Previous studies examined psychological factors to predict eco-friendly behaviors such as impact awareness and feelings of accountability. A new international study, lead by the University of Amsterdam, published in Nature Sustainability exposes the large gap between being motivated to be eco-friendly on the actual impact, specifically based on clothing purchasing behavior.

Clothing consumption is responsible for at least 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, however, their consumption and waste is a source of severe local environmental degradation.

Utilizing online survey of self-reported clothing purchasing and psychological factors across Germany, Poland, Sweden, and the United States, researchers recruited adult participants (N=4,405 analyzed) who completed a two-part survey at intervals at two to four-weeks from October 2016 to 2017.

The authors found no strong link between psychological factors that predicteEco-friendly behavior and the actual impact on the environment. In fact, they found that the more people reported purchasing sustainably produced clothes, the more items they bought with subsequently worsening of their environmental impact.

People individually are not necessarily reliable when it comes to the emergent crisis of our current rate of environmentla degradation and policy and over-arching changes are needed, such as banning clothes made out of petroleum.

Additionally, for our own enlightenment, the study brings to the need of awareness regarding our own self image and motivation versus what are actions really are. This isn’t just regarding our own purchasing habit, but rather how our own self-image deludes is in other places of our lives.

KS Nielsen et al. The motivation–impact gap in pro-environmental clothing consumption. Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-022-00888-7