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March 25, 2008 at 7:21am
by thecodepounder Interesting piece by John Tierney in the New York Times, not so much from the standpoint of its dealing with “carbon footprints” but from the standpoint of human behavior and the changes in the behavior that can be accomplished with more immediate feedback:
We can’t even prepare properly for something as straightforward as our own retirement. We’ll put in long hours shopping for a cellphone or a television set, but we’re too busy to agonize over pension plans: in one study, most people spent less than an hour choosing theirs. We’re not good at making immediate sacrifices for an abstract benefit in the future. And this weakness is compounded when, as with climate change, we have a hard time even understanding the problem or the impact of our actions today.
How true.
It would be still more powerful, he and Mr. Sunstein suggest, if you knew how your energy consumption compared with the social norm. A study in California showed that when the monthly electric bill listed the average consumption in the neighborhood, the people in above-average households significantly decreased their consumption.
Of course, it would be a chore to set up monitors for energy use, but plenty of greens are willing to give lots of time to the cause. Some are accused of being religious zealots — global warmists. But one of the advantages of religion is that it inspires people to acts of selflessness for the common good. Why not reward devout conservationists by letting them display their virtue?
Well, while I disagree with his characterization of religion (I’d argue that religion rarely “inspires” anyone to do/not do anything, while it certainly “guilts” countless numbers into doing/not doing many things) I understand the point he’s trying to make.
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