Happy people, happy planet

Happiness leads to more sustainable behavior because happiness increases interest in prosocial activities. Furthermore, happiness leads to more openness to negative information and to more forward-thinking. This study measures happiness as overall life satisfaction. It is hypothesized that overall life satisfaction is positively associated with more sustainable behavior through increased awareness of climate change. The relationship is tested performing (logit)regressions and mediation analysis using the data from the Hopebarometer 2018. The results provide evidence in support of the relation between overall life satisfaction and sustainable behavior. However, no evidence is found in support of the relation between life satisfaction and awareness of climate change. Taken together, these findings contribute to the understanding of the spillover effects of happiness.