Environmental Behavioral Sciences Seminar

A “think-and-do-tank” model for environmental behavioral science

George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication is a climate communication “think-and-do tank.” The “thinking” involves strategic communication research intended to illuminate strategies to improve public engagement with climate change that, if applied at scale, may cultivate public and political will for climate solutions. The “doing” involves translating these strategies into communication programs that engage the public and empower communities of practice. Dr. Maibach will illustrate the model with examples from his work organizing physicians as trusted climate communicators.

Biography:

Ed Maibach is a Distinguished University Professor at George Mason University and Director of Mason’s Center for Climate Change Communication. His research focuses on public understanding of climate change and how to improve it. A member of the National Academy of Medicine and a AAAS Fellow,  Ed co-developed the Climate Change in the American Mind polling project and several major public education initiatives including Climate Matters (which supports TV weathercasters as local climate educators) and the Medical Society Consortium for Climate and Health. He previously served as Associate Director of the National Cancer Institute, and Worldwide Director of Social Marketing at Porter Novelli, and currently serves as a board member of the Global Climate and Health Alliance.  Ed earned his PhD in communication science at Stanford in 1990.