Why People Care About Climate Change - But Don't Act?

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through your social media feed, seeing a heartbreaking video of a flood or a shrinking forest, and feeling a deep sense of panic?

You probably thought, “We really need to do something about this.” But then, ten minutes later, you close the app, start your motorcycle, buy an iced coffee in a plastic cup, and just go on with your normal day.

In fact, you are definitely not alone in doing this. This weird disconnect between what we feel and what we actually do is called the ‘Value-Action Gap’ (VAG) or the Attitude-Behaviour Gap. In simple words, it means that our hearts are in the right place, but our daily habits have not caught up yet. We care, but we freeze. Factors like cost, convenience, and even our own community often cause this gap.

For example, in this climate context, eco-friendly options are usually more expensive than the usual cheap alternatives. This situation tends to lead us to choose the cheaper ones to reduce our costs. Then, there is the convenience factor. It is simply faster and easier to grab a plastic bag or buy bottled water than to remember to wash and carry a tote bag and a tumbler everywhere we go. Our community plays a massive part in this situation, too. It feels weird being the only one saying no, while our peers are always buying fast fashion and using single-use plastics. We want to be part of the tribe, so we replicate their practices even when we know it’s bad for the world.

Speaking of community, this fear of standing out in our community leads right into another major trap: we incorrectly assume no one else cares.

We look around and assume that we are the only ones secretly worrying about the earth. A huge study surveying over 130,000 people across 125 countries proved that an overwhelming 89% of people globally actually want more political action on climate change, but strangely, these same people assumed that only 43% of others would be willing to step up (Majority support climate action, but believe others do not: Survey | World Economic Forum). 

Because we think our friends and neighbors don’t care, we stay silent and do nothing. It becomes a sad spiral of silence where everyone is waiting for someone else to make the first move. 

Besides this false belief about other people, our own brains also play tricks on us. Dr. Robert Gifford, an environmental psychologist, calls these mental roadblocks the Dragons of Inaction. These dragons are psychological barriers that stop us from acting even when we are genuinely concerned (Understanding the psychological barriers to climate change action | APS). 

There are at least seven of these dragons. One of the biggest dragons is distance. We often view climate change as a problem that will happen far in the future or only affects polar bears in the Arctic, rather than an immediate threat to our own hometown right now.

Furthermore, there is another dragon: our sunk costs and competing goals. We’re just so used to the convenience of quick fashion, driving everywhere, or taking inexpensive flights that it’s hard to shift our routines. When our daily actions don’t match our morals, our brain creates excuses just to make us feel better about our choices.

We might think this is just a psychological problem for people in Western countries, but it happens right in Asia, too. Especially in major countries, many people are highly educated about environmental issues and the effects of pollution, but still, they struggle to turn that knowledge into real action.

 A 2021 study looking at the Value-Action Gap among Indonesians found that urban households actually hold a significant amount of knowledge and concern about climate change, yet this high awareness sadly does not translate into real climate behavior, proving that just running awareness campaigns is no longer enough to make people change (Value-Action Gap in Climate Change Indonesians | Rahmani | Jurnal Wilayah dan Lingkungan).

We know the theories perfectly well, but we still struggle to practice them in real life.

So, how do we overcome those psychological barriers and finally connect? 

The first step is to make climate action apparent. We must stop pretending that those around us are apathetic. The key to breaking the spiral of silence is to have open conversations about environmental issues with our friends, family, and colleagues and to actively normalise tiny sustainable practices in our daily lives. Seeing others take consistent measures provides a significant ripple effect that inspires engagement from the group. Most people really want a healthier planet, and if we recognise this, action will not feel like a lonely burden.