Inspire the public to take action for a low-carbon lifestyle
With the arrival of the 2024 Energy Conservation Publicity Week and the National Low Carbon Day, "Green and Low-Carbon, Beautiful China" has once again attracted attention. Green and low-carbon development requires not only the continuous development of the production side, but also the strong support of the living side. Low-carbon life is not only the social foundation for the construction of a beautiful China, but also a comprehensive embodiment of the public's ecological civilization literacy.
To promote the popularization of low-carbon life and let everyone become a low-carbon expert, publicity and education are indispensable. In daily life, "low-carbon environmental protection, green travel", "the earth's resources are scarce, saving electricity is indispensable", "energy saving needs you, me and him, and saving water and electricity depends on everyone...... In fact, such slogans seem to be everywhere, but their impact on action is far less than expected, and the phenomenon of easier said than done is still widespread. How can we more effectively promote people to practice low-carbon living? The different information frameworks from "you, me, him" can be very useful.
Skillfully use social comparison information to stimulate low-carbon life action. When a person obtains information about social norms that "others" are practicing low-carbon behaviors, or finds that the results of low-carbon behaviors are not as good as others, they will take the initiative to implement low-carbon actions in order to alleviate the resulting social pressure and seek social acceptance. For example, when comparing residents' energy information with their neighbors' energy information is fed back together with the bill, it will produce nearly 15% energy savings compared to traditional bill feedback. When the ranking of energy consumption information between groups is continuously fed back to group members, it can produce more than 17% energy saving effect than simply telling them their own energy saving information.
Therefore, on the one hand, it is suggested that relevant departments should increase social norm information in publicity and education, so that people know that more and more people around them are implementing low-carbon behaviors, and stimulate low-carbon action through group reference psychology; On the other hand, it is suggested that energy companies should be encouraged to increase the comparison information between themselves and their neighbors or colleagues when providing personal energy bills, and skillfully use the social comparison information from "you, me, and him" to activate the social comparison psychology. This will have unexpected results in promoting low-carbon actions, and it is also a low-cost and high-yield way to promote low-carbon life.
Make good use of environmental contribution information to strengthen the sustainability of low-carbon life. An experimental study on household electricity conservation found that information on environmental contributions was more beneficial than monetary benefits to promoting low-carbon behaviors. People are better at saving electricity when they know how much CO2 they have saved and how many trees they have planted for their society than they have saved by saving electricity.
This kind of "altruistic psychology" of contributing to society is the core of ecological civilization literacy. Compared with fighting for monetary benefits for oneself, people will feel more happiness, satisfaction and happiness when they are giving for others, that is, "giving roses to others, leaving fragrance in their hands". When individuals clearly perceive that their low-carbon actions can bring substantial contributions to others, society, and the improvement of the ecological environment, their sense of social responsibility and moral awareness will be stimulated, which will make them more willing to pay attention to the symbiotic relationship between themselves and others, and between themselves and society, so as to actively implement and strengthen low-carbon behaviors.
Therefore, it is suggested that the relevant departments should encourage enterprises to increase environmental contribution information on the basis of traditional price and quantity information when reporting consumption bills. For example, how much carbon emissions have been reduced or increased by this consumption, how many trees have been planted or cut down, etc. Let people more intuitively realize the direct relationship between their low-carbon behavior and environmental protection contributions, so as to form a long-term mechanism for low-carbon life.
Small information contains great energy, and behind small information there is a rich social psychological connotation. In the rapidly developing information age, how to skillfully use the information comparison from "you, me, and him" to leverage the low-carbon transformation of the big society with small information, make green and low-carbon become customs, and make energy conservation and environmental protection become a common practice, so as to jointly draw a new picture of green, low-carbon and beautiful China.
