Green consumers fly in the face of environmental conviction

How deep is your green?

Aviation is the fastest growing transport sector.  Flying has a high environmental impact and gives rising concerns for CO2 emissions and climate change.

But, there are few signs of changing behaviour even from committed environmentalists, many of whom continue to fly. Recent research in the Journal of Marketing Management studies the tensions between green principles and real actions.

Authors McDonald et al ask what can be done by marketers to solve the contentious issue of green ethics and flying.

The authors conducted interviews with 29 environmentalists to gather first-hand accounts and qualitative data, with the objective of using insights to affect change in future air travel consumption.

Respondents were questioned in depth about their decision-making processes on travel purchases and a series of rationales emerged. Despite their awareness of environmental damage and principles against flying, they faced unavoidable quandaries and produced justifications for air travel accordingly.

They said:

• Alternatives can be time consuming, expensive and generally inconvenient with boats, buses and trains generally not considered to be practical options.
• Many justified air travel by factors outside their control: far flung family, business, or an important event.
• Social identity emerged as a theme; life experiences and broadened horizons gained via travels are too important for even the committed green consumer to sacrifice.
• But respondents discussed limiting numbers or types of flights, e.g. short haul and offsetting decisions to fly by other responsible behavior to reduce carbon footprints like cycling to work, purchasing trees, or composting.

By doing so they look to balance their behavior and reinstate consistency with their ideals, a behaviour pattern that can surely be maximised to initiate further change.

Alternative options to air travel are emerging: staycations, environmentally responsible slow travel, high speed rail links, and sophisticated video conferencing technologies.

However, the challenging social norms still remain; it is more common to fly than to opt out on environmental grounds, and this is reflected in green consumers’ refusal to go without. McDonald et al conclude: "If marketers are serious about changing consumers’ unsustainable behaviours, they will have to tackle the social norms associated with them.

Valere Tjolle

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