The fight against climate change is often framed as a sacrifice: eat less meat and drive less often. But those actions could also be framed positively: eat more plants and ride bikes more often. A new study finds presenting environmental action in a more proactive light makes people more likely to act and feel happier about doing it. “Eating more plants, or using active transport like walking or biking has actually been shown to boost happiness among people,” study lead author Jade Radke, a Ph.D. student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, told Mongabay in a video call. To compare how environmental messaging might impact behavior, Radke’s team surveyed participants online, posing 15 actions to 779 respondents. Roughly half responded to actions framed in a positive, “do more good” way, such as “increase your use of reusable products that last a long time.” The other half were asked a similar question framed in a “do less bad” way, like “decrease your use of single use products that are often thrown away.” The study was then repeated with an additional 770 respondents. Participants rated, on an 11 point scale, how likely they were to take each action and how happy they expected it would make them feel. After averaging the responses, the researchers found that participants were significantly more likely to say they would take actions when behaviors were framed as “do more good” rather than “do less bad.” The same pattern held for anticipated happiness: people expected to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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