Loretta Brown picks up litter on Bishop's Beach near Homer, Alaska. It’s about norms and expectations, he says: Change these, and you’ll change people's behavior. “One of the things that’s fundamental to human nature is that we imitate the actions of those around us,” said Cialdini, who has conducted a number of landmark studies in littering and litter prevention-all of them pointing to the fact that people are likely to do what they think is expected of them. “Most people litter when they’re not being watched.”īrown’s and Decker’s hunches about why people litter and what it will take to change their behavior have a basis in social science research, such as that done by Robert Cialdini, emeritus professor of psychology and marketing at Arizona State University and author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. “People want to make it invisible to themselves, to get rid of the trash and the smell,” Decker said. One of the exhibit’s goals, according to Decker, is to start a conversation about why people litter in the first place. They leave talking about behavior, talking about what they’re going to do.” I wasn’t sure what kind of response we’d get, but watching children go through has been one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had. “In one moment you understand it,” she said. The exhibit places litter under museum lights so that people will look at it, talk about it, think about where it came from, and ultimately change their behavior. In an exhibit called Gyre, the museum puts this trash on display, with artworks that incorporate and call attention to plastic trash collected from beaches worldwide. It’s a behavioral change.”ĭespite Alaska’s strict anti-littering laws, the state has a serious problem with marine debris because of ocean currents that bring trash from around the world to its shores, according to Julie Decker, director of the Anchorage Museum. “It’s about having the conversation-that really helps. “The best way for people to become engaged and change their behaviors is not just to inform them of the problem, but to have them actively experience the problem,” she said. WuĮducation, she thinks, is the way to change the culture of littering. It wasn’t a problem until plastic was invented.”įive Lingering Questions About COVID Vaccines for Kids Katherine J. In the beginning, it didn’t matter if you threw things on the ground, because it was biodegradable and would rot. “It probably goes to our roots as a species,” she said.
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With all of the work she does picking up litter and educating people about the long-term environmental damage it does, Brown has developed some theories about what makes people throw out their trash, and how to get them to stop. “We’re likely to find some up here among the grasses,” she said, homing in on small pieces of Styrofoam nestled in clumps of grass among the basalt rocks and clam shells along the beach. She also has a keen, experienced eye for litter. “It’s kind of like an Easter egg hunt.”īrown is a marine debris education and outreach specialist with the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, a nonprofit organization based in Homer that educates the public about coastal issues and offers eco-tours of the region. “You tend to find things among the driftwood, since the same tide that washes up the driftwood washes up the trash,” she said, stooping to pick up a plastic water bottle. Loretta Brown walked along Bishop’s Beach near Homer, Alaska, looking for plastic bottles, Styrofoam cups, beer cans, cigarette butts, and old fishing nets.