Littering now as socially unacceptable as smoking

Anti-environmental behavior reaches a tipping point of public disapproval, signaling that the sustainability message has permeated the masses.

Thu, Mar 29 2012 at 11:52 PM

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Social Responsibility, Environmental Research

Photo: dnnya/Flickr

Littering is seen as being more embarrassing than cheating on your taxes, according to a new poll of 1,105 Americans. What does this mean?

"Being eco-friendly is no longer considered a fringe activity limited to a small group of hard-core activists or early adopters,” said Suzanne Shelton, CEO of Shelton Group. “Thanks to years of green growth, messaging and new products, the idea of sustainability has finally permeated the American conscience,” she said.

Other results from the survey might also surprise you. According to the Shelton Group, which commissioned the study, littering wasn’t the only eco-unfriendly activity that was looked down upon. Smoking cigarettes and driving a gas guzzler were considered “very embarrassing” to 36 and 26 percent of respondents, respectively. And almost 20 percent of poll respondents would show the same level of shame if they got caught not recycling their plastic bottles, using disposable paper plates, and letting the water run while they were brushing their teeth.

This 20 percent number is important, because previous research has found that "... once 20 percent of the population adopts a behavior, it has reached the tipping point and should grow steadily,” according to Shelton. While change takes time, it is happening — right now. Environmental awareness can be compared to smoking — in 1970, almost 40 percent of Americans smoked. Today the number is below 20 percent, which is a significant behavior change in a relatively short amount of time.

The next question is how to increase those numbers even further. According to a release by the study’s organizers, “The survey examined what would encourage Americans to adopt eco-friendly behaviors even more quickly. Here are the percentages of respondents who said the following would be a “major influence” in changing their behavior to help the environment:

A penalty/fee/fine: 48 percent
A monetary reward/incentive: 45 percent
Learning about the dangers/risks: 44 percent
Learning about the benefits/greater good: 38 percent
Encouragement from your children, grandchildren, etc.: 30 percent
Seeing others you admire making the change: 27 percent
Encouragement from friends: 26 percent

What do you think is the best way to get people to change bad behaviors?

MNN tease photos of trash and No Litter sign via Shutterstock

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Comments: 3

Jim Schumacher May 06 2012 at 4:01 AM

Try and leave this world a little better than you found it." …was what I learned from my childhood scouting experience. In that spirit, several years ago I resolved to pick up at least one piece of litter every day. At the time, I mused that although my effort may have an insignificant impact on the total volume of trash on our planet, maybe there were thousands of others who had the same notion. Together, we were making our own contribution, albeit anonymously, to leaving the planet a little nicer

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than how we found it each day. Recently, it occurred to me that with social networking, perhaps an “app” would lend itself to connecting those of us who shared in that value. I was delighted to quickly find one that does exactly that. The app is, “PIRIKA”. Its stated purpose is to, “… help(s) the world become more beautiful!” PIRIKA is very easy to use. 1. Find litter. 2. Pick it up. 3. Take a photo with PIRIKA. 4. Dispose of the litter.

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Jim Steitz Apr 03 2012 at 8:09 PM

This is definitely an instance of people lying to the survey-taker and/or overestimating their rational selves. Note that people predicted they would find rational prompts, such as financial incentives and logical reasons, to be compelling, while social pressure from friends and family would not sway them. From experience, we know the reverse to be true. People leave thousands of dollars on the table every year by not contributing to their 401(K), but print a little embarrassing notice on the utility

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bill about how much electricity he burns compared to his neighbor, and watch the meter decelerate.