Book Chapter

Do green lifestyles improve life satisfaction?

By Martin Binder and Ann-Kathrin Blankenberg

Edited by Michaela Benzeval, Magda Borkowska, Charlotte Hamilton, Susan Harkness, Rebecca Parsons, Raj Patel and Alina Pelikh

Publication details

Publication date
Series or book
Insights 2018-19: Findings from the UK Household Longitudinal Study
Pages
pp. 32–33
Publisher
University of Essex: Institute for Social and Economic Research
View on understandingsociety.ac.uk

Summary

Key points: The likelihood of taking environmentally-friendly action varied by the task, even among people with the most green lifestyles, with actions involving less sacrifice more common. Self-perception of a green lifestyle was linked to higher life satisfaction, irrespective
of concrete action. Bad conscience about not being green enough decreased life satisfaction, but the impact could be mitigated by having a self-perceived green lifestyle. Value-action gap for green behaviour depends on costs of green behaviour but also green preferences.

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