Notes on using this guide:
This guide was written in preparation for facilitating a Climate Conversation. It contains background information and ideas for conversation starters. I have written it out as a script, and it can be used that way, but I prefer short bullet points as prompts.
I produce more conversation starters around a topic than I plan to use because I never know what will come out of the conversation. Often something comes up in the first part that feels right to explore further, and, when that happens, we go with the flow. Sometimes a question or idea doesn’t ‘work’, if that happens we move on to a different one.
Background information
This topic developed out of a previous discussion on how the climate crisis might mean transforming our beliefs and values as well as our actions.
Our concern is with understanding why people who believe the climate crisis is real, and maybe make some efforts in their lives that are consistent with that belief, do plenty of other things that are well known to be bad for the environment. Essentially, we are trying to understand why people act in the way that they do, and what role our beliefs and values play. How we answer this question says something about our beliefs about who we are, how the social world works and how much agency we have. These beliefs can be deeply held without being thought about much. They may be ideas we have never tried to put into words before.
I’ve outlined a few different explanations below. I appreciate they may seem a little technical or abstract but don’t worry. There’s no need to learn the technical terms to lead a conversation.
a) Individual choices
Economists might answer this question by saying that human beings are rational and self-interested. Therefore, it is our assessment of what is in our best interests that determines our actions. If we want to change people’s behaviour we can do this by changing their beliefs about what is in their best interest. The problem with this theory is that people often behave in irrational ways.
Behavioural economists have developed explanations of behaviour that still pay attention to individuals and their choices, but explain why we can be irrational – we use mental shortcuts that make decision-making faster and easier, and these shortcuts limit our ability to think rationally. We can change behaviour by improving incentives or reducing costs,or by providing information that will change beliefs and attitudes.
Social psychologists also focuses on individuals but include emotions and the social context in which behaviour occurs. They explain behaviour by including the factors that drive or restrain our behaviour. We can change behaviour by removing obstacles or encouraging driving factors.
b) Social explanations
One way in which this approach explains human actions is by saying our beliefs and desires are socially constructed. They emerge from our interactions with each other, the stories we tell and the way we organise ourselves.1
Another way of understanding why we do things is to think about our activities as being socially organised as recognisable practices like gardening, grocery shopping, or commuting. These socially organised activities happen inside big socio-technical systems. How we carry out practices like gardening, washing or getting to work are constrained by the socio-technical system. Our ideas about what’s desirable or the right way to do things evolve alongside the big system as we perform the practices.2 Thinking about social practices shifts responsibility from individuals to the systems and arrangements in practices. However, humans also have agency. We can organise and innovate. Our options might be limited, but we can find ways of intervening in the social and technological systems.
Ideas for starting a conversation
- What’s our immediate response to the question? ‘Why don’t people act in line with their beliefs and values?
Give people time to think by themselves, and to notice what thoughts, feelings and sensations come up. These answers don’t have to be perfect or correct. It’s just our initial response to the question. This exercise can help get a sense of the range of opinion in the room, and the strength of people’s feelings. Ask people to take turns speaking as we go around the table. Act as a scribe for the group writing ideas up on the board where everyone can see them. - Taking a second look at our thoughts and feelings.
As a group take a look at the ideas we have on the board and reflect on them. More ideas might emerge in the process
What beliefs do we share? How do we differ? How confident are we in our different explanations? - How do these explanations help us with our aims of coping with and acting on the climate crisis?
Acknowledgements
The following resources have helped me develop this guide. Many thanks to the authors for providing free access to their work.
“Influencing Behaviours: ISM Technical Guide.” Accessed October 10, 2024. https://www.gov.scot/publications/influencing-behaviours-technical-guide-ism-tool/.
Randall, Rosemary, Rebecca Nestor, and Daniela Fernandez-Catherall. The Carbon Conversations Guide to Living with the Climate Crisis Facilitator’s Guide. UK: The Climate Psychology Alliance, 2023. https://livingwiththeclimatecrisis.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/LWTCC-Facilitators-Guide-final.pdf.
Welch, Daniel. “Social Practices and Behaviour Change: ‘Key Issues, Interdisciplinary Approaches and Future Directions,’” 237–56, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447317555.003.0012.
- In the Carbon Conversations Guide to Living in the Climate Crisis, Rosemary Randall and others, use the example of how socially constructed denial was created in a small Norweigan town to illustrate this.
↩︎ - In the Carbon Conversations Guide to Living in the Climate Crisis, Rosemary Randall and others use examples of changing laundry practices and the expansion of car use. Roads are designed for ease of driving, walking becomes more dangerous, and more people drive. ↩︎