Can Behavior Analysis Save the World?
Changing Energy Use Behavior. JULIAN C. LESLIE, Deborah Roy, and Patricia Watson (University of Ulster) Abstract: There is a growing international consensus that urgent action is required to halt the process of climate change arising from carbon emissions into the atmosphere. The crucial need to change human energy-using behavior is equally widely agreed. We review the limited existing literature on the application of behavior analysis, and related strategies in this area, and suggest some alternative intervention techniques. This research area raises fundamental questions about the target of a behavioral program: arguably the target should be the final product of many behaviors (carbon emissions) rather than specific behaviour classes. However, it may be possible to treat carbon-producing behaviors as members of one functional class. We conclude that this is an area where behavior analysts could make a major contribution in the next few years. This would be facilitated by the rapid de
