Promotion or Suppression: A Study on the Mechanism of Social Trust’s Impact on Green Lifestyle

The transformation to green lifestyle is of great significance for promoting the construction of ecological civilization. In this article, a theoretical analysis framework of “social trust environmental risk perception environmental care green lifestyle” was constructed based on the value belief norm theory and the trust information cooperation model. Using data from the China Comprehensive Social Survey (CGSS) in 2021 and structural equation modeling, the mechanism of social trust’s impact on green lifestyle was analyzed, and the mediating effect of environmental risk perception and environmental care was explored. Research has shown that: (1) Social trust has a direct positive impact on people’s willingness to adopt a green lifestyle, but has no direct impact on the behavior of a green lifestyle, (2) Environmental risk perception plays a mediating role in the impact path of social trust on green lifestyle behavior, and an increase in social trust will reduce environmental risk perception, thereby inhibiting the formation of green lifestyle behavior, (3) Social trust reduces environmental concern through lowering environmental risk perception, and then indirectly influences the willingness and behavior of green lifestyles. The impact of social trust on green lifestyles has a dual effect. Social trust may be a double-edged sword: although social trust can directly promote the formation of green lifestyles and the transformation to green lifestyles, it may also suppress the willingness and behavior of green lifestyles by reducing environmental risk perception and environmental concern. Therefore, the cultivation of a green lifestyle for residents should directly focus on environmental risk perception and environmental concern, and stimulate residents’ internal emotions and motivation to protect the environment, so as to effectively promote the transformation of residents’ green lifestyle.