I Take Climate Action Every Day Thanks to These Behavioral Science Hacks

This is the fourth in an occasional series by author and climate writer Sami Grover, which draws lessons from existing practices within the worlds of personal finance, nutrition, fitness, and more to help inform how we create a practical, real-world approach to building a climate practice in our lives. 

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For years, I used to beat myself up about not cycling as much as I should. I was, after all, an environmental blogger. Surely I should, metaphorically speaking, walk the talk and actually start riding my bike? Here’s the thing though: 

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I stored my bike in the basement. And I wasn’t exactly great about keeping it maintained. Not only that, but the bike in question was an old, rusty mountain bike, which meant it didn’t have the mudguards, luggage racks, or other niceties that tend to make biking around town more pleasant. 

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Having tried to get riding more through sheer willpower alone, I eventually decided that biking in the North Carolina heat just was not for me. And I turned my attention to other aspects of greening my life. 

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At least, that’s what I did until a company called Blix sent me an e-bike to review for a week. 

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Setting Ourselves Up to Cut Carbon

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Once I was actually being paid to review a bicycle, I figured it would be a good thing if I actually rode it. So I took some time to make sure that I was setting myself up for success. Those steps included: 

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• Clearing some space to store it securely in my backyard rather than in the basement
• Reorganizing our storage so that my helmet and other accessories were easy to hand
• Researching some routes around my hometown of Durham, NC, which is not exactly known for its bike-friendliness

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Lo-and-behold, I soon found myself riding far more than I ever had in the past. So much so that I ended up buying the bike at the end of the review process, and I haven’t looked back since. 

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Of course, the fact that the bike in question was also an e-bike is also relevant to this story. Because for the occasional commuting and general errand-running I was looking to do, a well-designed e-bike was far more suitable than the old mountain bike I had been settling for before. 

Smart Design Trumps Good Intentions

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For far too long, the dominant culture has painted climate action primarily as a matter of individual action and personal virtue. An unfortunate side effect of that framing has been that when we fail to adopt climate-friendly behaviors, we tend to attribute those failures to a lack of willpower or other perceived personal flaws. This type of self-flagellation is yet another manifestation of what’s come to be known as eco-anxiety. The real truth is, however, that our communities and our lives aren’t designed for low-carbon lifestyles, so we’re usually trying to swim upstream. 

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In the book Hacking Human Nature for Good, behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, together with his co-authors Jason Hreha and Kristen Berman, explores why efforts to educate citizens about climate-friendly behaviors rarely results in meaningful behavioral change. Rather than focusing on building knowledge or awareness, he suggests, we would be better off shaping our environments to make the desired behaviors the norm: 

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“Knowledge is about tomorrow. In the now, we’re driven by the environment we currently live in. The major theme, and arguably the biggest principle within behavioral economics, is that environment determines our behavior to a large degree, and to a larger degree than we intuitively predict.”

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This important insight has obvious utility for climate activism. From advocating for better bike lanes to shaping how companies market their products, there are so many ways that we can hack the environment on a societal scale to shape the behavior of those around us. But as I discovered when I finally got serious about making biking easier, we can also turn this lens on our own homes, offices, and even our social networks too. 

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How to Make Climate-Friendly Behaviors the Norm 

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In the example of my e-bike, the reason I suddenly started biking more was not down to any one intervention. Instead, it was a combination of small changes that added up to make it just as easy to jump on the bike as it was to get in the car. Those included: 

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1. Changes to the physical environment: I put the bike in an accessible, attractive space and started storing my helmet and raincoat in spots that were easy to get to as well.  
2. Changes to the tools I was using: Not only did the electric assist on my new bike make cycling in North Carolina heat less unpleasant, but the bike also boasted a luggage rack, built-in lights, and other comforts that were far more suited to my style of riding. 
3. Changes to my mindset: I stopped thinking about biking as a thing I should be doing and instead just started planning out times and specific trips where biking might work. The result was that I eased myself into biking more and soon found it became a natural part of my routine. 

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I also learned to cast a critical eye on my broader environment and have started to pay more attention to local politics and the city’s plans for becoming more bike-friendly. 

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Intentionality Breeds Consistency

Biking is not the only activity that can benefit from a little lifestyle design. In fact, almost every low carbon behavior becomes dramatically easier when we intentionally work to remove barriers and to set the conditions in place to make sure the behavior becomes a habit:

• Want to use transit more? Make sure you’ve planned out your routes, downloaded all relevant apps, and keep an umbrella or raincoat by the front door for when the weather turns nasty. You can even adjust your work times or other regular scheduling to accommodate transit timetables. 
• Looking to cut single-use packaging? Make sure to invest in attractive, reusable containers, keep them clean, and store them in a prominent, accessible place where they are easy to get to. Oh, and keep those reusable totes by the door and in the car trunk too. 
• Seeking to eat less meat? Reorganize your pantry to make sure plant-based staples like beans, nuts, and whole grains are accessible and well stocked. And spend some time going through and organizing your cookbooks so that meat-free recipes are easy to find. 

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This isn’t rocket science, and many of these suggestions will look familiar if you’re working to build your own climate practice. Yet, often, when I hear from friends about how efforts to ‘go green’ have floundered, they focus almost exclusively on what they see as their personal shortcomings. By utilizing a design perspective instead, we can spend that energy working to identify and eventually eliminate the barriers that are getting in our way. 

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Learn from Failures

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While my bike-friendly hacks meant I ride more than I used to, I am by no means living car-free. In fact, I have to confess, in the heat of summer, it’s been several weeks since I rode my bike at all. There was a time when I would have berated myself for what I’d perceive as ‘laziness’ or a lack of motivation. Now, however, I am more interested in analyzing the reasons why. And those reasons are multiple: 

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• The kids have been in summer camp, meaning I’m serving as Dad-taxi, ferrying them to and fro.
• I’ve yet to map out a decent bike route to my new offices, although I am told a good one exists.
• Even with the electric assist, the summer heat and wildfire smoke have honestly made biking unpleasant. 

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These are not excuses. But they are important clues about how to get back on track. In fact, the simple act of writing this list is already moving my brain to solutions. That might mean carpooling to camp more so that I have at least some days I can continue to ride my bike. It might mean finally spending time to map out a route that doesn’t leave me scared for my life. Or, honestly, it might mean accepting that riding in July just simply isn’t for me. 

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Either way, the good news is this: The bike will still be easily accessible and well-maintained in September when the temperature cools, and the kids are back in school. In the meantime, I’m going to turn my attention to my compost.