Resource Library

With so much passing through our inboxes every day, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s really valuable. As 2021 finishes off, I wanted to circle back on some of the most insightful, novel, or important pieces of research that I’ve come across from the last year or so. These are the case studies, experiments, surveys, reports, and toolkits—on a range of themes—most worth remembering as we head into 2022. Think of this as an early evidence-based Christmas for climate advocacy!
Since any one research study can only tell us so much, I’ve emphasized resources that give us the widest aperture of evidence, such as literature reviews, meta-analyses, and large-scale experiments that test a variety of messages, messengers, etc. Among the research below, there are some that deepen our knowledge and increase our confidence on key questions (such as the value of emphasizing scientific consensus), while others expand horizons in new directions (such as new hard-won lessons from just transition campaigns).
One theme that emerges that’s worth contemplating as we close the year is a ‘back to basics’ perspective. That scientific consensus message is still key; environmentalist messengers talking about green jobs isn’t sexy, but it works; promote health impacts, health benefits, and include a call to action; and long-term organizing paired with authentic coalition building* remains the foundation of enduring people power.

Majorities of youth and young adults around the world are worried about climate change, report negative emotions related to the issue, and find government responses inadequate. In this study, youth or young adults were considered aged 16-25. 59% are very or extremely worried and 84% are at least moderately worried. More than 50% said they feel sad, anxious, angry, powerless, helpless, and guilty. More than 45% said their feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning, and many reported a high number of negative thoughts about climate—for example, 75% said that they think the future is frightening, and 83% said that they think people have failed to take care of the planet). Further, most rated governmental responses to climate change negatively and reported greater feelings of betrayal than of reassurance.

Interventions designed to encourage a particular pro-environmental behavior may have unintended consequences on other behaviors. These so-called “spillover” effects can be positive (for example, when increasing water conservation behaviors also leads to increased energy conservation behaviors) but advocates may also be concerned that they will be negative (for example, when enrolling in a green power program gives people moral license to consume more energy overall). While research on spillover effects is in its early stages, there are few signs to be concerned. On average, spillover effects on other behaviors are negative, but they are also negligibly small. However, keep in mind that most of these studies were conducted in the lab. Looking at the few studies in the field on spillover effects in real world behavior, there are more positive effects.