Aldora Lau

My research will be on social media as a platform for removing cognitive barriers to motivating climate change mitigation efforts. 

“It was our fault, and our very great fault – and now we must turn it to use. We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse. So the more we work and the less we talk, the better results we shall get…”

--Rudyard Kipling

Background

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 80% of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are from fossil fuels, and a quarter of those emissions are produced by households through heating, electricity and transportation. The study shows that the top household income quintile produces 1.8x more emissions than the lowest quintile, while the top 1% produces 6x the lowest 10%. While many provinces have suggested a carbon tax, the outcome would result in leaving the lower quintiles, who have been conservatively using energy that they can afford for only their bare necessities, in a worse state (Lee & Card, 2011). 

The requirements of engagement are awareness, concern, willingness to change, and ability to change. A study of randomly selected populations in Houston TX and Portland OR were interviewed and surveyed to measure the level of awareness, concern and engagement amongst different populations. The results show that among both populations, 92% are aware with the majority of the population having higher income than those unaware. Concern amongst the aware individuals was 90% with the population favouring women and those with lower income. Amongst them, approximately half were reporting to have behavioural change; those in Portland showed more engagement to those in Houston, as higher education, younger in age, and higher education were favoured. Of the people that reported change, 43% reported decrease in energy usage, 39% in reduced gasoline consumption and 26% reported other behaviours that include, recycling, conserving water, buying a fuel-efficient car, investing in renewable power, not using aerosol cans, taking fewer airline flights, alternative eating habits like eating no or less meat and buying local foods (Semenza, Hall, Wilson, Bontempo, Sailor, & George, 2008).

Such low engagement relative to the high awareness and concern is put into perspective when understanding the transtheoretical model of behaviour change. The model suggests that behaviour change can really only occur in a temporal gradual build of both cognitive and performance-based moments. The gradual steps are as such: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and termination (Prochaska & Velicer, 1997).

Therefore, it is the barriers that present themselves as psychological obstacles that have to be studied and analyzed to better cater to consumer behaviours. In Robert Gifford’s Journal, “Dragons of Inaction”, he notes 29 psychological barriers that he refers to as “dragons of inaction”.  These dragons can be broken down into a few categories: not knowing how, perceived risks including functional, physical, financial, social, psychological and temporal doubts, conflicting values and goals, social comparisons including perceived inequity and fitting the norm, ideologies such as deities and technology, and distrust, which umbrellas the concepts of skepticism, ignorance, optimism bias, discredence, reactance and fatalism. The main category that connects the majority of the barriers is misinformation (Gifford, 2011).

Social media has already been used to facilitate political and corporate views amongst consumers, and should be used as a platform to influence greater good. The use of traditional media has been thought to induce information numbness, whereas social media refreshes ideas and promotes informed discussions that connect people to form motivated networks. The newer platform of information has proven to increase citizen’s environmental knowledge, raise environmental awareness, raise environmental consciousness, and promote willingness to engage (Zhang & Skoric, 2018).

Evaluation/Problem

The earth is deteriorating and for some reason not everyone is aware or just ignores it. Atmospheric carbon dioxide has almost tripled since 1950 from which levels have never passed for millennia; sea levels are rising and animals are going extinct. The public seems to be misinformed by what is happening and what impact they can make on the issue. The webpages on climate change that aim to inform are outdated in aesthetics, with poor data visualization. The layouts are difficult to navigate and read as no design process seems to have been put into the typesetting and user interface. The language is more scientific than the average read, which may be one of the factors to people believing a “normal” person can’t make a difference.

The use of social media would be able to promote pro-environmental engagement through discussions and relatable data visualizations. Social media invites discussions on bigger issues which encourages engagement and could lead to further adaptation of pro-environmental habits thus a more activist approach to solving climate change.

Objective

This research will examine forms of social media that can be used to refresh, inform and motivate those with awareness and concern for the environment. It will aim to find new social media tools that can be used to reimage and promote climate change mitigation engagement and  focus on how social media can create networks and informed discussions that can lead to environmental consumerism and eventually the adaptation of pre-environmental ideologies. The objective will be finding the appropriate level of engagement to motivate those that are already aware and concerned without inducing information numbness.

Solution

The solutions presented will focus on breaking the social risk barrier, creating and incorporating climate change mitigation and environmental friendly practices into a social construct. The platform would be a place to share your environmentally friendly choices; big or small, and also draw inspiration from others on how to add to or improve your habits. Users would be able to discuss issues with other people and spread awareness. Not only will this help grow the population of people that would change their habits to help climate change mitigation, but it would also provide a platform to present information in a less scientific and otherwise foreign way. The issue would seem less out of reach, and more people would follow suit, and understand that a “normal” person can make a difference. Other solutions like a time-based eco friendly game that progresses through the players’ decision making could be implemented into the platform as a way of increasing subconscious habits. 

Moving Forward

The use of quantitative as well as qualitative data should be used in the research process. Surveys to measure the informative and impact level of the platforms presented. Quantitative data can be taken from site visits and number of times the content has been shared or commented on. This will show the impact of the content created, as well as how well the users respond and interact with the platform.

Significance

The impact of climate change affects everyone in the world. The problem is that the consequences are not obvious to many people until it is too late. With more awareness, interaction and motivation, not only will harmful climate change-related consequences be mitigated, but social impacts such as public health, social awareness, communal interaction and connectivity will be positively influenced, thus indirectly affecting economies and communities positively.

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Bibliography

Lee, Marc, and Amanda Card. “Who Occupies the Sky? The Distribution of GHGs in Canada.” Behind The Numbers, Nov. 2011, www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/National Office/2011/11/Who Occupies the Sky.pdf.

This journal contained information regarding the GHG emissions in Canada in 2011. The study shows the GHG emissions in relation to household income. The study gives reasons as to the benefits and disadvantages of applying a carbon tax to the lower quintile. The study allows the readers to put into perspective their own daily usage as well as see the impact that it has on the environment as well as the economy.

Semenza, Jan C, et al. “Public Perception of Climate Change Voluntary Mitigation and Barriers to Behavior Change.” Behavioural and Public Communication Issues, 20 Aug. 2008, doi:10.1016.

This report offered insight to the level of awareness, concern and engagement in populations of different demographics. Providing a broad range of ethnographic research through interviews and surveys, the data presented is useful in showing which populations should be focused upon in different stages of behavioural change. It also provides the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, which links all the concepts together.

Gifford, R. (2011). The dragons of inaction: Psychological barriers that limit climate change mitigation and adaptation. American Psychologist, 66(4), 290–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023566

This journal contained theoretical information on the psychological barriers that inhibit individuals to engage in pro-environmental behaviours. The study presents 29 dragons of inactions that explain how these obstacles obstruct the individual. The information offered helps to understand the difficulties of adapting environmentally friendly lifestyles, and what we can do to change them.

Zhang, Nan, and Marko M Skoric. “Media Use and Environmental Engagement: Examining Differential Gains from News Media and Social Media.” International Journal of Communication, vol. 12, no. 380, ser. 403, May 2018. 403, doi:1932-8036.

This report offers information and data on environmental consumerism as well as environmental activism. The data reported show that social media can greatly influence the level of engagement, and can also promote activism. It also shows the construction of social networks that inform users of the issues. This information is critical to understanding how to motivate those lacking in self-efficacy to participate in environmentally friendly habits.

“Climate Change Evidence: How Do We Know?” NASA, NASA, 27 May 2020, climate.nasa.gov/evidence/.

This webpage offers up-to-date knowledge on the current GHG emissions in graphs. The data is easy to read, but the webpage also emphasizes the use of social media as a platform, and the need to improve that platform. The website is a better example, but it is not very easy to read with line lengths too long and default leading. The layout is unwelcoming and further emphasizes the need to improve on this platform for information output. 

Prochaska JO, Velicer WF. The transtheoretical model of health behaviour change. Am J Health Promot 1997;12:38-48

This journal offers the transtheoretical model of health and behaviour change and is used to better understand the steps of change needed in the focus population’s behaviour in the study. The model focuses on the six steps to permanently form or unform a habit. The study shows us that awareness and concern cannot be the only factors that affect environmental improvement, but rather the cognitive and physiological aspects must be present as well.