Social mobilization on climate change and energy: An evaluation of research projects in British Columbia, Canada

Westerhoff, Lisa; Sheppard, Stephen R.J.; Iype, Deepti Mathew; Cote, S; Salter, Jon

doi:10.1016/j.erss.2018.07.022

Cited by 24 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…If choosers were informed of a shift towards new technologies using 'community champions' from an associated peer group, paired with an injunctive indicator of social approval if the individual were to act in accordance, this may prove an effective means of guiding behaviour in desired directions within this domain. Indeed, Westerhoff, Sheppard, Iype, Cote and Salter [64] found that "social mobilization initiatives" such as this could be highly effective in initiating action to mitigate climate change, by normalising sustainability into social practices and norms. In one such example, the 'Good Life, Green Life' intervention scheme, community representatives were filmed discussing the movement from concern to action on climate change.…”

Section: Social Norms: What Do My Friends or Neighbours Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, for the kind of decisions we are considering in this review, development of an interactive website which allows choosers to explore novel technologies and attain information as and when required is one avenue that may have greater potential to encourage selection of these options in comparison to a standard, non-interactive choice environment. Alternatively, Westerhoff et al, [64] found that social mobilization efforts are effective in motivating behaviour change as they ensure citizens are meaningfully engaged in co-creating solutions (see, Section 2.2). Research has shown that such schemes are effective in motivating behaviour change as they directly encourage feelings of empowerment.…”

Section: Perceived Behavioural Control: Can I Do It?mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households: A review

Hafner

Elmes

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2019

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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Section: Social Norms: What Do My Friends or Neighbours Do?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Perceived Behavioural Control: Can I Do It?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households: A review

Hafner

Elmes

Read

2019

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Social mobilization prevents infection through individual behavior. These initiatives can range from social pressures to proclamations from government officials (Westerhoff et al 2018 ). Yet, ultimately the choice of whether or not to participate remains on the individual.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systems Dynamics Modeling of Pandemic Influenza for Strategic Policy Development: a Simulation-Based Analysis of the COVID-19 Case

Ching

Juan

et al. 2021

Process Integr Optim Sustain

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The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a truly wicked problem which has remained a stubborn issue plaguing multiple countries worldwide. The continuously increasing number of infections and deaths has driven several countries to implement control and response strategies including community lockdowns, physical distancing, and travel bans with different levels of success. However, a disease outbreak and the corresponding policies can cause disastrous economic consequences due to business closures and risk minimization behaviors. This paper develops a system dynamics framework of a disease outbreak system covering various policies to evaluate their effectiveness in mitigating transmission and the resulting economic burden. The system dynamics modeling approach captures the relationships, feedbacks, and delays in such a system, revealing meaningful insights on the dynamics of several response strategies.

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“…The 'value-action' gap and social inertia distinctive of the climate challenge, is in part due to a complex interplay of individual and social meaning-making processes (Brulle and Norgaard 2019;Westerhoff et al 2018). Some scholars posit that this (inter)subjective bottleneck may indeed be equally or more important than the technical one when it comes to climate change action and ought to factor centrally into transformative change processes (Gifford 2011;Grothmann and Patt 2005).…”

Section: Five Ways Climate Change Challenges (Social) Meaningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Finding shared meaning in the Anthropocene: engaging diverse perspectives on climate change

Hochachka

2021

Sustain Sci

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The scientific evidence of climate change has never been clearer and more convergent, and calls for transformations to sustainability have never been greater. Yet, perspectives and social opinions about it remain fractured, and collaborative action is faltering. Climate policy seeks to forge a singular sense of climate change, dominated by an ‘information deficit model’ that focuses on transferring climate science to the lay public. Critics argue that this leaves out certain perspectives, including the plurality of meanings uncovered through participatory approaches. However, questions remain about how these approaches can better account for nuances in the psychological complexity of climate change, without getting stuck in the cul-de-sacs of epistemological relativism and post-truth politics. In this paper, I explore an approach through which we might find shared meaning at the interface of individual and collective views about climate change. I first present a conceptual framework that describes five psychological reasons why climate change challenges individual and collective meaning-making, and also provides a way to understand how meaning is organized within that. I then use this framework to inform the use of photo voice as a transformative (action-research) method, examining its ability to overcome some of the meaning-making challenges specific to climate change. I discuss how participants from a coffee cooperative in Guatemala reflected first on their own climate meanings and then engaged in a meaning-making process with other actors in the coffee value chain. Findings suggest a psychosocial approach to climate engagement—one that engages both subjectively and intersubjectively on the complexities unique to climate change—is helpful in acknowledging an ontological pluralism of ‘climate changes’ amongst individuals, while also supporting a nexus-agreement collectively. This may in turn contribute to a more effective and ethical process of transformation.

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Social mobilization on climate change and energy: An evaluation of research projects in British Columbia, Canada

Cited by 24 publications

References 43 publications

Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households: A review

Promoting behavioural change to reduce thermal energy demand in households: A review

Systems Dynamics Modeling of Pandemic Influenza for Strategic Policy Development: a Simulation-Based Analysis of the COVID-19 Case

Finding shared meaning in the Anthropocene: engaging diverse perspectives on climate change

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