Give Us a Nudge Towards Green

Great article today in the NYTimes! I got really excited because it just makes so much sense. Marketers know how to get consumers to behave a certain way, so why can't we apply that to convince consumers to be greener?

About the Human Brain:

"We’re not good at making immediate sacrifices for an abstract benefit in the future."

But

"With the right prompting, we’ll make sacrifices for the common good and perform acts of charity that we’d never do for any amount of pay. We’ll reform our behavior strikingly to conform with social norms."

They found that associating behavior with actual costs (like conserving energy), comparing behavior with social norms, and just giving people a nudge in the right direction, could do quite a bit towards decreasing our carbon output.

So, lets get some marketing people on this! I hope to see more of this soon!

Are We Ready to Track Carbon Footprints?
Published NY Times: March 25, 2008