Psychology has a central role to play in speeding the transition to a sustainable future, because a central aspect of sustainability is widespread behavior change. To date, however, most programs promoting sustainable behavior have featured information-intensive campaigns that make little use of psychological knowledge. Community-based social marketing is an attractive alternative approach in which promoters identify the activity to be promoted and the barriers to this activity and then design a strategy to overcome these barriers, using psychological knowledge regarding behavior change. The strategy is piloted to test its effectiveness and later evaluated when it is implemented on a broader scale. Unlike many information-intensive campaigns, community-based social marketing has been shown to have a much greater probability of promoting sustainable behavior. Two case studies are provided to illustrate the approach and its possible results.

Most programs to foster sustainable behavior continue to be based upon models of behavior change that psychological research has found to be limited. Although psychology has much to contribute to the design of effective programs to foster sustainable behavior, little attention has been paid to ensuring that psychological knowledge is accessible to those who design environmental programs. This article presents a process, community-based social marketing, that attempts to make psychological knowledge relevant and accessible to these individuals. Further, it provides two case studies in which program planners have utilized this approach to deliver their initiatives. Finally, it reflects on the obstacles that exist to incorporating psychological expertise into programs to promote sustainable behavior.Don't let us forget that the causes of human actions are usually immeasurably more complex than our subsequent explanations of them.-Fyodor Dostoevsky I have a simple wish. Each time I journey to the library to review new contributions to the environmental psychology literature, I hope that I will see an individual whom I know, from either a nongovernmental organization, or the Department of the Environment, or the city, who works on environmental programs. My wish is that I will find this individual reviewing the literature and contemplating how best to apply it to program delivery. I have carried this wish for a decade now and it is yet to be realized. Consequently, I have become increasingly convinced that despite our desire to contribute to the attainment of a sustainable future, our publications contribute far more to career advancement than they do to environmental

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Achieving a sustainable future will require that people do things differently. Community-based social marketing (CBSM) provides a framework for fostering sustainable behavior, and the approach is being increasingly utilized across a range of domains including energy conservation, recycling, reducing water consumption, promoting sustainable seafood consumption, and many others. This article provides guidance to practitioners about the optimal use of specific behavior change tools. The article summarizes commitment strategies, social diffusion, goal setting, social norms, prompts, incentives, feedback, and convenience as effective tools for encouraging changes in behavior. For each, we summarize the basic approach and provide recommendations regarding when each tool is most appropriate, depending on the existing levels of barriers and benefits associated with the target behavior. The article concludes with three examples of CBSM to illustrate this selection process.

Attaining a sustainable future will involve dramatic changes to contemporary lifestyles. In order to promote these changes effectively it is essential to have a clear comprehension of the variables characteristic of individuals who engage in responsible environmental behavior. To this end, this paper presents three studies. The first study illustrates that no common set of variables can be used to predict a wide range of proenvironmental activity. The second study clarifies the factors that predict householders' composting, while the third study investigates householders who invest in energy efficiency.