The role of enjoyment and affective arousal in air pollution and climate change decision-making
Fogg-Rogers, Laura; Sardo, Margarida; Laggan, Sophie; Hayes, Enda
Authors
Dr Laura Fogg Rogers Laura.Foggrogers@uwe.ac.uk
Associate Professor of Knowledge Exchange in Engineering
Dr Margarida Sardo Margarida.Sardo@uwe.ac.uk
Senior Research Fellow in Science Communication
Sophie Laggan
Enda Hayes Enda.Hayes@uwe.ac.uk
Prof in Air Quality & Carbon Management/School Director (Research & Enterprise)
Abstract
Diverse citizens need to be involved in net zero transitions to ensure policy interventions do not entrench inequalities for people from minoritised or disenfranchised groups and ensure public engagement with rapid social changes. This talk draws on research from the ClairCity research project, which explored citizen-led decision-making across six European countries, focussing on support or opposition for decarbonisation policy options for heating and transport. Data was drawn from an evaluation sample of 857 people, representing 10.3% of the 8,302 people who directly engaged with the project’s suite of co-design and engagement activities. Across all activities, multiple regression analyses found statistically significant relationships between younger age groups and greater enjoyment of the activities they engaged with, and a positive correlation between greater enjoyment and better understanding of air quality. Behaviour change intention was also significantly positively correlated to understanding, with 74% of participants indicating they would make a behaviour change to improve air quality.
To fully realise citizen-led emissions reduction, policymakers need to co-create tailored engagement activities which are enjoyable, inclusive, and attractive to diverse citizens representing regional demographics. Furthermore, social learning indicates that representation via vicarious modelling is important for engagement with under-represented groups, and affective arousal can help to build self-efficacy for environmental behaviours. Ultimately, the more enjoyable and relevant the engagement activities, the more understanding people gain about the issues, and therefore are more likely to make a change to individual or community behaviours to reduce air pollution and carbon emissions and improve public and environmental health.
