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Modern lifestyles contribute to environmental destruction due to excessive consumption, but also by disconnecting people from nature. The aim of this paper is to assess how being exposed to a natural environment (versus an urban environment) can improve pro-environmental behaviors. Several previous studies only praise the benefits of nature exposure on prosocial and cooperative behaviors, without taking account of emotions. Here we added a measure of pro-environmental beliefs (with New Environmental Paradigm Scale) to understand how nature exposure – the nudge we tested - acts on people who don't feel concerned about the environment. We implemented an experimental protocol to assess pro-environmental behaviors through both a monetary donation to a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and an act of selective sorting (earphone protection thrown in the waste bin). The experiment showed that nature exposure (versus urban) has as much influence on the economic decision as on the behavioral decision. It allows for an increased donation towards NGOs and recycling action so it could be used as a nudge to improve ecological attitudes.
