Does meditation training promote pro-environmental behavior? A cross-sectional comparison and a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Meditation training may promote pro-environmental behavior and related variables, though limited research has tested this experimentally. We investigated whether short- or long-term meditation training were associated with pro-environmental behavior, environmental attitudes, and sustainable well-being (i.e., well-being per unit consumption). In a cross-sectional comparison, long-term meditators (n = 31; mean = 9154 meditation hours) displayed greater environmental attitudes (d = 0.63) but not pro-environmental behavior or sustainable well-being compared to meditation-naïve participants (ds = -0.14–0.27). In a randomized controlled trial (n = 125), eight-week training in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction did not significantly improve target variables relative to waitlist or structurally-matched active control (ds = −0.38–0.43). However, relative to waitlist, randomization to either meditation or active control predicted increases in pro-environmental behavior (d = −0.40) and sustainable well-being (d = 0.42), although the latter finding was not robust to multiple imputation. While meditation training may promote pro-environmental behavior and its antecedents, the training investigated here does not appear to be uniquely effective.