2.8 – is changing our own behavior the solution?
Note: development in progress…
is individual behavior helpful for solving climate change?
Generally speaking, your choices as an individual aren’t very influential. This idea comes up in voting as well — voting isn’t exactly rational.” Your vote is highly unlikely to be pivotal, so casting your vote isn’t worth the effort / time cost. The same logic holds for individual “green” behavior.
Our preferences dictate what we choose to consume (i.e., our individual demand curves).
- Some of us are willing-to-pay more for “green” goods.
- Part of this is driven by a moral obligation to “do the right thing”
- Driving, flying, leaving the water running while brushing our teeth, etc., might contain a moral cost in addition to an economic cost.
voting with your dollar
If enough people demand “green” products (e.g., higher fuel efficiency vehicles), then this sends a signal to firms to produce more of these goods.
- Increased demand shifts the demand curve to the right, which increases the price of the good and increases the quantity of the good produced.
- Firms like Toyota and Ford see this market signal and respond by producing more fuel-efficient vehicles.
crowding out
Crowding out refers to the phenomenon that private incentives can reduce voluntary provision of a public good.
- Paying people to donate blood reduced blood donations.
- The “extrinsic motivation” (payment) crowded out the “intrinsic motivation” (doing the right thing).
Crowding out can cause individuals to stop providing “climate public goods” if they’re incentivized (or if they think that policy is doing it’s job).
Conversely, crowding out can lead individuals to think that because they biked to work today, they can drive to work tomorrow. This is a form of moral licensing.
carbon offsets
The basic idea behind carbon offsets is that if you take a flight that generates CO2 emissions, you can then purchase a credit that offsets those emissions by planting trees, generating renewable energy, etc.
- Offsets can be linked to emissions trading markets.
- Can “crowd out” intrinsic motivation by providing a moral license to emit.
Measurement and verification is important. To be effective offsets need to prove that the tree wouldn’t have been planted or that windmill wouldn’t have been installed otherwise (this is called “additionality”).
Overall, carbon offsets have a mixed record. A lot of evidence suggests that offsets are not additional (i.e., they prevent a forest from being cut down that wasn’t at risk of being cut down). Offsets are an easy way for firms to “greenwash” their image without actually reducing emissions.
HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” has a great segment on carbon offsets:
individual behavior and climate change
Individual behavior is valuable for sending market signals, which can drive production of “green” goods. Behavior is also influenced by the moral costs of consuming GHG-intensive goods and services. Intrinsic motivation to provide climate public goods can be crowded out.
So, behavioral change can help, but it is not a substitute for global, coordinated GHG mitigation.