Event: ATA Seminar: Could carbon become a new currency? – Are personal carbon allowances, reminiscent of wartime rations, the way forward?

ATA Seminar: Could carbon become a new currency? – Are personal carbon allowances, reminiscent of wartime rations, the way forward?When: Thursday, 4th September, 2008

Time: 6:15pm onwards for a 6:30pm start

Where: The Banking Chamber theatrette, Ground Floor, KPMG, 147 Collins St, Melbourne. Disabled access via 161 Collins St.

Costs: $15, $10 for ATA members (ATA couples $15). Refreshments provided after the presentation

RSVPs required: Email Wendy Clarke on wendy@ata.org.au or ph:(03) 9631 5407

ATA’s seminar will explore carbon rationing, which has been examined by the UK Government in their report “A Rough Guide to Individual Carbon Trading” and also supported by George Monbiot in “Heat”. David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red, advocates personal carbon allowances as the most fair and equitable means of rapidly reducing carbon emissions. David will look at the science relating to global warming and why greenhouse emissions would be best controlled by personal carbon allowances.

David Spratt – is a climate-policy analyst, co-founded Carbon Equity in 2006 and, with Philip Sutton, he is the co-author of “Climate Code Red”, published in July 2008.

 

Stern on what influence’s individuals behaviours

This is a good read – a paper making the case for examining and intervening onto the ‘behavoural landscape’ rather than focusing on values alone (see Weathercocks post for a link to the counter argument).

 From abstract:

Editors’Summary: Individual behavior impacts the environment, but what impacts individual behavior? Effective laws and regulations, strong financial incentives and penalties, social pressure, and the like leave little room for personal values to influence behavior. It is only when these contextual influences are weak that personal factors are likely to play a larger role. Paul Stern therefore argues that the best way to change behavior depends on the behavior and its

context and that interventions in the context are more effective than targeting individuals directly with verbal appeals, information, or other efforts to change attitudes or beliefs. And because a variety of factors influence behavior, creative approaches involving multiple influences on behavior offer the greatest potential for change.