The Case for Longtermism: Concern for the far future as a catalyst for pro-climate action

Abstract

Amid escalating climate challenges, we examine relationships between longtermism beliefs with policy-level and grassroots climate-protective attitudes and actions. Across four primary pre-registered studies (N = 4451) and two supplementary pilots (N = 1858), we find that a significant portion, approximately 25% of our participants, who endorse the longtermism ethical philosophy, report heightened climate change concerns. Furthermore, longtermists show stronger support for pro-climate policies, advocate for initiatives in line with climate justice for future generations and present-day minoritized groups and make proactive contributions to environmental causes and initiatives. Moreover, we find that responsibility to distant future generations drives these associations. Through a targeted intervention, we boosted intergenerational responsibility and increased donations to an environmental charity. These findings highlight how longtermism beliefs shape pro-environmental attitudes and actions, offering valuable insights for climate advocacy strategies and cultivating more widespread support for comprehensive environmental policies.

National Differences in Age and Future-Oriented Indicators Relate to Environmental Performance

“…Overall, these arguments contribute to the existing and growing body of literature calling for intergenerationally framed approaches for addressing climate change as potentially fruitful avenues for motivating pro-environmental engagement [39,40,[74][75][76]. Policymakers and key stakeholders interested in harnessing these associations and existing evidence to promote environmental concern should be encouraged by these findings.…”

“…Inquiries related to cultivating a sense of connection with future generations and assessing our capacity to positively shape the future have gained prominence in contemporary philosophical discourse, especially within and surrounding the emerging field of ethical philosophy known as longtermism [6,7,17]. Pivotally, evidence from emerging lines of inquiry into the psychological antecedents and consequences of holding longtermism beliefs supports a connection between a sense of connection to future generations and pro-environmental engagement at the individual level [39,40,73].…”

“…Nonetheless, issues pertaining to climate change and global warming pose challenges not only for the current generation, but for future generations as well [4,17,[36][37][38], which offers reason to suspect that LTO may predict differences in national environmental outcomes. In support of this possibility, at the individual level, future-oriented mindsets similar to LTO (e.g., longtermism beliefs and responsibility for future generations) predict a host of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors [39][40][41][42]. Furthermore, future-oriented planning and thrift, central elements of LTO, are also necessary ingredients in combatting climate threats [43][44][45].…”

The Probabilistic Price of Life Across Time: Generational and Probabilistic Distance Render a Life Today Worth More than Ten Tomorrow

“…We manipulated longtermism beliefs between-subjects. Participants in the Longtermism Condition completed a thought exercise derived from philosophical writings on longtermism (MacAskill, 2022) utilized in prior research (Syropoulos, Law, & Young, 2023c). Participants were asked to first imagine engaging in an action to prevent future harm (i.e., picking up shards of glass from a broken water bottle on a hiking trail) prior to reading about and reflecting on the philosophical principles of longtermism.…”

Intergenerational altruism and climate policy preferences

“… a In response to a predominantly myopic research agenda, recent work on the philosophy of longtermism has aimed at shifting focus toward the compound effects of climate mitigation efforts on the welfare of future generations ( 13 , 14 ). …”