I was so pleased to join We Don't Have Time's broadcast from #COP27 and discuss why individual people play a meaningful role in addressing climate change. Companies react to consumer trends. Politicians follow popular opinion. We know that one person eating an Impossible burger will not solve the climate crisis. But building a critical mass of people who eat less meat can pave the way to systemic change.
Shifting social norms is a powerful and underutilized strategy we have in the climate fight. We are social animals. We thrive in communities. When the community changes, we change with it. In fact, the best predictor of climate action is whether a person believes that other people are already taking action. When climate-friendly actions are seen as common, normal, and expected, people are more likely to change their behavior.
Rare’s innovative Climate Culture Index measures what individual Americans are thinking about various high-impact climate actions and what they are DOING about them. What we've found is that people think they are alone in believing others should act on climate change. There is a huge gap between what people think other people believe about taking climate action, and what those people actually believe. We call it the "normative bubble." The Index will help us measure that bubble, and plan interventions to pop it by normalizing key climate-friendly behaviors.
Learn more at rare.org/climate-culture-index.
https://twitter.com/WeDontHaveTime/status/1592158141226971148?s=20&t=bUMtgkTN5AHVs36QVDDlBg
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One of the most interesting moments of COP for sure! It's such a great tool for people to understand how behavioural change and climate action are linked
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Exactly. Raising awareness is key and it would scale up the climate restoration solutions.
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Making climate friendly behavior a norm and closing the gap between what people think and what people are doing will be a key solution to solving the climate crisis!
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Great to have you on the We Don’t Have Time COP27 broadcast!