Only in my backyard: the effect of flood exposure on environmental behavior
Only in my backyard: the effect of flood exposure on environmental behavior
Does exposure to climate shocks make people behave more pro-environmentally? I use precise residential locations to identify people exposed to floods and analyze a decade of real-world donation records from around 90,000 donors in England, along with longitudinal surveys. I show that people become more likely to donate to environmental charities and support the Green Party, after experiencing a flood that directly affects their own postcode. I also find that they are more likely to reassess their own environmental efforts as not enough following such an experience. However, exposure to floods affecting close neighbors does not lead to similar changes, indicating an “only in my backyard” phenomenon: on average, people become more pro-environment only when personally affected. Further, I show that people with strong universalist values do increase their green donations following neighboring floods. This suggests that the lack of response is driven by those with weak universalist values, who typically care less about global challenges.
Climate change, Environmental behavior, Environmental belief, Flood
21
Xu, Derrick
8e8ec017-a414-4582-ba9c-06030b7faff5
20 February 2026
Xu, Derrick
8e8ec017-a414-4582-ba9c-06030b7faff5
Xu, Derrick
(2026)
Only in my backyard: the effect of flood exposure on environmental behavior.
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 137, , [103300].
(doi:10.1016/j.jeem.2026.103300).
Abstract
Does exposure to climate shocks make people behave more pro-environmentally? I use precise residential locations to identify people exposed to floods and analyze a decade of real-world donation records from around 90,000 donors in England, along with longitudinal surveys. I show that people become more likely to donate to environmental charities and support the Green Party, after experiencing a flood that directly affects their own postcode. I also find that they are more likely to reassess their own environmental efforts as not enough following such an experience. However, exposure to floods affecting close neighbors does not lead to similar changes, indicating an “only in my backyard” phenomenon: on average, people become more pro-environment only when personally affected. Further, I show that people with strong universalist values do increase their green donations following neighboring floods. This suggests that the lack of response is driven by those with weak universalist values, who typically care less about global challenges.
Text
Only-in-my-backyard
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
1-s2.0-S0095069626000203-main
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2 February 2026
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 February 2026
Published date: 20 February 2026
Keywords:
Climate change, Environmental behavior, Environmental belief, Flood
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 510012
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/510012
ISSN: 0095-0696
PURE UUID: 55b19d15-457f-4a04-88ac-d35d5e512d1e
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 13 Mar 2026 17:41
Last modified: 14 Mar 2026 03:31
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Derrick Xu
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics