Individual action on climate change in the context of "Social contagion"

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⭐ Core Definition: Individual action on climate change

Individual action on climate change describes the personal choices that people can make to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their lifestyles and catalyze climate action. These actions can focus directly on how choices create emissions, such as reducing consumption of meat or flying, or can focus more on inviting political action on climate or creating greater awareness of how society can become greener.

Excessive consumption is a significant contributor to climate change and other environmental issues, and in 2022 some said population increase is too. High consumption lifestyles have a significant environmental impact, with the richest 10% of people emitting about half the total lifestyle emissions. Creating changes in personal lifestyle, can change social and market conditions leading to less environmental impact. People who wish to reduce their carbon footprint (particularly those in high income countries with high consumption lifestyles), can for example reduce their air travel for holidays, use bicycles instead of cars on a daily basis, eat a plant-based diet, and use consumer products for longer. Avoiding meat and dairy products has been called the single biggest way individuals can reduce their environmental impact while implementing small changes in their daily lives.

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👉 Individual action on climate change in the context of Social contagion

Social contagion involves behaviour, emotions, or conditions spreading spontaneously through a group or network. The phenomenon has been discussed by social scientists since the late 19th century, although much work on the subject was based on unclear or even contradictory conceptions of what social contagion is, so exact definitions vary. Some scholars include the unplanned spread of ideas through a population as social contagion, though others prefer to class that as memetics. Generally social contagion is understood to be separate from the collective behaviour which results from a direct attempt to exert social influence.

Two broad divisions of social contagion are behavioural contagion and emotional contagion. The study of social contagion has intensified in the 21st century. Much recent work involves academics from social psychology, sociology, and network science investigating online social networks. Studies in the 20th century typically focused on negative effects such as violent mob behaviour, whereas those of the 21st century, while sometimes looking at harmful effects, have often focused on relatively neutral or positive effects like the tendency for people to take action on climate change once a sufficient number of their neighbours do.

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In this Dossier
LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Social contagion
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Climate activism → People's Climate March (2017) → Washington, D.C. → Greenhouse gas emissions → Lifestyle (social sciences) → Climate action → Overconsumption → Climate change → Population growth → Carbon footprint → High income countries → Air travel → Plant-based diet → Environmental impact of meat production → Dairy product →