“The science is hardly settled, and besides, it’s not as if it’s going to be a big deal, not in our lifetime anyway. I can’t believe our leaders are falling for this. It’s just another fad”.
The knee-jerk response to a statement like this one might be to recite the hard facts about the earth’s changing climate. It’s tempting to say that virtually all research supports the theory of anthropogenic climate change. One might mention that climate experts agree that climate change is already causing human suffering and ecological degradation at an alarming rate.
The messaging from the experts around climate change is in fact very clear – climate change is happening now, it is affecting the entire world, it is caused by human activity, and there is potential for catastrophic outcomes if left unchecked.
With such evidence, convincing somebody that this is an important issue must be easy, right? Well, not quite.
Okay, but if it’s not easy, why not? With what are beliefs and opinions built around if not facts? That’s and excellent question, and I’m glad you asked.
The mechanisms by which people form and defend beliefs, make decisions, and act on those decisions are far from simple. It seems like a paradox – how can something we are constantly doing so effortlessly be complicated and mysterious?
The study of human behaviour, interaction and decision-making (broadly referred to as behavioural science) has received a tremendous amount of attention in recent years. Amongst other things, behavioural science is concerned with how people decide to practice one set of behaviours or switch over to another. Any insights gained into this process are of obvious utility to policy makers. In 2015 president Barak Obama issued an executive order encouraging all federal departments and agencies to take a close look at their programs and operations and apply insights from behavioural sciences to better serve the American public.
Mobilising public support for collective action to reduce the production of greenhouse gasses is an essential aspect of developing successful policy to mitigate climate change. If there’s one thing behavioural science can tell us, it’s that changing behaviour is not easy. Luckily, behavioural science tells us much more than that. It challenges the notion that people are generally rational, instead suggesting that situations and unconscious cognitive quirks play a very large and sometimes insidious role in determining people’s behaviour and beliefs. It advocates a more holistic approach to communications, emphasising the importance of context and understanding the audience.
To revisit the first sentence of this blog post, best practices from behavioural science would encourage the disagreeing listener not to simply negate each argument, but to focus more on the speaker and their motivations, pressures, deeper beliefs and understandings. Understanding the situations that have given rise to a persons beliefs will inform how an effective message can and should be delivered.
If we give into the temptation to argue with those who do not believe in climate change we risk simply alienating them and perhaps leaving them less likely to favourably consider the issue of climate action in the future. We, as a society and as individuals, should look to behavioural science principles to guide us in communicating the important of climate action. Ultimately it is up to us to convince the rest of the world that something must be done.
