New paper out - Moderating spillover: Focusing on personal sustainable behavior rarely hinders and can boost climate policy support

More evidence it is not *either* behavior or policy, but we (need and) can have both. Or as Elke would say: “Three cheers for silver buckshot”

Abstract: A successful climate movement must make progress on two fronts: widely adopting behavior changes to reduce emissions and achieving structural changes through climate policy. Some research has suggested people might see sustainable behavior as a substitute (rather than a complement) for climate policy. Does reflecting on sustainable behavior strengthen or undermine climate policy support? In the present research we find that reflecting on sustainable behavior rarely harms policy support. It only occurs when policies are framed as having costs fall on individuals (rather than industry) and when reflection on one’s behavior is not connected to one's values or identity. Here, people may reject a policy because they feel they already are taking action. Conversely, reflecting on behaviors in connection to one’s values or identity actually increases climate policy support, and leads people to feel that policies like a carbon tax, even if personally costly, reflect their values and identity.

Work with Gregg Sparkman and Elke Weber.

The Power of Stories: Writing the Future of Our Planet - March 31

The Exchange and the National Academies' Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability Present: The Power of Stories: Writing the Future of Our Planet

(Photo courtesy Beth Karlin)

(Photo courtesy Beth Karlin)

Together, we are writing the future of our planet. In the same way that we are living with the deeds and decisions of the past, the choices made and actions taken by those of us alive today will bear direct impact on the generations who come after we are gone. But how we imagine our future and tell those stories can serve as a predictor of what is to come. As prelude to the first-ever Nobel Prize Summit at the end of April, Nobel Prize Laureate Martin Chalfie, screenwriter Joe Robert Cole, and novelist Kim Stanley Robinson will examine the way in which those stories have the power to impact our vision of the future.

Moderated by Shahzeen Attari, who researches the factors that motivate action on climate change, this wide-ranging and eclectic conversation promises to be hopeful, optimistic, and above all, inspiring.

Shahzeen will serve on NASEM committee to advise the EPA

An ad hoc committee formed by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will advise EPA's Office of Research and Development on emerging scientific and technological advances it could use in support of the agency’s mission for protecting human health and the environment over the coming decades.

Food by design

IDEO’s Food team uses design to connect, support, and enable leaders and organizations committed to solving the toughest problems across the food system. We’re digging into the decades of intentional policies that have created today’s inequitable food system. Plus, why language matters when talking about the challenges we face, and how agency is key to creating new food systems that work for BIPOC. Shahzeen is featured in this episode discussing the future of food.

Congrats Deidra!

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Deidra Miniard, 3rd year PhD student in our lab, just received a grant to fund her research. She is set to receive $9,100 from the Sustainability Student Research Development Grant program, a partnership between the Office of Sustainability and the Integrated Program in the Environment. Her work will focus on social distancing, environmental justice, and climate change.