Lady LUX

With the growing knowledge factor and ease to access information, one might think that we are also more inspired to put this ‘knowledge’ into action. Well, according to a new study conducted by Yale and George Mason University that is simply not the case.

By looking above you can see a brief snapshot of the results. The blue line represents people who know about the importance of these simple conservation techniques and take action, while the red line represents those that are also fully aware of the importance and are not taking action, while the grey doesn’t believe it is important and is not taking action.

“There are many possible explanations for the gap between people’s attitudes and their actual behavior,” said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change. “For example, public transportation may not be locally available or convenient. Overcoming barriers such as these will make it much easier for people to act in ways consistent with their values.”

So you can see, that there is a trend demonstrated in the graph above of people who ‘know’ what they can do, but the awareness of something hasn’t translated to actual action. For instance, 81% of people are aware of the importance of ‘reusing shopping bags’ and 48% of people admitted to actually not doing anything about it. Unfortunately, this is not the only case where close to 80-90% of people actually admitted to knowing the importance of something and more then 50% of people who acknowledge their lack of action.

Some question how this can be the case. Even experts question the effectiveness of placing all the responsibility on the individual and not the whole could be hindering people in following through in these simply areas. Many suggest that by taking a more global eco stance as a society or as a city will be much more effective to ensure the processes in place will gain momentum. If this is true, then this will allow people to implement the recycling, public transportation, reducing trash, conserving water and turning off of lights and it will become the way of life and not the exception. Knowledge is only as powerful as it influences our thoughts, actions and way of living.

So eco-LUXies, what are your thoughts on this imbalance between knowing and action? How do we sustain a living system that builds on individual action and also creates the space for individual choice? What would motivate you to not only know what to do, but also to do it??

Tagged in: sustainable practices, yale university, george mason university, green study, eco behavior,