Wed, Mar 26, 2008 (2:06 a.m.)

If all of your friends decided to conserve energy by using compact fluorescent bulbs or reduce greenhouse gas emissions by taking the bus to work, would you?

Environmental activists say research suggests you just might. While no widespread research exists on what will inspire Americans to adopt “green” lifestyles, USA Today reports that preliminary research suggests people will change their behaviors if their peers are doing so.

For example, studies of hotel guests showed that those who stayed in rooms equipped with information cards that simply told how to reuse towels and bed linens were less likely to do so than guests whose rooms had cards that said most of the hotel’s guests reused their towels. Those whose room cards said the previous guests in that room had reused towels were the most likely to reuse theirs.

People also are more likely to adopt environmentally conscious lifestyles if their efforts receive positive feedback frequently and they are able to take concrete action, such as riding the bus, that makes them feel they are making a difference.

Children also figure prominently in people’s decisions to change lifestyles, researchers told USA Today. People will make changes to protect the future for their children or will change behaviors if their children ask them to do so.

Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale University Project on Climate Change, told USA Today that inundating people with information about dire consequences doesn’t inspire them to change. Rather, it is more likely to have the opposite effect. Fear makes people feel powerless, he said, and as a result they will be reluctant to act.

Although the desire to keep up with the Joneses might be the best motivator, let’s not forget that environmentally conscious options need to be readily available. This means, for example, that mass transit needs to be more convenient and accessible and that other choices, from alternative energy sources to hybrid vehicles, need to be more affordable. When such options exist, people have hope and can make a difference.