The menace of green house gas emissions has worried environmentalists globally who assert that the rising levels would have disastrous effects on existence. The efforts of these environmentalists seems to have bore fruits as a recent research by the Michigan State University has found a positive link between environmental activism and reduction of GHG emissions at state level.

The study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that a 1% increase in environmental activism correlated with reduced emission in the US. This signifies that the actions of activist could compensate for the typical annual increase in emissions.

The researchers employed the technique designed by a professor of sociometrics at the MSU Foundation, Kenneth Frank and arrived at the conclusion by comparing data on GHG emissions from all 50 states since 1990. The researchers deciphered how emissions correlate with population, gross state product per capita, employment rate, and environmentalism.

The research aimed to determine if the state-implemented environmental initiatives could help reduce the effect of adverse human factors and also to unveil the link between environmentalism and politics.

The researchers noted that though different states employed different measures at varying degrees of strictness to mitigate emissions, all had substantial impact even when a unified national policy was not present. The researchers also stressed that politics and environmentalism can mediate some environmental impact.

Thomas Dietz, a social scientist and an author of the study, stated, “Environmentalism seems to influence policies and how well policies that are in place are actually implemented and it also influences individual behavior and the choices people make”.