Rebooting an environmental movement

How do you build momentum for essential, but contentious, sustainability initiatives?

In 2021, a group of activists and scientists decided to set up a new green movement. They were driven by a simple belief: the planet needs to urgently adopt all available green technologies if we are to have a hope in fighting catastrophic climate change. While many technologies had strong backers across the green movement, they felt that several had been left behind—languishing because they didn’t fit with the green “back to nature” idyll.

Inspired by their logic and passion, a group of Lippincotters decided to help in the way we know best—telling great stories and building beautiful brands.

We quickly realized that they had a big strategic choice to make. Should they focus on “eco” —dialing up their environmental credentials to “fit in” with other green movements, or should they focus on “progressivism”—dialing up their differences to create an alternative green voice?

We ran a quantitative study to answer this question, testing four potential manifestos across the spectrum. The answer was clear: while a small minority would be highly motivated by the alternative voice, the only route to mass adoption was from the inside.

With this research as our strategic foundation, we started co-creating the manifesto. We knew that the manifesto had to be grounded in green ideology, but how do you convince the world it needs nuclear energy, or cellular agriculture, while still appealing to the core green community?

The key to this conundrum, and the core idea behind the movement, is land. Nuclear energy uses 100 times less land than wind and solar. This means that by using nuclear energy we can create zero carbon energy and re-wild vast tracts of land – creating a carbon sink and a haven for biodiversity. This focus on land enables us to argue for contentious technologies while aligning with the core beliefs of the broader green movement.

This reframing gave the organization a powerful new manifesto and messaging platform; now it needed a name, and a face.

We wanted a name which aligned with the broader green movement, while indicating the movement’s practical focus on proven, existing technologies. Together we chose RePlanet which combines a nod to re-wilding the planet, with the practical challenger attitude of “replan- it.” Collectively, we developed a visual system which reaffirmed this balance – the misaligned globe suggests a planet that is going off the rails, whilst the minimal size of the misalignment suggests that getting back on track is possible, so long as we act now.

RePlanet launched last month, and we wish them every success.