The impact of place and legacy framing on climate action: A lifespan approach

Older adults, defined here as those beyond child-rearing age, are sometimes left out of cli- mate change discussions, despite representing an untapped and potentially powerful group to assist in changing sustainability behaviors [10]. Older adults are important for developmental and political reasons. Developmentally, older adults are naturally concerned with their legacy and with the well-being of successive generations [11]. Politically, older adults can be potential thought leaders: in developed countries, they vote disproportionately more than other age groups [12]; in traditional societies, they are often looked to as sources of wisdom. They are motivated to make meaningful contributions to society through engaging with their commu- nities [13]. The intersection of older people’s valuing of legacy and the urgent need for positive actions to achieve environmental sustainability could be a pathway for intergenerational col- laboration and progress on these urgent issues. However, research is needed to advance an understanding of not only how age differences in sustainability behaviors emerge, but also how the adoption and implementation of interven- tions to promote sustainability among older adults can best be achieved. The effect of chrono- logical age on sustainability behaviors may depend on several psychological factors that differ between individuals and change across the lifespan. Theoretical insights from relevant psycho- logical and gerontological scholarship suggest two central factors that stand out: place attach- ment and legacy concern.

Place attachment, the formation of emotional and cognitive bonds with a particular place [14], may have particularly strong implications for older adults. Place attachment includes both the psychological process of attaching and the product of that process [15]. Older adults have had greater time to forge attachments to place, and also have experienced changes to places of personal significance over their lifespans. Some suggest that older adults’ attachment to place is linked to their continuity of self across the life-span [16]. More recent work con- firms the strong, positive link between age and place attachment [17,18]. This study advances knowledge about place attachment in the context of sustainability behaviors. Devine-Wright (2013) [19] urged more attention to the links between place attach- ment and climate change, especially the impact of framing place-based climate communica- tion to engage the public. There have been initial attempts to explore the impact of place-based communication strategies [20]. Thus far, however, the impact of older adults’ attachment to place on their sustainability behaviors has not been investigated. Both place attachment and concern about climate change may be related to biophilia, humans’ particular affiliation and emotional connection to the natural world [21]. Climate change threatens many aspects of the natural world (as well as the built environment), and the places that people are most attached to are often inexorably linked to nature. Research on the

salience of older adults’ biophilia includes everything from its impact on well-being and partic- ipation in activities in the natural world such as gardening [22] and driving through natural areas [23] to the potential public health benefits of exposure to the natural environment [24]. However, biophilia has not previously been considered as a mediational pathway for sustain- ability behaviors in the context of older adults’ attachment to place. In addition to place attachment, another psychological variable with strong implications for older adults’ environmental behavior is their motivation to leave behind a positive legacy for future generations. Environmental protection clearly involves a temporal element, securing natural resources for future generations. The meaning of this long time frame may shift with increasing age, as constraints on time left in life may change priorities about how to use the remaining time. As people age, generative concerns, defined as a person’s desire to guide future generations, become increasingly significant [25]. Generative and legacy concerns are strongly correlated with pro-environmental action, and inducing people to reflect upon their future legacy can promote pro-environmental engagement [26]. We predict that older adults’ Impact of framing on climate action PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0228963 February 25, 2020 2 / 17