In ResponseCan We Consume Our Way Out of Climate Change?

A Call for Analysis

Lyle K. GrantAthabasca University

The problem of climate change is analyzed as a manifestation of economic growth, and thesteady-state economy of ecological economics is proposed as a system-wide solution. Fourclasses of more specific solutions are described. In the absence of analysis, cultural inertia willbias solutions in favor of green consumption as a generalized solution strategy. By itself, greenconsumption is a flawed solution to climate change because it perpetuates or even accelerateseconomic growth that is incompatible with a sustainable culture. Addressing climate changerequires an integration of regulatory, energy efficiency, skill-based, and dissemination solutions.Behavioral scientists are encouraged to work with others in ecological economics and othersocial sciences who recognize cultural reinvention as a means of achieving sustainability.

Key words: global warming, climate change, sustainability, steady-state economy, economicgrowth, consumption, consumerism

The Behavior Analyst published aspecial section in its Fall 2010 issue inwhich the editors took the initiativeto seek solutions to the problem ofclimate change. Invited contributorswere instructed to avoid analyzingthe nature of the problem and insteadprovide concise 1,000-word solutions(Heward & Chance, 2010). Placing apriority on solutions rather thananalysis reflects a sincere impulse tosolve a recognized problem withoutfurther delay, as well as recognitionthat behavior analysis has historicallybeen a rich source of solutions toenvironmental problems. However,this relative priority might imply thatanalysis serves only to delay solutionsrather than to inspire them. Dis-counting the value of analysis is alsoa point of departure from the con-temporary practice in behavior anal-ysis of conducting a functional anal-ysis to identify existing functionalrelations prior to treatment selection.

Much of the value of analysis is tounderstand and define problems in a

way that facilitates solutions. Numer-ous analyses have led to the conclu-sion that excessive and growingconsumption, exacerbated by an ex-panding world population, contrib-utes to global climate change andother problems of sustainability (Leg-gett, 2005; McKibben, 2007, 2010;Nevin, 2005; Schor, 2010; Skinner,1987; Swim et al., 2010). Recognizingthe underlying problem as one ofoverconsumption has several conse-quences including the realization thatclimate change is driven by largercultural factors or metacontingencies(Glenn, 1986, 1991) that elevateeconomic growth over the longerterm well-being of the planet and itsinhabitants. Nevin (2005) analyzedthis larger cultural issue from abehavioral perspective and concludedthat the rich reinforcement of affluentsocieties has made their consumptionresistant to change, leaving us with aproblem that has self-perpetuatingfeatures.

Although the contributors to thespecial section offered many imagi-native solutions, the solutions weredisproportionately focused on reduc-ing carbon emissions through greenconsumption and were mainly con-

Address correspondence to Lyle K. Grant,Centre for Psychology, Athabasca University,Athabasca, Alberta, Canada (e-mail: lyle@athabascau.ca).

The Behavior Analyst 2011, 34, 245–266 No. 2 (Fall)

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cerned with making energy use moreefficient. The notion that green con-sumption is an unambiguous andsingularly effective solution to cli-mate change is in some respects moreof a manifestation of the problem ofcultural inertia than it is a solution.As a unitary solution, green buyinghas been critically analyzed as anapproach that (a) is a weak andconvenient business-as-usual methoddesigned more to maintain resource-intensive economic growth than tosolve environmental problems (Rog-ers, 2010; Yanarella, Levine, & Lan-caster, 2009); (b) ignores the longerterm rebound effects of energy effi-ciency improvements in increasingenergy use (Grant, 2010; Owen,2010; Sorrell, 2007); (c) fosters theillusion that buyers have done theirpart to solve climate change merelythrough purchases (Begley, 2010); (d)reflects a dogma of consumer sover-eignty that shifts responsibility forenvironmental problems to individu-als who act in a free market ratherthan to corporate interests that mo-tivate consumption and profit from it(Maniates, 2002); (e) neglects oppor-tunities to cease endless economicgrowth and make a transition to asustainable steady-state economywith a more equitable distributionof wealth (Daly, 1996); and (f)overlooks possibilities for culturalreinvention based on a transitionfrom an economic age to a culturalage (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999; Grant,2010; Mill, 1848; Schafer, 2008;Scitovsky, 1989; Skinner, 1976).

The purpose of the present article isto analyze the cultural basis for theproblems of climate change andsustainability. The need for analysisas a prerequisite to formulating solu-tions is described. Climate change isframed as one manifestation of aculture-wide problem of rapaciouseconomic growth, a solution to whichis the steady-state economy of eco-logical economics. Four classes ofmore specific solutions are described:consumption-based, culture-based,

regulatory, and dissemination solu-tions. In the absence of analysis,consumption-based solutions will befavored because they entail business-as-usual behavior patterns that arestrongly propelled by the inertia ofaffluence (Nevin, 2005). The disad-vantages of an exclusive reliance onconsumption-based solutions are de-scribed. Culture-based solutions aredesirable because they offer possibil-ities for an improved quality of lifeduring and after a transition to asustainable steady-state economy ofless material consumption. It is con-cluded that climate change must beaddressed through all four types ofsolutions and that the behavioralsciences have a crucial role to playin solving the problem because of thepsychological nature of neglectedculture-based solutions.

THE NEED FOR ANALYSIS

Behavior analysts have come torely on analyses, both experimentaland conceptual, as a means ofunderstanding and solving behaviorproblems (e.g., Skinner, 1953). Forlarger scale societal problems, theanalyses are normally conceptualdue to the difficulties in conductingexperiments that isolate the effects ofspecific factors at those levels. Thesize and complexity of modern devel-oped economies, for example, do notpermit precise experimental analysis,but when they work with larger scaleproblems, behavior analysts haveused plausible conceptual analysis asa basis for generating and selectingsolutions (e.g., Skinner, 1953, 1976,1987). Analyzing causal influencesprior to proposing solutions is alsoa cardinal recommendation in orga-nizational behavior management(OBM), a field accustomed to solvinglarger scale problems, as seen inGilbert’s (2007) performance auditsand Brethower’s (2007) use of pre-intervention systems analyses.

Conceptual analyses are strength-ened by making use of all forms of

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data, including correlational datawhen experimental findings are lack-ing. The issue is paralleled in climate-change science: Experimental evi-dence cannot be obtained to provethat climate change is due to humanactivity, so climate scientists makeuse of historical correlational data tomake plausible inferences that cli-mate change is due to human behav-ior (e.g., Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, 2007; Thompson,2010). Scientific work proceeds usingan iterative process of evidence-basedconfirmation and disconfirmation,combining this with inferential rea-soning and peer interchanges toarrive at working premises and con-clusions.

THE SYSTEM-WIDE PROBLEMAND THE STEADY-STATE SOLUTION

Analysis is helpful in assessing thegenerality of a behavior problem.Climate change is often seen as adiscrete problem that can be solvedthrough piecemeal solutions such ascarbon sequestration, consisting ofpumping CO2 underground and evenmagnetically levitating CO2 into out-er space (The Economist, 2007). It is,however, increasingly apparent thatexcess levels of atmospheric CO2 areone sign of an unsustainable eco-nomic system that fails to recognizethat the Earth’s resources are finite(Daly, 1996; Hardin, 1993; Meadows,Randers, & Meadows, 2004; Schu-macher, 1989; Speth, 2008). Climatechange represents a finite capacity ofthe Earth’s atmosphere to absorbCO2 and still maintain historicaltemperature ranges, but there areother indications of finite capacitiesthat are also being exceeded. Ad-dressing climate change thereforerequires analyzing the problem froma larger system-wide perspective suchthat proposed solutions are alsosystem-wide in scope.

Even aside from the harm due toclimate change, there is considerable

evidence that multiple limits for safeplanetary operation are being exceed-ed (Rockstrom et al., 2009). I recentlysummarized these problems (Grant,2010) and will reiterate them here.Much of the world’s population hasbecome dependent on oil as anenergy source, yet the worldwidediscoveries of oil peaked during the1960s (Energy Bulletin, 2011) and aproduction peak is likely to occurwithin the next decade (Deffeyes,2006; Farzad, 2008; Grant, 2007;Leggett, 2005; Rubin, 2009). Ourdependency on coal, which has con-tributed to climate change, hasbrought us to a point at which coalsupply limits are in sight. Much ofthe cited abundant world reserves ofcoal are economically unrecoverable(National Research Council, 2007).Laherrere (2007) has predicted a peakin coal production by 2050. Limits inthe food supply are looming. Wormet al. (2006) have forecast a collapsein the world’s fish population by 2050if current practices continue. Foodproduction has come to depend onfossil fuels for power and fertilizers(Heinberg, 2003). Fully 40% of theU.S. corn crop is now diverted intoethanol production for motor vehi-cles, which contributed to a 53%increase in corn prices during 2010(Walsh, 2011). Diversion of the foodsupply to fuel motor vehicles has thegreatest impact on the world’s poor,because such a large percentage oftheir income is needed to purchasefood (Searchinger, 2011). The supplyof many important industrial metalscannot be sustained at their currentrates of production (Bardi, 2008;Bardi & Pagani, 2007). Limits in thesupply of fresh water are beingexceeded. UNESCO (2009) has pre-dicted that two thirds of the entirepopulation of the world will liveunder water-stressed conditions by2025. World population growth,which has a multiplier effect on thedraw on limited resources (Hardin,1993), continues unabated after hav-ing increased over 3.6 times during

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the 20th century (United Nations,1999).

In addition to the direct environ-mental consequences of excessiveconsumption, depletion of nonrenew-able resources (notably oil) has led toresource wars that continue to killand maim civilians living in oil-richcountries. Klare’s (2004) predictionof a continuing series of wars overincreasingly scarce oil supplies hasbeen realized in a series of armedinvasions of countries with oil wealth.Greenspan (2007) and Phillips (2006)each maintained that the 2003 inva-sion of Iraq, for example, was moti-vated by that country’s oil reserves.

Seen from the broader perspectiveof multiple resource limits and finitecapacities, the fundamental underly-ing problem is an economic model ofcontinuous and endless growth thatdemands an ever-increasing supply ofresources (Daly, 1996; Daly & Cobb,1994; Hubbert, 1981; McKibben,2007, 2010; Schor, 2010). Ecologicaleconomists have proposed a solutionto this problem: replacing the growtheconomy with a steady-state econo-my in which throughput, defined as‘‘the flow of natural resources fromthe environment, through the econo-my, and back to the environment aswaste’’ (Daly & Farley, 2004, p. 6), isheld at a constant level that can bemaintained across future generations.In behavioral terms, a steady-stateeconomy consists of a constant sup-ply of natural-resource reinforcerinputs that maintain a correspond-ingly constant rate of economicbehavior (Grant, 2010). This steady-state model of sustainable equilibri-um contrasts sharply with our growtheconomy in which the supply ofnatural resources and productionexpands until the economy ceases tofunction due to the exhaustion ofnatural-resource reinforcer inputs ordue to exceeding the environment’scapacities to absorb waste products.Such a collapse has the potential toinclude a die-off of a large proportionof the human population (Catton,

1982). Because of the potential forcatastrophic consequences, Hubbert(1981) cast the issue as the majorproblem of our time: ‘‘Perhaps theforemost problem facing mankind atpresent is that of how to make thetransition for the present exponen-tial-growth phase to the near steadystate of the future in as noncatas-trophic a progression as possible’’(p. 1007).

FOUR CLASSES OF SOLUTIONS

Although macroeconomic system-wide analysts such as Hubbert, Daly,and other ecological economists haveadvocated a steady-state economy asa general solution to the problem oflimits, more specific implementationsolutions are also necessary. Analysisis helpful in identifying differenttypes of solutions, assessing theirrelative merits, and determining howthey might work in concert to addressthe problem. Four approaches toaddressing climate change and sus-tainability are described below.

Consumption-Based Solutions

Consumption-based solutions, em-phasized in the special section of TheBehavior Analyst as well as in thesolutions section of the AmericanPsychological Association (APA) cli-mate change report (Swim et al.,2010, Section 6), are ones that involvethe purchase of capital goods andconsumer products that are pre-sumed to reduce global warming.The idea behind consumption-basedsolutions is that investment in prod-ucts will pay off later in reduced useof fossil fuels. Purchases of fluores-cent lightbulbs and energy-efficientappliances are examples of consump-tion-based solutions. A large-scaleexample is a proposal to build solarelectric generation stations on 46,000square miles of land in the south-western U.S. (Zwibel, Mason, &Fthenakis, 2008). According to ad-vocates, by 2050 this investmentwould meet all the electricity needs

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of the U.S. Other examples of con-sumption-based solutions cited in theAPA report include energy-efficientvehicles, mass transit, and low-energybuildings. James Hansen (2009), aprominent climate scientist, has en-dorsed pilot development of nuclearbreeder reactors as a consumption-based solution. Consumption-basedsolutions can be either large-scaleinvestments that require institutionalfunding or small-scale individualactions (e.g., purchase of a vehicleor appliance that is more efficientthan that which it replaces).

Culture-Based Solutions

Culture-based solutions emphasizecultural reinvention to improve thequality of life and shift the mainte-nance of behavior from energy-inten-sive economic reinforcers to noneco-nomic reinforcers that are relativelyunderconsumed (Grant, 2010). Forexample, Scitovsky (1977) and Skin-ner (1976) called for arts education tocreate reinforcers in the literary,visual, and performing arts as ameans of conserving natural resourc-es and moving from a culture ofwork-to-consume to one more cen-tered on aesthetic challenges andpleasures. Local participant and spec-tator sports, conversation, chess,bridge, crafts, gardening, sailing,canoeing, hiking, and reading arealso free-time activities that haveengaged people prior to the fossil-fuel era and continue to be appealingalternatives to lives of work-to-con-sume. Open-source computing (Fell-er, Fitzgerald, Hissam, & Lakhani,2005) is an example of a modern useof free time that likewise providesfulfilling challenges and pleasures atthe same time that it makes itunnecessary to work in order topurchase software.

Culture-based solutions haveemerged out of analyses in ecologicaleconomics and other social sciencesthat have related behaviors responsiblefor economic growth to environmental

problems. These behaviors includestatus competition (Frank, 1999),faulty abstractive practices (Daly,1980; Grant, in press), inappropriatecultural goal setting (Anielski, 2007),excessive work time (Hayden, 1999;Hunnicutt, 1988; Schor, 2010), com-mercial advertising (Schor, 1998), anda lack of noneconomic reinforcers(Schafer, 2008) and aesthetic reinforc-ers (de Botton, 2004; Scitovsky, 1977,1992) in people’s lives.

An example of an omnibus culture-based solution is the work-time re-duction movement (Hayden, 1999;Reid, 1995), which seeks to reallocatework time to free time, tradingmaterial wealth for time wealth(Schor, 2010). Work-time reductionis an omnibus solution because itfrees time to be spent on activitiesthat are both challenging and plea-surable but do not entail burningfossil fuels or consuming substantialnonrenewable resources. Work-timereductions do help to solve theproblem of climate change. Rosnickand Weisbrot (2006) found that theU.S. could have met its proposedCO2 reduction specified in the failed1997 Kyoto agreement merely byreducing its yearly hours of work tofull-time European levels. Work-timereductions have the potential toenable workers to engage in sustain-able leisure-time pursuits that wouldimprove social capital (Putnam,2000), political participation, andthe creative use of leisure time(Hayden, 1999; Reid, 1995; Schor,2010). In his study of the Kelloggcereal company’s 6-hr workday fromthe 1930s until the 1960s, Hunnicutt(1992, 1996) found that many of theKellogg employees realized thesebenefits. For example, the programwas especially popular among femaleemployees because it enabled them tobalance work and child care.

Regulatory Solutions

Regulatory solutions, also high-lighted in the APA report (Swim et

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al., 2010), seek to limit carbonemissions through carbon taxes,cap-and-trade systems, consumptiontaxes (Frank, 1999), alternative-ener-gy tax credits, restrictive licensing ofnew fossil-fuel generators, fossil-fuelrationing, and so on. Regulatorysolutions can be used to encouragethe other three types of solutions orcan be used alone to curtail fossil-fueluse directly, as in the case of carbontaxes or rationing. Legislation toaward tax credits for alternativeenergy devices and home insulationare examples of regulatory solutionsdesigned to facilitate consumption-based solutions. Government fundingof environmental education and lawsrequiring energy-efficiency informa-tion stickers on appliances are exam-ples of regulation in service of dis-semination solutions.

Regulatory solutions sometimesenable culture-based solutions inad-vertently. Policies to fund arts educa-tion and other forms of nonvocationaleducation, as Scitovsky (1977, 1989)advocated, contribute to sustainabili-ty by diverting people from thematerialistic to the aesthetic. Similar-ly, in 1933 the U.S. Congress cameclose to passing legislation to mandatea 30-hr workweek, but the rationalefor this was to distribute availableemployment more widely during thedepression (Hunnicutt, 1988) ratherthan to reduce consumption.

Publicly funded health care isanother example of a regulatorysolution that contributes to sustain-ability. Health-care insurance re-moves incentives to engage in re-source-intensive work to gain wealthneeded to pay for expensive cata-strophic health care. Without govern-ment-provided catastrophic healthcare, such as that which exists inCanada and in most European Unioncountries, people are compelled toincrease their incomes beyond anylikely future health-care expenditurebecause of the possibility that theywill have to cover unlikely expenses.Governments that provide their citi-

zens with social safety nets, therefore,also contribute indirectly to a poten-tial solution to climate change andother problems of sustainability.Likewise, government policies thatimpair collective bargaining rightscontribute to economic inequalityand make it necessary for many wageearners to work in full-time jobs tosurvive in an unsustainable culture.

Dissemination Solutions

Dissemination solutions are con-cerned with building support forconsumption-based, culture-based,and regulatory solutions througheducation and persuasive communi-cation. Three articles in the specialsection addressed these (i.e., Neurin-ger & Oleson, 2010; Nevin, 2010;Twyman, 2010). Dissemination-based solutions are especially impor-tant because scientists and academicresearchers do not traditionally seelarge-scale public persuasion as theirjob. Although education, coopera-tion, and coalition building are es-sential to success, scientists andresearchers have few professionalincentives to pursue disseminationinitiatives.

An important problem is thatthose opposed to climate-change mit-igation are waging well-funded disin-formation campaigns. Disinforma-tion campaigns have substantiallyreduced the public perception thathuman-caused climate change exists(Jacques, Dunlap, & Freeman, 2008;Thompson, 2010). In 2009, of the2,340 Washington lobbyists who reg-istered to work in the area of climatechange, 85% of these were there toimpede climate-change legislation(McKibben, 2010). It is importantthat corporate leaders, many ofwhom have strong backgrounds inscience and engineering, be broughtto understand the issues of sustain-ability. A single corporate initiative(e.g., Kellogg’s 6-hr day; Hunnicutt,1992, 1996) can have a huge impactas a model and tipping point for

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altering cultural practices. As it is,many corporations see sustainabilityas merely a public relations issue andpursue only greenwashing initiativesin which they publicize the environ-mental benefits of some relativelytrivial business practice and fail toaddress environmentally harmfulpractices.

CULTURAL INERTIA AND THEBIAS TOWARD CONSUMPTION-

BASED SOLUTIONS

The special section of The BehaviorAnalyst emphasized consumption-based solutions to such an extentthat none of the articles cited Skin-ner’s (1976) culture-based solutionsset forth in Walden Two. In its sectionon solutions, the APA report onclimate change (Swim et al., 2010)likewise emphasized consumption-based solutions along with regulatoryand dissemination solutions. Mani-ates (2002) found that mainstreamenvironmentalists, as well as thepolitical left, have marginalized thevoluntary simplicity movement,which consists of individuals whohave independently implemented cul-ture-based solutions in their lives,creating Thoreauvian enclaves withinthe larger culture of material excess.How is it that consumption-basedsolutions are so predominant amongso many different constituencies?

A general problem in modernWestern culture is what Nevin(2005) has described as the inertia ofaffluence, the resistance of richlyreinforced behavior to change. Theverbal behavior of U.S. leaders illus-trates this generalized recalcitrance toabandon a culture of overconsump-tion. In response to demands fromother nations calling for the U.S. toreduce its carbon emissions at the1992 Rio Summit, former PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush declared, ‘‘TheAmerican way of life is not negotia-ble’’ (quoted in Wheeler, 2004, para.1). In his inaugural address, PresidentObama (2009, para. 21) stated, ‘‘We

will not apologize for our way of life,nor will we waver in its defense.’’

Corporate economic interests favorconsumption-based solutions becausethey retain a profitable work-to-consume culture merely by shufflingproduct lines. Redefining the prob-lem in larger terms, as ecologicaleconomists have done by proposinga steady-state economy, is resistedeven by many mainstream environ-mentalists. Naomi Klein has calledfor a deeper level of analysis:

But what I see is that the green groups, a lot ofthe big green groups, are also in a kind ofdenial, because they want to pretend that thisisn’t about politics and economics, and say,‘‘Well, you can just change your lightbulb.And no, it won’t really disrupt. You can havegreen capitalism.’’ And they’re not reallywrestling with the fact that this is abouteconomic growth. This is about an economicmodel that needs constant and infinite growthon a finite planet. So we really are talkingabout some deep transformations of oureconomy if we’re going to deal with climatechange. And we need to talk about it.(Goodman, 2011, para. 12)

In her book, Green Gone Wrong,Heather Rogers (2010) makes asimilar point:

I shop my conscience when I can afford it, andI believe that doing so can make a positiveimpact. But these consumer-based actions lackthe ability to reach the goals we’re aiming for.Convincing ourselves that we’re solving ourenvironmental problems when we aren’t is acatastrophic game of denial; the problems rundeep and so must the solutions. (p. 180)

Consumption-based solutions offerthe promise of extending the con-sumer society into the future andsolving environmental problems atthe same time, making them politi-cally popular and safe from anycriticism that ‘‘our way of life’’ mightbe in jeopardy. Secretary of EnergySteven Chu, an eminent Nobel-prizewinning scientist, has made energy-efficient consumption solutions amajor focus of the Obama adminis-tration’s climate-change policy (TheWhite House, 2011). Advocatingincreased efficiency carries few polit-

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ical risks because it boosts the growtheconomy through additional con-sumption and leaves consumers withgood feelings that they have donesomething for the planet as theyenjoy their new efficient cars andappliances. Energy-efficient con-sumption solutions originate in thephysical sciences and engineering,giving them a prestige derived froma long history of modern technolog-ical advancement. Unfortunately,this prestige is another factor thatserves to restrict the range of poten-tial solutions.

Cultural inertia is seen in the waythe forces of economic growth feed usa steady stream of commercial adver-tising that induces us, through be-havior-change techniques, to con-clude that the solution to each smalland large problem we face in life isadditional consumption (Schor,1998). The use of a behavior-controltechnology like advertising to main-tain fossil-fuel-intensive work-to-con-sume behavior patterns is an impor-tant problem (Grant, 2010). Insteadof confronting this problem, manypsychologists have contributed to itby lending their expertise to theproduct branding, marketing, andadvertising industries (Kreshel, 1990;Saletan, 2010). Critiques of the ex-ploitation of psychology by advertis-ers often begin and end with J. B.Watson’s early contributions to ad-vertising, but contemporary applica-tions have advanced well beyondWatson’s work, as illustrated inrecent articles in, for example, theJournal of Consumer Research.

Because of the way that use offossil fuels is now built into devel-oped economies through a web ofinterlocking practices (Glenn, 1991;Sanne, 2002), virtually all materialconsumption carries a fossil-fuelcomponent (Heinberg, 2003). Thus,doing without products is often morebeneficial than buying products, evenwhen they carry some type of envi-ronmental certification that elevatesthem over competitive products. Ad-

vocates of consumption-based solu-tions sometimes fail to recognize this.Consider the Carrot Mob initiative,which organizes local consumers toshop only at the most environmen-tally conscious retailers (Chance &Heward, 2010). An article on aprominent environmentalist Webpage discussing the Carrot Mob asks,‘‘But what if everything each of usbought helped the planet?’’ (Dunn,2008, para. 1). This type of questionremoves our focus from the culturalproblem of overconsumption anddeceptively transforms consumptioninto a generalized solution strategy.

SHOULD WE RELY EXCLU-SIVELY ON CONSUMPTION-

BASED SOLUTIONS?

Consumption-based solutions, es-pecially those oriented toward energyefficiency, are likely to play animportant role in addressing theproblems of sustainability. Underthe right conditions, consumption-based solutions can, for example,contribute to culture-based solutionsby giving us time to make a culturaltransition. However, as just de-scribed, an important problem withconsumption-based solutions is thatwe turn to them too quickly andeasily due to cultural inertia, resultingin the relative neglect of regulatoryand culture-based solutions. Twoother problems with consumption-based solutions are that they arepotentially compromised by reboundeffects that result from more efficientenergy consumption; also, they raiseproblems of relativity.

Rebound Effects

According to Jevons’ paradox,increases in the efficiency of fossil-fuel use act in the short term toreduce energy consumption but func-tion over the long term to increase it(Brookes, 2000; Grant, 2010; Owen,2010; Sorrell, 2007). Owen illustratedthe problem using the example ofrefrigeration technologies, in which

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substantial improvements in efficien-cy have led to increases in electricityuse. A 28% increase in air condition-ing efficiency from 1993 to 2005 wasaccompanied by a 37% increase inelectricity consumption in the aver-age U.S. household. According toCox (2010), the current use of elec-tricity for air conditioning in the U.S.is about equal to its total electricityconsumption in 1955. In the shortterm, supposedly green purchases ofefficient air conditioners result indesirable energy savings, less fossil-fuel use, and reduced carbon emis-sions. However, over the long term,the purchases had what is called arebound effect: Being able to coolbuildings more cheaply gives peoplean incentive to expand their existinguse of air conditioning and makes thetechnology accessible to those whocould not previously afford it.

Another way to conceive of re-bound effects is in the way thatincreases in energy efficiency supporthigher prices, which in turn differen-tially reinforce exploitation of high-cost energy sources. On the consumerside, increased machine efficiencyreduces the response requirementper reinforcer unit, providing morereinforcers for the same responserequirement. This makes more travelaffordable to existing drivers andmakes driving possible for thosewho could not previous afford it,increasing oil demand. On the pro-duction side, the resulting increases inthe price of gas due to increaseddemand in turn differentially rein-force exploitation of previously un-affordable hard-to-extract energysources (Vernon, 2011). This contin-gency is especially important in thecontext of increasingly scarce fossilfuels (Grant, 2007), which creates anoverall supply-and-demand bias to-ward higher prices.

Controversy remains concerningthe nature and extent of the reboundeffect (Brookes, 2000; Owen, 2010;Schor, 2010). Some dismiss reboundeffects as too small to be of impor-

tance, whereas others claim that theyare difficult to measure but arepotentially significant. Sorrell (2007)advises that rebound effects need tobe reappraised, taken into account inenergy policy recommendations, and‘‘mitigated through carbon/energypricing’’ (p. 93), a regulatory solution.

Purchasing efficient machines is atarget behavior that has apparentsocial validity (Wolf, 1978), but thisis an unusual case in which socialvalidity, the opinion-poll selection ofa popular target behavior, fails us.The problem is that the reinforcingshort-term consequences of suppos-edly green consumption are opposedby weaker longer term consequences,increased risk of environmental dam-age through the rebound effect, therelative neglect of alternative classesof solutions, and the failure to add-ress the problem on a system-widebasis by implementing a steady-stateeconomy. In this respect, temporaldiscounting (Critchfield & Kollins,2001) works in favor of consumption-based solutions relative to otheralternatives.

The Relativity of Consumption-Based Solutions

Determining what is and what isnot a consumption-based solutiondepends on whether the initial invest-ment, which typically requires fossilfuels, really does pay off with a laterreduction of fossil-fuel (and otherresources) use. As previously dis-cussed, this criterion can be met bya steady-state economy on a system-wide basis, but individual instances ofconsumption are often misclassifiedas consumption solutions. Purchaseof an environmentally friendly carlike a Toyota Prius is widely seen as aconsumption solution in the devel-oped world because it reduces fossil-fuel use, but in a society with littlehistory of car ownership the samepurchase would increase fossil-fueluse and could do so on a vastly largerscale. The difficulty is that what

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constitutes a consumption-based so-lution must be evaluated relative to aprior baseline of fossil-fuel consump-tion rather than solely on the occur-rence of the behavior itself. The Priusis a solution for the wealthy NorthAmerican who is replacing an SUV,but is a climate-change problem for aChinese or Indian family that hasnever owned a car.

Consumption-based solutions arerelative, and the reasoning behindthem has been used to institutionalizeeconomic inequality. The logic ofconsumption-based solutions leadsto reasoning that only the wealthymay employ them because only forthem do the expenditures pay offwith a net reduction in fossil-fuel use.Maintaining that the Prius purchaseis good or permissible only for thosewho already drive less efficient vehi-cles is an argument that those alreadywell off are permanently privilegedand exceptional; as a result, this typeof issue has dominated the failedclimate-change summits (Roberts &Parks, 2007). Because consumptionand CO2 emissions occur worldwide,it is necessary that regulatory agree-ments be international in scope.

The relativity of consumption-based solutions also enters into themisclassification of what constitutesan environmentally friendly productand an environmentally friendly ven-dor. Products labeled as environmen-tally friendly may have less environ-mental impact than competingproducts, but this labeling deceptive-ly conceals the superior alternative ofnot using the products at all. Recog-nizing this problem, Norway hasbanned ads that claim that certaingreen cars are environmentallyfriendly. In supporting the ban, BenteOeverli, a government ombuds officeofficial, stated that ‘‘Cars cannot doanything good for the environmentexcept less damage than others’’(Doyle, 2007, para. 2). The superiorno-consumption alternative does notcarry any reinforcing sticker to certifythat it is environmentally friendly,

leading us to drive more efficientmotor vehicles rather than to ceaseusing them entirely, a solution thatleads to the walkable and bikeableenvironments people enjoyed at thebeginning of the 20th century (Sova-cool, 2009). Over time, wealthy soci-eties have gone though a habituationor habituation-like process in whichconsumption necessities have contin-ually expanded (Grant, 2010; Schor,1998). The percentage of U.S. resi-dents who considered a second car asa necessity nearly doubled from 20%in 1973 to 37% in 1996 (Schor, 1998).People who forgo motor vehicle useand instead walk and bicycle aretoday depicted in trend-setting Hol-lywood films as low-status outcastsand losers (Vanderbilt, 2010).

TURNING TO CULTURE-BASEDSOLUTIONS: TRADITIONS IN

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

Many in developed nations are likeFrazier, the misanthropic antihero ofWalden Two, who was paradoxicallyincapable of enjoying the appealingworld he had created because he wasnot a product of it. It is difficult andperhaps even impossible for manywho know only a materialistic worldto even conceive of an alternative.Making a nonmaterialistic worldappealing is a matter of establishingand maintaining the effectiveness ofreinforcers for behaviors that do notdepend on fossil fuels and otherlimited resources. In technical terms,this involves the use of motivatingoperations (Laraway, Snycerski, Mi-chael, & Poling, 2003) to increase theeffectiveness of nonmaterial reinforc-ers relative to material reinforcersand to do so in a way that is durableover time. Historically, this has suc-cessfully occurred, at least for a time,within bohemian subcultures, thevoluntarily simplicity movement,and certain religious groups (Grant,2010; Shi, 1985). Maniates (2002)challenged the behavioral sciencesby asking key questions about people

254 LYLE K. GRANT

in one of these subcultures, thevoluntary simplicity movement:

What (to put it bluntly) is with these people?What, in other words, accounts for theirability to step back and ask tough questionsabout consumption and personal satisfaction?What has inoculated them against luxury feverand imbued them with a certain ‘‘consumptiveresistance’’? Are they just better people, ormaybe just better off? Or has some combina-tion of cultural, political, and social forcescome together in their lives to extricate themfrom the tyranny of expectations? And couldthis combination conceivably be fostered, andeven recreated, for a significant portion ofindustrial and overconsuming North Amer-ica? (p. 211)

These issues, crucial for human sur-vival, are all matters of human be-havior. If those in the behavioralsciences can rise to the challenge ofanswering these questions and pursu-ing the solutions that emerge, life aswe know it has a fighting chance. Atleast in principle, behavior analysishas an important role to play becauseit has conceptual apparatus and atechnology for altering reinforcereffectiveness, not just behavior. Inthis respect, behavior analysis standsin sharp contrast to most economicapproaches and many psychologicalperspectives, which see the motivationto accumulate material possessions asan invariant feature of consumers andtheir hard-wired brains.

A key overall advantage of culture-based solutions is that they offer thepromise of an improved way of life.Mill (1848), Thoreau (1854/1995),Skinner (1976), Scitovsky (1989,1992), and Schafer (2008) have allconceived of desirable sustainablesocieties. Each provided attractivevisions rather than using appeals toguilt or ones that ‘‘frighten peoplerather than offer them a world towhich they will turn because of thereinforcing consequences of doingso’’ (Skinner, 1978, p. 13).

Briefly considered here are fourspecific types of culture-based solu-tions, each of which was central tothe design of Walden Two: goal

setting, work-time reduction, abolish-ing commercial advertising, and es-tablishing the effectiveness of culturalreinforcers.

Goal Setting

Societal success is currently definedthough aggregate measures of mate-rial consumption, such as gross do-mestic product (GDP), which oriententire political, economic, and edu-cational systems toward boostingGDP independently of any effect thishas on the well-being and satisfactionthat people experience in their dailylives. Increasing consumption andGDP is currently our collective goal,yet doing so contributes to increasingCO2 emissions, depeletion of naturalresources, and climate change.

Much of the problem is thatincreasing GDP has become so cul-turally ingrained that we use itwithout reflecting on alternativegoals. In Walden Two, the good lifehad been consciously reconsidered.Key goals became ceasing the institu-tional creation of dissatisfaction as amotivational technique, providing thetime and opportunities to ‘‘exercisetalents and abilities,’’ promoting the‘‘unnecessary and pleasurably selec-tive exploration of nature,’’ develop-ing ‘‘intimate and satisfying personalcontacts,’’ and providing ‘‘relaxationand rest’’ (Skinner, 1976, p. 148).Economists and other social scientistshave taken up this same theme,recognizing the deficiencies of mea-sures like GDP and proposing alter-natives that include indicators thatmeasure, in addition to consumption,individual happiness, health, connect-edness with family and friends, per-sonal and national indebtedness, lei-sure time, poverty levels, violentcrime, economic inequality, and phys-ical and mental health. The genuineprogress indicator (GPI; Anielski,2007) is one such alternative measurethat was developed in part to addressenvironmental problems such as cli-mate change and peak oil.

CONSUMPTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE 255

Work-Time Reduction

In a paper entitled ‘‘EconomicPossibilities for Our Grandchildren,’’John Maynard Keynes (1930) envi-sioned a 3-hr workday and a 15-hrworkweek for the grandchildren ofhis generation. Keynes anticipatedthat increases in economic productiv-ity would allow people to work lessfor the same purchasing power and inturn give them more time for enjoy-able leisure pursuits. Since 1930, U.S.per capita inflation-adjusted GDPhas increased 5.9 times (Bureau ofEconomic Analysis, 2011), true toKeynes’ projections, yet we are clear-ly far from realizing his leisuresociety.

There are many reasons for thisfailure, including increasing econom-ic inequality and a set of interlockingpractices that give people the optionsof full-time work, poorly paid part-time work, or unemployment (Hay-den, 1999; Hunnicutt, 1988; Schor,2010). Part of the problem is a cultureof working to consume that tradesleisure time for material wealth.Status competition is an unfortunatemotivator: Instead of comparingourselves to the people of 1930 andhaving a sense of well-being that wehave an economic standard of livingnearly six times greater than they did,we compare ourselves to wealthierpeople in our current generation(Frank, 2008; Schor, 1992). Frankhas attributed this to the importanceof local context: In behavioral terms,people are very sensitive to socialreinforcers that accrue from evensmall changes in our positional statusrelative to peers in our local setting(Vukelich & Hake, 1974). Behavioralwork in social comparison (e.g.,Hake, Vukelich, & Kaplan, 1973),especially how to diminish the rein-forcing effectiveness of social com-parison, therefore assumes consider-able environmental importance(Biglan, 2009). Shi (1985) describedhow peer pressure has been harnessedto reduce superfluous status con-

sumption through censure of exces-sive material consumption and praisefor simple modes of living. Rosen-berg (2011) has described how peerpressure has led to a wide variety ofadvances in human health and well-being. Peer influence is also seen inbohemian subcultures in which bour-geois aspirations are discouraged asdistractions from intellectual andartistic creation, providing an alter-native means of defining success andfailure (de Botton, 2004). Reinven-tion of our conceptions of successand failure is a part of many culture-based solutions, including work-timereduction.

Hayden (1999) and Schor (2010)have portrayed trading leisure forwork as a bad bargain for theenvironment: Both work and theconsumption that results depletenonrenewable resources and main-tain carbon emissions at levels thathave precipitated the climate-changecrisis. A trend toward shorter workhours took place during the entire100-year period that ended withWorld War II (Hunnicutt, 1988).Had that trend continued until thepresent, fossil-fuel emissions andresource depletion would today bemuch more manageable problemsthan they are now.

Commercial Advertising

On the Walden Radio Network,advertising was banned. Skinner(1976) recognized the behavior-con-trolling potential of ads to increasewasteful consumption and derailpeople from developing and expand-ing their interests in the arts, athlet-ics, social relationships, and so on.The most effective forms of behav-ior control operate largely withoutpeople’s awareness or suspicion, andthis is precisely what modern adver-tising does. Through nearly constantexposure and various conditioningmechanisms, advertising boosts ma-terial consumption through operantand Pavlovian processes (Grant,

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2010). People misperceive thesemethods as benign and easily de-feated through the exercise of con-scious will power (Wilson, 2002).They depend on introspective per-ceptions to conclude that advertisingis no match for conscious willpower, a mistake caused by inherentdefects in introspection as a methodto identify functional relations(Skinner, 1974).

Paradoxically, the effectiveness ofmaterial reinforcers in advertising isaccomplished by differentially asso-ciating them with nonmarket rein-forcers that people seek: love, friend-ships, sensuality, joyful emotionalexperiences, family gatherings, pleas-ant music, or humor, none of whichcomes with a price tag attached.Most advertising is therefore implic-itly deceitful, carrying the messagethat the good things in life areintrinsically connected to materialconsumption (Jhally, 2002). Thismistaken connection becomes par-tially self-fulfilling, because whenpeople are compelled to work fulltime for material reinforcers, theircontact with nonmaterial reinforcersis restricted, especially those thatrequire time to become fully effec-tive. In this way, people are prevent-ed from seeing their lives as rich inexperiential choices beyond the nar-row realm of materialism (Waide,1987), and often develop impover-ished self-concepts based on identi-fication with commercial products(Barber, 2007; Cushman, 1990).

As a discipline centrally concernedwith the issues and implications ofbehavior control, behavior analysisis, in principle, well positioned toaddress the environmental problemsthat advertising creates through re-search and application. For example,following up on research examiningthe use of aversive contingencies inadvertising (e.g., Richins, 1991)would be useful, as would researchon reverse advertising to discourageconsumption (Bordwell, 2002). Be-havior analysts can also apply their

knowledge of conditioning processesto support banning ads, especiallythose directed at young children.Some evidence suggests that for veryyoung children, awareness of thepersuasive intent of ads increasesthe reinforcing effectiveness of theadvertised products (Rozendaal,Buijzen, & Valkenburg, 2009). Nor-way and Sweden have banned thebroadcast of children’s ads, and theCanadian province of Quebec hasbanned all ads directed at children byany medium (Media Awareness Net-work, 2010). U.S.-based groups areseeking similar bans (e.g., Campaignfor a Commercial-Free Childhood,2011). Monbiot (2009) has called fornewspapers to ban ads for cars andair travel as a means of addressingclimate change.

An appealing prospect is a one-for-one ad policy that would reclaimthe public ownership of the airwavesand require broadcasters to matchall ad time with an equal timefor public-service announcements(PSAs) that criticize consumptionand promote desirable alternatives.Adbusters’ (2011) satirical counter-consumption ads are designed todiminish the reinforcing effectivenessof advertised products, for exampleby differentially associating theproduct with unpleasant imagery orby casting passive ad viewers unflat-teringly as products themselves. TheMormon Church’s (Mormon.org,2005) PSAs are designed to in-crease the reinforcing effectivenessof wholesome and pleasurable familyactivities that are desirable alterna-tives to material consumption. Po-tential PSAs could include en-couraging critical thinking aboutcommercial persuasion methods,voting in elections, civic engagement,language learning, sports participa-tion, healthy eating, alternatives toviolence, civility, participation in thearts, and so on. These would allfoster desirable alternatives to thework-to-consume behaviors encour-aged by advertising.

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Establishing the Effectiveness ofCultural Reinforcers

Economist Tibor Scitovsky (1989,1992) described the problem of over-consumption as a lack of skilledconsumption, which in technicalterms refers to a process in whichaesthetic conditioned reinforcers areestablished, riveting fortunate indi-viduals in the pursuit of artistic,musical, intellectual, and other cul-tural reinforcers. We tend to think ofconsumption as only material con-sumption, but Scitovsky’s skilledconsumption refers to the consump-tion of learned aesthetic and culturalreinforcers that do not draw substan-tially on fossil fuels. Much of theeffectiveness of these reinforcers istheir infinite mutability into a varietynovel forms, an ‘‘endogenous sourceof change and novelty’’ (Bianchi,2003, p. 204) and a central featureof aesthetic appeal (Hineline, 2005;Scitovsky, 1992). Acquiring fluentskills is initially time consuming andcan be stressful. Tasks such asplaying a musical instrument aredifficult and challenge the learner’sabilities (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Sci-tovsky, 1992). Once they are ac-quired, however, artistic and intellec-tual consumption skills produce abeneficial emergent multiplier effect:As greater levels of fluency areachieved, reinforcement rate andmagnitude progressively increase.Reading is an example of this pro-cess. Basic reading instruction opensup a vast set of new reinforcers and,as advanced literary skills are ac-quired along with historical andcontextual knowledge, more reinforc-ers are progressively forthcomingover time.

Although Scitovsky (1992) gener-ally favored skilled consumption inthe fine arts, he acknowledged thatskilled consumption also could en-compass a larger range of activitiesincluding the culinary arts, athletics,games requiring skill, politics, andscience. Schafer (2008) and Solow

(2008) have also argued for thisbroadened concept of culture.

Questions about the sustainableuse of leisure time rise high on theagenda once working-to-consume isseen as a problem, yet relatively littlefirm data point the way. We doencounter people who care little forstatus consumption and are wrappedup in worlds of athletics, yoga,probing conversation, open-sourcecomputing, reading, and the arts.The existence of these people suggeststhat Scitovsky and other arts advo-cates are correct that there is a higherplane of skill with richer and variedforms of novel reinforcement, but thenature of the plane and what isneeded to get anyone there are notwell understood. In the absence ofdata, Scitovsky (1992) asked us toreflect on examples like kindergartenchildren who are entranced by artexperiences that never become thefoundation of more advanced skillsbecause they are displaced by theteaching of behaviors useful to thegrowth economy.

I have suggested that Scitovsky’sconsumption skills are broadly inter-pretable as a chained schedule ofreinforcement in which the initial linkhas a high response requirement anda low reinforcement rate, but theterminal link has a high and long-lasting reinforcement rate (Grant,2010). Bianchi (2003) suggested thatthese and similar contingencies pro-duce suboptimal reinforcement dueto two behavioral processes, hyper-bolic discounting and melioration,that prevent people from discoveringthe underlying reinforcers at all, letalone any multiplier effect. Thesebarriers to learning consumptionskills also exemplify Koger and Win-ter’s (2010) notion of a reinforcementdilemma. With lots of time andproperly designed instruction, thesebarriers can be overcome. Mill (1848)firmly believed that consumptionskills are within the reach of every-one. Consumption skills might bewidely learned but for our education-

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al system’s bias in favor of economicproduction skills rather than aestheticreinforcement (Scitovsky, 1989). ForScitovsky, a tragedy of our age is thatmost people fail to acquire the skillsthat permit the emergent multipliereffect to kick in, condemning them tolives of superficial materialism, easilyaccessible forms of entertainment,and work-to-consume routines thatrequire intensive use of fossil fuelsand other limited resources.

There are clearly many obstacles toa successful transition to a culturalage, and Scitovsky (1989) acknowl-edged that it would require genera-tions. Bianchi (2008), Glenn (1986),and Linder (1970) cited modern timescarcity as an impeding factor, aproblem solvable through work-timereduction initiatives. Early and con-tinuing arts education, local orga-nized athletics, libraries, and educa-tion in open-source computing areonly a few examples of initiatives thatmay lead to cultural tipping points.

WHAT CAN BEHAVIORANALYSTS DO?

Behavior analysts can apply theirexpertise using all four types of thesolutions outlined here, but the fore-going considerations heighten theimportance of multipronged ap-proaches that include regulatory so-lutions and the dissemination solu-tions that contribute to regulatoryreforms. Collective action by individ-uals can best effect the regulatoryreforms needed to challenge econom-ic growth and income inequality.Legislation and agreements that pro-vide guaranteed vacations; antiadver-tising, profamily, and proleisurePSAs; fair-trade practices; a 30-hrworkweek; job sharing; steeply pro-gressive income taxes; carbon andconsumption taxes; removal of road,highway, and airport subsidies; part-time jobs that carry no benefitpenalties; comprehensive health-careinsurance; collective bargainingrights; and early retirement are ex-

amples of methods to address climatechange. Many of these proposalsneed to be broadly recognized assustainability issues only coinciden-tally related to their historical statusin traditional political ideologies,which evolved in eras in which socialjustice was a recognized issue butsustainability was not. Disseminationsolutions are an important key tobuilding the coalitions necessary toimplement regulatory reforms, un-derscoring the use of behavioralprinciples to foster cooperation andsocial collaboration (Geller, 1989;McKenzie-Mohr, 2000; Neuringer &Oleson, 2010; Nevin, 2010) andenvironmental education (Blumstein& Saylan, 2007).

Labor unions have historicallybeen a key driver for both reducingwork hours and economic inequality(Hunnicutt, 1988) and remain a forcefor sustainability (Hayden, 1999).Behavior analysts, who have had asignificant impact in applying behav-ioral principles in the workplace onthe side of management, could alsoapply their expertise on the side oflabor to achieve environmental ob-jectives such as a reduced work hoursthat become possible with gains inreal wages and income equality.There are several practical problemsin achieving these outcomes, includ-ing the inertia of affluence that hasco-opted labor into work-to-consumebehavior patterns and the marginal-ized status of unions in represent-ing an increasingly smaller group ofnarrowly self-interested workers.While recognizing these problems,Hayden (1999) nonetheless sees pos-sibilities for labor unions to resumetheir historical push toward work-time reduction. Labor leader AndyStern (2010) has endorsed job shar-ing, a form of work-time reduction,as a remedy for the current unem-ployment problem.

Behavior analysts can apply gen-eralized culture-based solutions. Gel-ler’s (1995) active caring for peopleand the environment and Biglan’s

CONSUMPTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE 259

(2009) psychological flexibility areboth generalized culture-based solu-tions that are capable of strengthen-ing alternatives to material consump-tion. Educational programs andtreatment packages that provide stu-dents with diverse, flexible, nonmate-rial, and skill-based means of rede-fining success and failure (de Botton,2004; Grant, 2010) are also general-ized solutions that have the potentialto address longstanding problemswith existing standards (Sandage,2005; Weiss, 1969). Behavior analystsmight also consider using behavioralassessment and validation methodsto better understand the impact oftime allocation on well-being andthen using these data to construct abehavioral index of societal sustain-ability, augmenting the work ofeconomists in this area (e.g., Anielski,2007).

Specific interventions can be aimedat the functional assessment andalteration of people’s allocation oftime from resource-intensive work toresource-light free-time activities.Treatment packages can be aimedat, for example, encouraging volun-tary simplicity practices (e.g., Elgin,1993), alternative community living(Altus & Morris, 2004; Lloyd, 2010),artistic appreciation and performance(e.g., Hetland, Winner, Veenema, &Sheridan, 2007), music appreciation(e.g., Madsen, Brittin, & Capperella-Sheldon, 1993), local exercise andsports programs (e.g., Ward & Bar-rett, 2002), games requiring con-sumption skills (e.g., Chess in theSchools, 2011; School Bridge League,2011), reskilling (Foley, 2009), com-munity-based activities (Luyben,2009; Putnam, 2000), conversation(Miller, 2006), gardening, crafts, andso on. By creating reinforcers capableof competing with material consump-tion, these initiatives would facilitatea transition to a society of lessresource-intensive work, but theirpotentially beneficial effects on sus-tainability would be fully realizedonly when accompanied by work-

time reductions. Creating the alter-native reinforcers, however, is apartial means of creating demandfor work-time reductions. Many ofthese activities today go unrecog-nized, even by their supporters, asenvironmentally significant. Arts ad-vocates, for example, have historical-ly had problems securing a place forthe arts in school curricula and havesucceeded only by arguing that thearts contribute to economic growth(Efland, 1990). Scitovsky’s (1977)suggestion that the arts save resourc-es by creating attractive time-usealternatives to resource-intensivework is currently inadmissible evenas a debating point because it departsfrom the premise that arts educationtrains better workers and boostsgrowth.

Many other interventions can beaimed at shifting market consump-tion to nonconsumption or nonmar-ket consumption. A few examplesinclude treatment packages to pro-mote car-free living (e.g., Kay, 1997),returning lawns to natural landscapes(Christopher, 2011), telecommutingand distance education (Roy, Potter,Yarrow, & Smith, 2005), sharinginstead of buying (e.g., Ozanne &Ballantine, 2010), open-source soft-ware (Feller et al., 2005), open-accesspublishing (Willinsky, 2006), and freetexts produced through distributedcollaboration (Ravid, Kalman, &Rafaeli, 2008).

Behavior analysts can exploremethods of supplanting material re-inforcers with nonmaterial reinforc-ers. Research in reinforcer sampling(Ayllon & Azrin, 1968) can ascertainhow best to elevate the relativeeffectiveness of resource-light rein-forcers (e.g., McBride, 1997). Re-search that establishes the necessaryand sufficient conditions for theemergent multiplier effect that seemsto occur in aesthetic skills wouldbe valuable, thus building on exist-ing work in fluency (e.g., Binder,1996) and optimal experience (e.g.,Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi,

260 LYLE K. GRANT

1988). Social processes that motivateconsumption (Frank, 1999; Schor,1992, 1998), can be better understoodand altered through work in socialcomparison (e.g., Chao & Schor,1998). Research in antiadvertisingPSAs and media literacy (e.g., Pech-mann & Shih, 1999; Rozendaal et al.,2009; Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, &Giovino, 2003) might determine towhat extent children and adults canlearn to reject advertising appealsto consume. Research in evaluativeconditioning (e.g., Hoffmann, DeHouwer, Perugini, Baeyens, & Crom-bez, 2010; Shimp, Stuart, & Engle,1991) might determine how to enhancethe effectiveness of PSAs that encour-age culture-based alternatives to workand material consumption.

Finally, behavior analysts can ac-quire direct experience with the na-ture and challenges of the solutionsthrough self-experimentation (Neur-inger, 1981) and self-directed inter-ventions (Watson & Tharp, 2002).Direct experience and personal rein-vention through culture-based solu-tions are prerequisites to authenticcultural reinvention. Personal appli-cation and experimentation with cul-ture-based methods can provide asense of individual empowermentover dominant and oppressive cul-tural forces. In addition, these meth-ods yield direct personal benefits suchas improved fitness, artistic andmusical accomplishments, intellectualgrowth, and other recreational plea-sures.

CONCLUSION:INTEGRATING SOLUTIONS

Climate change is a multifacetedproblem (Swim et al., 2010) thatstrikes both broadly and deeply intothe economic and cultural fabric ofthe developed world; therefore, solu-tions must be equally broad anddeep. Climate change is a problemof a growth economy that requires anendless supply of resources in a worldin which those resources are finite.

Use of a steady-state economy is ageneral solution to the problem,which insures that resource inputsand waste-product outputs are main-tained at sustainable levels. In theabsence of a steady-state economy,cultural inertia and the associatedmetacontingencies that support eco-nomic growth are likely to overridethe effects of any solution. Consump-tion-based solutions risk increasinggrowth by making the economy moreefficient and boosting consumptionwith a new mix of products decep-tively marketed as environmentallydesirable.

Four types of solutions will helpmake a cultural transition to asustainable economy: consumption-based, culture-based, regulatory, anddissemination solutions. Culture-based solutions need special attentionbecause they generally involve re-duced material consumption and aretherefore not supported by culturalinertia and growth-economy meta-contingencies. Culture-based solu-tions are distinctly psychological so-lutions that tap the expertise of thosein the behavioral sciences, especiallybehavior analysts who can deal withthe fundamental problems of alteringreinforcer effectiveness and therebymake a transition from an economicage to a cultural age (Schafer, 2008).Relatively small groups of behavioralscientists cannot, however, assumethat mere advocacy of either con-sumption-based or culture-based so-lutions will solve the problem: Abroad consensus must be reached toimplement regulatory solutions thateffectively support consumption-based and culture-based solutionson a sufficiently large scale. Behavioranalysts, a group that has tradition-ally seen external influences as eitherdistractive or corruptive, should rec-ognize the nature of the challenge asone of political coalition building.Fortunately, ecological economistshave a growing influence, and therelatively well-known individuals cit-ed herein are championing worth-

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while initiatives, including WaldenTwo’s culture-based solutions. Work-ing with these people offers thepotential of building a critical masssufficient to achieve cultural tippingpoints.

We clearly have a long way to go,but doing what we are currentlydoing—advocating and implement-ing only those solutions that do notalter the inertia of affluence andgrowth-economy metacontingencies—is complacency in environmentalistgarb. The world’s best days may beahead of us, but getting there de-mands that we pause and reflect onwhat our best days can be.

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