Two new studies on environmental advocacy show that issues should focus on
the future (not doom and gloom) and the generational legacy.
A study conducted by New York
University (NYU) Stern researcher Hal Hershfield and colleagues H. Min
Bang and Elke U. Weber of Columbia University, suggests that one strong way to
encourage environmentally-friendly behaviour is to emphasize the long life
expectancy of a nation, and not necessarily its imminent downfall.
Using data from the Environmental
Performance Index, the researchers analyzed the environmental records of 131
countries, looking at data on environmental indicators such as air pollution,
clean water, biodiversity, and habitat protection. They found that the
environmental performance of a country was linked with its age as an
independent nation: Older nations scored higher on the index, even when
accounting for factors such as GDP and political stability.
Additional data from a Gallup poll
of individual citizens also showed a connection between citizens’ environmental
concern, the age of a nation and its environmental performance.
Hershfield and colleagues wondered
if people who see their nation as having a long future, may be more willing to
make sacrifices today for a brighter tomorrow. To test this, the researchers
conducted a lab-based study in which they manipulated how old the United States
seemed using historical timelines. Some volunteers saw a timeline running from
Columbus’s landing in 1492 to the present day, so the nation’s 237 years
dominated the timeline. Others viewed a timeline beginning with the Roman
Empire, in which these 237 years occupied only a very small part of history.
Participants who saw the elongated
sense of American history — those who saw the timeline beginning with Columbus
— donated significantly more money to an environmental organization than
participants who were shown America as a younger country.
Overall, the researchers’ findings
can be explained by Gott’s principle, a physics principle which holds that the
best estimate of a given entity’s remaining duration is simply the length of
time that it has already been in existence. So, a nation that has a longer past
implicitly suggests that it will have a longer and less uncertain future — a
country that has endured through the years may be robust enough to continue
existence longer than a newer country.
“Our
research suggests to rely less on end-of-world scenarios (doom nad gloom) and
to emphasize more of the various ways in which our country — and our planet —
has a rich and long history that deserves to be preserved,” says Hershfield.
“By highlighting the shadow of the past, we may actually help illuminate the
path to an environmentally sustainable future.”
Prompting people to think about the
legacy they want to leave for future generations can boost their desire and
intention to take action on climate change, according to another new research
published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The research was conducted by psychological scientists Lisa Zaval and Elke
Weber of Columbia University and Ezra Markowitz of the University of
Massachusetts Amherst.
Zaval and colleagues wondered
whether getting people to consider the long view in a less hazy, more concrete
way might boost their concern over climate change. They hypothesized that
prompting people to think about the future in terms of how they want to be
remembered could motivate them to want to leave a positive legacy, including a
positive environmental legacy. And this desire to leave a positive legacy
could, ultimately, impact their behavior now.
“We wanted to see whether that same
characteristic of the problem could actually be turned into an advantage rather
than a disadvantage by leveraging other, oftentimes less salient, motivations
that influence decision-making,” explains Markowitz.
The researchers conducted a
preliminary online study with 245 American participants. Participants who
reported stronger legacy motives pledged a larger portion of their $10 bonus
money to a nonprofit dedicated to environmental advocacy when given the option
to do so.
Based on these findings, Zaval,
Markowitz, and Weber designed an online experiment to investigate whether there
was a causal link between legacy motives and intentions related to climate
change. Before answering questions about their environmental beliefs and
behavior, some of the participants in the experiment were specifically prompted
to think about their legacy, writing a short essay about how they would want to
be remembered by future generations.
The simple writing prompt had a
noticeable impact on beliefs and behaviour. Participants who were induced to
think about their legacy reported a stronger feeling of responsibility to
reduce their personal contribution to climate change and a greater willingness
to engage in pro-environmental behaviours (e.g. buying green products) than did
those who simply completed the questionnaire. Analyses revealed that this
relationship was indeed driven by increased legacy motives.
Most importantly, participants who
had written about their legacy pledged more of their bonus to the pro-environmental
nonprofit — on average, an additional $1 more — than did the other
participants.
“Legacy motives may represent a
powerful, yet previously understudied, tool for promoting engagement, such that
simple prompts may effectively promote environmental behavior by framing
decisions as ‘win-win’ for both present and future generations,” says Zaval.
The researchers plan to investigate
whether additional factors — such as age, parental status, perceived
connection with others — influence the link between legacy motives and
environmental engagement. They also hope to explore whether legacy motives
could play a role in boosting other forward-looking behaviours, such as those
related to financial savings and health. ‘’These findings could have broad
applications,’’ says Markowitz, as potential tools for “improving
communication, outreach, and engagement efforts across a wide range of
environmental and social issues.”
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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