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Climate Change Demands Behavioral Change:
What are the challenges?
Elke U. WeberColumbia University
Loyola University 2nd Annual Climate Change ConferenceMarch 20, 2015
• Fifth Assessment Report (FAR)
• New York Times Editorial, April 1, 2014:“Perhaps now the deniers will cease their
attacks on the science of climate change, and the American public will, at last, fullyaccept that global warming is a dangernow and an even graver threat to future generations.”
Homo sapiens
• Not primarily a creature of rational deliberation
• Instead, a creature of habit• Learn best from personal
experience
• Use associations, emotions, and rules/habits to guide actions
• Many goals, often conflicting
Climate Change as the “perfect storm”• Inaction is the behavioral default
– Status-quo bias– Vested interests in status-quo
• “Merchants of doubt”
• (Effective) action is complicated– Collective action required– Uncertainties at scientific, technology, political, and
social level
• Wishful thinking (and misperception or underestimation of CC risks) as an understandable response
Climate Change, a tough nut to crack
• Risk is abstract, statistical, in the future• Solution requires sustained attention on many
fronts and cooperation– No silver bullet, only silver buckshot
• Cost of action upfront, certain, and aversive• Benefits of action in the future, uncertain, and
disputed
Status-quo bias
Fundamental challenge!
• Not true that “if you build it, they will come”• NIMBY for grid transmission lines in Germany
What to do?
• Solutions can be found in the diagnosis• Why is there status-quo bias?
– Typically, safety in “the known”• Not the case for climate change!!!• Argument for scaring people into action?
What to do?• Solutions can be found in the diagnosis• Why is there status-bias?
– Typically, safety in “the known”• Not the case for climate change!!!• Argument for scaring people into action?
• NO!• Not hard-wired to worry about environmental risks
– Climate change not dreaded like Ebola or terrorism
• Risk seeking in domain of losses– Prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979)– Politicians and people are willing to take their chances with climate
change rather than locking in “sure-loss” scenarios
Turn challenges to advantages
• E.g., make “green” electricity the default option in letters to customers– Tested by two utilities in Southern Germany– Great results not just at the time but a year later
Communication Guides
cred.columbia.edu/guide connectingonclimate.org
All hands on deck…• Public
– Individual action (e.g., energy use), purchase power, and political will
• CEOs, Corporate Board members• Companies
– (Re)insurance, shipping, renewable energy, utilities– B2B purchasing
• Architects/Infrastructure Designers– Infrastructure decisions lock in future energy use patterns
• Politicians– Falling down on the job!– Need to expect public opposition to change
Two Bold Policies
• 2002 New York City smoking ban– Banned smoking in all public buildings in NYC,
including bars
• 2008 British Columbia carbon tax– Revenue neutral tax on greenhouse gas emissions
• Media Analysis– Treuer, Weber, Appelt, Goll, Crookes (2014)
All hands on deck…• (Social) scientists
– Economists are falling down on the job, almost no work on sustainable growth models
– Need to rethink global climate treaty negotiation approaches
– Need new models and metrics of human happiness and well-being
• Playwrights, Directors– We need alternative visions of the future, utopias, not
(just) dystopias
All hands on deck…• (Social) scientists
– Economists are falling down on the job, almost no work on sustainable growth models
– Need to rethink global climate treaty negotiation approaches
– Need new models and metrics of human happiness and well-being
• Playwrights, Directors– We need alternative visions of the future, utopias, not
(just) dystopias
Inaction is not an option…
• Change will come, with our without us!• Action on all fronts
– remember the “silver buckshot” analogy
• Provide lists of effective actions • Focus on the positive consequences of change• Use our long and successful past on planet
Earth to motivate investment in the future • Imagine a new future!
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