The Center for Research on Environmental Decisions (CRED), part of the Earth Institute, Columbia, has recently partnered with the Office of Sustainability on research for the Cool Columbia initiative. The pilot version of Cool Columbia will kick off in January of 2015 and aims to reduce energy usage in on-campus households by providing guidance, tools, and feedback to residents. CRED will study how feedback and messages about energy consumption lead to energy conservation and how this may further encourage residents to undertake other pro-environmental behaviors, such as biking, recycling, or supporting policies to mitigate climate change.
To learn more about CRED’s work, download the new climate change communication guide, written in partnership with ecoAmerica, on December 11th. Connecting on Climate: A Guide to Effective Climate Change Communication explains how anyone, from community leaders, to scientists, educators, policymakers, and other interested parties, can better communicate with and engage the American public on the issue. The guide is designed as a follow-up to CRED’s 2009 guide The Psychology of Climate Change Communication, and draws from a range of social science fields including psychology, anthropology, communications, and behavioral economics. It will be available for download on December 11th here.
