Thinking about time as money decreases environmental behavior

Summary

Surprisingly, Americans are no more likely to engage in environmental
behavior today than 20 years ago. A novel explanation for this pattern
may lie in the increased tendency to see time as money. Using
large-scale survey data, we show that people are less likely to engage
in environmental behavior if they are paid by the hour, a form of
compensation that leads people to see their time as money. Using
experimental methodology, we show that making the economic value of time
salient reduces environmental intentions and behavior. This occurs in
part because thinking about the economic value of time creates awareness
of the opportunity costs associated with environmental behavior. We
mitigate these effects by reframing environmental behavior as an act
consistent with self-interest. Together, this research suggests that
viewing time as money shapes environmental decisions, potentially
shedding light on patterns of environmental behavior across time and
around the world.