Launch of the 2015-2016 Joint PICS-PCIC Pacific Climate Seminar Series

We are excited to announce that the joint PCIC-PICS Pacific Climate Seminar Series for 2015-2016 will be starting with a talk delivered by Professor Robert Gifford. The description for this talk along with a brief bio are below.

By now, most people understand that we have been burning too much carbon. Many of these same people are not taking significant action to decrease their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. There is a big gap between climate change concern and climate change action. What accounts for this gap between beliefs and behaviours? What prevents people from adopting more climate friendly habits and choices? In this talk Dr. Robert Gifford will discuss the many psychological barriers to climate change action.

Bio: Robert Gifford is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the Canadian Psychological Association, and the Association for Psychological Science, and the recipient of a Career Award from the Environmental Design Research Association. Dr. Gifford is the author of over 120 refereed publications and book chapters on environmental psychology, nonverbal behaviour, and the multiple influences of personality, social, and environmental factors on human behaviour and attitudes. He is the author of five editions of the textbook Environmental Psychology: Principles and Practice. Dr. Gifford is the editor of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, has served as coordinator of CPA’s environmental section, APA’s Population and Environment Division, and is the past President of the Environmental Psychology division of the International Association of Applied Psychology. He is the founding director of UVic’s minor in Human Dimensions of Climate Change and an author of APA’s 2008 task force report on climate change. On the other hand, he is having trouble growing tomatoes and apricots on a hillside by the sea.