Why is it that we struggle to get change their lifestyles to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Maybe it has something to do with the psychology of climate change.

New Scientist has some fascinating research showing that people really want to belong, they don't want to too different from the crowd and that has affected how they will go about reducing emissions. In one experiment, for instance, people cut their electricity usage when they were told that their neighbors used less than they did. In another fascinating experiment, researchers told households what others in their neighborhood used on average. High users cut their consumption in response, so that they would fit in. At the same time however, low users increased theirs. By doing that, they fitted in too.

Similarly, a report published by the American Psychological Association, identified here, found that most people don't believe the messages of chief scientists and officials, that they constantly compare themselves to others and this influenced their behavior, that they undervalued the risks by thinking it would get worse so the time to act would be later and that because it was a global problem, they thought there was little they could do to fix it.

Policy makers need to recognize these psychological forces because unless they do, nothing will change. Governments will spend billions of dollars for little result.

As Adam Corner writes in the Guardian: "If the thought of psychologically informed lifestyle change campaigns sounds a bit too Big Brother for your liking, then consider the alternative: millions of pounds spent on technology that is never taken up, and a market-based system of economic coercion that penalises the poor while the rich keep polluting. Without an understanding of what drives people's environmental behaviour, the dream of a low-carbon society will remain forever out of reach."