The effect of future-time referencing on pro-environmental behavior

Abstract

Can the way a language encodes time influence speakers’ pro-environmental behavior? In a controlled experimental setting, we take advantage of a linguistic feature of the German language that allows speakers to use either the present or future tense when referring to an event in the future. Depending on the treatment, participants read a text about the future impacts of climate change and tree planting written in either the present or future tense. We then measured pro-environmental behavior using an incentivized task that represents a trade-off between individual immediate financial rewards and planting trees as long-term environmental gains. The results reveal a positive effect of future tense marking on the number of trees planted. We discuss construal level theory, timing precision, future orientation, and certainty of the occurrence of future climate events as potential mechanisms to explain why future-time referencing might affect individual pro-environmental behavior.