Presented by Stanley Asah, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Cleaner Technologies, Professor, Dalhousie University
Join the webinar to hear why the need for more and rapid solutions to climate-induced social problems can not be overemphasized and why what we do with and about climate smart technologies is just as important, if not more, than the technologies themselves.
Full abstract for the presentation: The need for more and rapid solutions to climate-induced social problems can not be overemphasized. If I forget to turn off my energy efficient light bulb all night, I might use more energy than if I had and turn on an energy inefficient light bulb only when needed. This, my usual and rather simplistic example, speaks to the idea that what we do with and about climate smart technologies is just as important, if not more, than the technologies themselves. Yet, we focus more on producing and disseminating climate smart technologies than on how we behave vis-à-vis those technologies—we really need to explore and influence human behavior. This webinar is about a small piece of this idea—how we un/think and in/act on the ideas of the adoption, diffusion and retention (ADR) of climate smart technologies and technical processes (CSTTPs). I will point to assumptions that we make, some things that we emphasize and those that we ignore in our thoughts and actions about the ADR of CSTTPs. Then the talk will be open for perspectives about why we emphasize some, and ignore other, things and who can do what about the ignored and the emphasized. The goal is to enhance understanding of the essence of human behavioral aspects of “greener” transitions and how we can ‘provoke’ and maintain attention to those aspects.
About the presenter: Professor Stanley Asah is a practicing Conservation Psychologist and Canada Research Chair in Social Dimensions of Cleaner Technologies. He holds a PhD Minor in Development and Social Change from the University of Minnesota’s Interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Climate Change. His research interest and practice are in the domain of understanding and influencing human and organizational behaviors. He uses social-psychological principles and complex adaptive system thinking to inform efforts (direct action, policies, etc.) to initiate, direct, and sustain (promote) environmental behaviors. Focal areas include the adoption, diffusion, retention, and mal/adaptive use of cleaner technologies; social impacts, social acceptability, and social license to operate cleaner technologies; social justices associated with the adoption, diffusion and use of cleaner technologies; and human behavioral aspects of sociotechnical system scenarios—structure, function and transition dynamics.