Open AccessCarbon innumeracy
Author(s) -
Amir Grinstein,
Evan Kodra,
Stone Chen,
Seth Sheldon,
Ory Zik
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0196282
Subject(s) - carbon footprint , sample (material) , consumption (sociology) , greenhouse gas , environmental economics , environmental science , economics , ecology , social science , chemistry , chromatography , sociology , biology
Individuals must have a quantitative understanding of the carbon footprint tied to their everyday decisions to make efficient sustainable decisions. We report research of the innumeracy of individuals as it relates to their carbon footprint. In three studies that varied in terms of scale and sample, respondents estimate the quantity of CO 2 released when combusting a gallon of gasoline in comparison to several well-known metrics including food calories and travel distance. Consistently, respondents estimated the quantity of CO 2 from gasoline compared to other metrics with significantly less accuracy while exhibiting a tendency to underestimate CO 2 . Such relative absence of carbon numeracy of even a basic consumption habit may limit the effectiveness of environmental policies and campaigns aimed at changing individual behavior. We discuss several caveats as well as opportunities for policy design that could aid the improvement of people’s quantitative understanding of their carbon footprint.