Taking the First Step: How Should We Introduce People to Climate Action?
More and more people are taking action against climate change. Where should they begin? Photo by Jasmine Sessler (CC BY 4.0 DEED) via Wikimedia Commons
By Sam Weiler, PRI intern from Cornell University
April 26, 2024
It’s a question everyone’s had to ask: Where should I start? Whether it’s climate action or cooking breakfast, the first decision is how to begin. The overwhelming nature of climate change often leads people to turn to experts and organizers for guidance. But these professionals don’t have the answers, either. The research on introducing people to climate actions is scant, and the actions that will have the greatest impact or keep people engaged the longest remain unidentified. While solutions-focused research such as Project Drawdown has identified what actions are most urgent on the global scale, it is unclear how individuals can make the greatest impact over the long term.
Collective actions have larger targets, but are they more effective on the individual level? Photo by Alisdare Hickson (CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED) via Wikimedia Commons
Climate actions fall into two main categories: collective action, such as protests, boycotts, and other political actions, and individual actions, which operate on a smaller scale, like improving recycling practices, biking to work, and insulating one’s house. Both rely on large groups taking actions to combat climate change at scale, but collective action generally has larger targets, while individual actions are generally easier to accomplish. Ideally, climate activists should engage in both types, but new participants may be easily overwhelmed. Like beginning a sport, it takes time for people to build up stamina for change, and they generally look for a single starting point.
So is it better to begin with recycling and unplugging appliances, or fighting for policy change and protesting fossil fuel corporations? Two key factors come into play. First, once people develop a habit, it requires less effort to maintain, and they are likely to stick with it. [1] If someone hasn’t eaten meat for a year, it takes less effort for them to resist ordering a hamburger than it did during their first month as a vegetarian. Similarly, someone who commits to donating one day a month to protests or organizational efforts may sustain their support for years or decades. Climate activists often encounter the psychological phenomenon of single-action bias, wherein people cease engagement after taking one action, because it relieves their concern. [2] Organizers work to combat single action bias, but there will always be people who fall victim. If they are only willing to take one action, what should it be?
Alongside single action bias, people are often discouraged by a lack of tangible results. While recycling a plastic bottle might make us feel better, it disappears from our view as completely as if we threw it in the trash. When the news breaks that much “recycled” plastic is instead exported and disposed of, we become aware that the difference might have been imagined. [3] In collective action, successes are sometimes monumental, such as the passing of an environmental bill, but more often progress is incremental, riddled with failures and setbacks.
Both collective and individual actions run the risk of failure and disillusionment, but is an activist who works alongside a community more resilient than one who works alone? In addition to the bigger targets, collective action provides an avenue for community building, which supports the mental health of activists, making them more resilient to setbacks and resistant to burnout. The magnitude of this effect has not been fully established, especially in the long term, and before ushering all new activists into collective action, we should also consider the sustainability of an action.
It’s vital to get and keep as many people as possible fighting for the future of our planet. Photo by Ivan Radic (CC BY 2.0 DEED) via Wikimedia Commons
A good introductory action will both be one the individual can continue for a long time, and one that energizes them to take further action. Some online tools can help people pick an action that suits their needs and interests. For example, George Washington University’s tool Realistic Ways You Can Fight Climate Change Today allows people to filter actions based on the money, time, and effort involved. . Perhaps one day the answer to “Where should I start?” will be “Take this quiz.” However, the tools available overlook the effort-to-outcome ratio of recommended actions, do not promote local causes, and focus primarily on individual actions. While helpful for those looking to make an immediate change or not interested in collective action, such quizzes may provide all the guidance necessary, but they may also lead towards single-action bias and a lack of ongoing lifestyle changes. The efficacy of any such tool would be bolstered by introductory action research.
Thus far, research has focused on understanding what motivates people to take an action. A 2023 study found that actions like eating vegetarian were most likely to be motivated by health concerns, while economic concerns motivated using public transport or installing solar panels, and both economic and environmental concerns fueled choices like buying a high-efficiency vehicle. [4] Research has shown that people are most motivated to take a climate action when it has what’s called a co-benefit, an additional pro for taking the action, whether that be financial, health-related, or something else. [5]
Such results underline the socio-economic aspects of climate action. Wealthier individuals have more time and resources to invest in climate action, and might opt for a more expensive high-efficiency vehicle. Such a change would be impossible for an individual who can’t afford a car to begin with, but that doesn’t mean their activism is any less important. Taking the bus to work is more eco-friendly than driving any car, but someone with no other transportation options might not think of this as a climate action. The literature has yet to demonstrate to what degree climate activism techniques need to be tailored according to socio-economic circumstances, but it is doubtless important to emphasize that different circumstances make different actions possible
The big question about co-benefits is whether they or the benefit to the climate should be prioritized. Are people more likely to stick with climate activism if they see change in their personal life? Could taking an action with high co-benefits offset climate action burnout? A 2023 study by the nonprofit marketing firm Potential Energy, in partnership with the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the Meliore Foundation, found that across 23 countries, concern for future generations was a greater motivational factor than any co-benefits. [6] Urgency, as encapsulated in the title of the report – “Later is Too Late” – was also found to be better at motivating action than co-benefits. Perhaps as the threat of climate change looms larger, people’s motivations are changing.
Climate action looks different for everyone. Whether by choice or by necessity, commuters reduce their carbon emissions by taking public transport, like this electric bus in New York City. Photo by Marc A. Hermann (CC BY 2.0 DEED) via Wikimedia Commons
With this growing wave of concern comes an increasing tide of activists. Climate change is an immense problem and requires incredible organization to tackle. While time is of the essence, research to guide organizers can lead to more effective action, and ultimately accelerate impacts. Without research on how to help people who want to become activists to get started, organizers are aiming in the dark, relying on their experience and intuition. Tackling climate change requires prioritizing science, but the central struggle has shifted from identifying and parametrizing the problem to motivating people to act. Now we need research that tells us where we should start people: in their homes, or in the streets.
References
[1] Gardner, B., Lally, P., & Wardle, J. (2012, December). Making health habitual: The psychology of “habit-formation” and general practice. The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3505409/
[2] Fountain, H., Sengupta, S., & Root, T. (2019, June 19). Don’t do just one thing. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/climate/dont-do-just-one-thing.html
[3] Tabuchi, H., & Corkery, M. (2021, March 12). Countries tried to curb trade in plastic waste. the U.S. is shipping more. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/12/climate/plastics-waste-export-ban.html
[4] Brown, H. E., Austhof, E., Luz, P. M., & Ferguson, D. B. (n.d.-b). Economics, health, or environment: What motivates individual climate action?. PLOS Climate. https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pclm.0000177
[5] Bain, P. G., Milfont, T. L., Kashima, Y., Bilewicz, M., Doron, G., Garðarsdóttir, R. B., Gouveia, V. V., Guan, Y., Johansson, L.-O., Pasquali, C., Corral-Verdugo, V., Aragones, J. I., Utsugi, A., Demarque, C., Otto, S., Park, J., Soland, M., Steg, L., González, R., … Saviolidis, N. M. (2015, September 28). Co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action around the world. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/nclimate2814
[6] Global report: Later is too late. Potential Energy Coalition. (n.d.). https://potentialenergycoalition.org/global-report/