Sustainability at the University of Maryland
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Post-Conference Workshop

Fostering Sustainable Behavior with Doug McKenzie-Mohr

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

9:00 am – 4:30 pm

The cornerstone of sustainability is behavior change. Sustainability requires that we engage in diverse actions, such as reducing waste, increasing water and energy efficiency, altering transportation habits, and preventing pollution. To date, most programs to achieve these changes have relied upon disseminating information. Research demonstrates, however, that simply providing information has little or no effect on what individuals or businesses do. But if not ads, brochures or booklets, then what? Over the last decade a new approach, community-based social marketing, has emerged as an effective alternative for promoting sustainable behavior.

This one-day workshop provides a comprehensive introduction to community-based social marketing and how it is being applied throughout the world to foster sustainable behavior. Those who attend the introductory workshop will learn the five steps of community-based social marketing (selecting behaviors, identifying barriers & benefits, developing strategies, conducting a pilot, and broad scale implementation) and be exposed to numerous case studies illustrating its use.

About the Presenter

For over two decades Dr. McKenzie-Mohr, an environmental psychologist, has been incorporating scientific knowledge of behavior change into the design and delivery of community programs. His best-selling book, “Fostering Sustainable Behavior,” has been recommended by Time magazine and his work featured in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. He has trained over 50,000 environmental program plan¬ners in the use of community- based social marketing — an approach that is now being utilized in thousands of programs worldwide.


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