Improving carbon footprint estimates of food items with a simple seeding procedure

Laypeople's estimates of carbon footprints have repeatedly shown to be deficient, which may hinder targeted behavior change to reduce CO2 emissions. In an online study (N = 127), a vast underestimation of carbon footprints for 60 food items was observed in an on average highly educated convenience sample, confirming a lack of carbon footprints knowledge. Then, target carbon footprint values for a small subset of 15 seeding items were provided, which led to a large improvement in a second estimate for both the seeding as well as the remaining transfer items. A lens model analysis showed that participants adjusted the weighting of several predictors in the correct direction due to this simple intervention. It is argued that although almost 30 years old, seeding the knowledge base has probably been neglected as an effective low-cost intervention for improving quantitative knowledge of the public. This is especially important concerning societal problems that rely on adequate numerical knowledge for behavior regulation.

Automated summary

Laypeople often lack accurate knowledge about carbon footprints, which hinders efforts to reduce CO2 emissions. In an online study, even a highly educated sample significantly underestimated the carbon footprints of different food items. However, providing target carbon footprint values for some items led to a substantial improvement in participants' estimates. This suggests that seeding knowledge could be an effective and low-cost intervention to improve public's quantitative knowledge.