How to Encourage More Climate-Friendly Habits, According to Science

Among many well-intentioned people working on the uneasy border between climate action and consumption-based capitalism, there’s long existed a consensus that consumers of everything from coffee to dry shampoo are basically rational creatures. If you can label which particular brand of toilet paper isn’t destroying the planet, you’ll help that bath tissue win in the marketplace, and put the bad toilet paper brands out of business. That’ll cut pollution, and help save the world. It hinges on toilet paper shoppers making sane decisions—but that seems like a fair assumption, right? They’d be crazy to keep buying the bad toilet paper when a better alternative exists. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The problem, though, is that people are a bit crazy, according to science. Earlier this week, researchers in Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S. released one of the most comprehensive reviews to-date of our research on what works in making people take action on climate, and what doesn’t. One of the topline findings is striking: expecting people to change their behavior based on simply telling them what is good or bad for the planet doesn’t work very well. Instead, the most powerful influence is what other people around you are doing. Across hundreds of studies, which assessed situations from whether people chose meat or vegetarian food options to whether people tossed cans in a recycling bin or the trash, the researchers determine...
Source: TIME: Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Uncategorized climate change Economy healthscienceclimate Source Type: news