Young people often incorrectly assume that others don’t care as much about protecting the environment as they do.

Although this assumption is a clear misperception, it feeds a cycle of dwindling hope and environmental engagement which is particularly alarming in an age group that will require resilience to deal with the crisis.

This project aims to break this vicious cycle. It builds on recent empirical developments showing that people across ages and from around the world agree on the importance of values, such as protecting the environment, and that making people aware of these ‘shared values’ elicits a sense of connectedness and hope about the future.

The research will develop and systematically test an intervention that helps young people discover their shared values and allows them to agree on concrete goals to protect the environment.

Team members

• Dr Lukas Wolf
• Professor Gregory Maio
• Professor Lorraine Whitmarsh
• Dr Elizabeth Marks
• Dr Philip Howlett
• Samuel Taylor
• Dr Natasha Parker (Global Action Plan)

Expected outputs

We expect to develop an effective intervention for increasing young people’s hope and environmental engagement.

We will work with our partners, Global Action Plan, to distribute our intervention and findings to a wide network of stakeholders.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this research project, please contact Dr Lukas Wolf - l.wolf@bath.ac.uk

If you are a school interested in taking part, please email schools@globalactionplan.org.uk