As Powerline notes, this study simply confirms green hypocrisy
"ON CLIMATE CHANGE, A DISCONNECT BETWEEN ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR…A new study finds climate change skeptics are more likely to behave in eco-friendly ways than those who are highly concerned about the issue" https://t.co/ho88gKrou1
— Tom Nelson (@TomANelson) May 4, 2018
From the link
Do our behaviors really reflect our beliefs? New research suggests that, when it comes to climate change, the answer is no. And that goes for both skeptics and believers.
Participants in a year-long study who doubted the scientific consensus on the issue “opposed policy solutions,” but at the same time, they “were most likely to report engaging in individual-level, pro-environmental behaviors,” writes a research team led by University of Michigan psychologist Michael Hall.
Conversely, those who expressed the greatest belief in, and concern about, the warming environment “were most supportive of government climate policies, but least likely to report individual-level actions.”
Sorry, I didn’t have time to recycle—I was busy watching a documentary about the crumbling Antarctic ice shelf.
Hey, you know where I stand on anthropogenic climate change. But, I still believe in being eco-friendly. I recycle whenever I can. I turn the lights out when I’m out of the room. I tend to purchase CFLs and LEDs, because it’s my choice. Who eats the end pieces on a loaf of bread? Almost no one, right? I feed mine to the birds out back. There are lots of things I do. Of course, most of these things are about being environmentally friendly and/or saving money on electricity. The Warmists have hijacked real environmental concerns for their nefarious big government policies.
The researchers found participants broke down into three groups, which they labeled “skeptical,” “cautiously worried,” and “highly concerned.” While policy preferences of group members tracked with their beliefs, their behaviors largely did not: Skeptics reported using public transportation, buying eco-friendly products, and using reusable bags more often than those in the other two categories.
This pattern was found consistently through the year, leading the researchers to conclude that “belief in climate change does not appear to be a necessary or sufficient condition for pro-environmental behavior.”
Wait for it
Hall and his colleagues can only speculate about the reasons for their results. But regarding the concerned but inactive, the psychological phenomenon known as moral licensing is a likely culprit.
Previous research has found doing something altruistic—even buying organic foods—gives us license to engage in selfish activity. We’ve “earned” points in our own mind. So if you’ve pledged some money to Greenpeace, you feel entitled to enjoying the convenience of a plastic bag.
Why shouldn’t they feel that way? Their leaders, like Al Gore, Barack Obama, the entirety of the UN IPCC, and so forth, act in this manner. They talk a big game, then do not practice what they preach. The article ends by noting that, since conservatives tend to act in individual manners and tend to take actions just because they do, it might be time to move on from attempting to sway conservatives to be Warmists, and instead focus on getting Warmists to be less hypocritical. As Eric Worrell notes
Perhaps that sense of personal ownership, of responsibility for one’s actions, is what is missing from the green movement – a point made by the authors of the study.
Won’t happen. Because this whole thing is a typical Progressive push for big big government dominance, with higher taxes and fees and control of people’s lives. And the little Warmist idiots never stop to think that all the negatives will effect their own lives.
From the Powerline article
It is an old, familiar story. Liberalism is all about forcing other people to behave in socially desirable ways. Having achieved that goal, the liberal typically puts down his shovel and indulges his own anti-social whims. Whether it’s Harvey Weinstein or a greenie wienie, the phenomenon is the same. It isn’t just that most liberals are hypocrites, it is that hypocrisy is the essence of liberalism. Conservatives, meanwhile, take action in their own lives rather than using government to force others to obey.
How long have I been writing about Other People syndrome?
It’s not moral licensing. It is just ordinary common sense. If you know that the whole thing is a scam, there is no burning need to inconvenience yourself in any way over it. But if you intend to milk it for personal gain, then for marketing reasons, you need to keep talking the talk. And if you are in the business of selling carbon credits, you need to convince government to force people to buy them. There just isn’t enough money to be made from people who voluntarily give their money away for no reason at all.