Climate Action Day 3 – Understand the Disconnect Between Actions and Impact

Starting and Sustaining Your Climate Action Journey

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

When deciding what actions to take to address on-going climate change, you should know that it is likely that your understanding of the potential impact of your actions may be subject to misperceptions. Heidi discusses a study of our perceptions of energy consumption and savings where, “when asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations.” As summarized in the popular media: Study Shows People Are Clueless About Energy Savings.

“… we generally misunderstand the impact of different actions and their effectiveness as climate solutions”

Heidi Roop

It is not just you, either. Heidi points to a 2017 study that showed that many governments tend to recommend lower-impact actions. It may be that high impact actions for individual may be controversial, like having fewer children, maintaining a strict plant-based diet, and living without a car. It is far safer for governments and popular media to stick to less controversial recommendations such as recycling and replacing light bulbs. “Our results show that education and government documents do not focus on high-impact actions for reducing emissions, creating a mitigation gap between official recommendations and individuals willing to align their behaviour with climate targets.”

We are on a journey to explore 100 actions that can be taken by an individual to address climate change. But, as Heidi points out, we need to avoid a “one-and-done” attitude and seek to implement a diversity of solutions for ourselves as well as engaging in our broader communities and perhaps (if you are motivated) at an even larger scale. This may be, for instance, advocating for policy changes at the local, state, federal and global level and/or invest in and demand the development and implementation of critical climate technology by governments and corporations.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 4: Be Privy to the Politics of Climate Change

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

1. 

   We cannot express enough gratitude for Howard and Heidi’s exploration and guidebook to practical action, pushing back against the much-ignored…

2. 

   Yours is a compelling back-story. Thanks for sharing

3. 

   This entry by Howard Creel is particularly excellent, and addresses much more than just our climate crisis. It’s a concise…

4. 

   Thanks, Mark. Of all topics in the series, I have gone the deepest on the sources and sinks of carbon…

5. 

   Brilliant post and analysis. A primer on the cynical tactic of greenwashing, everyone needs to know the difference between talking…