There is an excitement building up as the Earth Hour 2009 approaches. More people aware. More people talking AND planning action this time. And for a change, this does not involve celebrities or reality shows!
As one billion citizens of Planet Earth switch off the power for an hour, it will mean so many gigawatts of power saved, and hence the many tons of carbon emissions put off for an hour.
How did this happen? Through a combination of media coverage and social norms.
We have known since some time about what is happening to our climate and planet. But even the educated among us have not bothered to act, whether it be in the way we use power at work and homes or in the way we travel. We have chosen to believe that governments have to do something about it, not us. We have chosen to believe that our individual actions are no big deal, ‘when my neighbour does not change’!
Why? Is it because we believe we are safe? Or that we don’t care for the next generations? Is it a question of our priorities – today over tomorrow? Or is it because we can’t see the result of our actions immediately – good or bad?
In his book, Fostering Sustainable Behaviour: Community-based Social Marketing, Canadian environmental psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr talks of people’s inaction during energy-conservation campaigns and traces it to various reasons like wanting to see clear immediate indications that what they're doing matters. This is unfortunately not going to happen.
There is need to move from scaring to showing the way how individuals can reduce their personal footprint. Experts believe why this has also failed is because of ‘single action bias’ where most prefer to do one thing instead of the more familiar ‘10 things to do’ to reduce your carbon print! This is where social norms play a big role. Humans love to conform. It makes us feel secure to stay in line.
Wesley Schultz, a California-based environmental psychologist who specializes in social norms, used "normative messaging" to try to get people to lower their home energy use. Simply giving households regular feedback on how they were doing relative to the rest of the group, along with a little social approval or disapproval of their consumption, was enough to get virtually everyone to cut down on their energy use.
The peer grading did the job! The comfort that one is not alone comes as a booster to take action on something as ‘elitist’ as climate change.
Social psychologists are trying to pressure governments and policymakers to stop thinking about financial incentives and information campaigns and start thinking about norms.
Now imagine, what can be achieved if earthlings fixed an Earth Hour every month, on their own. (Not thanks to Bescoms!) Or even better, if all of us would simply learn to switch off all devices when not in use. Or look at ways we can cut our energy use, without ‘sacrificing’ comforts! Or take a bus when available. Or walk a little a bit more to the stores instead of driivng. How many Earth Hours can we cook up? Innumerable.
As we struggle to bring down emissions, collective inidvidual actions can have a cascading effect. Let us do our bit from today.
As one billion citizens of Planet Earth switch off the power for an hour, it will mean so many gigawatts of power saved, and hence the many tons of carbon emissions put off for an hour.
How did this happen? Through a combination of media coverage and social norms.
We have known since some time about what is happening to our climate and planet. But even the educated among us have not bothered to act, whether it be in the way we use power at work and homes or in the way we travel. We have chosen to believe that governments have to do something about it, not us. We have chosen to believe that our individual actions are no big deal, ‘when my neighbour does not change’!
Why? Is it because we believe we are safe? Or that we don’t care for the next generations? Is it a question of our priorities – today over tomorrow? Or is it because we can’t see the result of our actions immediately – good or bad?
In his book, Fostering Sustainable Behaviour: Community-based Social Marketing, Canadian environmental psychologist Doug McKenzie-Mohr talks of people’s inaction during energy-conservation campaigns and traces it to various reasons like wanting to see clear immediate indications that what they're doing matters. This is unfortunately not going to happen.
There is need to move from scaring to showing the way how individuals can reduce their personal footprint. Experts believe why this has also failed is because of ‘single action bias’ where most prefer to do one thing instead of the more familiar ‘10 things to do’ to reduce your carbon print! This is where social norms play a big role. Humans love to conform. It makes us feel secure to stay in line.
Wesley Schultz, a California-based environmental psychologist who specializes in social norms, used "normative messaging" to try to get people to lower their home energy use. Simply giving households regular feedback on how they were doing relative to the rest of the group, along with a little social approval or disapproval of their consumption, was enough to get virtually everyone to cut down on their energy use.
The peer grading did the job! The comfort that one is not alone comes as a booster to take action on something as ‘elitist’ as climate change.
Social psychologists are trying to pressure governments and policymakers to stop thinking about financial incentives and information campaigns and start thinking about norms.
Now imagine, what can be achieved if earthlings fixed an Earth Hour every month, on their own. (Not thanks to Bescoms!) Or even better, if all of us would simply learn to switch off all devices when not in use. Or look at ways we can cut our energy use, without ‘sacrificing’ comforts! Or take a bus when available. Or walk a little a bit more to the stores instead of driivng. How many Earth Hours can we cook up? Innumerable.
As we struggle to bring down emissions, collective inidvidual actions can have a cascading effect. Let us do our bit from today.
Happy Earth Hour with friends and family.
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