time.
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