Transcript Facilitating Behavior Change of Coastal Communities in

Facilitating Behavior Change of
Coastal Communities in Response
to Climatic Hazards
Marisa Nixon
HPR 401
Sponsor Judith Swift
May 4, 2010
The Climate Change Collaborative
An Introduction
• Three-year Rhode
Island Sea Grant
collaborative
research project
• Created in response
to global climate
change
• Focusing first on
marina owners and
construction
companies as target
areas
The Climate Change Collaborative
Chosen Indicators
Sea level rise
Produced by the Providence Plan
Data Sources: RIGIS, City of Providence
Jim Lucht and Haidee Janak, August 2008
Increased storminess
The Climate Change Collaborative
Goals and Outcomes
Goal: to create a team of researchers that will pursue
an understanding of the human elements needed to
achieve livable, more sustainable coastal communities
and ecosystems in a changing world
Outcomes:
– A synthesis of climate change research;
– Innovative behavior change models for coastal
communities;
– New capability of decision makers to communicate
climate change to citizens and motivate behavior change;
– A living laboratory opportunity for the state;
– Institutional capacity of URI to create a Climate Institute
The Climate Change Collaborative
Team Members
Project Management/Extension
Pam Rubinoff (CRC, Co-PI)
Virginia Lee (CRC)
Garrison Hull (CRC, Administration)
Carrie Gill (Student, Blue MBA)
Behavior
Subgroup
Jim Prochaska (CPRC,
Behavior Science, CoPI)
Heather McGee
(Student, CPRC)
Communications Subgroup
Judith Swift (CI, Comm., Co-PI)
Norbert Mundorf (Comm.)
Chip Young (CI/CRC Comm.
Specialist)
Marisa Nixon (Student, Honors
Program, ENRE)
Science
Subgroup
Isaac Ginis (GSO,
Co-PI)
Mike Bueti (Student,
GSO)
The Climate Change Collaborative
Preliminary Methods
• Using Dr. Prochaska’s
Trans-theoretical model
to inform our education
and messaging efforts;
• Messages and behavior
suggestions will vary
based on staging;
• Compiling climate and
behavior change
resources, et al.
• Participated in several
sectors of the project,
each with a different
focus.
Process Description
Entire Collaborative
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Met approximately once every 5 weeks
Updated each other on different sects of the project
Discussed project developments
Made important group decisions
Communicated ideas and resources to one another through
central web-site
Progress Made:
• Have synthesized our goals and outlined how to
accomplish them
• Moving forward with creation of focus groups and
data collection
Process Description
Communications Subgroup
• Met bi-weekly
• Discussed
– How to help scientists communicate with the public
– Effective ways of communicating to people in different
stages of the TTM
– Creation of potential visual and verbal messages to
the public
Progress made:
• Resource compilation
• Understanding of efficacy of pros and cons
• Visual messaging examples
Process Description
Communications Subgroup
Message examples illustrated by Arthur Mead, Jr.
Process Description
Student Collaboration
• Touched base with one another about project areas
• Worked on aspects of project that needed to be
accomplished by entire group
Progress Made:
• Developed three key behaviors as the desired outcome
for the behavior change model
• Developed preliminary list of pros and cons
• Talked to local businesses about preliminary thoughts
and focus group interest
• Compiled list of conservation groups
Looking Toward the Future
• Moving toward
conducting focus
groups:
– Gain more
concrete data
– Create messages
for education and
change
Personal Value
• Benefits of working with a knowledgeable
interdisciplinary team
– Academic
– Collaboration skills
• Satisfaction of being a fully contributing
member
• Experience and education to enable future
career in outreach and policy
Future Engagement
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Continuation of resource compilation
Assist in survey development
Outreach to focus group participants
Coastal Institute Undergraduate
Research Fellow
– Year of involvement and support
Acknowledgements
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The University of Rhode Island
URI Honors Program
Honors Opportunity Fund
Coastal Institute
Coastal Resources Center
Cancer Prevention Research Center
Rhode Island Sea Grant
Judith Swift, all members of the Collaborative and all
others who assisted me this semester