lucky pot What if Everyone Did Something to Slow Climate Change?

This article is part of a special section on the Climate Forward conference hosted by The New York Times.lucky pot

Make more beef-free meals. Compost food scraps. Replace a natural gas stove with an electric one.

These are all fairly simple ways people can help combat climate change in their own kitchens. Still, most Americans don’t do it. Why?

Because it means changing lifelong habits. Because they believe it won’t make a difference. Because they think their friends and neighbors aren’t doing it.

Research shows that it is not easy to motivate people to curb their emissions, but some strategies do work, and experts are trying to identify the best ones.

Magnus Bergquist, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said widespread behavior transformation is difficult, as people often have contradictory goals. For example, changing habits or buying energy-efficient products, “can conflict with people’s goals of seeking comfort, saving money and gaining social acceptance,” he said in a video interview.

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Even those with the best intentions can run up against such conflicts. Leah Murphy, 63, of New Paltz, N.Y., said she recycles, has reduced her use of plastic, shops with canvas bags and has installed energy-efficient lightbulbs, among other efforts.

Nonetheless, “over 30 years ago, when my first child was born, I arranged for a diaper service because it was supposed to be better for the environment,” Ms. Murphy said in an interview. Yet there were still a lot of diapers to wash, and after six weeks, she switched to disposable diapers.

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