Littering and Information Cascades
In this Atlantic article, “Littering and Following the Crowd”, Vivian Wagner introduces what environmental scientists are trying to do to convince people to stop littering by using crowd mentality. In other words, the theory of information cascades can be used to help the environment. These scientists have found that the phrase, “Do it for the environment,” are far less effective (no surprise there) than claiming that most people have done some task that helps the environment. By claiming the majority of people have done such a task, then this will form a norm in people’s minds.
In similar tasks like littering, environmental scientists could create a norm in people’s minds and people will start using alternative methods and resources that does not affect the environment as much as compared to traditional methods and resources.