Association for Behavior Analysis International

This symposium will present topics related to the options we have in facing the intensifying dangers of global warming. Presenters will discuss community interventions as well as the existing research and empirical knowledge that may inform our intervention. Behavioral scientists dedicated to the mission of science for a better world will discuss how we can begin working to preserve the precious resources and planet we inhabit.

The Climate Change Task Force of the Behavioral Science Coalition is conducting a systematic review of experimental research to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and this presentation will outline the results. The scope of the review is partially based on Hawken’s (2017) list of highest impact areas, where electricity, food and refrigeration dominated the top 10. Searches were conducted in two databases to find research targeting communities, households, organizations and policy initiatives, while also mapping sources of funding and research institutions involved in relevant research on climate change. The outcome of this review will be a useful reference for anyone seeking to contribute significant work in reducing our carbon footprints and move towards a sustainable world.

Community interventions have the potential to accelerate the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Much of the research on reducing individual, household, and organizational emissions has focused on only one of these entities. However, a comprehensive multi-sector community effort has the potential to promote synergies that increase impact in each sector. For example, a school-based intervention that is designed to foster parent-child discussion1 of climate change could influence parents to become more favorable to proposed policy changes in their workplace and their community. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the state of empirical knowledge about community interventions to affect GHG emissions. It will also address the methodological issues involved in experimentally evaluating comprehensive community interventions to reduce GHG emissions.

Individual behaviors and organizational practices that slow, prevent or adapt to global warming entail much behavior change from “business as usual”. It is clear that greenhouse gas emissions continue despite efforts under the Paris Accord to reduce them. We have not stopped/reversed warming and time is running out. A challenge to constraining ourselves to address climate change is increasing the current value of those behaviors to individuals, organizations and communities and fostering consideration of their value to future generations. A framework for governing consumption to preserve natural capital for future generations might consider how climate impacts affect communities, how those suffering now respond to climate crises and what agencies determine needed “sticky” interventions that persist over time and attract others to invest in their expansion. Central to preparation of curricula topics for what lies ahead are (1) assessments of communities now suffering, (2) understanding principles governing collective action, (3) interventions and policies that define contingencies and (4) organizational models that promote valuing of natural resources over unchecked consumption.

Mark P. Alavosius, Ph.D. is President of Praxis2LLC, providing behavior science applications to high performance organizations and a graduate faculty in psychology (Behavior Analysis Program) at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was a faculty member in psychology at Western Michigan University and West Virginia University. He earned his BA from Clark University (1976) MS (1985) and Ph.D. (1987) in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management and on the editorial board of Behavior and Social Issues. He was president of the Nevada Association for Behavior Analysis and program coordinator for the CSE (Community, Social, Ethics) area of ABAI. He helped found BASS (Behavior Analysis for Sustainable Societies – an ABAI special interest group) and served as the first BASS chairperson. He has been a Trustee of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies for many years and chaired their Commission for the Accreditation of behavioral safety programs from 2010-2016. He continues to serve as a CCBS commissioner for accreditation of behavior-based safety applications. His interests include transferring behavior science to advance socially valid outcomes in organizations and developing behavioral systems to improve work performance in the areas of health, safety and the environment. Dr. Alavosius was Principal Investigator of two Small Business Innovations Research Grants from CDC/NIOSH to test behavioral safety technologies for small employers. Since the 1980s, Dr. Alavosius has provided over 230 publications and conference presentations.