The Knowledge-Action Gap

First of all, there’s something we need to learn from climate change deniers.

Climate deniers are congruent, they don’t believe in Climate Change and they act accordingly. But I know a lot of people who do believe in Climate Change and mostly act as if nothing’s going to happen (me included). See David Finnigan unpacking this contradiction at the TED stage. In a nutshell, climate change believers go about our lives doing very small things that ease our minds but don’t really make a big impact.

Pew Research Center reports about the Knowledge-Action Gap showing that 64% of people support the idea of sustainable behavior, yet only 26% of them actually engage in sustainable action. Furthermore, as read in The Carbon Almanac: “People tend to underestimate the most impactful climate actions, like voting for leaders who are prepared to fight the climate problem, while overestimating less impactful ones like recycling and replacing lightbulbs.”

Act as if you truly believe it

If you really want to live like you believe in Climate Change, I encourage you (and myself!) to do things that really matter. Here’s my recommended ranking of action:

1. Enormous impact
   • Join the ranks of people working on Sustainability full time. Invest your full time and energy, we need it now!
2. Large impact
   • Civic and social action. If you’re not ready to change your full time job, actively join a climate cause and invest a share of your time, energy and network connections. For example, join climate initiatives aimed at families, get ten friends to support a climate cause with you, or campaign for political candidates who support climate change initiatives.
3. Medium impact, but still super important!
   • Vote with your wallet every day, in every decision you make. Here are the most impactful things you can do:
   • Make the switch to an electric vehicle today!
   • Stop eating beef now!
   • Refrain from using any kind of single-use plastic, now!
   • Buy used/refurbished stuff whenever possible, and really push yourself here!
   • Stop buying new technology just because there’s a new version available. Fight planned obsolescence!
   • Stop going on vacations to places you need to fly to.
   • Make a conscious decision on which bank you choose to put your money in.
4. Small impact, but by all means, keep it up:
   • Save paper, recycle, install LED bulbs replacing incandescent ones, shop with reusable bags, etc.

See Ayana Elizabeth Johnson going into more details on the TED stage: