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Increasing Public Awareness and Facilitating Behavior Change: Two Guiding Heuristics

Jun 1, 2018 | All Categories, Journal Articles

If there is a single aspiration that unifies the professionals who work on the challenges
associated with climate change and biodiversity, it is likely their desire to see policy
makers, business managers and members of the public make decisions that are better
informed by the realities of what we know about how to stabilize the climate, conserve
biodiversity, and prevent needless harm to people and eco-systems. And if there is a single
emotion that unifies them, it is likely angst – as a result of feeling that, collectively, we are
falling far short of our aspirations.

This calls an obvious question: What can we to do more effectively promote wise decision-making and actions by important decision-makers? Many excellent books (Hornik, 2002;
Moser & Dilling, 2007; Whitmarsh, O’Neill & Lorenzoni, 2011; McKenzie-Mohr, 2011; Crow & Boykoff, 2014; Marshall, 2014) and articles (Maibach, Abroms & Marosits, 2007; Holmes and Clark, 2008; Ryder et al, 2010) offer important insights and partial answers to the question, but none of these offer a simple, clear answer that working scientists – and science institutions – will find to be practical. In this chapter I offer my best shot at a practical answer. Download the article here.