One issue with regards to knowledge is that people may lack environmental knowledge. People’s knowledge of the environment may not be very high; according to the National Environmental Education and Training Foundation (NEETF)/Roper Survey in 2000, more than two-thirds of Americans surveyed failed an easy quiz testing environmental knowledge. Yet, having environmental knowledge is essential as an avenue for people to act effectively upon their pro-environmental attitudes. Without proper knowledge on ways of environmental conservation, such as accurate information or new insights, it can be difficult for people to perceive links between specific behaviors and environmental outcomes, hence they reasonably cannot be expected to carry out pro-environmental behavior.

Source: 2ndgreenrevolution.com

For instance, in the case of cutting down on energy usage, some people may not be able to generate ideas about how to go about it, or to perceive links between behavior and outcome. An example is when people may not conceive that increasing air-conditioning temperatures leads to lesser energy being used. Some people may hold inaccurate ideas or beliefs, which may prevent conservation behaviors. For instance, households may perceive that reducing the temperature of the water heater would cause the water to be less clean, therefore they do not reduce the temperature of the water heater even though doing so does not have a negative impact on water cleanliness. Others may act upon inaccurate or ineffective ideas or beliefs, which may at best translate to minimal energy conservation. For instance, people may focus on switching off lights and neglect shortening of shower periods as electricity consumption by lights is more salient than water consumption by showering.

Another issue pertains to different dimensions of knowledge. In a study conducted in August 1977 in New York City, brochures on how to reduce use of electricity by air-conditioners were distributed to approximately 800 households. Despite energy being of national concern at that time, households that received the brochure along with a letter from the local utility company showed no significant reduction of energy use as compared to households that did not. Interestingly, when the brochure was accompanied not with a letter from the local utility company but with a letter from the utility regulatory authorities, households reduced use of electricity by 7%. Apparently, even when households received concrete solutions on reducing electricity use by air-conditioners, they did not neccesarily make use of the knowledge in the brochure.This seemingly-counterintuitive finding implies that it is not just the content of the information per se that matters to recipients, but also other aspects of the information, such as the source of the message, as well as the way the message was put across to recipients.