NEW YORK (AP) — Lauren Click founded a nonprofit a few years ago offering free composting education to schools around the country. Today, 112 schools participate, yet she can’t get her boyfriend to properly separate his trash at home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Adults have more set behaviors than young kids. I try to model a behavior and hopefully he does it,” said Click, executive director of her Let’s Go Compost organisation. “But it’s also like, I’m not his parent. I’m not going to berate him every day or ruin my relationship over this. I just fish a bunch of stuff out of the trash.”

Her efforts, which she calls 50-50 effective with her partner, point to an important question in the field of environmental psychology: What’s the best approach when looking to influence colleagues, friends and family to live more sustainably? What’s the worst?

Researchers say Click is on the right track. Modeling can work, though as with other approaches, it depends on who the sender is, how the message is framed and who it’s intended for.

Here’s a look at some of the issues and strategies involved in making people more aware of their role in climate change, which is caused by the burning of fuels like gasoline, coal and gas, and encouraging them to cut waste and protect the natural world.

Peer pressure is at play

Magnus Bergquist is an associate professor of psychology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. His research focuses on how to persuade people to adopt more eco-friendly behavior. In a recent study reviewing studies in his area, Bergquist homed in on the influence of others.

“What we found was the most effective strategy for changing behavior is social norms, pointing to what other people are doing or people’s perception of other people’s approval or disapproval,” he said.

“But interestingly, when we ask people about the effectiveness of different interventions, people tend to say that social norms are among the least effective ones,” Bergquist added.
The bottom line: Humans are generally social animals, which isn’t a surprise. But most people underestimate how much they’re influenced by social norms, and campaigns are often based on strategies that are less effective, he said.

Financial incentives also work, to a degree

While Click is unlikely to pay off her boyfriend to do better, Bergquist said financial incentives or disincentives are the second most effective strategy (behind social norms) in getting people to take more sustainable steps in their lives.

That covers everything from bonus cash in a community or office to tax benefits, he said. But there’s a caveat.

When people change their behavior because of financial incentives or disincentives, “some studies show that it crowds out people’s moral compass,” he said. “They will do it for the money. They won’t do it for the sake of the question as such.”

Example: A popular way to promote pro-environmental behavior is holding a contest for something like conserving energy or riding your bike to work.

“Ride your bike and a get a prize,” Bergquist explained. “What we see over and over again is that’s effective in the short term. When the prize or the contest is removed, people tend to go back.”

Education is good, but not enough by itself

Norah Hippolyte is the business manager for St. Mary Magdalen Parish in socially progressive Berkeley, California. She supplies table goods for workers and a wide range of group gatherings, from funerals and community dinners to functions for the parish’s school.
For several years, she’s been trying to wean everyone onto compostable plates, cups, bowls and utensils.

“So I buy the stuff. I make sure people are aware I’ve got it in the closet, that that’s where I keep everything. I say, use this stuff. Make sure you let me know when people start to run low,” she said. “But people choose not to use what’s there. They’re using their own things, and it’s all regular plastic.”

She tries to get them to rinse and recycle, or clean what’s cleanable so it can be used again.

“When I started working in Berkeley, I figured everybody had this whole recycle thing down. Nooooo,” Hippolyte said. “Not only did I have to learn, I have to now try and teach people, OK, this bin is for this, this and this. That bin is for this. Sorting is the biggest issue.”

Hippolyte’s experience doesn’t surprise Bergquist. “I always want to mention education — trying to inform people or educate people about issues — because that tends to be ineffective alone,” he said.

Bergquist says those who have been talking themselves to death or shoveling facts into the faces of reluctant folks should add some other motivation.

For example, when Sarah Davies was trying to convince her 16-year-old son to give up single-use plastics, she switched strategies.

“He truly believed he can use plastic as much as he likes and then put it into the recycling bin,” said Davies, who heads up communications for Earthday.org, organisers of the April 22 Earth Day. “What finally made the difference was me explaining that when he’s drinking from a single-use plastic bottle, be it water or soda, he’s also drinking potentially 240,000 nano particles of plastics. That shocked him.”

Bergquist noted that a couple of experiments have indicated that people pay more attention to negative information than positive information.

“So instead of saying many people are pro-environmental, you can say people are avoiding environmentally harmful products,” he said. “It’s the avoidance.”

It’s a small but potentially valuable tweak, Bergquist said. Take straws.

“Instead of saying people are using paper straws, you might say most people are avoiding plastic straws. You don’t have to explain. People will find an explanation,” he said.

Other expert tips for persuasion include picking your battles; starting small, focusing on one habit; appealing to the person’s interest in other benefits, like saving money or being more efficient; keeping it easy; and not forcing the issue.