Why Do We Harm the Environment or Our Personal Health despite Better Knowledge? The Knowledge Action Gap in Healthy and Climate-Friendly Behavior

Abstract

Non-communicable diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, or depression, result from an interplay of physiological, genetic, behavioral, and environmental aspects. Together with climate change, they are arguably among the most significant challenges mankind faces in the 21st century. Additionally, the bidirectional influences of climate change and health on each other are undisputed. Behavioral changes could curb both climate change and the spread of non-communicable diseases. Much effort has been put into information campaigns in both fields, but success has been limited. In the following, the knowledge action gap is compared and analyzed in healthy and climate-friendly behavior from a practical point of view and the supporting theoretical models are highlighted. The analysis shows that self-efficacy plays an essential role in both areas of research for effecting behavioral changes. The models of ‘Planned Behavior’ and ‘Stages of Change’ seems helpful and can be applied and adapted to explain behavioral changes in health and climate changes settings. We compared two previously unrelated research fields to uncover new avenues for further study and stimulate fruitful transdisciplinary discussion. Future directions on how behavioral medicine and climate change research can learn from each other are discussed.

Can Education Save Money, Energy, and the Climate?— Assessing the Potential Impacts of Climate Change Education on Energy Literacy and Energy Consumption in the Light of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive and the Austrian Energy Efficiency Act

“…However, the relationship between cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects remains a controversy. Although early models of environmental behaviour claim a linear correlation between knowledge, attitude and behaviour [82], many recent studies disagree with these findings, e.g., [52]. Instead, the relationship can be characterised as very complex, not at all mono-directional, and certainly influenced by many additional factors, such as feedback, social norms, economic situation, values, and beliefs [83][84][85][86][87][88][89].…”

“…Although there are many controversies about the correlation between the attributes, many authors (e.g., [95]) found that the correlations between affective and behavioural subscales are significantly higher than those between cognitive and affective as well as cognitive and behavioural [52]. Therefore, high achievements in the affective attributes increase the probability that the students will change their behaviour, and it indicates that they might possess a general understanding and acceptance for measures tackling climate change (e.g., legal regulations).…”

“…Psychological models show that old habits are a very strong barrier to implement pro-environmental behaviour [52]. Therefore, it is important to prevent the development of such habits as soon as possible by turning pro-environmental behaviour into young people's 'default setting'.…”

Intersecting Crises: Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on the Burgeoning Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases

“…Moreover, research on certain NCDs, such as mental health disorders and their relation to climate change, is limited and requires more attention. The study by Frick et al, 2021, discusses the knowledge-action gap in healthy and climate-friendly behavior, indicating a need for more research on behavior change to mitigate both climate change and the spread of NCDs [43].…”

The Role of Emotional Appeal in Water Conservation Communication: A Framework for Social Media Engagement

“…Firstly, it establishes trust with the audience by providing comprehensive and well-researched information, hence related to the element of credibility [34]. Secondly, informativeness educates the audience, which is often a prerequisite for bridging the knowledge-action gap [35,36]. For example, in water conservation campaign communications, informativeness plays a vital role in educating the public about water-related issues and promoting sustainable behaviour [17,37,38].…”