While the scientific evidence of climate change has never been clearer, exactly how to foster widespread policy and behavior change -– to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to inevitable changes in the climate -– is less well understood. Using communication to promote civic engagement and behavior change requires deep insight into audiences, their motivations and barriers, and how best to reach them with information they value. Our Center is dedicated to uncovering, exploring and applying these insights.
Our mission therefore is to conduct public engagement and behavior change research that can be used to improve climate change communication and social marketing programs. To help translate research into practice, we assist other organizations -– government agencies, non-profit organizations, and businesses -– in developing and refining their climate change prevention and adaptation programs.
Our efforts are focused on four strategic areas:
1. Engaging a broad range of research experts and business, non-profit and government leaders to identify the most pressing communication and behavior change research questions.
2. Conducting communication and behavior change research to learn how best to educate, motivate and assist people and organizations in reducing their greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to the risk of a changing climate.
3. Providing technical assistance to a broad range of organizations (in the public, non-profit and private sectors) so as to improve their climate change education, communication, advocacy and behavior change programs.
4. Encouraging the development of similar initiatives abroad, especially in nations where effective societal responses are urgently needed to avert climate change (such as China, India, Brazil and Russia).
Our Center was founded at George Mason University in Fall 2007. Located in the Washington Metro area, the Center is geographically co-located with numerous federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and businesses working on climate change mitigation and adaptation. Mason itself offers a wealth of cross-disciplinary expertise in climate change, from the physics and modeling of climate dynamics to the political, cultural and ethical implications of a changing planet ... and, not least, to the communication problems inherent in productively engaging various segments of the public this complex issue.
However, research is not the only means by which Mason is addressing climate change; the university is actively assessing and revising its own policies and practices in an effort to achieve climate neutrality. To this end, Mason President Alan Merten signed the American College & University President's Climate Commitment, formally pledging to place the university on a path to long-term sustainability.