Sustainability needs to be hipper says Schwarzenegger

The policy of cutting carbon emissions must be made “hip and sexy” in order to succeed, according to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Schwarzenegger, who is expected to speak at the next Conservative Party Conference, told delegates at a conference in Washington that the environmental movement must change its image in a similar way to how he helped transform the “sketchy” reputation of bodybuilding.

Schwarzenegger said that a successful movement for climate change should be built on passion for improvement, rather than using guilt to pressure people over greenhouse gas emissions. He said it needed to be marketed positively, like weight-lifting had been.

“Weightlifting became mainstream, it became sexy, attractive, and this is exactly what has to happen with the environmental movement,” he said. He also drew a comparison with the John Travolta film Saturday Night Fever, which made disco-dancing “hip and sexy.”