It Isn't Easy Speaking Green: The Influence of Moral Factors on the (Non-) Adoption of Pro-Environmental Behaviors, Deferral, and Back Again

Abstract

Climate change is one of the major issues humans face in the 21st century. This decade is critical in shaping the future of Earth and the way humans live on it (IPCC, 2018). Changes in human behavior are necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change. This series of studies explored factors important in communicating and implementing environmental behavior. The first study tested the effects of an online, interactive carbon calculator with moral interventions on three self-reported measures and one objective measure of behavior over a period of weeks. The interventions resulted in small changes in self-reported behavior and no change in electricity usage. Given participants adopted relatively few additional behaviors, the next study investigated the predictors when people perform or do not perform specific pro-environmental behaviors more in-depth. Participants were also asked whether they, businesses, non-profits, or governments were responsible for spearheading efforts on a behavior when they, as individuals, could perform the behavior but did not. The results indicate that most participants attributed responsibility to themselves. However, belief in one's own ability to perform the behavior is important to behavioral decisions, and predictors vary between behaviors.