RewirePlus: Behaviour change and value change for the emerging green economy by zannahmae

Overall assessment: Interesting ideas, though some of the claims come across as grandiose. Team will want to think about ways the approaches outlined might be applied in developing countries. Specific comments and suggestions for improvement: - Proposal attempts to achieve a transition to a global green economy through cultural changes. Lacks appreciation of different cultures in different parts of the world. Global impact may be small. - I like the general idea, but it's vague, so it’s not easy figure out what they're actually proposing to implement.

It is an Interesting proposal, It sounds great ,but as 2011judges said it is too vague . Is there any global mechanism to implement it in the metropolitan cities in the North America ?Lets forget about different parts of the world with different cultures, for now . The first thing shocked me , when I landed in Canada in 2001 ,was the huge office buildings with thousands of "ON" lights, during nights . I asked myself : How come that the most intelligent people on the planet even care less about the planet ? I am sure in those buildings there are many electrical engineers and I am sure that they know how a simple " motion detector " can save a lot of energy during the night . I am sure in the city of Vancouver there are thousands of technicians and engineers with dream of implementation of a "smart lighting control " for city streets .My question is :what is stopping them from implementing their ideas ? Money and budgets ? I do not think so .With the amount of money we spend on paint and other unnecessary things , we could do a lot ,to save energy.I think we must learn to think simple and simplify or ideas and implement them .I wish someday I could show every body a simple recycling system invented by ordinary people in Iran . They established a business based on exchange of food grade salt with recyclable materials . It is working .

Hi: Here are some responses to the interesting comments made above: First, these techniques have been tried, in a variety of settings, and they have worked. Our data have indicated significant changes in behaviour which have persisted for some time, following our campaigns. Percentage change in discretionary electricity use during and following an intervention ranged from 4-13%. Moreover, the adoption of new habits, patterns and sometimes purchases, can, collectively make a very important contribution to GHG emission reductions. Individuals control the installation of small scale renewables, the use of active transportation rather than single occupant automobiles, and the optimization of local energy conservation technologies (from off-peak use, to switching off lights, to installing energy saving settings on electronics to myriad other choices). Moreover, in our studies, small local changes have led to much larger policy innovations and adoption of resource efficient technologies which would otherwise not have been adopted, and which then effect broad-scale change. Examples of this abound in the institutional settings where we have worked – institutional divisions have, for example, progressed from individual waste reduction efforts, to collective installation of bicycle parking, to divisional energy conservation retrofits and delamping, to institutional policies and plans supporting resource conservation. Although these behaviour changes have proven to be highly effective, they are also extremely context specific. They are generally led by individuals at the local site who are sensitive to local cultural norms and can mobilize them in support of climate friendly habits and can effectively model resource conservation behaviours. Indeed, there is no “one size fits all” approach. Instead, local populations have to be understood, ideally by a local resident, so that program design responds to specific local conditions and recognizes local barriers and facilitating factors. Given this basic adaptation to local culture and conditions, there is no reason that the behaviour change programs won’t work anywhere – the triggers for change through mobilizing social norms and modeling conservation behaviour, and making changes easier and celebrating success are universal.