Lecture 13: Sustainability

core values that motivate behaviour

• egoistic: promote oneself

• altruistic: promote others

• ecological: promote nature

consumerism

ideology/social system where the ongoing acquisition of goods and services is promoted for wellbeing and social participation

Status games are zero-sum.

materialism

value orientation in which you believe that possessions and wealth are central to life satisfaction, personal success and identity

People who endorse materialism:

• are less happy

• exhibit less prosocial behaviour

happiness

two components:

• positive affect: frequency of experience of positive feelings, moods, and emotions such as joy

• life satisfaction: feeling one is close to their ideal

Not that closely related.

how to boost happiness

• aerobic exercise

• nurturing social relationships

• practicing acts of kindness

• avoiding overthinking and social comparison

• developing problem-focused coping

human-nature philosophy

1. Master:

Nature exists for human use. Economic growth and technology can solve any environmental problem (techno-optimism).

2. Steward:

Responsible for caring for nature on behalf of future generations, still above it.

3. Participant:

Not privileged above others, participate in nature and share in its health/illness.

environmental problem

when people specify what’s most important to them, environment is always pretty low, they’re more concerned about short-term interests.

All of the other, short-term goals underlie the environment, cannot be separated.

environmental sustainability

= stable ecosystem, resources and toxins.

sustainability = a balanced system (what you’re taking is going back)

ecosystem = the community of interactions between living organisms and with other materials

systems: agriculture, ecology, water/ocean, climate, energy

market solutions

markets are incredibly efficient at pricing, but they require enforcement and accurate info.

Markets require regulation + enforcement

no changes in prices because the earth is paying… internal → external

light-touch intervention for increasing sustainability

descriptive social norms (left) and injunctive social norms (right), reduce their use.

only descriptive norm: increased use for efficient neighbours

These reports save 2% of household energy over the year.

people’s responses to climate advocacy

Collect what the media reports, the day of, before people have the chance to read it, survey on opinions.

BBC article (centrist)/video from activists: both had positive views.

right-wing newspaper: no evidence for change, slighlty negative

environmentalism - major predictor, conservatism - negative predictor

people shown nothing got meaningfully more positive!

why does public opinion shift so rapidly on the issue of climate change

perception of the norm changes → private beliefs become public → culture shift

tipping points are hard to predict: incoherence, inconsistency, sudden changes

People lack insight on this process, social signaling effects.

is environmental concern/awareness correlated with action?

yes but so so so vaguely so Concern might be necessary, but it’s not enough.

Understanding the scientific consensus does predict key beliefs and support for action!

so lack of information - information deficit model

perception of threats: why do we care about some issues more than others

threats that get our attention (the four i’s):

1. Intentional

2. Immoral

3. Imminent

4. Instantaneous

Climate change doesn’t fit these (or at least isn’t perceived as such) :(

theory of emergency response

notice the problem → interpret the problem as an emergency → feel personally responsible to act → know what to do → do it.

psychological barriers in the theory of emergency response

noticing the problem:

• lack of information/comprehension

• low perception of threat (4i)

• cultural cognition, rejection of conflicting information

interpret the problem as an emergency:

• problems above

• as questions become more verbal and elaborate (issue vs emergency) we get more motivated reasoning. aici de ce nu intreaba nimeni ce dracu inseamna asta bine ca l-a intrebat ce inseamna imminent daca nu stii engleza du-te dracu si ia cursuri cumpara-ti un dictionar

feeling personally responsible to act:

• self-interest

• free riding

• belief in a just world

tragedy of the commons

self-interest vs collective interest, basically resource social dilemma

not inevitable. Communitites can have sustainably managed shared resources, which require:

• clear boundaries

• rules match local conditions

• users can help make rules

• compliance is monitored

free riding

losers do all the work (e.g. make flashcards) others profit without doing anything (e.g. use flashcards).

reduced by:

• individual performance is evaluated

• expectation of punishment for poor performance

• individual effort is necessary for success

• task is important to you

• group is small

• group is cohesive

belief in a just world

we have a need to believe the world is predictable and just, people get what they deserve, leads to an is-ought problem

barrier to action because it reduces the perception of a problem and the acceptance of responsibility

classic model of climate change mitigation

information-deficit isn’t the whole story

reorient towards people that they want to happen (national security, economic prosperity) that comes with climate change mitigation.

People asked how other things will be after the government solves climate change. If people also believe that climate change mitigation strategies will also predict their country’s wellbeing, this predicts behaviour. (collective futures model)

communicating the three Rs of climate

1. Reality:

• scientists are convinced that human-caused climate change is occurring

• harmful climate change impacts are already happening here and will get worse.

2. Risk:

• climate may get worse than we expect.

• we may experience surprises -- abrupt climate change or abrupt impacts triggered by gradual climate change

3. Response:

• the sooner we respond, the better off we’ll be.

• there’s much we can do.

identity signaling

we are motivated to feel good about ourselves and our groups.

Behaviours signal identity and reputation → pro-environmental behaviours have social meaning.

When we realise identity is socially relevant, it affects how we communicate about it.

Individuals may signal social identities with environmental behaviour: environmentalists will do more (green-to-be-seen), anti-environmentalists will do less (gray-to-stay-away).

So current campaigns may backfire on non-environmentalists.

knowing what to do: which behaviours do we target

plasticity: some behaviours are more changable than others.

We should target the behaviours that are both the most impactful and the most changeable - also scaleable, create more change later

the two climate change strategies

mitigation: stop climate change from occurring

adaptation: fix our vulnerability to things that are changed by climate change

both: e.g. reducing food waste