Behavioural responses to climate change: Asymmetry of intentions and impacts

“…or selftranscendent values tend to activate personal norms to take pro-environmental action, if it is believed that environmental conditions threaten things the individual values and that the individual can act to reduce that threat (Stern et al., 1993; Nilsson et al., 2004; Snelgar, 2006).”

“For example, one might ride a bicycle to work for health reasons or to save money, or one might eschew flying so as to spend more time with one’s family (cf. Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“They cycle for their health (Whitmarsh, 2009), insulate their homes to save money, or recycle and reuse because they are poor.”

“Policies to achieve this have met with limited success: after decades of information campaigns and other (often economic) measures to encourage ‘green’ behaviours, the public is prepared to (and often does) recycle, but few take action beyond this (e.g., DEFRA, 2002, 2007; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“Insights from psychology demonstrate that types of behavior can be interconnected and that there may be “spillover” effects in which involvement in one form of PEB increases the propensity of consumers to engage in others (166, 167).”

“For example, the factors that influence the performance of PEBs differ for public vs. private behaviors (Stern, 2000), habitual vs. planned behaviors (Steg and Vlek, 2009), and home vs. transport behaviors (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“Previous research has shown that there is not necessarily a positive relationship between organisational policies and employee behaviour (Ramus & Steger, 2000; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“Multiple motives were addressed, which concerned ecological values such as preserving natural resources, as well as individual benefits such as financial savings (cf., Steg, Bolderdijk, Keizer, & Perlaviciute, 2014; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“Public sphere behavior could be attributed to conscious behavior, while private behavior could be attributable to habitual behavior [30,54,62,63].”

“© 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. “Green consumption” is a high-ranking and popular topic in a modern society all too aware of the problems related to global warming (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“For instance, sustainable consumption is now a critical topic in the developed world, and awareness among consumers of imminent environmental and societal problems is increasing rapidly (Whitmarsh 2009).”

“…other environmental issues or hold misperceptions about the type of actions that are effective in helping to reduce climate change (e.g., Bord et al., 1998; Bostrom et al., 1994; Kempton, 1991; Nisbet & Myers, 2007; Read et al., 1994; Sterman & Booth Sweeney, 2007; Sterman, 2008; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“In terms of the environmental behaviour literature, concern about the limited effectiveness of individual actions is described as perceived low response efficacy, with the related UK literature suggesting that the UK population would be willing to support stronger individual and government action on climate change, bu…”

“of available information, research indicates that laypersons are not as knowledgeable as experts about global warming (Sundblad, Biel, & Gärling, 2009), people do not fully understand which behaviors affect global warming (Whitmarsh, 2009), and people have a hard time understanding the risks of global warming conveyed…”

“…et al. 2019; Devine-Wright, Devine-Wright, and Fleming 2004; Sezen-Barrie, Miller-Rushing, and Hufnagel 2019a; cf. Dove 1996; Leiserowitz 2006; Whitmarsh 2009; Porter, Weaver, and Raptis 2012; Blum et al. 2013; €Ohman and €Ohman 2013; Plutzer et al. 2016; Kolleck et al. 2017; Verlie and CRR…”

“perspectives on environmentally significant behavior, thus enabling direct comparison (Bruderer Enzler & Diekmann, 2015; Gatersleben et al., 2002; Kennedy et al., 2015; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“For example, when asked about global warming (a concept more in keeping with initial framings of the issue in the 1960s and 1970s), people respond differently than when asked about the more ‘scientifically correct’ idea of climate change (Whitmarsh, 2009a).”

“Although people do need information on what they can do, and which actions are most effective in terms of reducing one’s carbon footprint (Whitmarsh, 2009), starting from what individuals want, such as quieter, safer streets, might engage some people in taking action more effectively than ‘Ten Ways…”

“And even if people act pro-environmentally, behaviors may not always be the ones with the highest impact [33].”

“This could be because environmentally-friendly actions of this type could be motivated by other incentives such as living arrangement, household conditions, and desire to be economical which are not related to environmental and climate change concern (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“and sustainable mobility have a relatively low salience in people’s day-to-day activities, choices and actions (Sustainable Consumption Roundtable, 2006; Weber, 2006; Whitmarsh, 2009; Whitmarsh et al., 2011).”

“These types of green behavior may be correlated with each other and consequently, the effect might be that when purchasers have engaged in one type of green behavior, this could increase their tendency towards being engaged in others [22].”

“This may be especially attractive to individuals who care about nature and take climate change seriously, but who face significant barriers when they want to integrate their activities within their core values (Gifford, 2011; Whitmarsh, 2009; Whitmarsh & O'Neill, 2010; Wolf & Moser, 2011).”

“In this regard, “green consumption” is a popular topic in modern societies, with consumers being increasingly aware of imminent environmental problems (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“reduce partisan polarization around this issue, adapting the less polarizing phrase may come at a price: Whitmarsh (2009) showed that among her British participants the term “global warming” elicited more concern than the term “climate change,” and that”

“It is important to note that respondents were prompted about these different activities and might as a result have overstated their true motivation for these actions [38].”

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“…uncertainty about what behaviors will help slow or stop climate change (Attari, DeKay, Davidson, & de Bruin, 2010; Bamberg & Möser, 2007; Reynolds, Bostrom, Read, & Morgan, 2010; Whitmarsh, 2009; Swim, et al., 2009), even among those who report having taken action (Crosman et al., 2018).”

“However, behaviour patterns continue to show increased demands for energy use rather than the reductions suggested in public opinion surveys (Stoll-Kleemann, O'Riordan, & Jaeger, 2001; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“As more people become aware of the problem of global warming, more consumers become eager to engage in “green consumption” (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“In addition, issues with interpretation and understanding of the NEP items by survey respondents have been reported, necessitating further revision of the scale (e.g., Whitmarsh 2009).”

“It is noted, however, that Whitmarsh (2009) found no significant correlation between individuals’ experiences of flooding in South England and their views on climate change.”

“Green agricultural products, which are environmentally friendly, recyclable, and high-quality [1,2], not only follow the principle of sustainable human development, but also avoid the problem of food insecurity.”

“This means that measures that align emission reductions with those individual concerns are more likely to motivate behaviour and policy change (Graham and White 2016; Whitmarsh 2009).”

“It is also often the first thing respondents ponder when considering even global environmental problems and related individual actions (see Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“Consumers are becoming more eager to participate in this new “green consumption” as they become aware of problems in relation to global warming (Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“There have been various attempts to adapt to such unavoidable impacts of climate change and prevent more detrimental impacts through the reduction of emissions [2].”

“This should not surprise us: research has shown that energy conservation is often undertaken for reasons other than (or in addition to) concern about climate change (Whitmarsh, 2009a); moreover, the theories about behavior discussed earlier suggest that, as behaviors are complex products of personal psychological feat…”

“Recent research by Whitmarsh (2009), for example, found that turning off unused lights and buying energy-efficient bulbs are most often motivated by a desire to save money.”

“Therefore, knowledge on climate issues does not alone explain individual and collective responses to the climate challenge (Whitmarsh, 2009; Sarewitz, 2011; Wolf and Moser, 2011; Berkhout, 2012).”

“%) than of environmental psychological research for many years, and it is now widely practiced (Whitmarsh, 2009), but other waste reduction behaviors are less well-known and may be more difficult for individuals, due to structural constraints (e.g., use of excessive packaging by suppliers; Whitmarsh…”

“That this Stuart Capstick*1,2, Irene Lorenzoni2,3, Adam Corner1,2,4 & Lorraine Whitmarsh1,2 Over the past two decades, scholars and practitioners across the social sciences, policy and beyond have proposed, trialled and developed a wide range of theoretical and practical approaches designed to bring about changes in b…”

“Research by Whitmarsh (2009a) has shown that the terms ‘climate change’ and ‘global warming’ are understood differently and evoke different levels of concern among the UK public.”

“Other factors – such as social or institutional norms (e.g., conference culture), and structural factors (e.g., remote location, limited funding) are likely to be more important in explaining action, particularly travel (Higham et al., 2019; Whittle et al., 2019; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“…2012), and moralizing environmental issues influences people to shift their attitudes (Feinberg, & Willer, 2013), take action (Stern, 2000; van Zomeren, Postmes, & Spears, 2012; Whitmarsh, 2009), and support proenvironmental policies (Nilsson, von Borgstede, & Biel, 2004; Poortinga et al., 2004).”

“…change have external costs rather than personal losses to the traveller and therefore sustainable mobility choices as a contributor to climate change could be seen as a social dilemma (e.g. Milinski et al., 2008; Whitmarsh, 2009), and would thus relate to the framing of "acting appropriately".”

“In fact, asymmetric age associations with different types of action have been observed [8,12]; to illustrate, as regards energy conservation actions, older individuals appear more likely to engage in less painful or simple energy conservation activities (e.”

“The gap between individual proenvironmental attitudes and actual behaviors needs to close for people to take action to protect the environment (Blühdorn, 2011; Jamieson, 2006; Kennedy, Beckley, McFarlane, & Nadeau, 2009; Schultz, 2011; Whitmarsh, 2009).”

“In the UK, Whitmarsh (2009) found that householders who conserved energy were generally motivated by economic self-interest rather than environmental concern.”

“The results of these studies point to the influence of environmental attitudes and values for at least some areas of behavior [for meta-analyses see: 29, 30] and thus suggest there is a "moral basis" for PEB [31].”