Facilitating positive spillover effects: new insights from a mixed-methods approach exploring factors enabling people to live more sustainable lifestyles

Positive spillover occurs when changes in one behavior influence changes in subsequent behaviors. Evidence for such spillover and an understanding of when and how it may occur are still limited. This paper presents findings of a 1-year longitudinal behavior change project led by a commercial retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland to examine behavior change and potential spillover of pro-environmental behavior, and how this may be associated with changes in environmental identity and perceptions of ease and affordability as well as perceptions of how participation in the project has helped support behavior change. We draw on both quantitative and qualitative data. Study 1 examines quantitative data from the experimental and a matched control group. Study 2 reports qualitative findings from a follow up interview study with participants of the experimental group. As expected, we found significant changes in reported pro-environmental behavior and identity in the experimental group as well as some indications of behavioral spillover. These changes were not significantly associated with changes in environmental identity. The interviews suggested that group dynamics played an important role in facilitating a sense of efficacy and promoting sustained behavior change and spillover. Moreover, the support by a trusted entity was deemed to be of crucial importance

Above and beyond? How businesses can drive sustainable development by promoting lasting pro-environmental behaviour change: an examination of the IKEA Live Lagom project

Current global changes require new business approaches driving sustainable development on all fronts. To date, most business approaches have focused on sustainable marketing and corporate social responsibility initiatives. In this field study, we examine IKEA’s Live Lagom project, a three year behaviour change initiative that aimed to explore how to go above and beyond conventional approaches demonstrating how businesses could support sustainable development by supporting their customers’ attempts to live more sustainable lifestyles. We examined the effectiveness of the project involving multi-faceted behaviour change interventions, testing for behavioural changes both during and after the project period. In addition, we explored changes in participants’ attitudes towards the company. Findings show that the extensive set of interventions led to changes in pro-environmental behaviours across all three participant groups with potentially positive impacts on the customer-company relationship. The article thus provides a call for further businesses to engage in similar behaviour change projects that would allow citizens to engage in more sustainable lifestyles and behaviours across contexts

The problematic role of materialistic values in the pursuit of sustainable well-being

Strong materialistic values help to maintain consumer capitalism, but they can have negative consequences for individual well-being, for social equity and for environmental sustainability. In this paper, we add to the existing literature on the adverse consequences of materialistic values by highlighting their negative association with engagement in attitudes and actions that support the achievement of sustainable well-being. To do this, we explore the links between materialistic values and attitudes towards sufficiency (consuming “just enough”) as well as mindfulness (non-judgmental awareness of the present moment) and flow (total immersion in an activity), which have all been linked to increased well-being and more sustainable behaviours. We present results from three correlational studies that examine the association between materialistic values and sufficiency attitudes (Study 1, n = 310), a multi-faceted measure of mindfulness (Study 2, n = 468) and the tendency to experience flow (Study 3, n = 2000). Results show that materialistic values were negatively associated with sufficiency attitudes, mindfulness, and flow experiences. We conclude with practical considerations and suggest next steps for tackling the problematic aspects of materialism and encouraging the development of sustainable well-being

Auswirkungen von Bewirtschaftungsmaßnahmen auf die Treibhausgasemissionen eines kleiüberdeckten Niedermoores

Für die klassische landwirtschaftliche Nutzung von Moorflächen ist die Entwässerung unerlässlich, verursacht aber Emissionen der Treibhausgase (THG) Kohlendioxid (CO2) und Lachgas (N2O). THG-Emissionen aus "echten" Torfböden sind hinsichtlich der Auswirkungen von Hydrologie und Bewirtschaftung gut untersucht, aber es gibt wenig Daten zu THG-Emissionen von überdeckten organischen Böden. Die Mineralbodenhorizonte können entweder anthropogen Ursprungs sein oder sind, z.B. durch die Ablagerung von fluviatilen oder marinen Sedimenten natürlich entstanden. Überdeckte Moorstandorte sind in Nordwestdeutschland und anderen Regionen mit intensiv genutzten Torfgebieten oder (ehemaliger) Überflutungsdynamik weit verbreitet. Hier wollen wir die Auswirkungen der Bewirtschaftung, des Wasserstandes und der Eigenschaften der Kleiauflage auf die Emissionen von CO2, N2O und Methan (CH4) quantifizieren. Das Untersuchungsgebiet wird als Intensivgrünland genutzt (4 bis 5 Schnitte pro Jahr, N-Düngung von 112 bis 157 kg/ha a) und künstlich entwässert. Der Niedermoortorf mit einer Mächtigkeit von 0,6 bis 1,50 m ist mit Klei überdeckt. Es wurden sechs Messstandorte ausgewählt, welche für das Gebiet typische Bedingungen repräsentieren. Die Standorte unterscheiden sich im Gehalt des organischen Bodenkohlenstoffes (SOC) der Kleiauflage (4 – 1 % SOC), im Auftreten eines Pflughorizontes sowie der Entwässerung und der Bewirtschaftung. Wir verwenden manuelle Hauben zur Messung von CO2-, CH4- und N2O-Flüssen. Ganztägige CO2-Messkampagnen mit transparenten und nicht-transparenten Hauben finden je nach Jahreszeit jede dritte oder vierte Woche statt. Gasproben für die Messung der CH4 und N2O-Flüsse werden alle zwei Wochen und zusätzlich am ersten, dritten und siebten Tag nach Düngeranwendung genommen und gaschromatographisch analysiert. Erste Ergebnisse zeigen aufgrund des niedrigen Grundwasserspiegels sehr geringe CH4-Flüsse. Kumulierte N2O-Emissionen spiegeln vor allem die unterschiedlichen Düngergaben wieder, obwohl es im bisherigen Messzeitraum selten N2O-Peaks direkt nach der Düngerapplikation gab. Dies ist wahrscheinlich durch die geringe Bodenfeuchte zu erklären. Hochgerechnet von den Daten der ersten sechs Monaten zeigte sich, dass die N2O-Emissionen des kleiüberdeckten Niedermoores gleiche Größenordnungen wie die Emissionen von „echten“ Torfböden mit vergleichbarer N-Düngung erreichen. Die Ergebnisse der CO2-Messungen des ersten Jahres werden ebenfalls präsentiert werden

Placing people at the heart of climate action

This is the final version. Available on open access from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this record. Profound societal change along with continued technical improvements will be required to meet our climate goals, as well as to improve people’s quality of life and ensure thriving economies and ecosystems. Achieving the urgent and necessary transformations laid out in the recently published IPCC report will require placing people at the heart of climate action. Tackling climate change cannot be achieved solely through technological breakthroughs or new climate models. We must build on the strong social science knowledge base and develop a more visible, responsive and interdisciplinary-oriented social science that engages with people and is valued in its diversity by decision-makers from government, industry, civil society and law. Further, we need to design interventions that are both effective at reducing emissions and achieve wider societal goals such as wellbeing, equity, and fairness. Given that all climate solutions will involve people in one way or another, the social sciences have a vital role to play.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC

Appraising the intention of other people: Ecological validity and procedures for investigating effects of lighting for pedestrians

One of the aims of outdoor lighting public spaces such as pathways and subsidiary roads is to help pedestrians to evaluate the intentions of other people. This paper discusses how a pedestrians’ appraisal of another persons’ intentions in artificially lit outdoor environments can be studied. We review the visual cues that might be used, and the experimental design with which effects of changes in lighting could be investigated to best resemble the pedestrian experience in artificially lit urban environments. Proposals are made to establish appropriate operationalisation of the identified visual cues, choice of methods and measurements representing critical situations. It is concluded that the intentions of other people should be evaluated using facial emotion recognition; eye tracking data suggest a tendency to make these observations at an interpersonal distance of 15 m and for a duration of 500 ms. Photographs are considered suitable for evaluating the effect of changes in light level and spectral power distribution. To support investigation of changes in spatial distribution further investigation is needed with 3D targets. Further data are also required to examine the influence of glare

Is variety the spice of life? An experimental investigation into the effects of species richness on self-reported mental well-being.

<div><p>Losses in biodiversity and trends toward urbanisation have reduced people’s contact with biodiverse nature, yet the consequences for mental well-being are not well understood. Here, we demonstrate that greater plant and animal species richness in isolation causes an improvement in mental well-being. To do so, the present research experimentally manipulated species richness and assessed widely-used indicators of mental well-being. Participants viewed short videos of either high or low tree (Study 1) or bird (Study 2) species richness and reported on positive (i.e., vitality, positive affect) and negative (i.e., anxiety) indicators of mental well-being. Building on Study 1, Study 2 included an urban environment as a reference treatment and explored the role of giving participants information on the presented environment. We find that, in line with expectations, watching videos containing greater species richness consistently leads to higher mental well-being. We discuss findings in light of the importance of connecting people to biodiverse environments.</p></div