There is a new working group at the University of Basel that aims to get students and staff to contribute to making our university more sustainable – AG Nachhaltigkeit. The idea is to complement the top-down work of the Sustainability office with some grassroots activism. For example, the kickoff meeting in January involved brainstorming about ideas to make our university more sustainable that spanned from reducing plastic waste in science labs to making Ecosia the search engine of choice.
The next planned meeting will take place February 27, 2020, (Rm 035 Kollegienhaus) and will include an overview of ongoing work by the Sustainability office of the University of Basel – including some projects that have struggled (or failed) in the past and others that could use further help from students and staff.
There is much to be said about psychologists and other social scientists being engaged in such initiatives (e.g., Aron, 2019). After all, we should be well equipped (or willing to learn!) to use data science to assess beliefs and behaviour, deploy theory to design persuasive communication campaigns, and capitalise on techniques that can help others change their habits.
