Development and validation of the Emotional Climate Change Stories (ECCS) stimuli set

Climate change is widely recognised as an urgent issue, and the number of people concerned about it is increasing. While emotions are among the strongest predictors of behaviour change in the face of climate change, researchers have only recently begun to investigate this topic experimentally. This may be due to the lack of standardised, validated stimuli that would make studying such a topic in experimental settings possible. Here, we introduce a novel Emotional Climate Change Stories (ECCS) stimuli set. ECCS consists of 180 realistic short stories about climate change, designed to evoke five distinct emotions-anger, anxiety, compassion, guilt and hope-in addition to neutral stories. The stories were created based on qualitative data collected in two independent studies: one conducted among individuals highly concerned about climate change, and another one conducted in the general population. The stories were rated on the scales of valence, arousal, anger, anxiety, compassion, guilt and hope in the course of three independent studies. First, we explored the underlying structure of ratings (Study 1; n = 601). Then we investigated the replicability (Study 2; n = 307) and cross-cultural validity (Study 3; n = 346) of ECCS. The collected ratings were highly consistent across the studies. Furthermore, we found that the level of climate change concern explained the intensity of elicited emotions. The ECCS dataset is available in Polish, Norwegian and English and can be employed for experimental research on climate communication, environmental attitudes, climate action-taking, or mental health and wellbeing.

The effects of virtual nature exposure on pro-environmental behaviour

Exposure to (virtual) natural environments may encourage people to care about environmental protection and to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. Previous research on this effect produced inconsistent results, suggesting that it may depend on the type of nature and behaviour under study. In the present study (N = 266), we investigated nature exposure effects on effortful pro-environmental behaviour in an online experiment. After watching pictures of either intact or destroyed natural environments, participants could exert voluntary extra efforts to generate real donations to an environmental organisation. In comparison to the intact nature condition, participants exerted significantly more effort for environmental protection after being exposed to pictures of destroyed nature. No clear differences were observed between the nature exposure conditions and a no-picture control condition. These findings illustrate the complexity of nature exposure effects and suggest that different types of nature exposure may differentially affect people's pro-environmental behaviour.

Tailored internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for individuals experiencing psychological distress associated with climate change: A pilot randomized controlled trial

Even among people who are not directly impacted by the consequences of climate change, perceptions about the ongoing crisis can have a negative effect on mental health and well-being. However, empirical evidence on interventions aiming to provide support is currently scarce. In order to address this issue, a pilot-RCT was carried out to investigate the effects of a novel ICBT treatment program. Sixty participants (23-73 years) were recruited and randomly allocated to eight weeks of therapist-supported ICBT (n = 30) or a wait-list control condition (n = 30). Measures of depressive symptoms, stress, and quality of life were used as primary outcomes, while measures of anxiety, insomnia, climate change-related distress, pro-environmental behaviour, and alcohol use were used as secondary outcomes. The treatment group had moderate to large between-group effects compared to the waitlist group on measures of depression (d = 0.87), stress (d = 0.76), quality of life (d = 0.79) and climate change-related distress (d = 0.79). There were no significant between-group differences on the other outcome measures. The results from this pilot-RCT indicate that individually tailored ICBT can be an effective way to reduce psychological distress associated with climate change without reducing pro-environmental behaviour.

Validating a measure for eco-anxiety in Portuguese young adults and exploring its associations with environmental action

BACKGROUND

Worsening environmental conditions may amplify people's emotional responses to an environmental crisis (eco-anxiety). In Portugal, young people seem to be especially concerned about climate change. However, this phenomenon needs to be interpreted using accurate instruments. Thus, this study aimed to validate the Portuguese version of the Hogg Eco-Anxiety Scale (HEAS) in young adults and examine the associations among eco-anxiety, sociodemographic characteristics, and pro-environmental behaviours.

METHODS

A survey was administered to 623 Portuguese university students aged between 18 and 25 years. The survey included our Portuguese translation of the HEAS (obtained through a back-translation and pretesting process), a sociodemographic assessment, and questions related to pro-environmental behaviours. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the construct validity of the Portuguese version of the HEAS, and global fit indices were used to assess whether the original four-dimensional structure of the scale was reproduced. The reliability of the Portuguese version of the HEAS was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha and the intraclass correlation coefficient. Measurement invariance examined sex differences in scale interpretation. Linear regressions were used to detect whether sociodemographic variables predict eco-anxiety and whether eco-anxiety predicts pro-environmental behaviours.

RESULTS

The factorial structure of the original scale was replicated in the Portuguese version of the HEAS, showing good internal consistency, reliability over time and strict invariance between men and women. A higher paternal education level predicted greater eco-anxiety in children. Two dimensions of eco-anxiety-namely, rumination and anxiety about personal impacts on the environment-predicted higher engagement in pro-environmental behaviours.

CONCLUSIONS

The translated scale is an appropriate tool to measure eco-anxiety in the Portuguese context and should be used to collect evidence to drive environmental and health policies. An individual's education level should be considered a determinant of their emotional response to environmental conditions. Importantly, eco-anxiety can act as a protective emotional response to preserving the planet.

An exploration of nudging towards transformative environmental behaviour changes prior to a values-crystallization event

Reduction of environmental problems needs durable transformative changes in behaviour, and developments in Transformative Learning are increasingly called for, to achieve them. Only recently has a method been demonstrated to routinely produce transformations in behaviour - a significant step forward - but they are not focused in specific thematic directions, and rarely environmental, which leaves the research need still unanswered. Here, we present an exploration of the use of that method (which involved values-crystallization of groups) with prior Nudging, with the aim of increasing the environmentally-themed transformed behaviours. The Nudging used was one open question about the environment in participants' current roles, plus a short questionnaire about current environmental behaviours, which also provided baseline data. Comparison with 3-4-days post-event interviews revealed most of the reported transformative behaviours were indeed environmental, such as waste sorting, water and electricity conservation, found retained via further 14-56-days post-event interviews. These results, from two separate groups of participants, suggest that the Nudging_Plus_Values-crystallization approach may be useful for pro-environmental practitioners in sustainability. Furthermore, the process involved of influencing choice spaces via Nudging, in values-crystallization events, deserves further studies to confirm causation and understand linkages between Nudging, reflection, values-crystallization, and Transformative Learning because it is likely that the process can be easily transferred to many different types of behaviour change programs, which will be of interest to a wide range of researchers and practitioners.

Broadening our understanding of what drives stewardship engagement: Relationships between social capital and willingness to engage in nature stewardship

Diverse solutions are needed to reduce human impacts on nature. Fostering individual stewardship behaviours that protect, restore, and encourage sustainable use of nature will need to be part of this mix of solutions. A key challenge then is how to increase the uptake of such behaviours. Social capital provides a framework to explore the diverse types of social influences on nature stewardship. We surveyed a representative sample of residents of New South Wales, Australia (n = 3220) to explore how facets of social capital influenced individual willingness to adopt diverse types of stewardship behaviours. Analysis confirmed that parts of social capital differentially influence distinct types of stewardship behaviours including lifestyle, social, on-ground, and citizenship behaviours. All behaviours were positively influenced by perceptions of shared values within social network, and past participation in environmental groups. Yet some components of social capital exhibited mixed associations with each type of stewardship behaviour. For example, collective agency was associated with greater willingness to engage in social, on-ground, and citizenship behaviours, whereas institutional trust was negatively associated with willingness to engage in lifestyle, on-ground and citizenship behaviours. These findings show that social context provides an important foundation for building stewardship engagement.

"I should" Does Not Mean "I can." Introducing Efficacy, Normative, and General Compensatory Green Beliefs

Compensatory green beliefs (CGBs) denote beliefs that unsustainable behaviours can be compensated for by performing other sustainable behaviours. We propose to differentiate between efficacy, normative, and general beliefs (ECGBs, NCGBs, GCGBs). ECGBs refer to effectively offsetting previous lapses. NCGBs denote feeling morally obliged to make amends. GCGBs refer to trading off unspecified efforts in overall consumption. Employing survey data from n = 502 high school graduates and an n = 145 longitudinal subsample, we find a three-factor structure of CGBs. ECGBs, NCGBs, and GCGBs intercorrelate moderately, indicating their status as different constructs. NCGBs are positively associated with pro-environmental values, self-identity, and social norms, whereas GCGBs are negatively associated with these constructs. CGBs, in particular NCGBs, have unique explanatory power for sustainable behaviours. NCGBs show substantial temporal stability over one year. CGBs need not be destructive, as NCGBs may encourage sustainable action. Persuasive messages could be tailored to specific CGBs in specific behavioural domains.

Option or necessity: Role of environmental education as transformative change agent

There is a consensus around the importance of environmental education in mitigating the ill effects of environmental problems and preserving the natural environment and promoting green behaviours. The present paper studies the role of environmental education based on transformative learning theory. It intends to present and test a model proposal using sequential mediation analysis of several constructs as the Environmental Education Support (EES) and Volunteer Attitude (VA). A quantitative study was carried out by using data obtained through online questionnaires from several Indian and Brazilian Higher Education Institutions. A multivariate statistical method was employed to analyse the data by using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results demonstrated that environmental education positively influences students' environmental concern, willingness to be environmentally friendly, and volunteer attitude. As a novelty, it reports that environmental education beliefs, concern for the environment and willingness to be environmentally friendly sequentially mediate the relationship between environmental education support and volunteering attitude.

Seeing past the tip of your own nose? How outward and self-centred orientations could contribute to closing the green gap despite helplessness

BACKGROUND

The present study explored moderators of the relation between environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviour that could help close the green gap.

METHODS

A sample of 500 individuals (250 women) participated in the study. Apart from socio-demographic characteristics, participants answered questions about their environmental concerns and pro-environmental behaviour, collectivism and individualism, time orientation and emotional responses to climate change.

RESULTS

Our results corroborate the view that collectivism, future orientation and prosocial tendencies may form a single component of outward orientation, while individualism and immediate orientation form self-centred orientation. Generally, outwardly oriented individuals and those less self-centred reported more pro-environmental behaviour. However, strongly self-centred individuals, even when reporting elevated helplessness, showed increased involvement in pro-environmental behaviour once their concerns were high.

CONCLUSIONS

The study contributes to the literature by pointing out that both outward and self-centred orientations have the potential to insulate individuals against the negative effect helplessness may have on pro-environmental behaviour. This could inform strategies that would both prompt individuals already concerned to act and arouse more concern among those who are not yet preoccupied with climate change.

The primary drivers of private-sphere pro-environmental behaviour in five European countries during the Covid-19 pandemic

Nowadays, when fighting climate change and other global environmental issues is of utmost urgency, the understanding of what drives pro-environmental behaviour has become a hot topic in both academic and practical circles. Some earlier studies unravelled the complexity of the underlying factors of pro-environmental conduct, yet more studies are needed to understand the socio-cultural premises of such behaviour in different countries. The main aim of this paper is to offer a comprehensive analysis of the importance of pro-environmental behaviour drivers across five countries in Europe, namely Greece, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The survey using computer-assisted web interviews (N = 2502) was implemented in July 2020, the first summer of the Covid-19 pandemic. Hierarchical linear models were employed to analyse individuals' behaviour, defined as self-perceived declaration of the willingness to contribute to environmental conservation. The results showed that attitudinal and value-related factors are more significant than demographics. Biospheric values and relationship to nature generally affect pro-environmental behaviour positively. Similarly, the experience of Covid-19 exerted a positive influence. In terms of country-level predictors, greenhouse gas emissions were found to have affected pro-environmental behaviour negatively, while the share of renewable energy sources influenced it positively. The cumulative country Covid-19-related mortality at the time of investigation did not have discernible impact. Based on the results it is suggested that, in order to foster PEB, a stronger emphasis on environmental education and attitudes towards nature should be employed.

Public perceptions of marine environmental issues: A case study of coastal recreational users in Italy

Marine environments provide ecosystem services jeopardised by human activities, resulting in impacts requiring urgent attention. In Europe and southern Mediterranean countries like Italy, marine environmental problems of note include marine litter, overfishing and climate change, among others. Public engagement is essential in mitigating these problems. In this context, investigating public perceptions and what influences these perceptions is necessary to design the right public engagement strategies. This study evaluated perceptions of marine environmental issues among coastal recreational users along the Conero Riviera in the Adriatic Sea. This is a location used for many coastal activities, affected by several human impacts and considered to become a marine protected area. A total of 202 coastal recreational users were interviewed regarding their perceptions of marine environmental issues including awareness, concern, observed changes in the local coast, and pro-environmental behaviours to combat marine environmental issues. Regression analysis was used to determine influential variables in perceptions. The participants were mainly aware of and concerned about issues including pollution, litter and overfishing. They had observed changes in the local coast primarily encompassing wildlife reduction, toxic algal growth and mucilage. They engaged in pro-environmental behaviours principally including recycling, litter collection and pollution reduction. Awareness of marine environmental issues influenced concern, while the observation of coastal changes and pro-environmental behaviours were mainly influenced by demographic variables like water use and gender. The results of this study were used to make recommendations concerning the design of communication and education campaigns and strategies to stimulate pro-environmental behaviours to support marine conservation.

Activating faith: pro-environmental responses to a Christian text on sustainability

With growing attention on the importance of values, beliefs and worldviews in shaping environmental outcomes, there remains little research on religion and sustainability transformations. We explored the impact of the Archbishop of Canterbury's environmentally themed Lent Book 2020 "Saying Yes to Life" on environmental values, attitudes and behaviours of lay Christians. An online survey administered before and after reading the book assessed environmental values, New Ecological Paradigm (NEP), connectedness to nature and environmental behaviours, and collected open responses to questions about participants' perceptions. Follow-up focus groups were also held to understand experiences of cognitive and behavioural change. Analysis of paired data revealed significant increases in environmental behavioural intentions after completing the book, especially for energy use, food and recycling. Some evidence for strengthening of NEP scores and connectedness to nature was also found. Open text responses corroborated with quantitative measures of behaviour change. Additionally, the majority of participants reported some form of reinforcement, confirmation, or further development or change in their beliefs and attitudes. This included a reduction in anthropocentric beliefs and greater appreciation of and obligation towards the natural world. Focus group discussions revealed diverse participant experiences, including having pre-existing theological beliefs affirmed, responding with new practical actions, connecting with spiritual experiences, and discovering systemic origins of unsustainability. Findings suggest potential for environmental interventions within religious contexts to shape mindsets, integrate theological views with environmental concerns, activate latent beliefs, and initiate and sustain pro-environmental behaviour. More intentional engagement with religion may facilitate transformative change for sustainability internally and externally, and across individual, organisational and societal domains.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01197-w.

Pro-environmental habits: An underexplored research agenda in sustainability science

Habits are the fundamental basis for many of our daily actions and can be powerful barriers to behavioural change. Still, habits are not included in most narratives, theories, and interventions applied to sustainable behaviour. One reason societies struggle to reach policy goals and people fail to change towards more pro-environmental lifestyles might be that many behaviours are now bound by strong habits that override knowledge and intentions to act. In this perspective article, we provide three arguments for why pro-environmental habits are a needed research agenda in sustainability science: (1) habit theory highlights how behaviour is heavily reliant on automatic processes, (2) the environmental context sets boundary conditions for behaviour, shape habits, and cues action responses, and (3) our habits and past behaviour shape our values and self-identity. These arguments highlight the transformative potential of looking at sustainable behaviours through a habit lens. We believe a research agenda on pro-environmental habits could generate a more holistic understanding of sustainable behaviours and complement today's dominating approaches which emphasize reasoned decisions and intrinsic motivations such as values, norms, and intentions to understand and predict pro-environmental behaviour. We highlight evident knowledge gaps and practical benefits of considering habit theory to promote pro-environmental behaviours, and how habit architecture could be utilized as a strong leverage point when designing, modifying, and building urban environments.

Exploring the influence of contextual and sociodemographic factors on waste prevention behaviour - the case of Campinas, Brazil

Despite being widely recognised as a sustainable way to reduce waste generation, the implementation of prevention policies has been far from successful. Unlike recycling, waste prevention depends on the interplay of different behaviours, motivations, and structural conditions. Increasing people's engagement in waste prevention depends on identifying the direct and indirect impacts on behavioural costs and promoting long-term behavioural change. This study analyses the individuals' behaviour in Campinas to compare, through an integrated method, their engagement level on pro-environmental and waste prevention actions, considering sociodemographic factors and the local context. A questionnaire survey was conducted for 14 months with a final sample of 888 respondents. Among the 20 most difficult actions, 25% were waste-related, and 20% were linked to consumption behaviours. Results also show a significant interference of age and contextual factors in facilitating or hindering pro-environmental and waste prevention actions. House type, for example, can be considered a pre-condition to implement home composting, but it is not decisive. Waste prevention behaviour is composed of mostly private actions hidden from monitoring processes. These findings show that expensive structural improvements can be outperformed by implementing specific educational programs that address social aspects.

Decomposing peer effects in pro-environmental behaviour: Evidence from a Chinese nationwide survey

We explore potential peer effects in pro-environmental behaviour using Chinese General Social Survey 2013, where individual participations in ten pro-environmental activities are recorded. Instrumental variable regressions suggest that individual pro-environmental behaviour is positively and significantly affected by that of neighbourhood peers. Such effects are robust against alternative estimation procedures and falsification tests. Results further show that, while identified peer effects do function through social networks, such mediation explains only a small portion of the peer effects, which may largely occur among strangers living in the neighbourhood through observation and mimicry. These findings imply that peer effects should be seriously considered in neighbourhood-level interventions to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour more cost-effectively.

Tourists' perception of beach litter and willingness to participate in beach clean-up

While tourists contribute to and suffer the consequences of beach litter, studies on beach clean-up exercises have mostly neglected them and overly focused on resident beach goers. Based on a sample of 685 international tourists in Ghana, this paper examines the perception of international tourists on beach litter and the determinants of their willingness to participate in beach clean-up as an experiential activity during their visits to Ghanaian beaches. The findings reveal that international tourists have negative perceptions of beach litter, constructed along four domains, namely health, recreational activity participation, aesthetic, and coastal environment. Further, sex, age, educational attainment, continent of origin, travel party status, environmental value, and perception of beach litter significantly influence the willingness of the tourists to participate in beach clean-ups. The implications of these findings in the context of beach litter management at coastal resorts and destinations are discussed.

Individual and situational determinants of plastic waste sorting: an experience sampling method study protocol

Background

Plastic waste management is one of the most challenging problems of our time. Until now, only 9% of the produced plastics has been recycled. In order to increase recycling, a behavior change towards sorting of plastic waste is needed. Therefore, the main aim of the study is to gain insight in the individual and situational determinants associated with plastic waste sorting behavior. The Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-environmental Behaviour will be used as the theoretical framework. This framework assumes that individual egoistic and hedonic values are negatively related to pro-environmental behaviour, whereas individual biospheric and altruistic values are positively related to pro-environmental behaviour. Situational cues can activate these values, resulting in (non) pro-environmental behaviour. Taking the Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-environmental Behaviour into account, this study will test the hypothesized associations between individual and situational determinants and plastic waste sorting behavior, using an ecological momentary assessment approach (Experience Sampling Method, ESM).

Methods

A signal-contingent scheme with semi-random intervals will be used for the ESM questionnaire. Over a period of seven consecutive days, an ESM-based smartphone app will prompt participants ten times a day to fill in a short questionnaire containing questions about situational determinants and plastic waste sorting behaviour. Participants will also complete an online questionnaire before and after the study measuring the individual determinants and plastic waste sorting behaviour.

Discussion

ESM has many benefits over traditional surveys, such as improved ecological validity and the possibility to explore temporal relationships. The disadvantages of ESM are mainly related to the burden for the participants and the possibility of reactivity effects. The results will provide insight into the relationship between situational cues, individual values and plastic waste behaviour. The practical implications of the findings of this study can be of interest for policy makers in order to reach plastic waste reduction targets. Furthermore, the situational cues that activate values, which increase or decrease plastic waste sorting, can be targeted in interventions. The results of this study can also be relevant for further research studying and stimulating pro-environmental behaviour in general.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40359-021-00596-5.

Changes in pro-environmental behaviour and its determinants during long-term period in a transition country as Lithuania

The changes in pro-environmental behaviour, whether people become more environmentally friendly or not, have been analysed very scarcely. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to analyse the changes in pro-environmental behaviour and its determinants in Lithuania as a transition European Union country comparing years 2011 and 2020. Applying Chi-Square and t test statistics, the results showed a significant increase in performance of pro-environmental behaviour in 2020. Waste sorting and purchase of environmentally friendly goods increased the most, meanwhile water and energy saving behaviour increased the least. Applying the value-belief-norm theory and leaner regression analysis, we analysed whether the same determinants influenced pro-environmental behaviour in 2011 and 2020. The results revealed that the impact of determinants differed. In 2020, the main factor of pro-environmental behaviour was the perception of environmental problems but not self-transcendence values dimension. Furthermore, self-enhancement values and awareness of behavioural consequences negatively influenced pro-environmental behaviour in 2020. Analysing the changes in these factors, an insignificant difference was observed in self-enhancement values. The changes in other factors were significant, particularly the changes in the level of environmental responsibility was the biggest. Therefore, implementation of environmental education and information programmes and various environmentally friendly public initiatives positively contributed to the enhancement of environmental awareness and pro-environmental behaviour.

Minority influence in climate change mitigation

While the majority of people care about environmental quality, they keep engaging in carbon-intensive practices that exacerbate climate change. Can we expect humans to collectively change by themselves, from the bottom up? Social change is often initiated by minorities - individuals who challenge the status quo. The dominant literature paints a rather pessimistic picture about the ability of minorities to instigate change in the environmental domain: environmental activists, vegans, and other minority members often elicit social sanctions, thereby ironically reinforcing the majority's commitment to current, environmentally harmful norms. Recent findings, however, point towards more optimism: pro-environmental minorities can pave the way towards 'tipping points' and spontaneous social change. Policymakers can speed up this process by offering top-down support for minorities - by giving them 'voice'.

Dataset on the green consumption behaviour amongst Malaysian consumers

This dataset contains information of 375 respondents on green consumption behaviour. The questionnaire was developed using Theory of Planned Behaviour as the foundation. The variables available in the dataset are Environmental Concern (EC), Social Influence (SI), Perceived behavioural control (PBC), Consumer novelty seeking (CNS) and Green consumption behaviour (GC). In addition to the variables related to green consumption, the dataset also includes demographic and media preference information of the respondents. The data was collected via self-administered questionnaire in seven major cities in Klang Valley, namely Shah Alam, Bangsar, Petaling Jaya, Subang Jaya, Puchong, Serdang and Putrajaya. The dataset can have an important role for research in consumer behaviour towards developing green consumers.

Bottle or tap? Toward an integrated approach to water type consumption

While in many countries, people have access to cheap and safe potable tap water, the global consumption of bottled water is rising. Flanders, Belgium, where this study is located, has an exceptionally high consumption of bottled water per capita. However, in the interest of resource efficiency and global environmental challenges, the consumption of tap water is preferable. To our knowledge, an integrated analysis of the main reasons why people consume tap and bottled water is absent in Flanders, Belgium. Using Flemish survey data (N = 2309), we first compared tap and bottled water consumers through bivariate correlation analysis. Subsequently, path modelling techniques were used to further investigate these correlations. Our results show that bottled water consumption in Flanders is widespread despite environmental and financial considerations. For a large part, this is caused by negative perceptions about tap water. Many consumers consider it unhealthy, unsafe and prefer the taste of bottled water. Furthermore, we found that the broader social context often inhibits the consumption of tap water. On the one hand, improper infrastructures (e.g. lead piping) can limit access to potable tap water. On the other hand, social norms exist that promote bottled water. Lastly, results suggest that the consumption of bottled water is most common among men, older people and less educated groups. We conclude that future research and policy measures will benefit from an approach that integrates all behavioural aspects associated with water type consumption. This will enable both governments and tap water companies to devise more effective policies to manage and support tap water supply networks.

Enhancing domestic water conservation behaviour: A review of empirical studies on influencing tactics

The world faces imminent drought-related challenges that, from a tap-water supply perspective, require increasingly expensive infrastructure enhancement and energy expansion to maintain sufficient service levels. This paper argues that enhancing domestic water conservation provides a promising alternative or necessary addition to reduce costs and to stimulate pro-environmental behaviour. Although the number of field experiments on how people's behaviour can be changed with respect to their daily water consumption is growing, to date, most studies in this field have focussed either on explanatory socio-economic factors (e.g. water pricing, income, or family composition) or behavioural intentions and personal characteristics related to behavioural change. Accordingly, there is limited empirically validated knowledge about the use and effectiveness of different influencing tactics to change behaviour. This paper provides a review of the empirically oriented literature in this field and aims to provide an up-to-date assessment that identifies eight different Behavioural Influencing Tactics (BITs) that target long-term water conservation behaviour within households. Our analysis is structured around three information processing routes: the reflective route, the semi-reflective route, and the automatic route. We conclude that the current body of literature is promising and provides a useful body of evidence on the range and effectiveness of individual water conservation mechanisms, but that needs further development to deepen our understanding of how to effectively prolong and reinforce newly formed water conservation routines.

Garden centre customer attitudes to pollinators and pollinator-friendly planting

Growing nectar- and pollen-rich flowering plant varieties in domestic gardens and other greenspace is an important pro-environmental behaviour that supports pollinating insects. Wildlife gardening is popular in the UK; however, public attitudes and behaviour relating to planting for pollinators are currently not well understood. We investigated these through questionnaires and interviews with customers in five garden centres in Sussex, southeast England, a relevant and useful consumer group representing horticulturally-engaged members of the public. Garden centre customers had strongly positive attitudes and were motivated to plant for bees and other pollinators: most (77%) grew pollinator-friendly varieties, while 64% would be more likely to buy a plant with a pollinator-friendly logo. Personal motivation to support pollinators was linked to a recent increase in personal and public awareness of their declines through (often negativistic) information from mass media sources. Practical implications of these findings in relation to the horticultural retail industry are discussed.

Plastic bag use in South Africa: Perceptions, practices and potential intervention strategies

Single-use plastic shopping bag consumption is one of the leading causes of environmental and socio-economic problems worldwide, which has led to global calls for intervention strategies to reduce use. In South Africa, plastic bag use is still widespread despite intervention efforts based on levying taxes. Using an online questionnaire, this study examines plastic bag use practices and factors influencing use in South Africa. The results show that the majority of respondents perceived there was a plastic bag use problem in the country but still highly used plastic bags because it was convenient to do so. Factors like, gender, age, education and environmental consciousness influenced people's willingness to pay for plastic bags but the relationships were generally weak. The paper outlines which interventions might be most effective in achieving pro-environmental actions.

'Green' on the ground but not in the air: Pro-environmental attitudes are related to household behaviours but not discretionary air travel

The rise in greenhouse gas emissions from air travel could be reduced by individuals voluntarily abstaining from, or reducing, flights for leisure and recreational purposes. In theory, we might expect that people with pro-environmental value orientations and concerns about the risks of climate change, and those who engage in more pro-environmental household behaviours, would also be more likely to abstain from such voluntary air travel, or at least to fly less far. Analysis of two large datasets from the United Kingdom, weighted to be representative of the whole population, tested these associations. Using zero-inflated Poisson regression models, we found that, after accounting for potential confounders, there was no association between individuals' environmental attitudes, concern over climate change, or their routine pro-environmental household behaviours, and either their propensity to take non-work related flights, or the distances flown by those who do so. These findings contrasted with those for pro-environmental household behaviours, where associations with environmental attitudes and concern were observed. Our results offer little encouragement for policies aiming to reduce discretionary air travel through pro-environmental advocacy, or through 'spill-over' from interventions to improve environmental impacts of household routines.

Private land manager capacity to conserve threatened communities under climate change

Major global changes in vegetation community distributions and ecosystem processes are expected as a result of climate change. In agricultural regions with a predominance of private land, biodiversity outcomes will depend on the adaptive capacity of individual land managers, as well as their willingness to engage with conservation programs and actions. Understanding adaptive capacity of landholders is critical for assessing future prospects for biodiversity conservation in privately owned agricultural landscapes globally, given projected climate change. This paper is the first to develop and apply a set of statistical methods (correlation and bionomial regression analyses) for combining social data on land manager adaptive capacity and factors associated with conservation program participation with biophysical data describing the current and projected-future distribution of climate suitable for vegetation communities. We apply these methods to the Tasmanian Midlands region of Tasmania, Australia and discuss the implications of the modelled results on conservation program strategy design in other contexts. We find that the integrated results can be used by environmental management organisations to design community engagement programs, and to tailor their messages to land managers with different capacity types and information behaviours. We encourage environmental agencies to target high capacity land managers by diffusing climate change and grassland management information through well respected conservation NGOs and farm system groups, and engage low capacity land managers via formalized mentoring programs.

Personal and social factors that influence pro-environmental concern and behaviour: a review

We review the personal and social influences on pro-environmental concern and behaviour, with an emphasis on recent research. The number of these influences suggests that understanding pro-environmental concern and behaviour is far more complex than previously thought. The influences are grouped into 18 personal and social factors. The personal factors include childhood experience, knowledge and education, personality and self-construal, sense of control, values, political and world views, goals, felt responsibility, cognitive biases, place attachment, age, gender and chosen activities. The social factors include religion, urban-rural differences, norms, social class, proximity to problematic environmental sites and cultural and ethnic variations We also recognize that pro-environmental behaviour often is undertaken based on none of the above influences, but because individuals have non-environmental goals such as to save money or to improve their health. Finally, environmental outcomes that are a result of these influences undoubtedly are determined by combinations of the 18 categories. Therefore, a primary goal of researchers now should be to learn more about how these many influences moderate and mediate one another to determine pro-environmental behaviour.