Lifetime experience with (classic) psychedelics predicts pro-environmental behavior through an increase in nature relatedness

People who have used classic psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline report more pro-environmental behaviors such as recycling and saving water. This relationship is explained by a stronger self-identification with nature, even after controlling for other drug use and personality traits like openness and conscientiousness. The findings suggest that lifetime psychedelic experience may contribute to environmental behavior by incorporating the natural world into one's self-concept, pointing to a possible societal benefit of these substances.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In a large-scale ( N = 1487) general population online study, we investigated the relationship between past experience with classic psychedelic substances (e.g. LSD, psilocybin, mescaline), nature relatedness, and ecological behavior (e.g. saving water, recycling). Using structural equation modeling we found that experience with classic psychedelics uniquely predicted self-reported engagement in pro-environmental behaviors, and that this relationship was statistically explained by people’s degree of self-identification with nature. Our model controlled for experiences with other classes of psychoactive substances (cannabis, dissociatives, empathogens, popular legal drugs) as well as common personality traits that usually predict drug consumption and/or nature relatedness (openness to experience, conscientiousness, conservatism). Although correlational in nature, results suggest that lifetime experience with psychedelics in particular may indeed contribute to people’s pro-environmental behavior by changing their self-construal in terms of an incorporation of the natural world, regardless of core personality traits or general propensity to consume mind-altering substances. Thereby, the present research adds to the contemporary literature on the beneficial effects of psychedelic substance use on mental wellbeing, hinting at a novel area for future research investigating their potentially positive effects on a societal level. Limitations of the present research and future directions are discussed.