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Every Day is Earth Day: Evidence on the Long-term Impact of Environmental Activism

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  • Daniel M. Hungerman
  • Vivek S. Moorthy

Abstract

We explore the importance of activism in the context of Earth Day. We use variation in weather to study the long-term effects of the original Earth Day on attitudes, environmental outcomes, and children's health. Unusually bad weather in a community on April 22, 1970, is associated 10 to 20 years later with weaker support for the environment, particularly among those who were school-aged in 1970. Bad weather on Earth Day is also associated with higher levels of carbon monoxide in the air and greater risk of congenital abnormalities in infants born in the following decades. These results indicate a long-lasting and localized effect of Earth Day, and show that there can be benefits to voluntary activity that would be impossible to identify until years after the volunteering occurs.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel M. Hungerman & Vivek S. Moorthy, 2020. "Every Day is Earth Day: Evidence on the Long-term Impact of Environmental Activism," NBER Working Papers 26979, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26979
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    Cited by:

    1. Catherine Deri Armstrong & Rose Anne Devlin & Forough Seifi, 2023. "Build it and they will come: Volunteer opportunities and volunteering," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(3), pages 989-1006, August.
    2. Falco, Chiara & Corbi, Raphael, 2023. "Natural disasters and preferences for the environment: Evidence from the impressionable years," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    3. Nupia Martínez, Oscar & Álvarez Gallo, Carlos Andrés, 2024. "The Impact of Massive Protests on Individual Attitudes," Documentos CEDE 21190, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    4. Marini, A. Marco & Nocito, Samuel, 2023. "Climate Activism Favors Pro-environmental Consumption," FEEM Working Papers 338816, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    5. Kountouris, Yiannis, 2022. "Awareness days and environmental attitudes: The case of the “Earth Hour”," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • H4 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • Q10 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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