One of the difficulties in a whole range of environmental endeavors is the problem of activating general environmental commitments. That is, how do you translate a general kind of pro-environmental belief into specific actions and into political support that expresses itself as a firm constituency? There's a ton of research into different aspects of this, from how to design PSAs with environmental messages, to getting people to switch to alternate commutes or not litter. In looking at how to get people (specifically, business owners) to participate in a green pricing program, I read through a lot of this material, and sort of made up a few conclusions.
First, people live through habits and routines. These are recipes for getting through the day without having to re-evaluate your options everytime you're faced with alternatives. Certain options get closed out--people begin to not even see them anymore. In my own life, for example, I tend to shop at Lowe's and Ace for gardening stuff, just because that's where I'm used to going, they're near other places I go to, I'm familiar with their interiors--each of these things make Lowe's and Ace a little less mentally costly than more local alternatives.*
Second, beliefs, identities, and actions are interdependent: each can strengthen the other. A person can go about a resource intensive life with a few minimal environmental commitments (some basic recycling, voting for politicians with some level of environmental policies, etc.). The discrepancy between our actions and our beliefs (such as that between my belief in shopping local, and my persistently shopping at Lowes) is often taken as a sign of hypocrisy.
However, third, a more useful way to understand that discrepancy isn't hypocrisy, it's as an opportunity. And, particularly, it's an opportunity if you understand everything that needs to be overcome to change a habit or a routine. It's not just getting someone to recognize what they should do; you also need to help them overcome the informational barriers to acting on that choice: you have to make the better choice easier.
So, for example, in changing how people commute, you have to look at to what extent people understand the bus system. Do they know where the closest routes are? Do they know where the closest bus stops along those routes are? Do they know how to time leaving their house to make it to the bus stop? Do they know how to pay once they get onto the bus, or how to signal for the bus to stop when their end point comes? All of these are, in some sense, trivial, especially for regular bus users or for people very familiar with the bus system. (Such as, say, employees of SMTD--getting outside the expert perspective is always going to be troublesome.)
However, trivial as they may be, each one is a potential site of frustration. And unless their environmental beliefs are strong and active, people will avoid frustrating situations. And so when you're designing an intervention, you have to figure out how to provide just the right amount of information to get people confident about trying something and to get them into a frame of mind that says "This is do-able, this will get easier," so that they can overcome those frustrations.
One thing that CES is trying, as an intervention in this regard, are "I WILL" or commitment cards. These cards focus on a single action that a person can do, outlines why the action is good or how to achieve it, and asks the person to sign the card, making a commitment to accomplish whatever the goal is. For an example, here's the card for "I will take the bus:"
The card forces people to confront a decision that can help them live in line with their beliefs, and provides a little bit of mental activation to connect those beliefs with something out in the world. However, the card is just a little bit of it. Just as important is having someone on hand when the card is signed to talk the commitment over. Everyone will have different concerns about whatever the decision is, and having people available who can help answer those concerns is the primary mechanism for overcoming all of those first-time frustrations.
* I should say at this point that I'm extrapolating from minimal review here. Habitual actions are different from single major decisions, such as buying a home or major appliance or choosing to participate in a green pricing program.