INSPIRE CULTURAL CHANGE TO SUPPORT CLIMATE ACTION.

Research shows that social expectations play a major role in either reinforcing business as usual, or helping to break free of carbon lock-in and unlock powerful climate action. People are motivated to follow the shared rules, standards, and expectations shared by groups they belong to. These social norms strongly shape how people behave, including in ways that support or block climate action. Only 25 percent of a population is needed to support a norm change, like not flying, before it reaches a tipping point and becomes a social norm, and this can happen fast. So bringing others along in building consensus to make changes aligned with climate action can be powerful.

Social norms get created and reinforced by what we do and what we share.

To change the climate, we need positive cultural change, to support and unlock policy and behavior change. This means taking action and starting conversations that help shift incentives, defaults, and expectations away from the polluting status quo, and towards positive climate actions.

Here are a few tips to get you started on living, sharing, and celebrating the low-carbon high life, thanks to Dr. Seth Wynes of the University of Waterloo:

• Build consensus at your workplace to shift food and travel norms. For example, change the default milk in the office fridge or on the menu to plant-based. Make vegetarian catering the default for conferences. Adopt a travel policy that promotes virtual and train travel over flying.
• Advocate for workplace policies that shift the norm towards car-free living, like compensating staff who opt out of a parking space or a company car. Organize a bike to work day.
• Organize a bike convoy for parents to take their kids to and from school.
• Use social media to share examples of fun local holidays, gorgeous plant-based meals, and creative climate campaigns, rather than reinforcing high-carbon luxuries. (See Emily Atkin’s great piece, “Against meatposting”, that explains why posting pictures celebrating the consumption of high-carbon luxuries is providing “free PR for a highly-polluting industry.”)
• Advocate for change in local media’s journalistic norms, to level the playing field for climate-friendly options. For example, if current articles only describe negative consequences from climate-friendly proposals (neighbors who don’t want new housing or bike lanes), ask journalists to interview new residents who are saving emissions, or cyclists enjoying a smoother ride, not just car users.