The role of individuals and institutions in climate change mitigation
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Geography, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Wynes, Christopher Seth
issued: 2020-08-14T21:11:49Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Doctor of Philosophy - PhD
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: People seeking to lower their carbon footprints can consult a broad, quantitative literature to help them identify the most impactful lifestyle decisions. Absent from this literature is research into which political actions might be more effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Here I report my findings on obstacles and opportunities for motivated individuals to contribute to climate change mitigation both by changing their lifestyles and by taking political actions. I begin by examining how individuals can model low-carbon mobility in the workplace. Using data collected at the University of British Columbia, I found preliminary evidence that academics could lead by example in reducing air travel without limiting their academic productivity. Next, I surveyed 965 members of the North America public and found that individuals underestimated the emissions associated with air travel and meat consumption, while overestimating the emissions of symbolic actions like eating organic food. Furthermore, participants rarely considered political actions to be the most effective way to reduce emissions. To follow up on the question of how effective political actions are, I used the 2019 Canadian federal election as a case study. In that election, where climate change was a central concern of voters, I found the emissions responsibility associated with voting was higher than the emissions typically associated with lifestyle choices. While I was unable to quantify the emissions associated with other political actions, I attempted to further our understanding of which political actions are more effective through a field experiment. In partnership with a non-profit organization, members of the public sent generic emails to their elected officials, requesting that the officials post a pro-climate message to their social media accounts. I analyzed the elected officials’ social media accounts, and combined with interviews of their staffers, the data suggest that generic campaign …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/75549
note: THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUALS AND INSTITUTIONS IN CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION by Christopher Seth Wynes M.Sc., Lund University, 2015 B.Ed., The University of Western Ontario, 2011 B.A.Sc., McMaster University, 2010 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Geography) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) July 2020 © Christopher Seth Wynes, 2020 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: The role of individuals and institutions in climate change mitigation submitted by Christopher Seth Wynes in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Examining Committee: Dr. Simon Donner, Professor, Department of Geography, UBC Supervisor Dr. George Hoberg, Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jiaying Zhao, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, UBC Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Sumeet Gulati, Professor, Food and Resource Economics, UBC University Examiner Dr. David Tindall, Professor, Department of Sociology, UBC University Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Dr. Milind Kandlikar, Professor, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, UBC Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract People seeking to lower their carbon footprints can consult a broad, quantitative literature to help them identify the most impactful lifestyle decisions. Absent from this literature is research into which political actions might be more effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Here I report my findings on obstacles and opportunities for motivated individuals to contribute to climate change mitigation both by changing their lifestyles and by taking political actions. I begin by examining how individuals can model low-carbon …
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0392787
language: eng
degree discipline: Geography
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/75549