Posts Tagged ‘behaviour change’
Facilitating Behaviour Change for Sustainability: Symposium
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 11th, 2010
Source: Going Solar Transport Newsletter
Behaviour Change Symposium – Tackling Climate Change with Behaviour Change
What works? What doesn’t work?What is the best way of nurturing sustainability focused practices in your community? Hear expert presenters providing insights and sharing their experiences of working in the field of behaviour change for sustainability. Keynote Speaker Caitlin Scott will discuss her recent research into sustainability-focused behaviour change. This will be followed by a several short presentations by guest practitioners, providing overviews of a range of specific behaviour change programs. The Symposium will conclude with a Q & A Panel and open mike session.
The Symposium is intended for sustainability focused behaviour change practitioners, and anyone else who is interested in finding out more about the latest theories and practices in this exciting field. This is also a great opportunity to network and engage in discussion with presenters and other participants.
Cost: $15 per head. Refreshments provided. Bookings essential.
Bookings and more information go to www.ceres.org.au/zecbehaviourchange, phone 9387 2609, or email david@ceres.org.au
Thursday March 18, 5 – 8pm
Tags: behaviour change, CERES, community, symposium
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Sustainability on Show
Posted in Events by collette on March 1st, 2010
Building or renovating a home? Go green with the latest energy efficient products. Visit Sustainability on Show and walk away with hundreds of green ideas to improve the health of your home and environment – plus save money. Reduce your carbon footprint with building and renovating ideas and products that conserve energy, save water and incorporate sustainable design. It’s a one-stop shop from flooring to kitchens, water efficiency to building materials – see it all at Sustainability on Show, a major feature of the Building & Home Improvement Expo.
9 – 11 July 2010 at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Open 10am – 9pm Fri & Sat, 10am – 5pm Sun.
Visit buildexpo.com.au for more details.
Tags: behaviour change, building expo, consumption, energy
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2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on February 19th, 2010
Source: Ethical Consumer Guide
The 2010 Guide to Ethical Supermarket Shopping is now available. To help you navigate through the issues connected to your everyday purchases, we’ve not only updated company information, but also added a more detailed rating system, new blurbs, and two new categories — Alcohol and Office Supplies. Order here.
Overview:
The Ethical Consumer Guide has come out of a shared concern that many people although eager to make changes in their buying habits for the better, do not have access to information to make informed choices. The website and accompanying guides, provide information on companies and brands, drawing from existing sources. The information allows evaluation of the social and environmental impact of companies on the earth and our society, and gives insight into the ever-increasing concentration of company and brand ownership.
The guide is specific to Australia. We hope that this ethical buying guide can allow people to not only make wiser choices in their purchases and open up a dialogue with companies, but also come to more fully understand the connection between how we act and what is going on in the world around us.
It is our aim to:
* inform shoppers of more ethical or less ethical choices in their buying
* empower people and create awareness about consumer power
* provide a means for consumers to give feedback to companies and government, and so encourage change
In doing this we seek to make all information:
* freely accessible
* transparent and well sourced
* easy to use for the everyday shopper
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, education, Food
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2010 Banksia Awards: open for entry
Posted in Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on February 16th, 2010
Source: EcoVoice
Banksia is once again looking to inspire and be inspired by examples of environmental excellence in Australia’s most prestigious environmental awards. Banksia Awards are open to communities, business, governments, and individuals engaging in and leading the way in innovative and sustainable practices. We all play a part in forwarding Australia’s development towards a sustainable future and we encourage you to consider the many categories featured in the 2010 Awards Program as well as the Prime Minister’s Environmentalist of the Year Award, the Environment Minister’s Young Environmentalist of the Year Award and more!
The Awards seek out and recognise Australian Businesses, Community groups, individuals and public bodies that are reducing their environmental footprint and using resources in innovative ways. Banksia Awards provide an invaluable opportunity for recognition, and promotion of the leadership that exists in Australia.
This is Banksia’s 22nd year of Awards Programs and we encourage you to make this your milestone year.
For further information on award categories, contact or download an entry kit visit www.banksiafdn.com
Tags: Banksia Awards, behaviour change, innovation
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CarrotMob: Supporting Sustainable Business
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on February 11th, 2010
http://melbourne.carrotmob.org/
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, local action, networks
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Sustainable Waste Management: Events for Behaviour Change
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on February 8th, 2010
Source: Metropolitan Waste Management Group
The Metropolitan Waste Management Group (MWMG) works with organisations and individuals to promote and achieve Sustainable Waste Management. Their objectives are to collaborate with metropolitan Councils, Sustainability Victoria, the Environment Protection Authority, Department of Sustainability and Environment, industry, business and the community to assist metropolitan councils to undertake individual and collective efforts to:
1. Reduce the generation of waste,
2. Maximise the sustainable recovery of materials from waste for reuse, recycling, reprocessing and energy recovery and,
3. Minimise the damage to the environment caused by waste disposal.
4. Plan, coordinate and facilitate metropolitan councils’ procurement of waste management and resource recovery services, and,
5. Strengthen organisational capacity and capability and empower others to deliver waste and resource recovery objectives and priorities
Over the next few months, they are supporting a wide range of events which showcase the breadth of their engagement with behaviour change. At the moment there are three open for registration:
Green Cleaning: Systems to Erase Waste, A Waste Wise Melbourne Network Meeting, February 18
Sita Landfill and Hallam Road Education Centre Tour, March 16
Learn about the latest waste recovery technologies which reduce the amount of household and building waste going to landfill and gain a firsthand insight into the ways that recycling can reduce landfill and costs.
Sustainability Leadership for Changing Times: A 2 Day Workshop & Retreat, May 6&7
Explore the deeper questions of Sustainability Leadership at this time on Earth; Integrate multiple intelligences, with Deep Ecology and ‘Theory U’ processes in a beautiful natural setting; Broaden your horizons, allowing you to relate to your work and your world with new eyes; This learning journey will leave you empowered and inspired to lead as we navigate unprecedented change in our society; Learning from each other, through authentic collaboration, we’ll unearth a confidence that allows for creative response to the crises we face.
Contact Ellen Regos on (03) 8698 9805 or ellen.regos@mwmg.vic.gov.au for more information.
Tags: behaviour change, education, MWMG, waste
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Sustainable Consumption: Design for Disassembly
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on February 5th, 2010
Source: Core 77
Image: Core 77
From “Afterlife: an essential guide to design for disassembly“, by Alex Diener
What is Design for Disassembly?
Design for Disassembly (DfD) is a design strategy that considers the future need to disassemble a product for repair, refurbish or recycle. Will a product need to be repaired? Which parts will need replacement? Who will repair it? How can the experience be simple and intuitive? Can the product be reclaimed, refurbished, and resold? If it must be discarded, how can we facilitate its disassembly into easily recyclable components? By responding to questions like these, the DfD method increases the effectiveness of a product both during and after its life.
Where did Design for Disassembly come from?
Our ancient tools, meticulously crafted from natural materials and intended for repair and reuse, are perhaps the earliest example of DfD. During the 1950’s rise of consumerism, fueled by mass production methods, cheap labor, and design fashion, disposability became the norm. Over time, the waste created by planned obsolescence and a throw-away culture was exposed. Organizations studied the negative impacts of toxins found in our product waste and governments began to regulate. In 2004, the European Union passed the landmark WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive, placing the responsibility of disposing electronic products with their manufacturers. This tectonic shift was recognized as a sign of things to come by global manufacturers, driving interest in the DfD strategy.
How do I Design for Disassembly?
Given environmental and cost constraints, our challenge is as much product de-creation as it is creation. And DfD strategies are applied throughout the entire design cycle; designers will need to educate the team, discover waste, set goals, create solutions, and then monitor results through production, release, use, and end-of-life.
Read the full article for more information including:
Pre-Design: Organizational Education + Buy-In
Pre-Design: Research the Recycling Stream
Design: Set goals + Project Planning
Design: Research Materials + Processes
Design: Create DfD Concepts
Post-Design
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, industrial design
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Transforming Cultures: State Of The World Report 2010
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on January 14th, 2010
Source: Eanth-L, e-list for the field of ecological/environmental anthropology.
Like a tsunami, consumerism has engulfed human cultures and Earth’s ecosystems. This cultural system encourages people to define their happiness and success through how much they consume. But on a finite planet, this system is maladaptive and threatens to cause significant disruptions to Earth’s climate and ecosystems, and subsequently to human civilization. If, on the other hand, we channel this wave, intentionally transforming our cultures to center on sustainability, we will not only prevent catastrophe, but may usher in an era of sustainability—one that allows all people to thrive while protecting, even restoring, Earth.
Worldwatch Institute’s Transforming Cultures project turns a critical eye to how we can shift today’s consumer cultures into cultures of sustainability. The key to this transformation will lie in harnessing institutions that play a central role in shaping society–such as the media, educational services, business, governments, traditions, and social movements–to instill this new cultural orientation.
In State of the World 2010, sixty renowned researchers and practitioners describe how we can harness the world’s leading institutions—education, the media, business, governments, traditions, and social movements—to reorient cultures toward sustainability.
The report, scheduled for release in January 2010, will include articles from 60 eminent researchers and experts on consumerism, sustainability, and cultural change. It will provide information on how we can make the needed shift to a culture of sustainability and illustrate how people around the world are already taking important steps.
Tags: behaviour change, consumption, new systems/services
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What if they held a Climate Summit, and nobody came?
Posted in Opinion by Kate Archdeacon on January 8th, 2010
Source: PostCarbon Institute
“How about next time we take the lead; we show not just from our Powerpoints and placards that another world is possible, but also that by staying home and working with those around us to start practically building a low carbon economy, loft by loft and street by street, that a leaner, lower carbon future could be, and will be, fantastic.”
From “What if they held a Climate Summit, and nobody came?” by Rob Hopkins
So Copenhagen has been and gone, with no meaningful agreement being reached, and now the politicians and lobbyists have headed home having failed to do anything meaningful to address this staggeringly pressing challenge. Hugo Chavez came up with the quote of the fortnight when he observed “if the climate was a bank, they would already have saved it”. The gathering of the environmental/climate change movement in the Klimaforum with its dedicated bringing together of green luminaries and activists failed to have any meaningful impact on the proceedings, as did the mass street protests, designed to shame delegates into meaningful action and to draw a line in the sand. In short, the responses that the alternative movement/protest culture/social justice movement usually rolls into action when such events take place, didn’t work. So, might we do things differently next time?
It is, after all, what is expected. Activists and experts all head to the venue, with huge carbon implications, in the hope that this is “the one”, new police powers get passed, activists are subject to harassment and intimidating policing (George Marshall’s piece on his Copenhagen experience is well worth a read, especially for his despair at the amount of polar bear costumes on display), the media can run its “climate change demonstrations turned ugly today” stories to divert interest away from the lack of progress, in the fringe event people inspire and challenge each other, and in the main talks, most representatives arrive, as one does at any auction, with their preferred bids and the extra they will offer if pushed already worked out long in advance……
Tags: behaviour change, community, copenhagen, local action
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Vocational Graduate Certificate in ICT Sustainability
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on December 21st, 2009
Box Hill Institute are running a new course for Information Technology (IT) professionals who are interested in the sustainability side of IT. Every business runs on a backbone of IT infrastructure and there is so much that can be done – not only to reduce their IT carbon footprint, but also use IT as a tool to reduce carbon output in other areas. The course, the first of its kind in Australia, is the Vocational Graduate Certificate in ICT Sustainability. This Graduate Certificate is unique in that it concentrates on Information & Communications Technology (ICT) aspects of sustainability. The ICT Industry is well placed to be the driving force for change in the new low carbon economy.
As a student in this course, you will develop skills not ordinarily found in a straight IT qualification, that will meet industry’s need for employees with knowledge and awareness of ICT sustainability issues. This is a four-unit postgraduate qualification. Subjects will cover: • General sustainability – looking at current issues and solutions • Green ICT – ICT industry developments to reduce carbon footprint • ICT as an industry enabler to carbon reduction – focusing on how ICT will help other industries to lower their carbon footprints • ICT sustainability business case study – skills to develop business proposals to reduce carbon emissions for business. Students will work in small classes with professionally qualified lecturing staff.
An IT background is a prerequisite to study this course, which runs for 1 year, part time. For further information visit the website.
Tags: behaviour change, education, information technology, sustainability
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