Shrum’s study hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet, but it’s consistent with other research in this tiny but intriguing corner of behavioral science. And it certainly resonates with my own experiences. Like most people, I don’t do enough to help the environment. But I feel good when I compost my cucumber peels and coffee grounds, hassle my city government to expand its composting program, plant pollinators, knock on doors for environmental candidates, attend a protest demanding publicly funded renewables, or write postcards to environmental voters in swing states. When I think about doing these things, I think about how good I’m going to feel, and that helps me overcome feeling lazy, too busy, too discouraged, or too overwhelmed to help. And when other people thank me and tell me how great it was that I did that, I’m more likely to do it again (and it’s true I tend to avoid organizations that use guilt as a prod to action).

As Shrum points out, what amplifies or nourishes your warm glow is probably somewhat individual. I feel more warm glow when I understand how exactly my action is going to help, or when it supports my political analysis of what’s effective. I experience a warmer glow engaging in political actions with friends, as we enjoy each other’s company and reinforce each other’s positive feelings. But others—introverts, or more inner-directed people—might not experience those things the same way.

It seems likely that if people in Shrum’s experiment got a warm glow from such a small action, they might reap even more benefits from greater or deeper involvement. They didn’t experience the social pleasures of activism and may have been too isolated to experience the solidarity of working with others for a common cause. Nor did they reap the enormous rush of being part of a victory. In other words, although it’s somewhat novel to posit environmentalism as a source of joy, there’s even more joy in this movement that hasn’t yet been captured by this research.

Source: The New Republic

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