Can Several Behavioral Changes be Addressed in 1 FSB Campaign?

Is it possible to develop a FSB campaign to deal with more than one behavior at the same time? If we are really going to make a dent on slowing and reducing global warming and moving as rapidly as possible to a renewable energy future, we need a lot of people making several changes at the same time -- i.e. changing to fluorescent light bulbs, checking the tire pressure in our car, plugging our appliances and media equipment into power strips that we turn off when we aren't using the machines, adding a programmable thermostat, buying Energy Star Appliances, turning down the temperature on water heaters, buying a solar hot water heater and hybrid car, etc., etc., etc. We all know the list of things people need to be/could be doing, but presenting lists of things for people to be doing at meetings isn't proving to be very effective. If someone could develop a FSB campaign to get people to change several behaviors at the same time, it would be a huge step toward creating a sustainable future. Is this possible? Has anyone done this effectively?

Thanks.
Nancy Adams

Nancy

The construct that you are interested in is attitude. An attitude is defined as a learned disposition to respond favourably or unfavourable toward an object. The attitude object can be anything including "the environment", "global warming" and "sustainable behaviours". Changing attitudes toward the object of interest should lead to behavioural change, but it is difficult to know exactly how it will manifest. See Icek Ajzen's recent stuff on symmetry for more. The greatest issue with changing attitudes is that it is difficult to do. Telling someone that they need to "change their attitude" invariably leads to strengthening an existing one. The best model I know of for facilitating attitude change through persuasive communication is Petty and Cacioppo's (1986) Elaboration Likelihood Model (in their book: Communication and Persuasion: central and peripheral routes to attitude change). There's the theory, now time to go out and practice...

Liam

Nancy,

We're doing a project to change student attitudes/behaviors regarding their energy use in a university residence hall. The student web site is www.uni.edu/energy It also has a link to the web site for educators. Our data shows that we have had an effect two years in a row in changing student attitudes and behaviors about their energy use.

Carole Yates,

Coordinator Educating Students for Behavior Changes in Energy Use
University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA

I'd like to add something to Liam's post: you should always be aware of the fact that changing the attitude might not necessarily change the behaviour (though there is a "motor" component in attitudes). I always think of generating awareness- changing attitudes- changing behaviours as distinct steps. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the references!!
Carlos F. Pardo

Hi Liam and Nancy,

Sorry Liam but the construct she needs is not attitude. Attitude is a precursor to behaviour. Attitude change is a precursor to behaviour change. You will get no behaviour change in a democracy without attitude change. Beware however as peoples attitude changes do not mean necessarily that behaviour changes will follow for example you might hold an attitude towards a sustainable issue but it does not mean you will act in the way that that attitude dictates. First attitude then comes behaviour. Two separate phases if you like. You need to read basic work by VanRaaij&Verhallen,1983, A BEHAVIORAL MODEL OF RESIDENTlAL ENERGY USE. Some work I am involved in you can find here it might help? Check out the link www.volvoadventure.org/projectsgallery.aspx?year=2007 You may have to register but an interesting study of an sustainability accounting tool used within primary schools as a working sustainable community intervention mechanism. Yes positive results and trends are occurring locally through the impact of the children, school and free access to quality technical information. The accounting tool can be tailored to suit particular environmental issues for instance in a dormitory town one will need to focus on transport. Environmental literacy created here may include information on, amongst other things, making small (1-3 km) trips by foot or bike and not in the car. In this fictional case the first year baseline data will show excessive mileage per household. The information campaign specifically educates on this and other items also and in the second year of the accounting process the mileage value per person will hopefully reduce. This has a positive feedback impact on further work. It shows in our small experiment sustainable attitudes changing into fully fledged sustainable behaviour. How do we maintain these positive changes. Thats down to the motown special "ad lib".

regards
Vincent Carragher

Energy and Environmental Advice
Center Killaloe Clare Ireland

Hi Nancy

We also looked at the issue of tackling several behaviours at once using CBSM/FSB and are now in the process of developing a program to address a suite (5) of energy actions. We are currently identifying and exploring the behaviours that meet our greenhouse objectives through research and focus groups and then will undertake a survey of barriers and benefits and testing strategies for the individual energy actions. We've found researching a few behaviours at once makes the survey stage more cost effective and also helps if one behaviour turns out to have some tricky barriers to tackle...so can be dropped off the list.

Cheers
Stephanie

Dr Stephanie Jennings
Regional Greenhouse Coordinator
Southern Metropolitan Regional Council
9 Aldous Court, Booragoon WA 6954
PO Box 1501, Booragoon WA 6954 Australia
phone 08 9329 2700
fax 08 9330 6788
email: [email protected]

An alternative view perhaps. There is the view that a behaviour change, perhaps say generated by legislation, or because its sooo easy, generates attitude change. The newly adopted behaviour is justified with a new attitude. "I am doing this because I believe that". For instance, car seatbelt use in Australia is compulsory by law, and you would now be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't believe that they ought to be wearing a seatbelt, not because its law, but because we now have the attitude that you would have to be nuts not to wear one for your own safety (that's why I wear it). Buying a vehicle that happens to have a dual fuel (petrol/LPG) set-up would quickly see you adopting the attitude that it is a sensible thing to be doing. There is no doubt that beliefs underpin an attitude change and that attitude change primes the person for behaviour change (although doesn't guarantee it), but ease of implementation in itself may override a need to change attitudes, then having created the change of behaviour the person adopts attitudes to match. Creating awareness, developing new attitudes merely sets people in the right frame for behaviour change, primes them ready to go. Without a concerted additional effort to create/motivate the step into action and behaviour change then it won't happen. Landcare in Australia put a lot of effort into "educating" the farming community about the need for and benefits to be gained from adopting sustainable land practices. The things that generated the behaviour change though were things like funding incentives for action, rewards and recognition for adopters, promotion of early adopters and success, creation of support networks and groups. These people then developed strong attitudes about the necessity of sustainable land practices, which was confirmed by the information floating around about Landcare. The resilient and sustained change now continues to exist where the networks are strongest, and together they see the worthwhileness of their efforts, they value each others efforts, they support each others actions, they are doing it and therefore they believe in it, and are avid promoters within their communities. There is now no doubt that in large parts of Australia Landcare farming practices are now considered normal business. The value of CBSM is that it builds on what comes before to take people through that transition between understanding (attitude) and action (behaviour). Some people will even adopt the action before the attitude is fully developed, tricky eh?

Andrew Smith

Manager Community Partnerships
Resource Management & Conservation Division
Department of Primary Industries and Water Building partnerships for a sustainable environment
GPO Box 44 Hobart 7001
Phone (03) 6233 2836
Fax (03) 6223 8603
Mobile 0419361876
Email: [email protected]
www.dpiw.tas.gov.au

Vincent -

I'm not sure you have understood my posting. I don't disagree with your idea that attitudes are usually a precursor to behaviour, particularly if the attitude is ABOUT a behaviour (including action, target, place and time elements). Fishbein and Ajzen's seminal work on reasoned action and planned behaviour clarified the relationship between attitude and behaviour. Before that, there were many arguments for abolishing the attitude construct because it didn't predict behaviour. Arguably their theories - Theory of Reasoned Action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) and a the later version, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1990) are the most thorougly tested and recognised theories of behaviour. In the TPB attitude toward the behaviour is ONE of three factors that influence intention to act, with the other two being what significant others think about you doing the action (subjective norm) and whether there are barriers or aids to performing the action (perceived behavioural control). These three factors combine to create an intention to act which then predicts behaviour itself. As you may notice, Doug's work in FSB is based on the TPB. The TPB has been operationalised by many social psychologists in many persuasive communication campaigns. However, the key drawback of using the TPB as a framework is that you have to be very specific about the behaviour of interest. That is "taking public transport" is not good enough for using the TPB, rather you would need to have a behaviour such as taking (action) public transport (target) to your workplace (place) in the next week (time) for it to work. If you recall, Nancy asked whether it is possible to develop a FSB campaign to deal with more than one behavior at the same time? The answer to this question, using the framework I have suggested, is probably no, unless the organisation you are working for has the budget to cover a belief elicitation phase (for attitude, subjective norm and pbc), a belief testing phase (between compliers and non-compliers), a communication development phase including a manipulation check and an implementation phase for each and every behaviour of interest. What I was suggesting to Nancy was that, considering the above is not practicable or within the budgets of most organisations that are charged with fostering sustainable behaviour, an alternative construct to consider is attitude. As you are no doubt aware, attitudes can be as broad or as specific as you like. Van Raaij and Verhallen note this specific problem in one of their papers (can't remember which one - but not the book) to explain why the attitude measure they took did not predict behaviour very well. If Nancy defines the attitudinal object as "sustainable behaviours that reduce global warming" and implements a persuasive communication campaign that is designed to strategically target this attitude, then there is a chance that she may effect a shift in attitudes, then how this will manifest in behaviour may vary or indeed, as you suggest, not change at all (although Ajzen's new stuff on symmetry would argue that they would but that you just have to find out where). However, applying the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986) is a model which persuasive communication can be based on which demonstrates that attitudes formed through deliberative processing lead to attitudes that ARE predictive of behaviour. Doing this may be difficult, but in theory it works. I based my last submission to this listserv on the theories of these twopairs of authors, both of whose theories are well-established in the social psychology and persuasive communication literature.

Happy to give references to anyone who is interested
Liam

Carlos, there are more than three steps. Some years ago the US Nation Parks Service and shortly after, Parks Canada here in Canada, utilized a "citizenship scale" for identifying audience niches, and particularly their attitudes toward parks and the environment. The concept ran along the lines of: unaware, aware, appreciate, understand, behave and lead. Identifying each visitor segment on the scale made it much simpler to set reasonable goals and targets for messages and programs and more importantly, to evaluate any activity in more realistic terms. The strategies and tactics employed to communicate with the audience at each stage on the scale could be quite different. We can bang our heads against walls trying to take someone from unaware to behave - that's a big leap - in economic terms the equivalent of huge investment with low ROI. However, you can certainly measure a movement between the individual steps much more easily and in so doing nudge individuals toward behaviour change, while they internalize the reasons why they would want to change. The beauty of the scale was that those who were behaving were generally easy to take to a leading stage, thus multiplying the reach of messages and programs. It strikes me that we should be adopting similar scales in everything we do in the green movement - this from someone who wanted to change the world but now celebrates changing one person at a time!

Judy Gibbens

Manager, Member Services and Communications
Green Communities Canada
P.O. Box 928, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7A5
Tel: 705-745-7479
Fax: 705-745-7294
Toll free: 1-877-533-4098
www.greencommunitiescanada.org

This is very similar to the "stages of change" model developed in the health sector. I've adapted it to behavior change in sustainable transport in my recent publication with GTZ (training document Public awareness and behavior change in sustainable transport), available from www.sutp.org . Great that we keep discussing this, and I would really appreciate some feedback on this publication as well.

Thanks!
Carlos F. Pardo

Hi all

I strongly agree with Andrew's posting and refer all to the re-emergence of the cognitive dissonance literature. There is ample evidence in the research literature to show that attitudes are not precursors of behaviour. Fishbein and Ajzen's TPB model incoporates a passage of behaviour intention for this very reason. Liam's suggestion of the Elaboration Likelihood Model is a useful one but the approach to behaviour via changing attitudes is overly simplistic - try putting value-action gap or attitude-behaviour gap into google or any literature search engine (e.g. web of science) and you will see enormous amounts of evidence as to changing behaviour doesn't make a blind bit of difference to behaviour and although as a construct it is interesting and important, it is not the starting point for behaviour change. Some interesting work in the UK has explored the constructs behind attitudes (see http://www.surrey.ac.uk/Psychology/EPRG/project.htm#sus%20-%20surrey%20scholar for downloadable reports)and found that some of these underlying constructs are actually directly related to behaviour - (sadly) it really does matter what your neighbours think! Furthermore, I direct you to the UK government website - DEFRA (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) which has many publications exploring behaviour change and are massively interested in projects from elsewhere that are doing the same. Also take a look at ChangeLABS (via Surrey CC) which is UK/EU project reviewing succesful behaviour change work. You are probably aware of Malcolm Gladwell's book 'the Tipping Point'. The Sustainable Development Research Network in the UK has publications (most interesting by Tim Jackson, 2005) which address behaviour change (this report goes on to apply theories and models to consumption) http://www.sd-research.org.uk/researchreviews/sustainableconsumption.php. Last - refer to RESOLVE project at University of Surrey - a new ESRC project looking at lifestyles values and energy using behaviour. If you can demonstrate that hitting several behaviours in one project is successful I for one would be really interested to hear it. There is some research (which I can't point you to off the top of my head) which suggests one behaviour at a time as there is not always transferability (e.g. just because someone recycles they don't automatically do any other environmentally sound behaviour or even think about it).

Rachel Muckle

Research Fellow
Environmental Psychology Research Group
Department of Psychology
University of Surrey Guildford GU2 7XH #44
(0) 1483 686861
www.surrey.ac.uk/psychology/EPRG

I think andrews example of Australian Seat Belts actually indicates that behaviour change is the key influence on ongoing behaviour change. To change behaviour one must give people the opportunity to actually experience that behaviour. It then impacts on attitude (if you are lucky) whiah reinforces the behaviour change. The interaction between the 2 (behaviour - attitude) is far more complex than one leading to the other and as has been pointed out attitude does not lead to behaviour..

The best indicator of how we will behave is the way we have behaved before. The more often and the longer we behave a certain way the more likely we are to continue to behave that way. That continuity of behaviour brings certainty in belief. Which is why behaviours and attitudes are so difficult to change, or seem to be. I keep coming back to CBSM stuff though, because if you identify the target for your efforts, through barrier analysis, then a good trigger, or tool, will generate change. Then once they have done it, they will keep doing it. So, should communication and advertising be about reinforcing the behaviour rather than trying to generate new attitudes or understanding? Reasuring everyone that this is the way everyone behaves (creating a norm of the behaviour)? Andrew Smith Manager Community Partnerships Resource Management & Conservation Division Department of Primary Industries and Water Building partnerships for a sustainable environment GPO Box 44 Hobart 7001 Phone (03) 6233 2836 Fax (03) 6223 8603 Mobile 0419361876 Email: [email protected] www.dpiw.tas.gov.au

Correction to my diatribe - I previously stated 'you will see enormous amounts of evidence as to changing behaviour doesn't make a blind bit of difference to behaviour...' This should read 'you will see enormous amounts of evidence as to changing attitude doesn't make a blind bit of difference to behaviour...' Sorry for misleading typo!

Rachel Muckle

I think the original question here was about designing a programme focussed on more than one behaviour change at a time. Andrew's comments here hit the nail on the head - it is about creating (even the illusion) of new norms of behaviour via social marketing techniques. The UK government ran an advertising campaign recently focussed on energy consumption in the home. It gave (I think) 5 things people could do in 5 ads. To me, and to others that would have such a discussion, the messages were too diffuse. It would be interesting to try and assess the comparison between a 'one message' programme and a multi message programme to evaluate the effectiveness. So ultimately the answer to the question is please let us know how you get on.

Rachel Muckle

This seems to me an argument for how difficult it is to change entrenched behaviors. If someone has a long habit of behaving a certain way (not wearing a seat belt, say) and then has the incentive through social marketing to behave a different way for only a short period of time, when the behavior change trigger lapses, there will be a strong temptation to return to the old habit. Perhaps this argues for the need to work on attitude change as well, to support the behavior change for the long term?

Susan Altman
Environmental Communications and Social Marketing Consultant
Medford, MA USA

I have found the whole conversation very interesting and educational. Many thanks to Rachel for the references to new research. With regard to the multi-message - I've sometimes observed attempts at multi-messaging from government entities not because they necessarily think it will work, but because it is easier (for them) to package messages together. The social marketing principles are so important to explain to well-meaning agencies and organizations who are struggling with limited funds, staff, etc. to try to accomplish many objectives. This list serve is a big help with finding ways to get to the research and findings that helps people understand why the basic principles are so effective.

Michele Steinberg

Firewise Communities Support Manager
National Fire Protection Association
1 Batterymarch Park Quincy, MA 02169
(617) 984-7487 fax
(617) 984-7056
[email protected]
www.firewise.org

One message or five -- now there's an interesting question. In Canada, we had the One Tonne Challenge, which asked people to pledge to reduce there greenhouse gas emissions by one tonne. There was an extensive list of possible actions within the overall message of "C'mon Canada, we're up for a challenge, aren't we?" The complexity of the actions worked against the ability to design a simple message, but the campaign was gaining traction (until it had the rug pulled out from it due to a change in government). In the Province of Ontario, we (a provincial charity) are rolling out a similar campaign, called Lighten Up (also featuring a well-known comedian) but on a low budget and using community, municipal and corporate partnerships to promote the campaign -- what we call "movement-based social marketing". The campaign features six actions -- a combination of simple and deeper actions, techno-fix and behavioural changes within an overall pledge campaign. Recognizing the need for a simple message we will be running several targeted mini-campaigns over the next year, starting with CFL bulbs this fall, a New Year's pledge to conserve, and moving into air-conditioning for next summer. Bottom line for us: 1) multi-layered and complex marketing strategy 2) adaptabilitity to local opportunities (community outreach or retail marketing) 3) consistent multi-year campaign theme 4) single messaging tailored to opportunities and current need Websites: www.lightenupontario.ca, www.weconserve.ca (Ontario's conservation movement)

Chris Winter
Executive Director
Conservation Council of Ontario
p.s: greetings to Andrew from a fellow Hobartian (though it's been a while)

Ahhhhh attitude-behaviour consistency, the debate still rages. Crano and Prislin recently stated that it research on the topic is "vital, vigorous and continuous". William James would be proud. I would like add my thoughts on the topic but start by saying that simply stating that because there is enormous amounts of evidence to suggest that changing attitudes doesn't make a difference to behaviour doesn't do justice to a debate that has raged for over a century Attitude-behaviour consistency (ABC) continues to pose many problems. CBSM tools can be effective in overcoming some of factors that hinder the translation. Many, many, many (I have over 200 refs but there are literally thousands) authors have written about ABC and there seems to be differences of opinion everywhere but particularly between those who base their research on theory and run small tests with psych students and those that actually practice. The former say "here is the theory that confirms ABC" and the latter "this theory doesn't work". I wonder why this is. Perhaps an answer can be found through a little more explanation of the theory, particularly the TPB. Ajzen argues that attitudes can predict behaviour but places three important caveats. One, the attitude must contain an action, target, time and place. Two, it works together with subjective norm and perceived behavioural control to inform behavioural intention. Three, there is a leap that needs to be overcome from behavioural intention to actual behaviour (where pbc can play a part again, as do time and distance). Put in this context and considering these warnings, attitudes can be predictive of specific behaviours. While the best predictor of future behaviour is current behaviour (see Oulette and Wood,1998 for a discussion - ref below), behavioural intention is the best measure we have for determining future behaviour for something that the individual has not done before. The key to understanding the attitude-behaviour leap is by deconstructing the attitude construct. Strong attitudes, newly formed attitudes, consistent attitudes, marked attitude shifts, attitudes that the individual identifies themselves with are all better predictors of behaviour than weak and inconsistent attitudes Andrew's posting arguing that behaviours can "backfill" weak attitudes is interesting in this context - see Holland et al. (2002 - ref below) for a really neat study that shows how strong attitudes are better predictors of behaviour than weak ones and that weak attitudes are more easily influenced by behaviuor than strong attitudes. I think the main reasons why we don't see ABC with respect to sustainable behaviours is because people generally have weak attitudes toward them. Thus the best approach is probably to target behaviours through persuasive communication and CBSM techniques and hope they then backfill attitudes (such as toward behaviours that minimise greenhouse gas production), which become stronger and therefore more predictive of other behaviours.l. (2002 - ref below) for a really neat study that shows how strong attitudes are better predictors of behaviour than weak ones and that weak attitude are more easily influenced by behaviuor than strong attitudes. I think the main reasons why we don't see ABC with respect to sustainable behaviours is because people generally have weak attitudes toward them. Thus the best approach is probably to target behaviours through persuasive communication and CBSM techniques and hope they then backfill attitudes (such as toward behaviours that minimise greenhouse gas production), which become stronger and therefore more predictive of other behaviours. Aside from all the academic debate, I KNOW that attitudes predict behaviours because it happens in me. The way I feel about an object influences my behaviour towards the object. If I feel strongly about an object (ie I have a strong attitude - see lit on strength) I am more likely to act in accordance with the attitude. For example, I have a strong attitude toward the idea that in some instances attitudes can be used to predict behaviour so this leads me to post this long message on the listserv. This also leads me to believe that we need to improve our research techniques in order to capture how attitude-consistent behaviours manifest. Again, Ajzen's stuff on symmetry (see ref below) is really useful (and available for free on his website - http://www.people.umass.edu/aizen/publications.html). While shifting attitudes (through the ELM) in such a way that many behaviours are affected is theoretically possible and has occurred (some of us may know people who have had epiphanies and changed their lives and behaviours dramatically), it is difficult to see it happening in a communication campaign. I don't pretend that it is easy but it seems like Chris Winter's campaign was on the money. Holland, R.W., Verplanken, B. and Van Knippenberg, A. (2002). On the nature of attitude-behavior relations: the strong guide and the weak follow.

European Journal of Social Psychology 32, 869-876, Ajzen, I. (2005). Laws of human behavior: Symmetry, compatibility, and attitude- behavior correspondence. In A. Beauducel, B. Biehl, M. Bosniak, W. Conrad, G. Schnberger, & D. Wagener (Eds.), Multivariate research strategies (pp. 3-19). Aachen, Germany: Shaker Verlag. Oulette, JA and Wood, W. (1998) Habit and intention in everyday life: the multiple processes by which past behaviour predicts future behaviour. Psychological Bulletin 124: 54-74

Hi all,

A very educational and through provoking discussion. Regarding actual examples of attempts at multiple behavior change campaigns, the approach to Green Office programs developed at Liam's own Monash University by the then Monash Environment Institute's 'Green Steps program' in partnership with the Occupational Health, Safety and Environment unit is a direct attempt to 'bundle' a number of CBSM type behaviour changes in the one education, promotion, training and resource support package. The approach is now used here at the ANU and other universities, and is being spread through many Australian workplaces by student's establishing green office programs as their work placements at the end of the Green Steps course. The basic idea is that a 10 point plan has been identified that lists 10 behaviors that individuals could change to help green their workplace. I'm not sure why 10, very probably was an arbitrary number. These behaviors are then supported through a variety of informational, normative and incentives/disincentives approaches, primarily through the actions of a local 'green champion' supported with resources and training from the central green office coordinator. http://www.adm.monash.edu.au/ohse/environment/green-office-program/index.html http://www.anu.edu.au/facilities/anugreen/office/ To my knowledge it has not been formally evaluated (so I guess not a text book CBSM exercise either) beyond the effect on broader key performance indicators in existing environmental management systems (with measurably very positive effects, Monash's head of OHS&E tells me). As for the theory side of it, I don't think there is a silver bullet theory, although the leading contenders all suggest useful ways of gaining entry to given a problem. All I am really sure of is that you can do a lot worse than respecting people's basic genius for getting by in their experienced context, which means being fairly humble and open minded about the differences between your own perceptions of the situation and theirs, and trying to recruit their active engagement whenever possible. Its not much, but it does allow me to get on with the job.

cheers,
Stefan Kaufman PhD

Scholar Human Ecology Program
http://sres.anu.edu.au/
School of Resources, Environment & Society
The Australian National University
P) +61 (0)2 6125 9719
M) +61 (0)423 149 185
F) +61 (0)2 6125 3770 (attention: Stefan Kaufman)
Building 48 The Australian National University ACTON ACT 0200

This has been an amazing discussion, most of which is totally over my head. I'm a simple citizen environmental activist farmer working with several nonprofit groups who don't have much money or any expertise in community based social marketing. Frankly, I'm left with the feeling that CBSM is way too complex and costly for any of the nonprofit organizations I volunteer with to undertake. Doug mentioned at the training in Minnesota I attended that white papers needed to be developed in the area of renewable energy/efficiency for organizations like those I'm working with to give us a leg up on designing campaigns that would accomplish something without actually having to go through all the complex steps on our own. I should think that some foundation would love to fund such an endeavor for both global warming and renewable energy/efficiency campaigns. If a multi-issue campaign is too muddled, I really like the idea of having a campaign with many single messages that build on each other over the course of time, such as Chris described below. Thanks for all the great ideas and wonderful information.

Nancy Adams

Both of the web site indicated below offer a wealth of information for developing green office programs. A number of the documents located on the Monash University when opened display an error message which shuts down the document/program. This has been communicated to the MU Green Office Program. It would be helpful if others experience the error message to let MU know.

Regards with a smile
John Carleton

Principal Technical Officer
Indigenous Environmental Health Infrastructure
Unit Department of Local Government,
Planning, Sport and Recreation
Floor 9 111 George Street
PO Box 15031 City East (Brisbane) Q 4002
t 07 3225 2348
f 07 3224 8841
[email protected]

Hello all,

I studied behaviour change as a component of my MES, and have been peeking in on your discussion from time to time. Forgive me if I'm repeating things that have already been suggested. I believe that we cannot overestimate the obstacles to change that lurk within our human-ness. When I think personally about participating in a programme such as the "One Tonne Challenge", there are two things that quickly come to mind that keep me from doing what I know I should to save energy. One is getting past the initial inertia that exists due to unfamiliarity with an action which produces feelings of inadequacy, and the second is fitting something that may not be interesting in with other pressing matters in one's busy life. In order to get involved, I would need a program with personal contact for advice and assistance at times. I would be more likely to participate if someone I respected was also doing it and even suggested it to me. I would want to know the amount of time the commitment would take each week or month, and a start and finish time for the total program. I would want it to be made as convenient as possible. Once I agreed to accomplish the actions and I knew there'd be a follow-up to check or recognize my actions, I'd be sure to do them in order to avoid embarrassment. I wonder if there are several actions to be taken, if it might be effective to present the program to the public with a character (Canadian comedian Rick Mercer for instance) performing the actions himself, one per month. It could be done from a beginners point of view with humour and all the misgivings that people trying something new might feel. A TV show would be the best, but step-by step photos of a person performing the task on a website would also do. Municipalities, corporations or whatever organization communicating this to the public could make up a club or course following the instructions on the website. A condition of membership could be that people join with 3 other families. They could meet with the course organizer at the beginning along with other groups of families. As the course went along, competitions could be introduced between groups, plus the use of perks, energy coupons, something as incentives and ideas that make it fun. Say, in the first month, we'll install energy efficient lightbulbs. Information on where to get them, sales, benefits, etc.could be shown on the website. Pictures of a person going through each step. At the end of the month, they'd all get together to compare notes and receive little awards. Month two: caulking around windows. Show step-by-step how to do it on the website and at the meeting, as well as where to get the supplies, etc. The families in each group may help each other. The different groups compete. Meet again at the end of the month to report back and introduce the new action. Once the message is out there and fairly mainstream, and I accept that I should make these changes, then personal contact with other friends doing the action and with a course leader would definitely be the difference for me between a loosie-goosie interest in the behaviour and in really getting the behaviour off the ground, especially for the more involved or complicated actions. If we can interest persons with a sphere of influence to convince friends and family to try these things, the latter are more likely to join in.

Martha Bell

Hi Martha (and also Nancy Adams),

I couldn't agree more on the advice component - which points to the need to place social marketing within the context of a supportive social and economic infrastructure. With respect to energy conservation (and the model is equally applicable to other issues), I look at a simple three step process: engage, advise and support. Interestingly enough (and this addresses Nancy's comment that perhaps CBM is not for us little non-profits) community engagement is often most successful when it incorporates voluntary sector leadership and community-group outreach. This is the approach we are taking with our campaigns, where the campaign artwork and material (produced at a hard cost of $20k) is made available to all local groups, municipalities and businesses to distribute via stores, schools, libraries and other venues. The engagement step gets people interested and taking some of the simple steps (such as buying compact fluorescent bulbs) and it builds community. But before people invest serious amounts of time and money in conservation, we recommend an audit or advisory service, which is one area where there are many excellent programs and services in place that would benefit from a low-cost (relative to generation costs) subsidy. Finally, the real effort on the part of the big players (especially governments) should be on setting in place the incentives and financing mechanisms that will make it easy for people, stores, offices or businesses to implement the tailored advice they would have received via an audit or advisory service. With respect to your suggestion of a mutual-support group, you reminded me of a program that was quite active here over a decade ago, and a quick web search shows that they are still around in the UK at least - Global Action Plan. http://www.globalactionplan.org.uk/ One of their programs was to set up local neighbourhood teams and take them through a multi-faceted program where every week or so they'd tackle a different aspect of greening their homes. Which brings me to the final point (of the day). There is no shortage of great programs out there, a ecosystem in and of itself. What we lack is a commonality that taps into the energy of a diverse movement, supports the work of each individual group, yet builds common cause and community around the core values and behaviours. With respect to creating a sustainable future for our planet and future generations, therein lies the holy grail. Can't say I've found the solution in its entirety yet, but the answer lies in our ability to design social marketing around a social movement, and not just an issue or an organization. And after a couple of decades with the Conservation Council of Ontario following the latest theories, terminology and trends in promoting environmental responsibility (including sustainable development, green plans, pollution prevention, ecological footprint and zero footprint, natural step, gaia, deep ecology, and earth day) I've found the answer was staring me in the face all along: "conservation". Not because it is any different or better than any other iteration of human responsibility to the environment, but simply because it is the one term that people actually relate to on a very personal level and can actually say out loud: "I conserve". And collectively, "we conserve". This may be unique to Ontario, but what I'm finding is that from individuals to companies and municipalities, there is a desire to be able to say out loud, We Conserve, as a simple way of saying I have made a personal commitment, and I am part of and contributing to a broader movement. It sure sounds a lot nicer than "I develop sustainably". We'll see where it goes.

Chris Winter
Executive Director
Conservation Council of Ontario
www.weconserve.ca

Very interesting and helpful discussion. I am currently researching attitudes and practices in decision-making in multi-stakeholder processes that aim for more sustainable outcomes. Particularly, how leaders in the decision-making process apply their own attitudes in influencing the decisions regardless of the technical knowledge, views of others, etc. The aim is to see if behaviour in decision-making processes can be changed as this is the crux of improved outcomes. If any one knows of similar research/references related to this specific aspect of behaviour, I would really appreciate it.

Many Thanks
Dorothy Lucks

Executive Director Sustainable Development Facilitation
92 Aclare Road Barragup WA 6210
Tel: (08) 9582 9228
Fax: (08) 9582 9226