Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A new study suggests that most greens believe that by virtue of their support for environmental issues they earn the right to ignore their personal responsibilities.
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.
TOM JACOBSAN
…
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.”
…
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.
Regarding climate change skeptics, remember that conservatism prizes individual action over collective efforts. So while they may assert disbelief in order to stave off coercive (in their view) actions by the government, many could take pride in doing what they can do on a personal basis.
…
Read more: https://psmag.com/environment/mission-compostable
The abstract of the study;
Believing in climate change, but not behaving sustainably: Evidence from a one-year longitudinal study
Michael P.Hall, Neil A.Lewis Jr., Phoebe C. Ellsworth
We conducted a one-year longitudinal study in which 600 American adults regularly reported their climate change beliefs, pro-environmental behavior, and other climate-change related measures. Using latent class analyses, we uncovered three clusters of Americans with distinct climate belief trajectories: (1) the “Skeptical,” who believed least in climate change; (2) the “Cautiously Worried,” who had moderate beliefs in climate change; and (3) the “Highly Concerned,” who had the strongest beliefs and concern about climate change. Cluster membership predicted different outcomes: the “Highly Concerned” were most supportive of government climate policies, but least likely to report individual-level actions, whereas the “Skeptical” opposed policy solutions but were most likely to report engaging in individual-level pro-environmental behaviors. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Read more: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494418301488
Academics competing to see who can log the most air miles, Jetset hypocrites calling for “deniers” to be banned from public office, large climate conferences full of frequent fliers; the brazen climate hypocrisy of leading greens is nothing new to regular readers of WUWT.
But this study goes a step further – it is not just the leaders who are complete hypocrites. The leaders of the green movement are not duping followers with their hypocrisy, they are an expression of the top to bottom hypocrisy of their entire movement. The most vocal climate supporters are actually the people who care least about the planet – all those noisy expressions of concern are camouflage to conceal the fact they are deeply selfish people who can’t be bothered to make a personal effort to improve the world they claim to love.
I pick up trash outside my house – because I like having a nice house, I like living on a nice street. I don’t think it is someone elses job to make my little corner of the world a better place. If I thought CO2 was a problem I would make a personal effort to reduce my carbon footprint.
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.
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Maybe the broader issue is that narcissists don’t have time to think of picking up after themselves since they are above it all and besides picking up slows them down.
ResourceGuy, you have nailed it. First and foremost these people are narcissists, its all about them, their selfies, the gigs ( marches etc) they went to, the adrenaline rush of being in a mob, chanting and marching and of how much easier it is to get laid when you wear an ‘identity’. They do not give a rats about the environment, thats just the script that gets them the gig. Expecting ethical, responsible behaviour from them is about as likely as expecting observation of basic human rights from ISIS. Witness the May Day rampages in Paris. Plus ca change…
Quelle surprise!!!
The Greens (aka watermelons) are pigs! Who knew? I think we all did.
Their fearless leaders like Al Gore and the Hollywood mugs live on huge estates with carbon footprints the size of a large town, and get their private jets to deliver pizza from New York to LA. Their followers, the sheeple, are so stupid they will do anything their leaders say, including acting like total pigs – doing what comes naturally.
A family member of mine complains constantly about others wasting water, but spends 20 minutes in the shower every night. Why that activity should take so long, I have no idea..
It’s the same elsewhere. Conservatives man soup kitchens and give to charities.
Liberals feel that as long as they support programs that have government taking other people’s money and giving it to the poor, they have done their civic duty.
There is an excellent book on this topic called “Who Really Cares” by Arthur C. Brooks written in 2006. Don’t know if you can still get a copy, but I highly recommend reading it if you can. If I remember correctly, at the time he was a Professor at a liberal New York college and took a lot of flack for writing the book.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Brooks
Part of the problem is progressives, and thus most of the greens, believe WORDS are reality. If you say you care, then you do and your obligation is fulfilled. None believe action need follow. Even the Paris Accord was just words, albeit hoping to rope the US into doling out billions, but still, just words. The progressives live on vocabulary. If there were only progressives, we’d still have black skies, poison water, and live in slums everywhere (except the progressive overlords, of course). When one lives on words only, reality is really, really sad for most of your followers.
True for Racism, Sexism and pretty much every ism out there the biggest culprits are the loudest mouths. When you believe it is governments responsibility to do everything it’s typically because you don’t have the moral fiber to take responsibility for things yourself. When you take care of your own responsibilities you value your efforts and can appreciate the efforts others make for themselves and from that comes respect and appreciation for others.
Actually, they don’t have to support the programs per se. They just have to feel good thoughts about them. The Libs are never about action. It’s all about how they feel inside. Gives them a pass to just about everything.
I’ve long been bewildered about the fact that despite being the only climate skeptic in the family, I am the one who goes around turning off lights, fans, appliances etc that are not being used, which I do only because I am the one who pays the bills and I can’t stand waste. Now all is explained, thank you.
I apologize for not staying on topic, but I was unable to leave a comment on the tips page. So here I am. Online mag Mashable just left this nugget of wisdom
https://mashable.com/2018/05/03/co2-highest-level-human-history/?utm_cid=hp-h-2#JMMjayjg2sq5
We are all doomed to die a horrible death. Highest ever levels of CO2 ever recorded in Hawaii. Maybe something to do with a volcano?
~Gareth
Sent from my iPad
Hawaii is under quake siege ever since the 30th of April. One strong 5+ and 2 on either side of five just in the last 3 hours, plus numerous smaller quakes. I would rate the probability for a big quake as high at this time. World wide quakes have been out of sync from typical patterns for the last 4 weeks.
Prime time will now be on Tuesday of next week, imo.
Whoa, I missed the big shaker at 6.9, when I went to the store. Now that is likely the main event. It better be, or Hawaii will really be in more trouble than they are already facing. …https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/#%7B%22autoUpdate%22%3A%5B%22autoUpdate%22%5D%2C%22basemap%22%3A%22satellite%22%2C%22feed%22%3A%221day_m25%22%2C%22listFormat%22%3A%22default%22%2C%22mapposition%22%3A%5B%5B-83.31873282163234%2C-13.7109375%5D%2C%5B83.31873282163234%2C415.8984375%5D%5D%2C%22overlays%22%3A%5B%22plates%22%5D%2C%22restrictListToMap%22%3A%5B%22restrictListToMap%22%5D%2C%22search%22%3Anull%2C%22sort%22%3A%22newest%22%2C%22timezone%22%3A%22utc%22%2C%22viewModes%22%3A%5B%22list%22%2C%22map%22%5D%2C%22event%22%3A%22us1000dyad%22%7D
Has anybody noticed an interesting thing about the Mauna Loa CO2 graph?. Notice that the angle of decrease during the spring is exactly the same angle of increase during the autumn. Either the Mauna Loa data are bogus or else CO2 emissions have nothing to do with the amount that stays in the atmosphere. If the Mauna Loa data is NOT bogus, the rate of increase in the fall should be sharper than the decrease in the spring. That is because the CO2 emissions are fairly constant throughout the year and there is certainly little difference between spring fossil fuel emissions and autumn fossil fuel emissions, Indeed the Mauna Loa graph doesnt show any difference. The only difference it shows is a neat zigzag pattern which in itself is suspicious because the pattern is too consistent. However my further point is that since the spring and fall fossil fuel emissions are constant, the fall (autumn) upward increase should be at a sharper angle since the photosynthesis process is in reverse compared to the spring. So the fall(autumn) non photosynthesis line should be reenforced by the constant fossil fuel emissions whereas the spring photosynthesis actually lowers the CO2 levels but according to the graph it lowers them at the same rate that the autumn line increases. That is impossible unless the net CO2 levels have nothing to do with the fossil fuel emissions. Well we partially know that anyway because since 1980 the the CO2 levels have only gone up 22% and the fossil fuel emissions have gone up 80%. I have previously mentionned that the Vostok ice core data for last 400000 years shows preindustrial CO2 levels at at a fairly constant 280ppm however during that 400000 years the temperature swings have been enormous on the earths surface with at least 4 glacial periods and 4 extremely warm periods. To top it all off, the Vostok ice core data seems suspect because there is no reason why the CO2 level should be that constant during those 400000 years when it wasnt constant at any other time in the worlds history. Now that Tony Heller has proved that NASA and NOAA have been faking the temperature and sea level data for the last 10 years, there is not 1 grain of truth in the whole global warming scenario. It is one lie built upon another lie which the climate gate emails showed.
Here is one of my most favorite graphs ever.
Over one century, one earthquake accounts for one quarter, and three earthquakes account for one half of the total seismic moment.
LET. THAT. IN.
Note that this graph was produced before the 2011 Great Tohoku earthquake (M=9.1)
@ur momisugly Max …that is impressive and very informative. I was in SF for the World Series Quake. Have to say that it greatly impressed me for 15 seconds or so, and it was only a 6.9. Luckily that one only lasted for the 15 seconds for everything around me was ready to come unglued.
Allan, the “zigzag” is due to seasonal changes in plant life during the NH year.
Perhaps you’ve heard of it. They are called Spring, and Fall.
Goldminor, just think, the 1960 Chilean quake released almost 8000 times the energy of the Loma Prieta quake.
In this case the study shows the classical divide between the ethics of intent and the ethics of responsibility.
A lot of them are slobs! I have to pick up fast food wrappers, empty drinks cans, cigarette packets, sweet wrappers etc from the road past my house that have been thrown out of car windows on a daily basis. If I didn’t it would soon look like the picture at the head of this article.
How do we educate them? I am sure they get all worked up when watching David Attenborough talking about the plastics In the world’s oceans.
The hypocrisy is astounding.
Rather like the wealthy leftists who claim to be fighting alleged racism against blacks & browns, yet these wealthy leftists intentionally live in areas as far removed from blacks & browns as possible … while sending their children to schools where blacks & browns are very rare.
I think it is ok to use the phrase “coloured people” again. I have noticed all the virtue signallers don’t hold back with their use of “POC” which is surely the equivalent phrase.
Or are they allowed to because they are SJWs?
I personally think it is rude to refer to someone by the colour of their skin. But call me old fashioned.
ResourceGuy and others :
Regarding narcissists and narcissism :
Can I RECOMMEND the youtube video by Prof Jordan Peterson.
ps. all his OTHER videos are also well worth a look !
Regards ! Trevor.
Green tyranny.
Why are we not surprised?
Wait What? You mean I have to do something about this? This study hurt my feelings and I am going to fly to the next protest and show proof that this study was paid for by _______ and then I am flying to ___________
for a vacation where they have people clean stuff using bio products.
No, it’s just a rotten study. Poor methodology. Typical low-quality soft science. Self-report is a particularly bad choice here.
You mean like ALL of “alternative medicine”.
A bit too close to the knuckle for you?
Home truths hurt.
To: Max Photon at 10:54 p.m.
The over hundred thousand yearly dead from correctly prescribed medications described in this article probably have difficulty self-reporting. Try to explain that away……
https://health.usnews.com/health-news/patient-advice/articles/2016-09-27/the-danger-in-taking-prescribed-medications
Self reporting is the only possibility with this kind of study. As a ‘flaky’ study it is better than many alarmist studies.
Self-report is a particularly bad choice
Thanks for your self-report.
I agree with Dr. Bointon that these subjects can’t really be studied without using some sort of “self-reporting” methodology. They had the participants reporting regularly, so presumably they were recording their actions in a diary of some sort and not relying on their memory. The study period was on year, which seems sufficient for this kind of thing. I don’t recall seeing a how many people were involved, so if it’s a small number that could render the results questionable. But as far as I can tell, this is a reasonable methodology for this field, certainly better than many I have seen. Perhaps Kristi can tell us why this particular study is worthless as compared to all the rest in the field of psychology; unless she thinks they are all worthless – an opinion shared by many on this blog I would think.
It makes you wonder why all of the progressive-leaners in the study didn’t self-report awesome personal behavior too?
However, it does correlate with other studies about personal giving to the poor, etc. Similar behavior, and probably similar causes.
“No, it’s just a rotten study. Poor methodology. Typical low-quality soft science”
so a step up from Mannian style climate science.
This is what we’ve been saying here for a long time, now we have a study to back up the assertion.
There is a term for this behavior that basically sums up today’s liberal movement and it’s driving me crazy because I’m drawing a blank. Basically, it’s vocally espousing popular and supposedly altruistic beliefs, but only doing so for subconscious moral evasion.
Moral credential effect is what I’ve known it as.
“Heaven’s Balance Sheet”
“Moral License” sounds like what you’re looking for. It’s in the title.
Hypocrisy also works.
Virtue signaling?
Bingo, thanks Ally. That is what I was drawing a blank on.
Sublimation? – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sublimation_(psychology)
Robert W Turner: I believe the expression is “Moral Hazard”… a phrase often used by economists. Essentially, the greens are expecting other people to look after everything so they don’t have to… the outcome of such behaviour is ruin. Also, “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Coase.
Cheers.
Self-reporting isn’t the only way to measure these attitudes. After the North Dakota pipeline “event” by First Nations (stewards of the environment) the results were measured in tons and truckloads – good solid data.
Confirming that the only green that matters is cash indulgences sent as tribute to the environmentalist groups so that the purists can defile the earth without a guilty conscience.
Yes, not unlike buying a religious indulgence for one’s sins.
Discounted now by 22%
https://reneweconomy.com.au/solar-wind-farms-hit-as-aemo-slashes-output-calculations-18481/
Technically, the Green indulgence has a far more expansive promise than the medieval ones. There’s no need to admit any sins whatsoever to anyone, no formal intention of amending one’s ways, they are applicable to sins committed both in the past and future ones, they are automatically plenary, and the Catholic indulgences only applied to time in Purgatory, not Hell.
The Dakota Access Pipeline protesters are a prime example of “not walking the talk”. The #NoDAPL protesters left several tons of debris, abandoned cars, temporary shelters, etc. at their abandoned camp for the North Dakota state and county governments and the Sioux tribe to clean up before the Missouri River flooded the campsite in the spring of 2017.
Left off the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who performed the bulk of the campsite cleanup and spent over $1 million to clean up the site.
great example!
pets were left too
I’m surprised no children were left behind
there was a dead body at one of the more recent events
The river flood gave everyone downstream the chance to clean it up.
Kristi Silber: nota bene
This has been a bone of contention in the UK for years. The environmental activists, be they tree sitters and tunnel diggers protesting against road upgrading and new motorways or anti-frackers and their brethren opposing fossil-fuel and nuclear development, quit their “camps” leaving behind detritus — predominantly plastic (ironically!) — that makes the traveller community look like paragons of virtue by comparison.
I have commented before on the habits of some of our own local enviro-snobs who refuse to use the local supermarket which they consider a bit downmarket but will take a lengthy bus journey to patronise one that is more … salubrious, perhaps?
The findings of this survey will surprise no-one who has had any dealings with the eco-activists and their overbearing belief in the rightness of their cause which does, indeed, absolve them from any need to behave in accordance with their supposed beliefs. Hypocrisy does not even start to describe it!
My guess is that most of those who believe in CAGW are mostly leaving it up to the government to force them (and everyone else) to be green. I definitely agree that the personal responsibility aspect of conservatives is what likely makes them “greener” than their liberal counterparts. I know my personal actions are very “green”: I carpool, I heat/cool my home very efficiently, and I spend less on other things. My motivation is to save money, but the end effect is that I consume a lot less than others.
Watermelons they is says Yoda
“Watermelons they is says Yoda”
Yoda has better grammar than that.
I believe what Yoda says is more along the lines of:
Watermelons they are. Trust them you should not.
Are we talking about the same people that wear pink hats and tw4t costumes, riot and destroy property, attack people, claim they are offended by everything while they offend everyone else, want social justice money for doing nothing, break every law in the books and then want the laws changed to make everyone else a crime…………..those people?
The moral justice warriors
It’s getting really ridiculous. A member of the New Democratic Party (Canada) was kicked out of the party because he “failed to read nonverbal cues” and talked to someone when she didn’t want to be talked to. link
Given the number of ‘geeks’ and ‘nerds’, myself included, in the tech industry we are in deep trouble when failing to read nonverbal clues becomes a hanging offence.
Or those of us with high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome, for whom being “deaf” to body language is one common trait.
Make a fuss about the ability to read social cues being a form of oppression, and how dare they continue to victimize you. Scream out something like “emotional rape” or other nonsense, and they will be forced to apologise for just about anything. Why, you ask? Because you just outscored them in the Oppression Olympics.
It’s exactly the same as those who most appose government welfare are by far the most charitable…
Yet another thing advocates urge others to do. As the old cliche goes, if they didn’t have double standards, they would have no standards at all.
It’s called “indulgences”, and they’re supposed to be expensive.
CO2, or “carbon” as it has been relegated, is good for the environment; certainly it is good for plants and animals at these current levels and up to several times current levels.
they know this! This is depopulation plain and simple, especially with the upcoming global cooling phase. restrict cheap energy to keep people warm, fed, and healthy during a period of serious harsh weather and a significant portion of the population will die. ESPECIALLY since they are loaded with vaccines and other such toxins that circumvent the natural body processes of eliminating toxins by having a properly working immune system (the adjuvuncts and excipients contain such neurotoxins as aluminum, plus fermaldehyde, aborted human fetal tissue in some cases, and the list goes on).
Eugenics is alive and well, and CAGW, the attack on carbon (6p-6e-6n), is just the attack on humanity, and life itself since we are carbon based life forms. Too many people don’t know the language of symbolism and therefore they don’t believe that such dark occultists are alive and well in places of high power and influence, running their tentacles into every facet of society, prodding and helping humans destroy themselves from within.
They Live was a documentary. Just because you walk into a dark room filled with sharp objects and refuse to bring a flashlight doesn’t mean those sharp objects won’t impale you.
I call it reaching mental maturity and some people never reach it.
As an example, I used to sit around work complaining with my coworkers that someone at work ought to do this or do that to because it would make our job easier. One day, mid complaint, it struck me that I was someone and I had better stop complaining and start doing instead. If not I had to place myself at the head of the line to blame for it not getting done.
You become an adult when you stop depending wholly on others and start being someone others can wholly depend on.
In this vein, age has little if anything to do with it. There’s 14 year old adults out there, and there’s 40 year old kids.
We needed a study for this? I would say it’s been pretty obvious for years.
BTW, has this been peer reviewed?
We have this hypocrisy in New Zealand.
Russel Norman who was the leader of the Green Party and is now the director of Green Peace in New Zealand has been convicted of getting in the way of the Amazon Explorer a oil and gas survey ship over 50 kilometer off the East coast .
Norman and his cronies thought nothing of using petrol powered boats to protest about oil exploration.
They have yet to be sentenced but they cost the oil exploration company over $100000 as the ship was forced to deviate to avoid swamping the protesters boats and Norman who had jumped in the ocean.
Apparently it is all right to protest in this way in these green beans minds and they will now expect Green peace supporters to help pay the fine..
Yeah he’s a real hypocrite. In a deal offered by GREENPEACE, the smug Norman pleads guilty and all charges are dropped
There’s another way of looking at it as well. As Jordan Peterson likes to point out, it’s hard to effect change on small things in our lives so it’s incredibly difficult to change big complex things. Young people and those without responsibilities are unaware of this and therefore more likely to believe they can change the world.
So it’s thosr people with work, families and other real-world commitments who are typically more realistic – and skeltical – of simplistic big ideas.
“…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…..”.
As I’ve read elsewhere, it’s like donating $100 to the SPCA every year. But you still go home after work every day and kick the cat….
I want to know how buying organic foods is altruistic. Isn’t that selfish? And if you buy them for someone else who didn’t request that you do that, it’s just plain high handed.
That’s what’s so great with leftist virtue-signalling! You can pretend to have done something, anything “good”, so you are completely entitled to being a horrible, loathesome cretin for as long as you remember feeling good about it. Thus a weekly organic grocery run and a Coexist bumper sticker gets you off the hook for genocide.
“Do as I say, not as I do” has always been true as long as humans have had the power to think and speak. OK, maybe they don’t think much anymore.
Man’s trash is not “pollution” when left behind by those protesting Man’s pollution.
Same applies to their garbage ideas I guess- that they fling around like monkeys with excrement!
transference. we all could see it. My son’s mother is the posterchild for it. and the thing is, they know full well what they are doing
Virtue signaling and hypocrisy are two sides of the same coin.
That is nail and head, right there.
I didn’t access the full report but the only information quantified in the article above is reported behaviour, not actual behaviour, presumably with reported behaviours as proxies for actual behaviour. Hmmm. . As a sceptic I don’t think I’ll bother making any deductions based on that.
Soooo, they have a Hypocritic Oath?
Greens will clean up just as soon as al gore rides a bike
Back in the early Seventies, I had an artist friend who even today would still be considered far left.
Fortunately, back then the alarmists were into the population bomb, world starvation, global cooling and drowning in plastic. Today’s catastrophic anthropogenic global warming would’ve fit right into his belief system.
Only, back then, It was still close enough in time to the oil/gasoline shortages for people to remember how much they need fossil fuels; and that was in Massachusetts to boot.
During one of my trips between states, I gave him a lift for Thanksgiving.
Once and only once did I allow him to ride in my car.
He threw anything and everything out the window as interstate highway litter. chicken bones, wrappers, plastic bags, popsicle sticks, aluminum foil, whatever.
His rationale? He would throw anything out on the road that had a shorter life than the roads.
I was angry, because Connecticut and Massachusetts will hold drivers responsible for litter. So, that passenger only got snacks and stuff while we were parked off the road.
Especially since his response to my not wanting to get fined for littering was tough noogies. Common sense is not in the equation.
As it is now, there is no real desire for these kooks to be rational at all. They have some sort of special privilege while ordinary people are overwhelmingly guilty.