Many communities are working to enhance the sustainability of their physical, economic, and social systems. While economic and physical systems are routinely measured (e.g., money, energy, greenhouse gas emissions), important psychological and behavioral elements of social systems (norms, attitudes, individual behavior) are seldom tracked. This research evaluated a potentially scalable approach to measuring the impact of local sustainability initiatives on these variables in a community engaged in a holistic effort to promote sustainability. Survey data were collected at two timepoints measuring pro-environmental thought and behavior in two small towns in Ohio: Oberlin, a community engaged in holistic efforts to enhance environmentally sustainable behavior; and Berea, a similar community used as a control. Despite verifiable changes in Oberlin due to sustainability programs and awareness of these programs, our survey results did not provide strong evidence that program efforts resulted in the desired changes in attitudes, norms and behaviors. Pro-environmental attitudes about recycling and installing LED bulbs were two exceptions. Conclusions: Assessing the psychological and behavioral dimensions of sustainability poses particular challenges. In our study, we encountered ceiling effects and inadequate statistical power. Possibly norms and attitudes are not easily influenced even by a holistic community-wide effort.

To evaluate the overall impact of a community-wide campaign to increase sustainability, we used an online survey in a 2 (Town) x 2 (Time) quasi-experiment. Our approach was designed to be a low cost (<$2,000) partial turn-key resource. Survey data were collected at two time points measuring pro-environmental thought and behavior in two small towns in Ohio: Oberlin, a community engaged in holistic efforts to enhance environmentally sustainable behavior; and Berea, a similar community used as a control. The survey content was informed by theory and research from the fields of sociology, social psychology, and community-based social marketing. It was also shaped by the particular sustainability initiatives that were planned for implementation. We used previously used survey items wherever possible.

Potential participants were randomly selected from a purchased mailing list. We intentionally oversampled in census tracts that were low-income and/or had higher percentages of people of color. This oversampling was designed to ensure that information from minority community members were represented sufficiently. Households received letters via the US postal service with a URL and an individualized code to be entered in the survey. This code allowed us to verify that only one response was received per household, and to allow us to send targeted reminders only to those who had not yet completed the survey. We used Qualtrics, an online survey platform, to minimize recruitment and printing costs (though print copies were available upon request).

The data has been weighted for gender as there are a priori reasons to expect gender differences. We used 2010 census data to compute weights separately for each town and at each time period.