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4 Comments
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Long Emergency - research on communicating environmental messages
2006-06-14 01:11:17 UTC
Andrea,
I and my colleagues in the psych department at the University of St. Thomas in St Paul, MN just recently finished collecting data to examine several of the framing questions that you mention. We're just finishing data entry and beginning the data analysis. I'll be glad to let you know what we find out, however, it will probably take many weeks before we have final results.
Christie Manning -
Systems thinking and behavior change
2006-02-14 17:44:35 UTC
hi Deborah,
There is a website called SEEK (sharing environmental education knowledge) put together by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (formerly office of environmental assistance) and others. (http:// www.seek.state.mn.us/eemn_c.cfm) One of the things that the PCA has focused on is a document called "environmental scope and sequence", a tool for educators that uses a systems approach to environmental education. It includes sample lesson plans. The PCA gives many workshops that emphasize the importance and power of a systems approach, with the scope and sequence as a basis. If this looks like something helpful to you, let me know and I can try to put you in touch with someone at the Minnesota PCA to find out more about people who are using the scope and sequence in their classrooms.
Christie Manning -
giveaways that encourage sustainable behavior
2006-01-30 23:04:08 UTC
Hi Melanie,
Last year in Minneapolis/St. Paul I and two colleagues conducted survey research at our Minnesota annual Living Green Expo. We offered small prizes as incentives for filling out a survey. Inside the prize bags were lead-free fishing tackle, native flower seeds and an energy-saving lightbulb. These were all donated by local businesses or by our MN pollution control agency. People LOVED these prizes (we were pleasantly surprised). This year we're also going to give away the "Blue Sky Guide", a book filled with coupons for local businesses specializing in green/ sustainable services and products. I think someone on this list has already mentioned the Chinook book- the sister publication of the Blue Sky Guide. Also- an interesting result from our research: in our surveys we asked people why they had come to the Living Green Expo that day. One of the most common answers was "for the free samples". Apparently the giveaways work.
good luck-
Christie Manning -
Disposable Chopsticks Reduction
2006-01-05 08:13:28 UTC
hi Leah,
The most recent issue of Worldwatch (Vol. 19, issue 1, Jan/Feb 2006) has a one-page 'life-cycle study' about chopsticks. Have you already seen it? It is a short summary, filled with interesting tidbits. Some of the info that might be relevant to your query: There is a campaign in Japan called "Let's Carry Our Own Chopsticks" (barrier in Japan: most people don't like to use a chopstick that has been used by someone else). Also, there are health concerns with long-term disposable chopstick use- for example, tests in Taiwan have shown that some are tainted with traces of sulfur dioxide (used as a bleaching agent to prevent mold and discoloration) and a study in Beijing found a link between long-term chopstick use and joint decay. Unfortunately, they don't have the life-cycle studies section available online as a pdf (see http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/mag/ 2006/191/contents/), but you can probably still get the magazine on the newsstand. If you have any trouble locating it, send me an email and I'll be glad to send you a photocopy.
Christie Manning
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