How to Boost Environmental Concern: Emphasize the Future, Not Imminent Doom

As the climate warms and changes, scientists are trying to find ways to boost the public's interest and concern for the environment. Now, they've found out something interesting about how to spark that interest. It turns out that one way to encourage environmentally-friendly behavior is to emphasize the long life expectancy of a nation, and not necessarily its imminent downfall.

In order to take a closer look at what could help inspire concern for the environment, the researchers used data from the Environmental Performance Index. In all, they analyzed the environmental records of 131 countries, looking at data on environmental indicators like air pollution, clean water, biodiversity and habitat protection. The researchers then used additional data from a Gallup poll to show a connection between citizens' environmental concern, the age of a nation and its environmental performance.

Intrigued by these findings, the researchers actually wondered whether a sense of long national history might increase citizens' confidence that their nation would endure. This, in turn, might lead to concern for protection the nation (and the environment) over the long-term.  

The scientists then conducted a lab-based study in which they manipulated how old the U.S. seemed using historical timelines. Some volunteers saw a timeline running from Columbus's landing in 1492 to the present day, so the nation's 237 years dominated the timeline. The others viewed a timeline beginning with the Roman Empire, which made the nation's 237 years look small against the historical timeline.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that the participants who were led to have an elongated sense of American history donated significantly more money to an environmental organization. The volunteers that saw a U.S. history that seemed relatively short--those that saw the timeline that began with the Roman Empire--actually donated far less.

"Our research suggests to rely less on end-of-world scenarios and to emphasize instead the various ways in which our country--and our planet--has a rich and long history that deserves to be preserved," said Hal Hershfield, one of the researchers, in a news release. "By highlighting the shadow of the past, we may actually help illuminate the path to an environmentally sustainable future."

The findings are published in the journal Psychological Science.